FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



735 



to the top, and would carry off the 

 salts. This being at present impracti- 

 cable on the large scale tliat would be 

 required, such expedients as surface 

 flooding and such cultivation of crops as 

 would tend to check evaporation are 

 suggested. The pernicious effects of 

 " black alkali " or sodium carbonate are 

 seen when it forms as much as about 

 one tenth of one per cent of the soil, in 

 the corrosion and solution of vegetable 

 matter — the stems of plants — exposed 

 to it. It also dissolves the humus or 

 vegetable mold, forming dark-colored 

 solutions and depositing a black resi- 

 due upon the evaporation of the water 

 — whence its name — and it destroys the 

 tillability of many soils. The " white 

 alkali " or sodium sulphate can be borne 

 in much larger proportions in the soil, 

 and promotes the best crops just before 

 it completely destroys them. The au- 

 thor remarks that the foundations of a 

 number of buildings in Billings, Mon- 

 tana, are gradually becoming insecure 

 because of the disintegration of the 

 rock, due to the absorption of alkali 

 salts, followed by the evaporation of the 

 water and the deposit of salts within 

 the pores of the rock. As the process 

 continues, the rock particles are forced 

 apart. 



Future of thf New York Canals. 

 — The Committee on Canals of New 

 York State recommend decidedly in 

 their report to the Governor that those 

 highways should not be abandoned but 

 maintained, and the principal ones en- 

 larged, while the others should be kept 

 up as navigable feeders. Of two proj- 

 ects for enlarging the Erie Canal, that 

 undertaken in 1895, with modifications 

 to be executed at a cost of $21,101,045, 

 and a larger one to cost $58,894,008, the 

 committee prefer the larger one, because 

 it will permanently secure the commer- 

 cial supremacy of New York, while the 

 other is " at best only a temporary 

 makeshift." An important principle 

 emphasized in the report is that the effi- 

 ciency of the canals depends upon their 

 management as well as upon their phys- 

 ical size. Therefore a policy should be 

 followed that will encourage transporta- 

 tion companies to seek the use of them; 

 mechanical means of traction should be 

 employed, and mechanical power should 

 be substituted for hand power in cer- 



tain operations; the force engaged upon 

 them should be organized on a more 

 permanent basis of fitness, so as to fur- 

 nish an attractive career to graduate3 

 of scientific institutions; and efficient 

 guards should be thrown over the ex- 

 penditure of money " so as to make im- 

 possible a repetition of the unfortunate 

 results of the $9,000,000 appropriation." 



rioating Stones. — While engaged 

 in scientific research in southwest Pat- 

 agonia, Mr. Erland Nordenskiold ob- 

 served a considerable number of small 

 fragments of slate floating upon the 

 surface, packed together in larger or 

 smaller clusters. The surface of the 

 stones was dry, and they sank imme- 

 diately when it became wet. Their spe- 

 cific gravity was 2.71, that of the water 

 being 1.0049. The fragments contained 

 no air cavities perceptible to the naked 

 eye, but small, gaseous bubbles could be 

 seen attached to their under surfaces, 

 and stones on the very fringe of the 

 beach which were just beginning to 

 float were observed to be lightened by 

 gaseous bubbles. The author was not 

 able to investigate the phenomenon more 

 closely, but believes that besides the 

 visible bubbles they were surrounded by 

 an envelope of gas, supported by an in- 

 significant coating of algse, by which 

 they are enveloped. The greasy surface 

 of the mineral also prevented the water 

 from adhering to them, and caused 

 them to be suri'ounded with a concave 

 meniscus, which contributed much to 

 their floating. 



The " Periodicity of War." — The 



doctrine of " the periodicity of war " 

 was presented at the Lake Mohonk 

 Conference on International Arbitration 

 in May- June, 1899, by General Alfied 

 C. Barnes, with the introductory re- 

 mark that " no one deprecates war more 

 than the soldier who serves from a sense 

 of duty." The speaker said that " with 

 all our privileges, and in spite of the 

 elcA^ated spirit that undeniably prevails 

 among us, the original savage lurks in 

 the hearts of men here as elsewhere." 

 In two hundred and twenty-five years 

 we have had ten principal wars — five 

 during the colonial period and five since 

 our independence was undertaken. The 

 average interval between wars has been 

 about twenty years—" an extremely in- 



