NOTES. 



719 



dois, in hatching trout ova in complete dark- 

 ness, the water being at a temperature of 

 5-8 C, or 42-4 F. The hatching was de- 

 layed fifteen days by the darkness. The 

 advantages are claimed, in prolonging the 

 incubation, that the young fry put into the 

 streams in April or May more readily find 

 food than in February or March ; that they 

 are more vigorous ; and that fewer mon- 

 strosities are produced. 



Experiments in feeding milch-cows, de- 

 scribed in the November " Bulletin " of the 

 Massachusetts State Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station, attest the great economical 

 value of corn -fodder, stover, and ensilage 

 for the production and quality of milk and 

 cream. 



The study of the effect of fertilizers on 

 the quality of fruit is recommended by Prof. 

 P. T. Austen as a line of inquiry distinct 

 from their effect on its quantity. This in- 

 volves a wide range of investigation, em- 

 bracing, in fact, all the properties of the 

 plant and the manner in which they are 

 affected by manures, particularly the part 

 played by each chemical substance in the 

 plant and the specific action of fertilizing 

 materials on the formation of those sub- 

 stances ; together with the relation of the 

 different species of plants to their chemical 

 composition, and the extent to which plants 

 of the same family produce substances of 

 the same type. The influence of treatment 

 with drugs opens a parallel line of investi- 

 gation. 



The Rev. J. Owen Dorsay is preparing a 

 monograph on Indian names, to contain lists, 

 with English meanings, in six different lan- 

 guages the whole number of names being 

 thirty-one hundred and forty-six. The con- 

 nection between the myths and some of the 

 personal names will be considered ; and cer- 

 tain classes of names such as color names, 

 iron names, and the names of composite 

 beings will be treated in detail. 



The latest published volume of Hen- 

 Richard Andree's "Ethnographical Parallels 

 and Comparisons " deals with such topics as 

 red hair, albinos, games, masks, marks of 

 property, superstitions connected with the 

 chase, " tree and man," circumcision, draw- 

 ing among primitive people, thunderbolts, 

 money for the dead, emotional expressions 

 and gestures, demoniacs and mental dis- 

 orders, etc. 



The report of Manchester (England) 

 Technical School for the year ending July 

 31, 1889, shows an increase of students 

 from 2,871 to 3,328. The most important 

 extension during the year was the opening of 

 a spinning and weaving department. The day 

 classes in this department have but a small 

 attendance as yet, but a considerable number 

 of students are attending the evening ses- 

 sions. 



The suggestion has been made in Lon- 

 don that, as the French have erected the 

 highest tower, the English shall dig the deep- 

 est hole say on the exhibition grounds of 

 1851 in Hyde Park. The pit could be fur- 

 nished with an elevator shaft, and lit up by 

 electricity ; and in each stratum there could 

 be an excavated museum with specimens of 

 the minerals, fossils, etc., afforded by it. 



According to a study by Dr. George N. 

 Kreider, of Springfield, 111., micro-organisms 

 enter the body first by the skin through le- 

 sions, openings of the sweat-pores, or seba- 

 ceous ducts, or by the sides of the hairs ; and, 

 secondly, by the mucous membrane through 

 lesions of the membrane, openings of the 

 ducts or follicles, or pockets, sulci, or folds. 

 There are also localized infections, originat- 

 ing in a manner as yet unknown, and giving 

 rise to certain violent diseases ; and universal 

 infections, giving rise to hereditary transmis- 

 sible disease. The severity of the infection 

 varies with the condition of the body as re- 

 gards idiosyncrasy, or strength, or weakness ; 

 the amount of infecting material that gains 

 entrance ; the character of the infecting ma- 

 terial ; and the tissue which it penetrates, 

 and its location. 



The underlying motions of the Nile Delta 

 are described by Mr. W. J. Flinders Petrie 

 as those of depression on the coast and up- 

 heaval at Ismailia. Above these movements 

 great changes have been made by wind-ac- 

 tion. In some sites at least eight feet of 

 ground have been removed and deposited in 

 the water. This has partly caused the great 

 retreat of the Red Sea head, and tends to 

 form the characteristic swamps of that dis- 

 trict. Formerly the Delta was a desert 

 tract, with valleys inundulated by the Nile. 

 Before historic times the Nile Valley was 

 deep in water, partly estuarine, partly fluvial, 

 and great rainfall then took place. That 

 this was in the human age is shown by the 

 position of worked flints. 



A memorial to Prejevalski is to be erected 

 on the shore of Lake Issyk-kul. It repre- 

 sents a rock, upon which an eagle is descend- 

 ing, having a map of Asia in its talons and 

 an olive-branch in its beak. The monument 

 will have the inscription, " To the first ex- 

 plorer of nature in Central Asia." 



A correspondent of " Nature " urges 

 that boys should be tested for color-blind- 

 ness in school before they go out into life 

 so that they need not lose the time re- 

 quired for working up to positions on rail- 

 roads or elsewhere in which ability to dis- 

 tinguish colors is essential. 



A curious story is told, by a correspond- 

 ent of " Nature," of a dog which was struck 

 by lightning and considered dead, but which 

 afterward partly recovered. It continued 

 deaf and blind, and had to depend on its 

 smell for recognition of persons and things. 



