FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



431 



TVonns that can hardly be classified, and 

 larvae which give no clew to their parentage, 

 exhibit beyond other animals the tendency 

 to multiply rapidly, and to break away from 

 one another at an early stage — a tendency 

 which is so strong in the microscopic proto- 

 zoa as to enter into the definition of the 

 group. Fission, budding, alternation of gen- 

 erations, and spore formation are ultimately 

 due to the same tendency. Weak animals 

 make up, by their invisibility and their ability 

 to scatter and evade, for the lack of powers 

 to resist. If one polyp of a hydrozoa colony 

 is bitten off, others remain, so that no enemy 

 can possibly devour all the medusae liberated 

 from one colony or all the planulae liberated 

 from one medusa. Some animals and plants 

 multiply by being torn to pieces or chopped 

 small. Small animals are usually short-lived ; 

 and those that last as long as a year are 

 often driven, like annual plants, to adapt 

 every detail of their existence to the chang- 

 ing seasons. The naturalist who explores 

 the surface waters of the sea soon learns 

 that the time of year determines the pres- 

 ence or absence of particular larvae. 



The importance and great expense of 

 securing a pure water supply in large cities, 

 and the carelessness with which the average 

 householder handles his taps, have led many 

 municipalities to consider the use of water me- 

 ters. Such an attempt is now being made in 

 Philadelphia, and is, it is stated, causing some 

 dissatisfaction. There is no question that the 

 water meter is a thing of the near future. 

 The great care and expensive mechanism 

 which are now coming to be considered ne- 

 cessary in securing a safe city water supply 

 have added so much to its cost that wanton 

 waste of it can not be tolerated ; and, besides 

 this, the small individual savings at each 

 house, when added together in a large city, 

 will go far toward furnishing a supply for 

 various public sanitary purposes, such as 

 daily flushing of the pavements, etc., and in 

 this way also tend to improve the hygiene of 

 the town. 



The halibut fishery on the northwest 

 coast of the United States has developed 

 into an industry of considerable importance, 

 and there are now, Mr. A. R. Alexander says, 

 in a Bulletin of the Fish Commission, nearly 

 double the number of vessels engaged in it 



that there were four years ago. The de- 

 mand for this fish five years ago was mostly 

 limited to local orders ; now large shipments 

 are made to all parts of the West, and im- 

 portant consignments have been sent to the 

 Atlantic coast by Canadian fishermen. The 

 American catch finds a market in the States 

 west of the Mississippi River. When this 

 fishery began on the Pacific coast Port 

 Townsend was its center, but for the last 

 few years Tacoma and Seattle have absorbed 

 the business. Halibut on the northern coast 

 banks are very erratic. In places where 

 they are numerous one day, few will be 

 found the next. It frequently happens that 

 a vessel will have good success for several 

 days, and in a few hours' time fish will be- 

 come so scarce that it is useless to remain 

 longer on the ground. Fishermen can give 

 no cause for this sudden disappearance other 

 than that the halibut are traveling in schools, 

 going from one bank to another, and not 

 stopping long at any one place. Halibut do 

 not seem to be very particular as to their 

 food. 



It is stated in Industry and Iron that, 

 after a series of tests which have proved 

 satisfactory in every respect, the Prussian 

 Railway Department has decided to intro- 

 duce a mixture of acetylene and oil gas for 

 train lighting on the state railways. It is 

 said that by the admixture of one part of 

 acetylene to three parts of oil gas the illu- 

 minating power of the latter is increased 

 three hundred per cent. A flame consuming 

 twenty-seven litres of the mixture per hour 

 produces sixteen-candle power. The use of 

 this mixture offers the great advantage that 

 neither in manufacturing methods nor in the 

 present oil-gas appliances in the carriages is 

 any change necessary. As a pattern for the 

 installation of the other gas plants to be 

 erected on all the railway lines of the king- 

 dom, the minister recommends the acetylene 

 gas plant at Griinewald station, near Berlin. 

 The present annual consumption of Pintsch 

 oil gas on the Prussian railways is one hun- 

 dred and twenty-seven million cubic feet. 



The curious formations known as bezoars, 

 of common occurrence in the stomach and 

 intestines of ruminants, are simply masses 

 of indigestible material which, either owing 

 to excessive size or other cause, are not 



