FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



429 



and of the Amoor in Asia. Several parties 

 will be placed in tbe field, each including a 

 thoroughly qualified ethnologist, a physical 

 anthropologist, and an archaeologist, who will 

 make comparative studies of the physical 

 characteristics of the different peoples, their 

 languages, their myths and traditions, their 

 customs and arts, and will also study the 

 archaeology of the whole region. Dr. Boas 

 has been in the field since June, 1897, in 

 British Columbia, and has established four 

 parties, who are working under his imme- 

 diate direction. The first party will go to 

 Asia in the spring, and other parties will be 

 put into the field from time to time as the 

 men are selected who are properly prepared 

 for the work. In the discussion which fol- 

 lowed the presentation of this account, Pro- 

 fessor Putnam expressed his belief that there 

 had been an American-Asiatic contact. Mr. 

 Frank H. Cushing was of a different opinion, 

 and thought that the resemblances between 

 the arts and customs of aboriginal Ameri- 

 cans and Asiatics were merely the results of 

 similar psychic developments under corre- 

 sponding environments. Professor Morse 

 brought forward data that led him to the 

 conclusion that not a dialect, art, tool, or 

 weapon was found in America at the time 

 of the discovery that had been in use in the 

 Old World. 



Object Lessons in Road Building. — The 



following, in a circular of information from the 

 New York Agricultural Experiment Station 

 at Geneva, will be of value to all interested 

 in the good-roads problem : The attempt to 

 stimulate and inform the public mind in the 

 direction of good roads is being undertaken 

 in two ways : first, by the distribution of 

 good roads literature ; and, second, by the 

 building of sample roads in connection with 

 State colleges and experiment stations. The 

 first sample road to be built is already com- 

 pleted at New Brunswick, N. J. (this was 

 written about the first of August), and the 

 second one, which is being constructed in 

 connection with the Geneva station, is now 

 in its first stages. This sample road, which 

 has been made possible through the gener- 

 osity of private citizens and through liberal 

 aid from the town and city of Geneva, will 

 be over seven thousand feet long, being lo- 

 cated in an important street which connects 



the experiment station with the city. A sec- 

 tion of this, perhaps eight hundred feet, will 

 be macadamized in the center to the width 

 of eight feet, with rolled dirt roads on either 

 side, this being designed as an improved 

 country road. The remainder, something 

 over a mile, will be macadamized in the cen- 

 ter fourteen feet, with dirt roads on either 

 side. It is now also proposed to lay at least 

 two hundred feet of the steel track which is 

 now attracting so much attention as a possi- 

 ble efficient and economical road in sections 

 where stone is scarce and costly. 



A Troublesome " Water Weed." — About 

 seven years ago a few plants of the water 

 hyacinth were accidentally thrown into the 

 St. John's River in Florida. Since then they 

 have increased so enormously as to prove a 

 serious obstruction to navigation, so much so 

 indeed that about two years ago it was found 

 necessary to call in the aid of the War De- 

 partment. Still later, in the early part of 

 1897, the Department of Agriculture sent 

 one of its agents, Mr. Herbert Webber, to 

 the region in order to investigate more fully 

 the physiology and habits of this dangerous 

 vegetable. His report has been recently pub- 

 lished and is authority for the following 

 statements : The plant grows chiefly in slug- 

 gish fresh water, the character of the water 

 seeming to have much to do with its growth. 

 It can not live in brackish water, and is 

 promptly killed when it is dislodged and 

 floats down into salt water. It is normally 

 propagated by seeds and stolons. When the 

 plant first appeared in the river its beautiful 

 masses of flowers were much admired, and it 

 was introduced at various points for its beau- 

 tifying effect. At this time no one expected 

 the plant would become a nuisance. In a 

 very short time, however, it began to seri- 

 ously interfere with navigation, and ite effect 

 on the lumber and fishing industries has been 

 most disastrous. It is feared that its eradi- 

 cation is impracticable. 



I'nexplained Tidal Variations. — It has 



been demonstrated by Lord Kelvin and Pro- 

 fessor Darwin that the tidal movement is 

 made up of many waves, depending upon 

 different functions of the moon and sun. 

 Some of these movements are half daily, 

 some daily. The tidal movement is nowhere 



