44 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Mar. 



Flour. — At the recent meeting- of the Indiana Academy 

 of Sciences held at Indianapolis, Ind., December 29th, 30th, 

 C. G. Ferris read a paper on "Micro-org-anisms in P^lour," 

 A. W, Bitting- read one on "New Apparatus for Photo- 

 microscopy," and one on "The Number of Colonies of 

 Bacteria and Moulds Formed by Testing- Air, Milk, and 

 Water by Dififerent Culture Media." 



Diatoms. — At the annual meeting- of the Nebraska 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, held at Lincoln, Nebr., 

 November 26th, 27th, Dr. E. H. Barbour read a paper on 

 "Our Beds of Diatomaceous Earth and Their Associated 

 Fossils." J. P. Rowe spoke on certain "Peat Beds and 

 Their Underlying- Diatomaceous Deposits." 



Government Position. — On February 23d an examina- 

 tion was to be held for the position of assistant microscop- 

 ist in the Department of Ag-riculture. It was announced 

 that only women would be elig-ible. Some of the "equal 

 rights'' women are complaining of the unfairness of limit- 

 ing- this to one sex, even though it be their own. They 

 wish all kinds of differences between the occupations to be 

 broken down and a free competition between the sexes. 



The Observer.— From 1890 to August, 1897, Mr. E. F. 

 Bigelow published this monthly containing a microscopical 

 department, at Portland, Conn. He has some back num- 

 bers to dispose of very cheap — from 40 cents to $1 per 

 volume, odd numbers 5 cents. In a sense back numbers 

 are as valuable as current numbers, and are useful for 

 reference. He also offers his "Plant Analysis" blanks, in 

 books, in portfolio, or separately. Address him in care of 

 this journal, or see his advertisement in Popular Science 

 News into which The Observer was merged last August. 



Duty on Slides. — A subscriber asks if there is any duty 

 to be paid on Hornell's slides coming from England. They 

 have been sent into this country to a good- many people 

 without paying duty, and it is not probable that duty is 

 ever demanded. If it should be in any case, refuse to pay 

 it and appeal to the Secretary of the Treasury explaining 



