430 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



without nuisance. Suitable provisions were 

 made to obviate the only valid objection to 

 the process — that it might be used to destroy 

 evidences of poisoning — and the first crema- 

 tion took place on the 20th of March, 1885. 

 Two others followed in that year, ten more 

 in 1886, and ten more to the end of Novem- 

 ber, 1887. "The complete incineration is 

 accomplished," says Sir Henry Thompson, 

 " without escape of smoke or other offensive 

 product, and with extreme ease and rapidity. 

 The ashes, which weigh about three pounds, 

 are placed at the disposal of the friends, and 

 are removed. Or, if desired, they may be 

 restored at once to the soil, being now per- 

 fectly innocuous, if that mode of dealing with 

 them is preferred. One friend of the de- 

 ceased is always invited to be present, and 

 in almost every instance has expressed satis- 

 faction with the way in which the proceeding 

 has been carried out." The Cremation So- 

 ciety has no thought of making cremation 

 compulsory, but simply by all the means in 

 its power to encourage its voluntary adoption, 

 and to enlarge the opportunities for those 

 who desire it to have their wishes properly 

 carried out. It, however, urges upon all 

 that cremation is eminently preferable — 

 whatever may be the feelings in other re- 

 spects — in the case of persons who have died 

 of small-pox, scarlet fever, or diphtheria. All 

 cases where the cause of death is in doubt 

 should be rejected at once, except after an 

 autopsy. If the autopsy is objected to by 

 the family of the deceased, the cremationists 

 would avoid the doubtful case without rais- 

 ing an imputation. 



India -Paper. — India -paper, which the 

 Chinese call lehi, is made from hemp, mul- 

 berry-bark, cotton, bamboo, rice-straw, bar- 

 ley-straw, and from the interior membrane 

 of silk-worm cocoons. Sometimes the whole 

 of the stalks of bamboo of a year's growth 

 are used. The pulp is mixed, after it has 

 been prepared, with a given proportion of a 

 vegetable gum called hotong in China. The 

 paper is molded in molds made of fine bam- 

 boo filament. Those sheets, sixty feet in 

 length, which the Chinese are said to make, 

 are supposed to be fabricated by artfully 

 joining several small sheets at the moment 

 of laying the paper. When taken from the 

 molds, the paper is stretched upon a wall, 



hollow inside and heated, the surface of 

 which has been coated with a very thin mas- 

 tic. The application of the mastic is made 

 with a brush, and this accounts for the 

 streaks and roughness that appear on the 

 wrong side of this paper. India-paper, be- 

 ing too thin to bear handling or any strain, 

 is mounted on vellum, which serves as a lin- 

 ing to it, and the white borders of which set 

 it off as a frame would do. The sheets thus 

 prepared are kept in a dry place, far away 

 from the fire, and may be preserved for 

 vears. 



NOTES. 



Prof. Daniel S. Martin has announced 

 a " Geological Map of the Environs of New 

 York City," embracing a region of sixty- 

 eight miles from north to south, and fifty 

 miles from east to west. It includes the 

 whole width of the Triassic belt of New 

 Jersey, with its trappean ridges entire, and 

 its relations to the formations around it ; 

 the northern part of the entire series of the 

 New Jersey State Survey's divisions of the 

 Cretaceous ; the recent divisions of the New 

 Jersey and Long Island coast region; the 

 Great Terminal Moraine conspicuously laid 

 down; the lines of deep sounding, which 

 mark the submerged pre-glacial channel of 

 the Hudson River ; and all other geological 

 features. It measures forty by fifty inches, 

 and is published at a subscription price of 

 ten dollars a copy. 



The fourth session of the International 

 Geological Congress will be held in London, 

 September IVth to 25th. Prof. Huxley will 

 be honorary President, Prof. Prestvvich Pres- 

 ident, and the President of the Geological 

 Society, the Director of the Geological Sur- 

 vey, and Mr.. T. McR. Hughes, Vice-Presi- 

 dents. Messrs. T. W. Hulke and W. Topley 

 are the General Secretaries, to the latter of 

 whom communications respecting the Con- 

 gress should be addressed, at 28 Jermyn 

 Street, London, S. W. 



A CIRCULAR of the Educational Depart- 

 ment of Scotland discourages attempts to 

 give technical instruction in the primary 

 schools till the boys have reached the higher 

 standards, and not even then unless skilled 

 teachers and scientific apparatus are attain- 

 able. In most instances the thorough teach- 

 ing of elementary science is beyond the reach 

 of the primary schools ; but some of the 

 difficulty may be overcome by several school 

 boards uniting to employ a trained staff of 

 teachers. School boards are advised to seek 

 the aid of local committees composed of 

 manufacturers who know what technical edu- 

 cation is most needed in the district. 



