NOTES. 



575 



carries it hanging down, because in that 

 position it is less conspicuous and better 

 eludes detection. A family of wolves play- 

 ing together undisturbed occasionally carry 

 their tails curled upward. By degrees the 

 tail acquires naturally the upright position 

 as a result of coincident evolution of the 

 mind of the wolf by domestication and of 

 the slow adaptation of the appendage as an 

 organ of expression. The cessation of natu- 

 ral selection in the domestic dog would give 

 the tail greater freedom of motion without 

 detriment to life ; and artificial selection 

 modifies it into various shapes. 



Salphar in Sicily. — According to the re- 

 port of the United States consul at Palermo, 

 there are now about three hundred sulphur 

 mines in Sicily. The deposits are estimated 

 to amount to about 30,000,000 tons, and the 

 annual production to 400,000 tons. The 

 royalties vary from twelve to forty - five 

 per cent, according to the quality of the 

 ore and the facihties for producing the 

 sulphur, and average about twenty -five 

 per cent. The external indications of the 

 presence of sulphur are the appearance 

 of gypsum and sulphurous springs. When 

 the miners detach the ore from the sur- 

 rounding material, vast cavities are often 

 left which have to be supported on pillars of 

 rock, and frequently give way with disas- 

 trous results. Seven different qualities are 

 reco2;nized, and determined by color. The 

 mines have declined in prosperity since the 

 extraction of sulphur from iron pyrites has 

 come into use, and two thirds of them are 

 represented to be at the point of suspension. 



Cause of Chinese Emigration. — The 



main cause of the emigration from China, 

 which is filling all other countries with ap- 

 prehension, is traced by a Dutch colonial offi- 

 cer in the East Indies, not to the excess of 

 population, but to the poverty of the soil in 

 the provinces whence the emigrants come. 

 The mass of the emigration is from the bare 

 mountainous valleys of the eastern part of 

 China, where the soil yields but little and 

 the rainfall is slight. Disafforestation, mak- 

 ing wood scarce and dear, is another factor 

 in the matter. The author believes that as 

 soon as China earnestly sets itself to the 

 task of constructing railways and other great 



works the stream of emigration will be 

 stopped ; for the people will find in the in- 

 terior of their own country the work and 

 means of livelihood which they now seek for 

 elsewhere, 



UnlTcrsity-extension Lectures on Science. 



— Arrangements have been made, in connec- 

 tion with the English university-extension 

 movement, for one month's residence during 

 the long vacation of extension students within 

 the university precincts, where lectures will 

 be given them on the subjects of their stud- 

 ies. The lectures for 1891 included a dis- 

 cussion of the criticism of Weismann's theo- 

 ry of heredity, by Mr. Poult on ; the functions 

 of the heart, by Mr. Gotch ; the benzene 

 ring, by Prof. Odling ; a course of practical 

 chemistry, under the supervision of Mr. 

 Marsh ; practical instruction in geology, by 

 Prof. Green and Mr. Badger, with excursions ; 

 practical astronomy ; four lectures on the 

 application of science to the art of agricult- 

 ure ; the management of poultry ; and ma- 

 nures. 



NOTES. 



A PRACTICAL paper on Some Means of 

 Health in School-houses is contributed to 

 the 1890 Report of the Wisconsin Board of 

 Health by Hon. W. D. Parker. One of the 

 arrangements that Mr. Parker strongly com- 

 mends is the " dry-air closet," so called 

 because a current of dry air, coming from 

 the ventilating flues of the building, is 

 passed through the vault and carries off all 

 the moisture from it, leaving only a small 

 quantity of dry, inoffensive solid matter, 

 which can be shoveled out. This result, he 

 says, is almost incredible, but has been es- 

 tablished by sufficient tests. 



The fact that the science relating to 

 electricity has no name of its own is noted 

 by the editor of Our Language, who pro- 

 poses that it be called ".electrics." The 

 pair of words, " electrics " and electrician, 

 would be in analogy with optics and opti- 

 cian, mechanics and mechanician, mathe- 

 matics and mathematician, and many others. 

 At present the word electricity performs two 

 functions similar to those which are sepa- 

 rated in the case of light and optics, heat 

 and thermotics, soimd and acoustics. 



An instance of a spider catching a small 

 mouse, very similar tn one published in the 

 Monthly for May, 1890, comes to us from 

 Columbus, Ohio. The mouse was found by 

 Mr. W. J. Dawson suspended by a cable 



