282 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



A course by Mr. Grabau on the use of 

 the microscope and the preparation of 

 specimens was followed by ten days' 

 laboratory work in Limekilns Bay, 

 Maine. One of the results of a winter 

 course on zoology, to a class of twenty 

 teachers, was the formation of the Hale 

 House Natural History Club, in connec- 

 tion with which field meetings are held, 

 classes for children are formed, and 

 papers upon elementary subjects are 

 read and discussed. Other courses of 

 lectures are mentioned in the report of 

 the curator of the society — the field les- 

 sons in geology, by Professor Barton, 

 with a winter course in historical geol- 

 ogy; the course of Dr. R. W. Greenleaf, 

 on the elementary structure and func- 

 tion of the parts of flowering plants; 

 the course of the curator (Alpheus 

 Hyatt), on elementary zoology; and the 

 lectures on geography, by Prof. W. M. 

 Davis. 



Glacier Water. — An analysis of 

 two samples of water from the Illecilli- 

 waet Glacier, in British Columbia, was 

 recently made by F. T. Shutt and A. T. 

 Charron. The water was collected a few 

 feet from the glacier's irregular face, 

 about a mile and a half from the glacier 

 station on the Canadian Pacific Rail- 

 way. The following is abstracted from 

 an account in the Chemical News: 



Free ammonia 



Albuminoid ammonia .... 

 Nitrogen as nitrates and 



nitrites 



Oxygen absorbed in fifteen 



minutes 



Oxygen absorbed in four 



hours 



Chlorine 



Total solids at 105° C 



Solids after ignition 



Loss oil ignition 



Phosphates 



No. 1. No. 2. 



Part! per 



0.018 

 0.027 



0.0246 



millioD. 



0.018 

 0.037 



0.0442 



0.0396i 0.0672 



0.1056 



0.10 

 30.8 

 30.8 



None. 



None. 



0.1744 



0.10 

 12.0 



8.0 



4.0 

 None. 



The authors go on to say : " From 

 the above data we may unhesitatingly 

 conclude that the glacier water is one 

 of great organic purity. The samples 

 are not identical, due no doubt to the 

 fact that they were collected twelve 

 days apart, and probably from differ- 

 ent parts of the foot of the glacier. 

 Both analyses, however, show that, 



judged by the standards used in the 

 diagnosis of ordinary potable waters, it 

 is a water possessing a high degree of 

 purity, and one perfectly wholesome 

 and eminently suited for drinking and 

 household purposes. As received, both 

 samples were quite murky, almost 

 milky, in appearance. On allowing 

 them to stand, perfect subsidence took 

 place, leaving the supernatant water 

 colorless and brilliant. A microscopic 

 examination of the sediment showed 

 it to consist of very fine rock matter, 

 chiefly fragments of quartzite. 



Protection of Plants and Birds 

 in Prance and Italy. — Organized 

 efforts for the protection of native 

 plants and birds from further destruc- 

 tion are multiplying in Europe. Bo- 

 tanical stations for Alpine plants have 

 been established at several places in 

 France and Switzerland, and now Italy 

 has come into line with the association 

 Pro Mortibus, which, founded in July, 

 1897, has already more than five hun- 

 dred adherents. Italy is probably the 

 country where work of this kind is 

 most needed, for nowhere else is the de- 

 struction, particularly of birds, so sj's- 

 tematically, persistently, and industri- 

 ously carried on. Pro Mortibus will 

 also interest itself in the preservation 

 and replantation of the forests. Among 

 other efforts looking in a similar direc- 

 tion, M. J. Coreelli tells in La Nature 

 of the establishment of shelters in con- 

 nection with the schools in Saxony 

 where birds are fed in the winter, and 

 of lessons given to the children incul- 

 cating regard for them. A great deal 

 has been accomplished in France with- 

 out much noise in rcwooding the dev- 

 astated slopes of the mountains and 

 erecting efficient safeguards against 

 ravage by torrents — largely by restrain- 

 ing the torrents at their sources; and 

 the Aljiine forests of the country, M. 

 Coreelli says, " are again rising from 

 their ashes." Reserves of Alpine plants 

 have been established by the Belfort 

 section of the French Alpine Club on 

 the Ballon of Alsace; the central sec- 

 tion is creating an extensive botanical 

 garden in the Vosges, to serve as a place 

 of refuge and propagation and multipli- 

 cation of species threatened with extinc- 

 tion. The city of Annecy, in Savoy, 

 has recently voted the money required 



