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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



not so much to the subjects that should be 

 included, as to the terms under which they 

 should be described and classified. It was 

 further decided, without dissent, that in 

 judging whether a publication is to be con- 

 sidered a contribution to science suitable for 

 entry in the catalogue, regard should be had 

 to its contents, irrespective of the channel 

 through which it is published." The impor- 

 tance of this rule was emphasized by several 

 German delegates, some of whom pointed out 

 that trade journals, and even a daily paper 

 which was named, often contain scientific 

 articles of great value. Those who are dis- 

 posed to ridicule " newspaper science" must 

 hereafter qualify their fliDgs. Regard is to 

 be had first in the catalogue to the require- 

 ments of scientific investigators ; entries 

 are to be both by subjects and by authors' 

 names ; the catalogue is to be issued by a 

 central bureau to be located in London, with 

 the Royal Society advising, and in English, 

 with authors' names and titles in their own 

 language ; and to be begun January 1, 1900. 

 The English (including American) element 

 was influential in the conference, and none of 

 the delegates had more force in its delibera- 

 tions than the American representatives, Prof. 

 Simon Newcomb and Dr. J. S. Billings. The 

 American department of the catalogue will 

 be under the direction of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, and an appropriation of ten thou- 

 sand dollars is asked from Congress to carry 

 on the work. 



A Musical Experiment. — A somewhat 

 interesting musical experiment was recently 

 made by Prof. E. E. Slosson, of the Univer- 

 sity of Wyoming. Twenty-two persons — seven 

 men and fifteen women — each provided with 

 paper and writing materials, were given a 

 pianoforte concert, and at the expiration 

 of each piece were requested to write down 

 the impressions received from the music. 

 Only one of the twenty-two was a profes- 

 sional musician. The pieces played were : a, 

 Chopin funeral march (sonata, op. 35) ; b, S. 

 F. Powell nocturne, Hope (op. 4, No. 1 ; c, 

 S. F. Powell nocturne, Solicitude (op. 3, No. 

 2) ; d, Handel's aria, He was Despised and 

 Rejected of Men (The Messiah); e, Chopin 

 nocturne (op. 15); and /, Schubert, Liszt 

 Serenade. The conclusions drawn, from an 

 examination of the answers returned, seemed 



to show that music has a somewhat definite 

 emotional content, and that impression of 

 this is received by the average listener, but 

 with varying intensity. The formal content 

 seems to be furnished entirely by the mood, 

 associations, or temperament of the individ- 

 ual. A great difference exists both in the 

 capacity of individuals to receive definite im- 

 pressions and of composers to convey them. 

 To overcome a strong individual mood re- 

 quires music of extremely strong expressive- 

 ness. 



Ice Caves. — Three principal forms in 

 which ice enduring all the year round is 

 found are mentioned by Mr. Edwin Swift 

 Balch in his paper on Ice Caves and the 

 Causes of Subterranean Ice : glaciers, ice 

 gcrges, and ice caves. Glaciers are formed 

 from the winter snows, which by their own 

 weight, and melting and regelation, have ac- 

 cumulated into a mass of ice. Ice gorges or 

 gullies occur in fissures or ravines, at an alti- 

 tude greatly below the general snow line of the 

 district, where the winter snow is sufficiently 

 protected from the sun to endure as snow or 

 ice through the summer months. The au- 

 thor has, for instance, found lumps of ice in 

 King's Ravine, on Mount Adams, in the 

 White Mountains, among the big bowlders, 

 late in September. The ice in such gullies 

 is formed in the same manner as that of gla- 

 ciers, or that on ponds and rivers, by the 

 cold of winter and the melting of the snows. 

 Ice caves are roofed, and the ice is formed 

 directly within them, and is not, except per- 

 haps near the entrance, solidified snow. 

 The roof, while not admitting the winter 

 snow, is a protection against warm summer 

 rains, and cuts off radiation — acting as a pro- 

 tector against heat, and tempering the cold. 

 The caves vary greatly in their positions, 

 shapes, and sizes. They are found in vari- 

 ous parts of Europe, Asia, and America, most- 

 ly in the smaller ranges or in the outliers of 

 the snowy ranges, generally in limestone and 

 occasionally in basaltic formations. Many 

 are found in the Jura, a few in Switzerland, 

 a few in the Italian Alps, a number in 

 the eastern Alps; there are some in Hun- 

 gary, several in Russia, one on the Peak 

 of Teneriffe, several in Siberia, one in Kun- 

 duz in central Asia, one in Japan, and one 

 in Korea. Twenty-nine places are mentioned 



