NOTES. 



H3 



which in immediately contiguous areas has 

 had a great influence in the flow of the 

 streams. The author observes that the 

 facts upon which his conclusion is founded 

 throw much light upon the pre-glacial atti- 

 tude of the continent. These river-valleys 

 retain the general form which they had be- 

 fore the last glacial ice began to act upon 

 them, and they pursue their present courses 

 because their flow is mainly determined by 

 the existence of the pre-glacial river-valleys 

 in which they lie. It is clear that these 

 valleys could not have been excavated by 

 streams of their present slope; it seems, 

 therefore, necessary to assume that the de- 

 scent of the northward-flowing rivers must 

 have been more rapid in the pre-glacial 

 times than it is at present, or, in other 

 words, that this part of the continent was 

 at that time relatively less elevated in its 

 northern parts than it is now. 



Produfts of the Cowles Electric Fur- 

 nace. — In the American Association, Pro- 

 fessor C. F. Mayberry gave some additional 

 information to that which he had previous- 

 ly communicated concerning the aluminum 

 products from tlie Cowles electrical furnace. 

 The eflicacy of charcoal in promoting an 

 intense heat (see " Monthly " for Novem- 

 ber, 18S5) had been increased by coating it 

 with lime ; and the quantity of the product 

 was augmented by modifying the direction 

 in which the electrodes vrere introduced. 

 Some erroneous statements by foreign elec- 

 tricians were referred to. Among them was 

 a remark by Dr. Martins that they did not 

 need to be informed by Americans concern- 

 ing aluminum or its alloys. No direct an- 

 swer was made to this, but the tenor of the 

 facts cited by Professor Mayberry was to 

 the effect that that was a subject on which 

 they had still room to be iiLformed. 



Chinese Grass-Cloth. — The fabric known 

 as Chinese grass-cloth is made from the fiber 

 of nettles (Boehmeria nivea and other spe- 

 cies) which are cultivated in China, and grow 

 in India and Ceylon. They are perennial, 

 herbaceous plants, having broad oval leaves 

 with a white down on the under sides, and 

 are stingless. The fiber is worked with much 

 skill in China, but no important manufact- 

 ure of it has been developed in India. The 

 Indian Government some time ago offered a 



reward for an economical method of prepar- 

 ing the fiber, and the want has been partly 

 filled by two French inventions, by one of 

 which the stems cf the nettles are decorti- 

 cated and freed from glutinous matter by 

 steam-treatment, and by the other the fibers 

 are converted into a tow ready for spinning. 

 The cloth manufactured from this fiber is 

 glossy, has a peculiar transparency, and is 

 of beautiful texture ; and, as belting for ma- 

 chinery, has double the strength of leather 

 belting. 



NOTES. 



The many American friends of Mr. 

 Herbert Spencer have frequently been 

 pained during the past two years by the 

 very discouraging reports concerning the 

 Slate of his health, and the fear has been 

 expressed that he would be unable to do any 

 more work. We take much pleasure in stat- 

 ing, on the authority of a private letter from 

 an intimate friend of Mr. Spencer, that 

 there has been an improvement in his con- 

 dition so great that the writer characterizes 

 it as a " wonderful restoration to health." 



The most extensive forest plantations 

 in the United States mentioned in the 

 " Report " of the Division of Forestry are 

 those of the Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad, 

 and of Mr. Ilunnewell, near Farlington, 

 Kansas, of about 640 acres each, Mr. Burnett 

 Landreth's plantation, of 300 acres, in Vir- 

 ginia ; those of the Messrs. Fay and others, 

 along the sea-coast of New England ; and 

 some of considerable extent in southern 

 California. Small groves abound in the 

 prairie States, and are found less frequent- 

 ly in the Eastern States, notably in New 

 England. In the aggregate these planta- 

 tions must amount to a considerable area. 

 Forest commissions or bureaus have been in- 

 stituted in New York, California, Ohio, and 

 Colorado. 



The nomenclature adopted by the In- 

 ternational Geological Congress to express 

 the taxonomic rank of stratigraphic or 

 chronologic divisions is thus summarized by 

 Mr. G. K. Gilbert in- his address before Sec- 

 tion E of the American Association: Of 

 stratigraphic divisions, that with the highest 

 rank is groitp, then svsfcm, then stage. The 

 corresponding chronologic divisions are era, 

 period, epoch, and age. The viov A forma- 

 tion is restricted to the special function of 

 designating mineral masses with reference 

 to their origin. No word having been sug- 

 gested in its place to denote indefinitely an 

 aggregate of strata, Mr. Gilbert proposes 

 terranc, and, for the corresponding chrono- 

 logic term, time. 



