708 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 777 



Chicago World's Fair and the topographic 

 maps of the United States Geological Survey 

 and the Mississippi River commission. Most 

 of the geology is from the geological map pre- 

 pared for the Illinois Geological Survey. 



After making 15,000 tests on 50 railway 

 hridges on the lines of eight different railroad 

 systems of the country, Dean F. E. Turneaure, 

 of the college of engineering of the University 

 of Wisconsin, is now compiling data which it 

 is expected will eliminate the element of guess 

 work in allowing for speed strain in hridge 

 design. Heretofore there have heen few actual 

 data on the comparative effects of speeds on 

 the different parts of bridges, so that allowance 

 for such strain had to be made largely by 

 guess. A few experiments were made with 

 machinery imported from Germany, including 

 those of Dean Turneaure in 1907 on the St. 

 Paul road, but the difficulty and expense pre- 

 vented further investigation until Dean Tur- 

 neaure invented a machine of his own for the 

 work. This is an electrical instrument which 

 makes an autographic record of every slightest 

 bending, shortening or stretching of the part 

 of the bridge to which it is attached, when a 

 train is crossing the bridge. Twelve dupli- 

 cates of the machine were made in the shops 

 of the college of engineering, and used simul- 

 taneously on different parts of the bridge, 

 giving accurate data for comparison. Since it 

 seems likely that not all of the fund of $9,000 

 subscribed by American railroads to defray 

 the expense of the investigation will be used 

 in this series of tests, it is planned to start a 

 second series of experiments' involving a dif- 

 ferent feature. 



Nickel and cobalt are not produced in 

 large quantities in the United States, the do- 

 mestic output of nickel in 1908 coming from 

 only two or three places and that of cobalt 

 from only one place. Both metals are pro- 

 duced by a lead company at Fredericktown, 

 Mo., and some nickel ore was shipped from 

 Bunkerville, Nev. Other nickel deposits are 

 known in various parts of the country, but no 

 work of importance was done on them during 

 1908. Some nickel salts were made at a New 

 Jersey refinery from electrolyte solutions ob- 



tained in the refining of copper. In copper 

 refining by electrolysis nickel contained in the 

 raw copper anodes goes into solution in the 

 electrolyte, and unless the solutions are 

 changed before the amount of nickel reaches 1 

 per cent, of the solution, nickel is deposited 

 with the copper. It is said that this causes the 

 copper to lose some of its toughness. Before 

 this factor in electroljrtic refining was found 

 to be serious it was impossible to make electro- 

 lytic copper equal to the best Lake Superior 

 brands, but the refiners say that since this dis- 

 covery they can make electrolytic copper 

 equal to any other, and even superior to some 

 in electroconductivity. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

 The provisions of the will of Mr. John 

 Stewart Kennedy have not been officially an- 

 nounced, and the reports which have been 

 published are not exactly correct. Mr. Ken- 

 nedy bequeathed one half of his vast estate 

 to public purposes. The greater part of this 

 estate is to be divided into sixty-four parts, 

 and the bequests have been made on the basis 

 of these parts. Thus to Columbia University 

 and the other institutions receiving the largest 

 bequests are devised three of the parts, not 

 $2,225,000, as has been stated. The announce- 

 ment was based on the supposition that the 

 value of these parts would be $750,000, and it 

 is believed that this is a very conservative 

 estimate. If certain of the heirs die without 

 issue, the property bequeathed to them is to 

 be divided into four equal parts to be given, 

 respectively, to Columbia University, the New 

 York Public Library, the Metropolitan Mu- 

 seum of Art and the Presbyterian Hospital of 

 New York City. 



It is reported by cablegram that Mrs. Fran- 

 cisca Speyer has bequeathed more than $8,- 

 000,000 to public purposes. The bequests in- 

 clude $1,000,000 to the Frankfort Academy of 

 Social and Commercial Science, and $1,000,000 

 for the furtherance of the research into the 

 subject of cancer and lupus. 



Mr. William D. Sloane has given $150,000 

 to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of 



