NOTES. 



143 



Steps were taken at the recent meeting 

 of the American Association for the forma- 

 tion of an American Geological Society. A 

 constitution was adopted, under which the 

 society will consist of not less than a hun- 

 dred Fellows, and will meet annually during 

 the Christmas holidays, with a second meet- 

 ing in connection with that of the American 

 Association. The committee under whose 

 charge this action was taken, of which 

 President Alexander Winchell is chairman, 

 was continued as a committee to secure 

 members. 



From examinations of certain waters — 

 one of them being a " mineral " water free 

 from all possible sources of contamination 

 — in which free ammonia was present — Prof. 

 E. H. S. Bailey remarked, in the American 

 Association, that he was inclined to consider 

 that that substance may be sometimes a 

 natural constituent, and not indicative of 

 any pollution, of the water. 



Australian experiences prove it bad 

 policy to offer scalp - bounties for the de- 

 struction of animal pests. Such bounties 

 have been offered for the rabbit pest, and, 

 encouraged by them, a class of professional 

 rabbit-hunters has sprung up, who carefully 

 nourish the supply of their profitable game, 

 and see that the natural enemies of the rab- 

 bits, which might do a great deal to limit 

 their increase, are kept down. 



A STUDY has been made by Prof. T. G. 

 Bonney of the rounding of pebbles by the 

 Alpine torrents and rivers. From this it 

 appears that pebbles are rounded with com- 

 parative rapidity when the descent of the 

 stream is rapid, and they are dashed down 

 rocky slopes by a roaring torrent capable of 

 sweeping along blocks of much greater vol- 

 ume ; while the rounding takes place with 

 comparative slowness when the descent is 

 gentle and the average fall of the river 

 is about adequate to push them along in 

 its bed. 



The International Congress of American- 

 ists, which meets in Berlin October 2d to 5th, 

 will discuss, on the first day, questions re- 

 lating to the discovery of the New World, 

 to the history of America before the time of 

 Columbus, and to American geology ; the 

 second day, subjects of archa;ology ; the third 

 day, those of anthropology and ethnology ; 

 and the fourth day, philology and palseog- 

 raphy. 



Comparatively little attention was given 

 by the medical profession to the treatment 

 of sprains till in 1870 or 1871, when Sir 

 James Paget urged the investigation of the 

 subject and the institution of scientific meth- 

 ods in the matter. Dr. Wharton Hood after- 

 ward published in the " Lancet " an account 

 of the methods followed by the professional 

 bone-setters of the public, which, with some 



blunders, were attended with considerable 

 success. A full treatise on the subject has 

 recently been published in London by Dr. 

 G. W. Mansell Moulin. This author recom- 

 mends a treatment chiefly hydropathic, with 

 the avoidance of such lotions and liniments 

 as arnica and rhus toxicodendron ; an accu- 

 rately measured rest, followed by moderate 

 and careful movements, and suitably adapted 

 massage. 



Parasitic fishes — extremely small beings, 

 shaped like an eel — have been recognized 

 only for a relatively short time. Ten spe- 

 cies have been distinguished in different seas 

 and oceans. They usually attach themselves 

 to some hollow part of the bodies of marine 

 animals, preferably entering the respiratory 

 cavities of star-fish. They have even been 

 found in the interior of the shells of pearl- 

 oysters. They do not injure the animals 

 with which they associate themselves, for 

 they do not live upon them, but upon the 

 minute organisms which the sea-water brings 

 to their cavities, so that they are really com- 

 mensals rather than parasites. 



The property which platinum and palla- 

 dium display of throwing off flakes of their 

 substance when under the influence of a 

 strong electric current is due to the gases 

 which they have occluded. Gold exhibits it 

 in a less degree, and it may be that the old 

 experiment of exploding wires by the dis- 

 charge from Leyden-jar batteries depends 

 upon the outbursts of occluded gases. The 

 same property of occlusion exists in car- 

 bon, and has to be taken account of in the 

 manufacture of incandescent lamps, from 

 the wicks of which the gases must be driven 

 out previous to using, else there will be no 

 durability to them. 



Mr. Maries, superintendent of the gar- 

 dens of the Maharajah of Durbunga, India, 

 has succeeded in reclaiming a tract of waste 

 saline soil, in which not even weeds would 

 grow, by digging down to the depth of two 

 feet and planting thickly at the beginning of 

 the rainy season with trees that had been 

 grown in pots. In three years the ground 

 was filled with roots, and to all appearances 

 the salt had gone. When the trees were 

 thinned out in 1887, the soil was found to 

 be in good condition. Similar experiments 

 have been successfully carried out in other 

 places. Various kinds of trees were em- 

 ployed in the reclaiming operations, but the 

 best were the Inga saman, or rain-tree, and 

 the Albizzia procera. 



Last year's coroners' inquests in Eng- 

 land furnished two examples of death re- 

 sulting from tight-lacing. The last case was 

 of a young lady suffering from fatty infiltra- 

 tion of the heart, who died suddenly while 

 dressing hastily after a hearty meal. The 

 corset was proved to have had a close agency 

 in determining the fatal result. 



