See NPE yc 
Te 
1897] NEWS 145 
pondence, numbering more than eleven hundred. With the letters, whenever 
possible, an engraving or photograph of the writer has been mounted. Some 
of the autographs are extremely rare, and the painstaking care which Mrs. 
Gray has bestowed upon preparing and mounting the letters, has increased 
the value of the collection many fold. 
IN PROSECUTING the work of ‘Experiment Station Extension” under the 
Nixon law in the State of New York, Professor Bailey has conceived and is 
publishing a series of leaflets for use in the rural schools. These leaflets are 
intended to be put into the hands of teachers, or even of pupils, as sugges- 
tions for object lessons about common things. Number 1 is dated December 
1, 1896, and is entitled “tow a squash plant gets out of the seed,” and is 
illustrated by fourteen admirable outline drawings. The idea is a good one. 
HEINRICH BEHRENS suggests a new method of preserving juicy fruits, 
fleshy parts of plants, fungi, etc." The parts are dipped when the surface is 
air-dry into a warm 5 per cent. solution of bi es If the gelatine does not 
adhere, the object is first dipped in 70 per cent. alcohol and then immedi- 
ately into the gelatine. After cooling the object is dipped into a mixture of 
twenty parts of formalin (40 per cent. formaldehyde) and fifty parts water- 
An insoluble layer of gelatine is thus formed, destroying all adherent putre- 
factive and fermentative germs, and preserving the watery parts in their 
natural form and color. 
Mr. Aveustine HENRY, of Mengtse, China, has just published? an 
interesting account of Chinese “ soap trees.” The fruits of these trees are in 
common use among the Chinese for washing purposes, in spite of the importa- 
tion of alkaline soaps. Little is known concerning the chemical nature of the 
fruits which give them such useful properties, but it is assumed that they 
contain saponin. Mr. Henry finds that the soap trees belong to the Sapin- 
dacez and Leguminosae, and that all the genera are represented in America 
excepting Pancovia. The list of trees whose fruits are so used throughout 
China contains twelve species, eight of which are species of Gleditschia, and 
the: others species of Sapindus, Pancovia, Gymnocladus, and nee. 
_UspeR a new law, announcement is made by the United States: Depart- 
_ ment of Agriculture that the serial, scientific, and technical publications of 
the department are not for general distribution. All —- meee for a 
