NOTES. 



143 



half per cent from the density of nitrogen 

 obtained from other sources. It was found 

 that if air is subjected to electric sparks, the 

 resulting nitrous fumes absorbed by potash 

 and the excess of oxygen by alkaline ])yro- 

 gallate, there remains a residue which is 

 neither oxygen nor nitrogen, as can be seen 

 from its spectrum. The same gas may be 

 isolated by exposing nitrogen obtained from 

 the air to the action of magnesium. As the 

 magnesium gradually absorbs the nitrogen, 

 the density of the residue rises to nearly 

 twenty. The newly discovered substance con- 

 stitutes one per cent of the atmosphere, and 

 gives a spectrum with a single blue line much 

 more intense than a corresponding line in the 

 nitrogen spectrum. Prof. Dewar is of the 

 opinion that this "new element" is an allo- 

 tropic form of nitrogen. 



Liverpool was designated as the place 

 for the meeting of the British Association in 

 1896. Sir Douglas Galton will be president 

 of the meeting at Ipswich next year. The 

 meeting for 1897 will probably be held in 

 Toronto. 



Prof. T. Johnson exhibited in the Brit- 

 ish Association a large collection of algne 

 from the west coast of Ireland which have 

 the power of strongly incrusting their tis- 

 sues with chalk and forming hard masses of 

 calcareous matter. He considered that by 

 this means the algae obtained protection from 

 the ravages of nibbling animals. He also 

 described a number of algas which possess an 

 entirely opposite property, and by their pow- 

 er of dissolving calcareous matter bore mi- 

 nute holes in the shells of various molluscs 

 and thus completely destroyed them. 



Prof. L. H. Pammel, in a paper on the 

 Effects of Cross-Fertilization in Plants, cites 

 experiments by Prof. Bailey, of Missouri, 

 who obtained more than a thousand types of 

 pumpkins and squashes by as many careful 

 hand pollinations without having ever seen 

 any influence on the season's crop by mixing, 

 except such as was due to imperfect develop- 

 ment. The effects of the pollen were seen 

 only in the offspring of the fruits. The au- 

 thor himself had made similar experiments 

 without obtaining any results favorable to the 

 theory of immediate influence. Prof. Bailey 

 has made a like report of experiments with 

 cucumbers and muskmelons. 



In a paper read in the Association of Eco- 

 nomic Entomologists on The Rise and Pres- 

 ent Status of Official Economic Entomology, 

 President L. 0. Howard reviewed the entire 

 history of official economic entomology in all 

 parts of the world from the time when in the 

 early part of the century Dr. T. W. Harris, of 

 Harvard College, wrote his report on insects 

 injurious to vegetation in Massachusetts, for 

 which he received one hundred and seventy- 

 five dollars, down to the present year, when 

 the United States Government spends one 



hundred thousand dollars annually in employ- 

 ing some sixty official entomologists in differ- 

 ent parts of the country, and when some twen- 

 ty different countries in all parts of the world 

 have reached the conclusion that it pays to 

 employ trained investigators to study the sub- 

 ject of insects injurious to crops. The speak- 

 er asserted that America leads the rest of the 

 world in this branch of applied science. 



The University of Chicago desires to se- 

 cure for its museum collections illustrating 

 the various religions of mankind, and invites 

 workers in foreign lands, and especially mis- 

 sionaries and teachers, to assist it and co-op- 

 erate with it. A beginning has already been 

 made in a collection which the university 

 now holds as a loan of objects illustrating 

 Shinto worship and Japanese Buddhism, gath- 

 ered by Mr. Edmund Buckley in Japan. A 

 catalogue of the Shinto specimens is pub- 

 lished in illustration of the kind of objects 

 sought, and for the guidance of persons who 

 may wish to co-operate in the work of col- 

 lecting. 



A COURSE of lectures on prehistoric archae- 

 ology, outlined by Prof. Frederick Starr for 

 the University Extension Course of the Uni- 

 versity of Chicago, is to embrace twelve lec- 

 tures. A syllabus has been published of the 

 first six lectures, the subjects of which are 

 Man and the River Gravels, The Man of the 

 Caverns, The Stone Age in Denmark, Lake 

 Dwellings of Switzerland, Megalithic Monu- 

 ments, and The Bronze Age in Scandinavia. 

 The subjects of the other six lectures, of 

 which a second syllabus is to be published, 

 are Hallstadt, La Tene, Spain and Portugal, 

 The Copper Age in Hungary, The Hill of His- 

 sarlik, and The Question of Tertiary Man. 

 Topics for exercises are to be given at the end 

 of each lecture, to which answers in writing, 

 to not more than two questions each week, 

 are invited from all persons attending the 

 lecture. 



In a paper on The Relation of Biology 

 to Geological Investigation, Dr. Charles A. 

 White, of the United States National Muse- 

 um, pertinently observes that a special cause 

 of the perpetuation of extreme views respect- 

 ing the degree of prominence to be assigned 

 to biology " evidently exists in the form of 

 personal domination by such of those who en- 

 tertain them as happen to possess unusual op- 

 portunities for their enforcement. It is well 

 known that such influence has at various 

 times and in various ways retarded the prog- 

 ress of geological science, and that there is 

 danger of its being exercised in all cases 

 when the personal judgment of an observer 

 is liable to be modified or controlled by offi- 

 cial or other temporary authority." 



Oil of beechnuts and oil of linden seeds 

 have for some time been manufactured in 

 Germany for use instead of olive oil. The 

 oil of beechnuts has been in active demand 



