2^8 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



heat, etc.), the Bib]io<Traphy of Physics, 

 and National Laboratories. The linal 

 programme is, however, still to be set- 

 tled. The subscription for membership 

 is twenty francs, or four dollars. The 

 foreign secretary of the congress is M. 

 Charles Edouard Guillaume, Pavilion de 

 Breteuil, Sevres (Seine et Oise), Paris. 



In a book called Literary Munich Por- 

 traits, with brief biographical sketches 

 by Paul Heyse, are given of twenty-five 

 of the most prominent literary men of 

 that brilliant capital. Only two authors 

 not Germans are included. One of them 

 is our contributor, E. P. Evans. The 

 other is the Norwegian novelist Bjorn- 

 son. Heyse leaves himself out, although 

 he is the greatest literary character of 

 them all. 



SosiE recent experiments, conducted 

 jointly by the Kew Observatory Com- 

 mittee and the International Bureau of 

 Weights and JNIeasures at Sevres, were 

 made to compare the platinum ther- 

 mometer of Professor Callendar, which 

 measures temperature by the varying re- 

 sistance of a platinum Avire, and the 

 older mercury and gas thermometers. 

 It Avas found that below 100° C. the dif- 

 ferences between the observed values on 

 the nitrogen scale and those deduced 

 from the platinum thei-mometer are ex- 

 ceedingly small, and that even at the 

 highest temperature (590°) the diflfer- 

 ences only amount to a few tenths of a 

 degree. 



The American Chemical Society has 

 gained 232 members during the past year, 

 making the present number 1,540. The 

 report of the committee on the analysis 

 of coal, submitted to the recent meeting 

 of the society at Columbus, Ohio, em- 

 bodied detailed instructions in regard 

 to the best methods of analyzing coke, 

 and outlined a plan for securing uni- 

 formity in such analysis by chemists 

 throughout the land. This report was 

 adopted. 



At the recent annual meeting of the 

 American Society for the Promotion of 

 Agricultural Science Prof. W. J. Beal 

 reported concerning the germination of 

 seeds, after long keeping, that experi- 

 ments had been tried with various seeds 

 five, ten, fifteen, and twenty years old, 

 from Avhich it appeared that seeds of a 

 large number of important plants would 

 germinate after fifteen years, but the 

 number sprouting after twenty years 

 was small. 



A PAPER was read by Dr. L. O. How- 

 ard, at the recent meeting of the Ameri- 

 can Society of Entomologists, recording 

 the success which has been obtained by 



the fig-raisers of California in fertiliz- 

 ing the Smyrna variety of figs by the 

 aid of the blastophaga which issues from 

 the Capri figs covered with their pollen. 

 A generation of the blastophaga has been 

 developed at Fresno by which many 

 Sniyrna figs have been satisfactorily fer- 

 tilized, and there is considerable proba- 

 bility that the insect has at last estab- 

 lished itself on California soil. 



The five hundredth anniversary of 

 the birth of Gutenberg, associated with 

 the invention of printing, is to be cele- 

 brated at Mayence, June 24, 1900. It 

 is hoped that the foundation of a Gu- 

 tenberg Museum may be a result of this 

 movement. An exhibition illustrating 

 the art and progress of printing is also 

 expected to be held. 



The conclusion is drawn by the Ital- 

 ian, Signor Albini, from investigations 

 on the nutritive value of whole-meal 

 bread, that it is inferior to that of or- 

 dinary white bread, and that a further 

 disadvantage comes from the excessive 

 quantity of indigestible matter, formed 

 of the harder parts of the pericarp of the 

 grain, which it contains. 



We have to add to our obituary list 

 of men known in science the names of 

 Edward Orton, LL. D., Professor of Ge- 

 ology in Ohio State University, late 

 State Geologist of Ohio, and late Presi- 

 dent of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science, at Colum- 

 bus, Ohio, October 16th, in his seventy- 

 first year, of whom Ave shall shortly give 

 a more extended sketch, Avith portrait; 

 Grant Allen, Avriter of several scientific 

 books and articles, and a contributor 

 to the Popular Science Monthly; Prof. 

 Theodore Elbert, Gerriian geologist, aged 

 forty-tAvo years; Dr. Max Barth, Direct- 

 or of the Agricultural Station of Ru- 

 fach, Alsace, aged forty-four years; M. 

 Paul Janet, member of the Paris Acad- 

 emy of Moral Science, and formerly pro- 

 fessor at the Sorbonne; Edward Case, 

 English engineer, Avell known for his 

 method of groining to prevent the sea 

 from encroaching on the coast, Septem- 

 ber 22d; Hamilton Y. Castner, whose 

 name is associated Avith the establish- 

 ment of processes for the electrolytic 

 production of alkali and bleaching pow- 

 der from common salt, and for the ex- 

 traction of aluminum; Dr. Oscar Bau- 

 niann, of Vienna, African explorer, 

 author of a maj) of the Congo, geograph- 

 ical articles, and books relating to his 

 explorations; and Dr. J. W. Hicks, 

 Bishop of Bloemfontein, formerly dem- 

 onstrator in chemistiy in the University 

 of Cambridge, and author of a text-book 

 on inorganic chemistry. 



