^ 
Vol. XXIV. No. 13.] 
POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
185 
81je Popular Scieqce l]ews. 
BOSTON, DECEMBER i, 1890. 
AUSTIN P. NICHOLS, S.B., . 
WILLIAM J. RCLFE, LITT.D., 
.... Editor. 
Associate Editor. 
The close of another year finds the Popu- 
lar Science News with an increased sub- 
scription list a id advertising patronage, and 
a general condition of well-being, for which 
the proprietors heartily thank all those who 
have aided and encouraged them by word or 
deed. They hope to greatly improve the 
paper during the coming year, with the aid 
of an increased staH of contributors, which, 
as heretofore, will include some of the most 
prominent scientists in the country. The 
Popular Scii;xce News holds a unique 
position as a iDW-priced journal of popular 
science, in wliich the standard is always 
kept up to the highest point ; and if, by its 
influence, a love for the study of Nature is 
fostered, and tlie progress of Science ad- 
vanced, even ii a small degree, their ambi- 
tions in that d rection will be fully satisfied. 
There is, however, a practical side of the 
matter to be considered, which relates to the 
necessary expenses of printing and publishing 
a journal of this class ; and they therefore 
request an early attention to the bills for 1891 
enclosed in the present issue, which, although 
small in amount, represent in the aggregate a 
sum which is absolutely necessary to the pub- 
lishers in their business of managing, print- 
ing, and distributing the paper. 
The connection of the Science News 
with the Agassiz Association during the past 
year has been a very successful experiment. 
A wide-spread interest has been created in a 
most useful and enterprising institution among 
our readers wiio are not directly connected 
with it, and the members of the Association 
have, on their part, added so much of interest 
and variety in their communications to our 
columns that we have concluded to devote 
another page to such matter during the com- 
ing year, confident that it will be of equal 
interest to all, -vhether members of the Asso- 
ciation or not. The fact that the Science 
News is now the only " official" organ of the 
Association will allow of the concentration 
of the best work of its members in its col- 
umns, and will doubtless prove of great 
[advantage to all concerned. 
Among the other special articles in this 
Jnumber, attention should be called to the one 
rom the pen of Professor Young, of Prince- 
fton, who is on; of the highest authorities on 
tastronomv and stellar spectroscopy in the 
^orld. The discoveries therein described 
almost surpass belief; and yet they are 
Iprobably but ':he beginning of what the 
modern science of spectroscopic analysis has 
yet in store for us. 
Amid the general devastation created by 
the McKinley tariff' bill, scientists may find 
a crumb of comf)rt in the fact that books 
printed in any other language than English 
may now be imported free of duty, thus 
greatly facilitating the study of the valuable 
work accomplished by the French and Ger- 
man scientists. Books printed in English are 
still taxed at the rate of 25 per cent. Users 
of chemical glassware, and lenses — photo- 
graphic, microscopic, etc. — must pay 45 per 
cent., although chemical apparatus of plati- 
num is, as formerly, admitted free of duty. 
A most uncalled-for advance has been made 
in the rate upon albumenized paper from 
15 to 35 per cent., which will be felt bj' 
every photographer in the country, both 
professional and amateur. The rate upon 
other classes of scientific apparatus ap- 
pears to be but slightly increased. Travel- 
lers from Europe are nominally allowed to 
bring in apparatus free as "professional im- 
plements," but, this privilege being largely 
dependent upon the rulings (nnd whims) 
of the local authorities, we fear it will not be 
of much practical value. The whole business 
is an excellent illustration of the absurdities 
of a "protective" system; but, even allow- 
ing that protection is a benefit, tiiere is neitlier 
sense nor justice in taxing scientific research. 
However, the authors of the bill have been 
consistent in this respect, and a government 
which taxes art 15 per cent, and literature 
25 per cent, may well impose a tax of 45 per 
cent, upon the apparatus of those who are 
endeavoring to advance the progress of civili- 
zation by tiie study of the sciences. 
A PECULIAR and instructive accident re- 
cently occurred in the city of Lynn, Mass. 
The electric lighting station caught fire, and 
the wires carrying the current from the pow- 
erful dynamos were burnt oft", thus breaking 
the circuit and cutting oft' the current. Re- 
lieved of the work of producing the current, 
the 700 horse-power engine became unman- 
ageable, and started oft' at such a rate of speed 
that the large fly-wheel was broken into frag- 
ments by the centrifugal force, and flew in all 
directions, causing much damage to the build- 
ing. This occurrence is an excellent illustra- 
tion of the principle of the transformation 
of energy, as the power produced by the 
engine, instead of being transformed into 
electrical energy, was, on account of the 
breaking of the circuit, suddenly changed 
into the centrifugal force which caused the 
wreck of the fly-wheel. It is also shows 
plainly that it really costs something to pro- 
duce electricity, and that it is not an unlimited 
and costless source of power, as many sup- 
pose. 
A CURIOUS discovery in photograpliy is, 
that when eikonogen is used as a developing 
agent, a positive instead of a negative image 
may be produced on the plate after exposure 
in the camera. The process depends upon 
the addition to the developing bath of a 
substance known as aljyl-thio-carbamide, 
made from oil of mustard. Although the 
process has not, as yet, been perfected for 
practical use, it is of the highest interest, and 
will doubtless prove of great value to profes- 
sional as well as amateur photographers. 
A LEADING natural gas company in Pitts- 
burgh has notified the iron manufacturers 
of that city that it will no longer supply 
the gas for use in puddling furnaces. The 
company explains its action by stating that it 
is not taken on account of any scarcity in the 
supply, but because the gas can be used to 
greater advantage in private houses, as the 
price there paid is many times greater than 
for the same quantity of gas used in the iron 
furnaces. This will be a serious disadvantage 
to the iron manufacturers, and seems unjusti- 
fiable except on the supposition that, not- 
withstanding the denial, the supply of natural 
gas is really diminishing. The permanency 
of the gas supply is a very interesting and 
important question, and although the quantity 
stored up in the earth's strata may be sufti- 
cient to supply all demands, both present and 
prospective, for many years, yet the time 
must certainly come when it will be ex- 
hausted ; and, in the absence of any definite 
knowledge in regard to the available supply, 
a careful and economical use of this valuable 
gift of Nature would appear to be the part 
of wisdom. 
Investigations by Mr. E. A. Partridge 
upon the atomic weight of cadmium give the 
number 11 1.8015 as ''^^ '^lost probable value. 
The nearest approximation hitherto made to 
this weight is 112. Mr. Partridge's determi- 
nations seem to have been made with great 
care, and are, undoubtedly, the most accurate 
up to the present date. 
In a paper read before the Franklin Insti- 
tute, of Philadelphia^ Mr. Reuben Haines 
gave an account of his examination of water 
from an artesian well, which had passed 
through a galvanized iron pipe. Over six 
and a half grains of carbonate of zinc were 
present in every gallon. The water also con- 
tained an unusual amount of carbonate of 
ammonia, and Mr. Haines concludes that the 
enormous amount of zinc present in solution 
was due to the formation of a double carbon- 
ate of zinc and ammonia, held in sohition by 
the excess of carbonate of ammonia present 
in the water. The case is an exceptional 
one, but the action of water on galvanized 
iron pipes is so variable ami uncertain that 
