424 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



press, and of careful reading of the proofs 

 of the large amount of the Survey's publica- 

 tions, has made necessary the development of 

 an editorial system. During the year 1886-'87 

 there was published an aggregate of 4,253 

 pages of text, illustrated by 350 plates and 

 327 figures. These publications consist of 

 four classes, viz., annual reports, mono- 

 graphs, bulletins, and statistical papers. At 

 the date of this statement, five annual re- 

 ports, eleven monographs, thirty-five bulle- 

 tins, and two statistical papers had been is- 

 sued. The monographs are in quarto form, 

 the other books in octavo. The custody of 

 the documents distributed through the Sur- 

 vey is vested in the librarian, and accounts 

 are kept of the number of copies received 

 from the public printer, and sold, exchanged, 

 or given away. A printed letter of trans- 

 mittal, with a blank receipt and an envelope 

 for its return, is sent out with each copy. 

 The Survey maintains a geologic library for 

 use in the prosecution of its work. The li- 

 brary last year contained 19,501 volumes, 

 26,100 pamphlets, and 8,000 maps. The 

 facilities afforded by this collection are be- 

 ing utilized in the preparation of two geo- 

 logic bibliographies by the library staff. The 

 librarian has eleven assistants. In the prin- 

 cipal office of the Survey, at Washington, 

 there are employed in the work of the Sur- 

 vey from 70 persons in summer to 225 per- 

 sons in winter, in a building of 78 rooms, on 

 five floors. 



" Feeding for Fat and for Lean." — Dr. 



Manly Miles, criticising the reports under 

 the above title of experiments in pig-feeding 

 made at the Missouri Agricultural College, and 

 the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion, fails to find any practical results in them 

 which are both new and reliable. He quotes 

 some of the results obtained in the extended 

 feeding experiments conducted by Sir John 

 Lawes and Dr. Gilbert at Rothamsted, and 

 points out, among the indications which they 

 give, that the nitrogenous substance of the 

 animal's increase in weight bears no direct 

 relation to the amount of nitrogenous sub- 

 stance of the food consumed. Also, in the 

 words of the experimenters, " that, with 

 an excessive proportion of nitrogenous sub- 

 stance in the food of the fattening pig, we 

 have found there was more of a tendency to 



grow in frame or flesh, than in other cases ; 

 and again, that the larger the proportion of 

 flesh in the increase, the less will be the pro- 

 portion in it of real dry substance." Fur- 

 ther, when fattening foods contain an ordi- 

 nary amount of nitrogenous substance, " it 

 is their available non-nitrogenous constitu- 

 ents which rule both the amount of the food 

 consumed and the increase in live weight 

 produced." The pigs fed on corn-meal ex- 

 clusively at Rothamsted did not do well until 

 a mixture of coal-ashes, salt, and superphos- 

 phate of lime was given them, but this gave 

 the most satisfactory results both as to the 

 health of the animals and their progress in 

 feeding. In the Missouri and Wisconsin re- 

 ports of experiments, little attention is given 

 to the proportion of mineral constituents m 

 the food, which Dr. Miles deems an impor- 

 tant omission, especially in the case of grow- 

 ing animals, that should make some increase 

 in bony tissue. lie regards corn-meal as un- 

 doubtedly deficient in ash constituents, and 

 his own experience has been that, when feed- 

 ing it alone, the most satisfactory develop- 

 ment of muscle as well as bone has been 

 obtained when the pigs had access to some 

 bone-ash, leached wood-ashes, or other simi- 

 lar mineral matters. It is likewise a com- 

 mon practice among farmers of his acquaint- 

 ance to provide some mineral " relishes " for 

 their pigs when their food consists largely 

 of corn. 



Execntion by Electricity. — The new law 



of the State of New York substituting exe- 

 cution by electricity for hanging was drawn 

 in conformity with the report of a commis- 

 sion, consisting of Elbridge T. Gerry, Alfred 

 P. Southwick, and Matthew Hale, which was 

 appointed by the Legislature to investigate 

 the most humane mdthod of inflicting the 

 death-penalty. The report contains, first, 

 a brief history of capital punishment from 

 the time of Moses to the present day ; sec- 

 ond, objections to the five modes of exe- 

 cution now employed by civilized govern- 

 ments, followed by a discussion of proposed 

 substitutes, with a recommendation of elec- 

 tricity. From the opinions of experts and 

 the results of experiments on dogs, the com- 

 mission concluded that " death produced by a 

 sufficiently powerful electric current is the 

 most rapid and humane produced by any 



