398 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



bites of insects and the infections they 

 bring by fumigating the entire body 

 with sulphur. For tYiis purpose he cov- 

 ered the unclothed body with a suitable 

 envelope, under which the sulphur was 

 burned. The remedy was communi- 

 cated to M. d'Abbadie by a hippopota- 

 mus hunter who had, by using it, es- 

 caped all the diseases incident to the 

 swamps to which he had to resort. 



The Gregorian Calendar is to be 

 adopted by the Russian Government on 

 January 1, 1901, or at the beginning of 

 the new century. 



The following figures, from the En- 

 gineering and Mining Journal, are of in- 

 terest as showing the enormous quantity 

 of iron and steel which was manufac- 

 tured in 1898, and the leading position 

 which the United States has already as- 

 sumed in the industry: 

 Iron and Stbci- Production, is Metric 

 Tons.* 



7,889,300 



4,559,736 

 5,091,294 



9,045,815 



4,639,042 

 5,784,807 



16,940,330 



553, 

 616, 



19,413,664 



605,500 

 668,180 



57, 

 881, 

 121, 

 268 

 310, 



,595 1,441,6;« 

 ,2501 58,7.50 



1,095,000 

 112,6''5 

 289,7.50 

 365,000 



* A metric ton is about 2,200 pounds. 



Although fewer casual members or 

 members for the year than usual were 

 present at the recent meeting of the 

 British Association at Dover, the at- 

 tendance of distinguislied men of sci- 

 ence and of active scientific workers, ac- 

 cording to the London Times, seemed 

 to be greater. And so far as the proper 

 work of the association is concerned, 

 the meeting should take a high rank. 

 Excellent and serious work was done in 

 all the sections. 



A PAPER has been published by 

 Pliny T. Sexton, of Palmyra, N. Y., set- 

 ting forth reasons for favoring the uni- 

 fication of the whole educational system 

 of the State of New York under the 

 jurisdiction of a single board — that of 

 the Regents of the University. The rea- 

 Bons are presented in the form of various 



newspaper articles which were published 

 last year against a proposition of an op- 

 |)Osite character — to abolish the present 

 Department of Public Instruction and 

 create a State Commission of Education, 

 the affiliations of which would be politi- 

 cal. !Mr. Sexton has further offered two 

 prizes of one hundred dollars each for 

 articles or essays by women and similar 

 productions by men in support of the 

 proposed unification. 



M. HiLDEBERT RiCHAJtD, of Avi- 



gnon, France, relates that he experi- 

 mented upon two adult geranium plants, 

 both healthy and of vigorous growth, 

 under like conditions of exposure, wa- 

 tering one (A) with well water and the 

 other (B) with water containing a 

 measured proportion of butylic alcohol 

 daily. A kept on with its healthy- 

 growth. B, after four days of alcoholi- 

 zation, showed an enfeebled growth, 

 with symptoms of jaundice, drowsiness, 

 and intoxication; a special odor percep- 

 tible in all parts of the plant, partially 

 burned spots, and melanosis and geotro- 

 pism in the leaves. 



In his papers on The Art and Cus- 

 toms of Benin, Mr. Ling Roth con- 

 eludes that the art of that savage land 

 consists of mixed elements, partly Eu- 

 ropean forais which the native mind 

 was prone to copy, partly introduced 

 from other parts of Africa. It is char- 

 acterized by boldness, freedom, clear- 

 ness in execution, originality, and va- 

 riety. Among the customs he mentions 

 are the practice of human sacrifice and 

 the sprinkling of the blood of the ani- 

 mals killed at the periodical sacrifices 

 on the ivories and 'on the cast-iron or 

 bronze figure-heads placed on the altars. 

 When there was too much rain, a wom- 

 an had a message saluting the rain god 

 put into her mouth. She was then 

 killed and set up in the execution tree, 

 so that the rain might see. 



Our scientific obituary list of the 

 month includes the names of Sir Wil- 

 liam Dawson, the distinguished Cana- 

 dian geologist, of whom a fuller notice 

 is given in another place; Dr. Luther 

 Dana Woodbridge, Professor of Anat- 

 omy and Physiology in Williams Col- 

 lege, at Williamstown, Mass., of heart 

 disease, November 3d, aged forty-nine 

 years; Dr. Oscar Baumann, African ex- 

 plorer, geographer to the Austrian Con- 

 go Expedition of 1885, who made studies 

 for the projected railroad from Tanga 

 to Karog; Dr. F. Kuhla, botanical ex- 

 plorer, at Manfios, Brazil; Percy S. 

 Pilcher, inventor of flying machines, 

 from an accident while experimenting. 



