186 
POPULAR SCIEKCE NEWS. 
[December, 1890. 
they are entirely unfit to carry water used for 
drinking. The salts of zinc have a most 
prejudicial effect upon the health, and the 
danger of contamination of water in contact 
with zinc or galvanized iron is a constant one. 
A MEDIEVAL CYCLONE. 
The past summer has been remarkable for 
the storms and cyclones, which in destructive- 
ness, if not in number, have surpassed those 
of previous years. The terrible loss of life 
caused by the cyclone near St. Paul, and the 
hardly less serious destruction of life and 
property at Lawrence, Mass., in a region 
supposed to be free from such visitations, are 
still fresh in the minds of all ; and in France, 
Switzerland, and other European countries, 
thunder-storms and tempests of wind and 
rain of exceptional severity have caused great 
damage. 
It is by no means to be inferred, however, 
that "the climate is changing," or that simi- 
lar meteorological events have not occurred 
in previous years. With the settlement of 
our Western countrj-, and the improved 
certain extent from their consequences, there 
still remains a great deal that is mysterious 
and unexplained ; and as regards the cause 
of the formation and action of cyclones, — or, 
more properly, tornadoes, — we know but 
means of observation and communication 
of modern times, such phenomena, when 
they do occur, are much more likely to be 
brought to public notice ; and the greater 
damage caused by them is simply due to the 
existence of a greater number of persons and 
buildings in the regions affected by them. 
This view is confirmed by accounts of 
meteorological phenomena in old books, 
which, freed from the superstition and igno- 
rance of those days, must have referred to 
cyclones and thunder-storms similar to those 
of the present day. In an old work pub- 
lished in 1557, the Livrc dcs prodigcs, by 
Lycosthenes, are two quaint wood engrav- 
ings, which we reproduce, — one designed to 
illustrate a cyclone, and the other a violent 
thunder-storm, which in those superstitious 
days, before the advent of Benjamin Franklin, 
were supposed to be due to the battles in the 
air of armies of evil spirits. Although, 
thanks to modern investigations, we have 
learned much about the cause of such occur- 
rences, and are able to protect ourselves to a 
little more than those persons who were 
unfortunate enough to have lived in the six- 
teenth century. 
<♦» ^ 
[Specially Reported for Popular Science News J 
THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT LEEDS. 
The sixtieth meeting of the British Association 
for the Advancennent of Science, lately held at 
Leeds, was, although 1,775 members were in attend- 
ance, comparatively small and quiet. It was, more- 
over, evident that those who had come to Leeds 
were there for serious, steady work. This work 
was, on the whole, good and of high quality, though 
too often on matters of purely technical interest. 
The section rooms were, therefore, seldom more 
than fairly filled — a state of affairs now become so 
common that the officers of the Association are 
giving much attention to the question of a remedy. 
Conferences for the full and free discussion of sub- 
jects of general interest have been already tried in 
some of the sections, and found to be popular. 
If three-quarters of the time of the meeting should 
be given to these, and more time allowed for discus- 
sions that spontaneously arise, it is thought that the 
interest and usefulness of the occasion would be 
largely increased. 
That much can be done to improve the organiza- 
tion of sectional work has been abundantly proved 
in the case of Political Economy and Statistics — a 
section once a reproach to the Association, and a 
refuge for every theory that could nowhere else find 
utterance. Under the guidance of Mr. T. H. Elliott, 
its recording secretary, preparations for the Leeds 
meeting were begun early in the year. The organ- 
izing committee met often, decided wliat were the 
subjects of importance and present interest useful 
to bring before the section, limited these in number, 
communicated with the best men in each depart- 
ment of the science, and induced them to take part 
in the discussions arranged. As a result, three or 
four papers only were read each day, — in other sec- 
tions the average number was sixteen, — and these 
were on such broad and live subjects as: "The 
Probable Effect on Wages of a General Reduction 
in the Hours of Labor," (Professor Munro) ; "Re- 
cent Forms of Industrial Combination," (Professor 
lladley) ; "The Ulterior Aims of Co-operation," 
(Mr. B. Jones) ; "The Value of Labor in Relation 
to Economic Theories," (Mr- James Bonar) ; " Pro- 
gressive Taxation," (Professor Bastable) ; "A The- 
ory of the Consumption of Wealth," (Professor 
Geddes) ; and "Modern Changes in the Mobility 
of Labor," (Mr. Llewellyn Smith). The Geo- 
graphic section was, moreover, invited to confer, 
with the Economic on the " Lands of the Globe 
Still Available for Settlement by Europeans." 
In the sections of pure science, the papers — 
of which there was an abundant supply — had little, 
of interest for the general public. Among those of, 
exceptional scientific value were the contributions! 
to the discussions on electrolysis and solutions, 
which are to be printed in full, and a communica- 
tion from Professor Rowland, of Baltimore, on the 
spectra of metals. Among the geologists the work 
included Professor Marsh's account of discoveries 
in regard to the gigantic ceratopsida;, or horned 
dinosaurs, of the Laramie beds in the Rocky Mount- 
ain region, and a report from the government geolo- 
gist of New South Wales showing that most of the 
cominercially valuable minerals occur in more or 
less abundance in that country. Vesuvius and the 
exploration of caves came in for their usual share 
of attention, and suggestions were given as to the 
sites in the Southeast of England where trial 
borings can most economically be made for the 
coal that undoubtedly underlies that district. Mr. 
J. Logan Lobley discussed at length the facts 
recently made known concerning the deposition 
of gold by marine action. Unaltered sedimentary 
rocks, even of the Tertiary Age, may be showed to 
contain an equal amount of gold in proportion to 
their bulk with that of those metamorphosed Cam- 
brian and Silurian rocks hitherto regarded as the 
earth's treasure stores of the precious metal. More- 
over, Sonstadt's discovery of nearly a grain of gold 
to the ton of sea-water, and Daintree's of the power 
of organic matter to precipitate gold from a solution 
of the terchloride, give reason for the supposition 
that the deposition of gold on sea-bottoms is still 
going on. 
A large part of one day was devoted by the biolo- 
gists to a consideration of the subject of teaching 
botany in schools, introduced by an able and far- 
reaching paper by Professor Marshall W.ird. Bot- 
any, he urged, should be taught, not in order that 
names and facts may be committed to memory, but 
that habits of accurate observation may be acquired 
by the pupil, and great principles and laws grasped 
which in futura may be applied under any special 
conditions. In these views he was suppoited by thel 
eminent biologists present, who, one and all, agreed"! 
that it is time to leave the blind worship of factsj 
and, instead of measuring a scholar's progress byl 
the amount of dogmi.tic iuformation imbibed and 
put into an examina;.on piper, look to his under-J 
standing of the relatron beiween facts and the wa» 
in which he intelligently describes what he sees. 
In the Anthropologic s;ction the boldness and 
grasp displayed by li.dies in dealing with menta^ 
evolution and ihe Ua)winii n doctrine of reversion^ 
was somewhat of a si rpris; to the older members>J 
though the most attrjctive part of the proceedings.'! 
The question of the cradliland of the Aryans wag 
again brought forwi'd, thi? time by the Reverend 
J. Stuart Glernie, w.io endorsed the conclusion^ 
recently published by Schrider, that the indication 
afforded by the languages J;nd culture of the primi-^ 
tive Aryans and the actual conditions of lile on the 
Russian steppes at this moment point to Southern 
Russia as the original home of these ancestorjl 
of ours. The present aspect of the jade question 
was stated by Professor F. W. Rudler, whereby i^ 
seems no longer necessary to seek an exotic origio 
for the nephrite and jadeite implements found in 
ancient graves in Europe a.id America, jade havinfj 
been found in both these continents in situ. 
By far the most popular paper presented to an/l 
section was that of Miss I>owie, granddaughter 
