490 



NA TURE 



[March 21, 1S95 



either vocal or iastrumenlal, on SunJay, providsd ihat the 

 same take place under the management and control of a Society, 

 Commitiee, or other body of persons, for ihe public advantage 

 and not for pecuniary profit." 



It is proposed to hold an International Exhibition at Atlanta, 

 Georgia, U.S.A., from September iS next, to December 31. 

 The classification includes the usual departments of Intern itional 

 Exhibitions, the following bein^ the divisions :— .Minerals and 

 Forestry ; Agriculture, Food and its accessories. Machinery and 

 .\ppliances ; Horticulture, Viticulture, Pomology, Floriculture, 

 ic. : Machinery ; Manufactures ; Electricity and electrical ap- 

 pliances ; Fine Arts, Painting, Sculpture, and Decoration ; 

 Liberal Arts, Education, Literature, Music, and the Drama ; 

 Live Stock, Domestic and Wild Animals, Fish, Fisheries, and 

 Fish Culture ; Transportation. The United States Government 

 have given permission for exhibits to be brought in free of 

 Customs' duties, unless the goods are entered for consumption 

 in the States. Exhibits are invited from foreign countries on 

 the usual conditions. Further information may be obtained from 

 the Director-General, Mr. C. A. Collier, Piedmont Park, 

 .\tlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. Copies of the classification and 

 general regulations have been sent to the Secretary of the 

 Society of Arts, and can be seen at the Society's offices by any 

 persons interested. 



At a recent meeting of the Oriental Club of Philadelphia 

 (Dr. D. G. Brinton writes in Science), Dr. J. P. Peters, whose 

 researches among the ruins of the valley of the Euphrates are 

 well known, mentioned his observations on the deposition of 

 alluvium by the river as a chronometer for measuring the 

 antiquity of some ruinmouads. Tne deposits from thi known 

 date of Alexander's conquests display marked uniformity ; an d 

 taking the depths of these as a standard, the foundations of U r 

 (the " Ur of the Chaldees " of Genesis, the modern Muchair) 



and of Eridu (the modern Abu-Shahrein) must have been laid 



about seven thousand years B.C. 



A SUBSTITUTE for wood is badly wanted in the construction 

 of warships. In the recent actions between the Chinese and 

 Japanese fleets, several ships were disabled by serious fires on 

 board, and this has caused much attention to be given to the 

 invention of artificial wood, both at home and abroad. A Boird 

 of experts, says the Journal of the Franklin Institute for 

 March, was lately convened by direction of the Secretary of the 

 U.S. Navy to consider the subject of dispensing with wood in 

 the construction of the naval ships now building, and also for 

 the purpose of finding some suitable substitute for wood where 

 it ii impracticable to use metal. The Board has decided that a 

 substitute for wood should be light, or not heavier than wood, 

 non-condncling, non-combusiible, and, when struck by shot, 

 should not fly into splinters. Wood has the very objectionab le 

 property of splintering from the effect of slut ; and the fact is 

 well known that, in wooden ships, frequently as many persons 

 are wounded by splinters as by shot. 



A SOLUTIO.N of the problem of finding a substitute for wood, 

 teems,' in the opinion of the Board, to lie in (he following 

 direction: — Select something in the nature of cheap wojd or 

 vegetable fibre and fine sawdust ; treat tbem chemically w ith 

 tome insoluble fire-prooi substance, not too heavy ; then press 

 and roll into boards, more or less dense, according to the use 

 for which the material is desired. Such a miterial will be non- 

 inllammablc all through, will not splinter, will not be heavy, 

 and will be a nonconductor. Possibly this artificial board can 

 be strengthened by enclosing within it a lough, fine wire net- 

 ling. If uwdusi, or other fine cellulose material, after being 

 rendered non-inflammable, can, by mixing with other materials 

 not too heavy -or, if heavy, in small quantiliei — be applied to 

 NO. 1325, VOL. 51] 



metal in a plastic state, so as to harden into a compact mass 

 impervious to water, then it will be of great value. In other 

 words, if a light, non-conducting, non-inllammable, insoluble 

 cement can be discovered, it will be of great use in ship con- 

 struction. 



Numerous objects made of wood and covered with copper 

 have been found during the exploration of mounds in Ohio. 

 Prof. F. W. Putnam has described specimens of this kind, and 

 copper objects sheathed with silver. The examples found are 

 quite sufficient to show that the American aborigines in the 

 Mississippi valley and in South .\merica had the art of cold- 

 hammering copper, of heating it to overlieand fit upon a warped 

 or curved surface, and of turning the edges under. This pro- 

 cess must not be confounded with the mere hammering-out of 

 implements, nor with the process of making a sheet of copper 

 as thin and uniform as a ship's sheathing, and then producing 

 figures by rubbing or pressure. A note by Prof. O. T. Mason, 

 in ihe J'rocecdings ol the U.S. National Museum (vol. xvii. 

 No. 1015), shows that the Haida Indians, who occupy the 

 Queen Charlotte Islands, and are famous for their carved work, 

 also cover wood and bone with copper. He describes two figures 

 of humming-birds carved in wood, and having their wings and 

 tails overlaid with a covering of sheet copper. The surfaces are 

 neatly engraved with the conventional wing and eye signs of 

 the Haidas. These specimens, and those from the mounds of 

 Ohio, throw some light upon the processes employed by the 

 aboriginal metallurgists of America. 



It will be remembered that in June last, Piof. C. V. Riley 

 resigned his position as Chief of the Division of Entomology 

 of the United States Department of Agriculture, and was suc- 

 ceeded by Mr. L. P. Howard. Owing to these changes, the 

 publication of Insect Life — the premier of entomological 

 bulletins — appears to have ceased for a time. The periodical 

 has, however, been revived, and three numbers of a new 

 volume (vol. vii.), edited by Mr. Howard, have come to us, 

 together with the last number of vol. vi., published under the 

 joint editorship of I'rof. Riley and Mr. Howard. Each of the 

 numbers contains a store of information, in the form of articles 

 or notes, on the life-habits of insects, especially in relation to 

 agriculture. In one (vol. vi. No. 5) we notice an address on 

 "Bees," by Prof. Riley, and in another (vol. vii. No. I) we have 

 an illustrated description of the senses of insects, by the same 

 writer. The second number of the new volume is devoted to 

 the proceedings of the sixth annual meeting of the Association 

 of Economic Entomologists, held in August 1894. The 

 presidential address delivered by Mr. Howard on that occa- 

 sion, dealing with the rise and present condition of onicial 

 economic entomology, shows what ollicial encouragement is 

 given to the investigation of insect problems in all parts of Ihe 

 world. 



Most of the great advances in entomology have come 

 from America, but, as Mr. Howard paints out in the 

 address referred to above, this progress would not have 

 been possible without legislative encouragement. At the 

 present lime ihe amount of money expended for work in 

 economic entomology is far greater in the United States than 

 in any other country. There the regular annual expenditure in 

 the support of entomological oflices amounts to about one 

 hundred thousand dollars. Probably the total sum expended 

 annually in experiments and publications exceeds the entire 

 amount expended in the same direction by thr remainder of the 

 world. No wonder, then, that the whole world looks to 

 America for instruction in economic entomology. And the 

 results obtained justify the money expenditure. Not a year 

 passes, Mr. Howard remarks, in which the sum saved to agri- 

 culture and horticulture, as the direct result of Ihe investigations 



