Von. XXIV. No. 3.] 
POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
39 
— S16, Sliargorod, Podolsk, Russia, Sasha 
Shei^Dtieff, Secretary ; and 525, Savinstzy, 
Poltava, Russia, Miss Julia Lcsscvitch, 
Secretary, — and to 752, of Tnskegec, Ala- 
bama. Of the first, the President is Mr. W. 
Catton Grasby, a member of the Royal 
Society of Australia. Mr. Grasby has been 
at the head of a Field-Club of Young Natu- 
ralists in Australia for some time — a club 
quite similar in its plan and objects to our 
Association. Hs has lately made a tour of 
the United States, partly in order to study 
our methods of scientific a ad industfial edu- 
cation, and he soon heard of the Agassiz 
Association. It appealed t« him at once, 
because it reminded him of his own society 
in Australia, and so he made many inquiries 
about it, paid 3'our President a most delight- 
ful visit, and, as he bade us good-bye, he 
said : "You may enroll our Field-Club as a 
Chapter of your Association. Put us down 
to start with at a hundred members. After I 
get back we shall soon send a larger list. 
We are your first branch in Australia, and 
we will do our best to be an honor to the 
Association." The two Chapters that come 
to us from the far interior of Russia, ai'e the 
first ever formed in that great empire, and 
they are desirous of corresponding with some 
of our American Chapters, with a view to 
exchanging specimens, and becoming ac- 
quainted with American thought. The last 
Chapter is established in connection with that 
well-known and most interesting college at 
Tuskegec, wlTich has the sympathy and good 
will of all who know its history. 
REPORTS FROM OUR CHAPTERS OF 
THE NINTH CENTURY, 801-900. 
It is quite impossible to print all the 
excellent reports which come to us from our 
active Chapters. We therefore shall select, 
hereafter, those which reach us most 
proniply, and which contain most matter 
of general interest. While, therefore, it will 
be no reflection upon any Chapter, if its 
report should be crowded out, it may be 
considered a special commendation whenever 
a report is crowded in ! 
806, Morristown, N. J., [A]. — Our Chapter has 
offered a prize to the member who shall hand in the 
best note-book of personal observations. In July, 
nine of our members went into camp at Lake 
Hopatcong, N. J. This lake is about nine miles 
long and two and a half wide. We had a delightful 
and novel time. During the year we have held 
twenty-five meetings, and have gained four new 
' members.— Ridley Watts, 48 Hill Street, Cor. Sec. 
811, Nyack, N. Y., [A]. — Number of meetings 
held during the year, nineteen. The subject for one 
evening was " Cotton." We had specimens of the 
plant in its various stages of development, also the 
raw and manufactured products of the same. At 
another meeting, the habits- and appearance of 
many of the fresh-water infusoria were described, 
and illustrated by drawings made directly from 
nature. A talk on corals interested us another 
evening, and beautiful specimens were shown. 
Again, we listened to a lecture on the "Geological 
Evidences of Evolution," illustrated by drawings. 
Other subjects have been: "The History of the 
Obelisk;" and "A Practical Lesson on the Crab," 
with specimens in the hands of the members. Dr. 
Hensoldt, of Columbia College, kindly gave us a 
most interesting lecture on "Star-Fish, Encrinoids, 
and Sea-Urchins;" anc| Mr. Lilley, for many j'ears 
a resident of Japan, spoke to us on the " Education 
and Life of the Japanese." W£ devoted one evening 
to a microscopical exhibition. These are, of course, 
only a few of the topics that have engaged our 
attention, but they may give a notion of our general 
work. Besides all special topics, each member is 
expected to bring a specimen, concerning which he 
either gives or asks information. The new year 
brings us an addition to our membership, and all 
promise* well. — Emma Partridge, Sec. 
833, Fall River, Mass., [C]. (Massachusetts 
Archa;ological Chapter.) — Our membership is 
composed of amateur archaeologists of Massachu- 
setts. We began on the first of May, with five 
members, and have gained one. We were organ- 
ized just before the long summer vacation, and are 
now only fairly in working order. We shall be 
glad to correspond with all who are interested in 
archicology. — Lynward French, Box 45, Fall River, 
Mass. 
834, Peru. Indiana, [BJ. — Each of our members 
has been studying some branch of natural science, 
both by reading and by personal observation. One 
member, for example, has been studying plants, — 
visiting certain marked plants once a week, noting 
the progress of their development, and making 
careful sketches and notes; another has made a col- 
lection of seeds of the plants in this region. — ^J. E. 
Walter, Sec. 
S49, Boston, Mass., [H]. — Although wur time for 
study is limited, our interest does not flag. Last 
winter we took Professor Crosby's course in miner- 
alogy, and this year we are attending his lectures. — 
Abbie F. Brown, Sec. 
S62, New York, N. Y., [W].— We have now 
eleven members. We have held meetings every 
two weeks. A botanizing excursion to Fordham 
was one of the pleasantest events of the year. We 
are now studying mineralogy. — Florence L. Jack- 
son, Sec. 
867, Elizabeth, N. J., [C]. — Since our last report, 
we have changed our Chapter room from our Secre- 
tary's home to a room in one of our grammar 
schools, where we have better accommodations, and 
the use of the larger class-rooms for open meetings. 
By thus meeting in a more public place, we'hope to 
gain a finner foothold, and to interest mere people 
in the work of the A. A. The number of active 
members remains the same, bufwe have added sev- 
eral to our honorary list — among them the princi- 
pals of three of our schools. In April, two Chau- 
tauqua Circles joined us in one of our meetings, 
where we compared work and exchanged fraternal 
greetings ; and in May, the State Assembly met with 
us. We have been represented in all the meetings 
of the "Hill and Dale Club," and many observa- 
tions have been made and specimens gained in this 
way. In the new Chapter room, cabinets have 
been built, and now contain — besides those yet to be 
determined and classified — 127 mineralogical speci- 
mens, 50 kinds of weod, and, in the herbarium, 155 
mounted specimens. The various stages of the 
process of refining crude petroleum are represented 
by sixteen samples. These show the process re- 
quired to make not only one kind of refined oil, but 
the way in which the process is varied in order to 
make oils for different purposes. Crude petroleum, 
as it comes from the Bradford oil-wells, embraces in 
its composition all the varied products in the form 
of lubricating oils, wax, or illuminating oils. The 
first product from the distillation of crude oil is very 
light naphtha. As distillation progresses, the pro- 
ducts become of heavier gravity, and vary in color 
from a yellow tinge to a white, clear oil, followed bv 
products of a bluish cast. For each brand of refined 
oil, a distillate of a certain color and gravity is 
required. After all vapor has been drawn from the 
crude oil, a tar remains, which, when distilled at a 
high temperature, yields lubricating oils. These, 
as they distill, are nearly congealed with paraffine, 
whj^li is pressed out, leaving clear, cold, test oil. 
Our samples include : 
Brudfard crude. 
Light naphtha Gravity 7J' neaiimc 
Heavy " " 65 to fiS" " 
Light distillate " Jo to 60 ." 
Water-white distillate *' ^jj to 50 ** 
He.-ivy " " 40 to 45 " 
Refined oil, regular " 44.5 '* 
" " water-white " 4S.5 •• 
Tar " 20 
Lubricating oil, unpressed and untreated. 
' " . " pressed " *' 
" " " " treated. * 
Wool oil. 
Crude scale, or unrefined paraftine, pressed from oil. 
Refined wax, or steam-treated and refined paraftine. 
Among the apparatus constructed by one of our 
members, we have a microphone, for making low- 
sounds more distinctly audible; and a galvanome- 
ter, for detecting the existence and determining the 
strength and direction of an electric current. — 
Lilian Faulks, Sec, 134 Broad Street; F. B. Kelley, 
Pres., 1061 E. Jersey Street. 
576, Peru, Indiana, [C].— Our society is consid- 
erably scattered, but the work is going on just as 
vigorously as ever. The President of the society is 
.in Albion, Michigan, attending college, the Treas- 
urer is in Chicago, and the other members are 
scattered. The Secretary has, since last January, 
kept up a scientific column in a county paper, and 
has endeavored, as far as possible, to fill it with 
articles by local writers. Qiiite an interest has 
been awakened all over the county, and the Secre- 
tary has been amply repaid for his la,bor by the 
specimens — principally relics of the Stone Age — 
that have been contributed to the scientific editor; 
and. this work, arising out of an interest in the 
Agassiz Association, is accomplishing much good. 
— G. B. Lockwood, Sec. 
577, Providence, R. I., [E].— We have worked up 
the fossil Carboniferous flora of our State prettv 
thoroughly, and have a fine collection, with dupli- 
cates to dispose of We have also added many 
species to the Carboniferous fauna of the State, 
including several insects and Crustacea. — Russell 
W. Knight, 190 Broadway, Pres. ; F. P. Gorham, 
103 Knight Street, Sec. 
• 
SSo, Grand Rapids, Mich., [C]. — For the past 
year, our Chapter has been exceptionally busy. 
During that tiine we have added to our collection, 
125 species of Michigan birds, including 332 speci- 
mens; about 30 new kinds of insects; some miner- 
als, and 21 new species of birds' eggs. We have 
made many interesting discoveries and observa- 
tions, one of which was the finding of a nest and 
the young of the Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, which had 
never been observed before in the United States. 
T. Gilbert White, Sec. 
S82, Bedford, N. Y., [A].— For several inonths 
there have been only irregular meetings of oiir 
society, dming which a few geological specimens 
