242 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LHI. No. 1367 



ice from distilled water is rapidly being replaced 

 hj production of ice from raw water, due prin- 

 cipally to cheap dependable power and water 

 softening. The requisite characteristics of first 

 quality ie« are clearness, firmness and freedom 

 from discoloration. In freezing water, by far the 

 greatest part of the substances dissolved in it 

 freeze out in the ice produced. Ice made from 

 impure water is opaque, discolored and brittle, de- 

 pending on the nature of the impurities. Lime- 

 soda softening, followed by sand filtration, is the 

 most efficient purification of raw water to be 

 frozen. The most objectionable impurities are 

 compounds of magnesium, calcium and iron, or- 

 ganic matter, silica and alumina, and sodium salts. 

 Softening with lime eliminates temporary hardness, 

 magnesium and iron, and reduces organic matter, 

 silica and alumina. Recent investigations indicate 

 that soda may be omitted from treatment, as re- 

 moval of permanent hardness appears to be unim- 

 portant if all of magnesium is replaced by cal- 

 cium. Temporary hardness is particularly objec- 

 tionable, causing gritty white sediments in center 

 of cake, white deposits in clear ice, weak structure, 

 and probably crackings and also necessitates one 

 or more core pumpings. Zeolite softening of the 

 raw water has been shown to be unsuitable for ice 

 making, due to the relatively large quantity of 

 sodium salts which it leaves in the treated water to 

 retard freezing and form deposits, to the fact that 

 bicarbonates, which are in some manner connected 

 with cracking, are not removed, and to the non- 

 removal of iron, organic matter, alumina and 

 silica. 



Specifications for glassware for waterworTcs lab- 

 oratories: Hasrt E. Jordan. 



Hardness of surface waters in the United States : 

 W. D. Collins. 



The new sewage testing station of the Illinois 

 State Water Survey Division: Edwakd Baktow. 

 With the cooperation and assistance of the Sani- 

 tary Districts in Illinois, The State Water Survey 

 Division has started again the sewage testing sta- 

 tion that was operated from 1914^17 and in which 

 work was practically discontinued during the war. 

 It is proposed to test all processes of sewage dis- 

 posal that may be applicable to Illinois conditions, 

 as time and funds permit. The first test will be 

 of the Dorr-Peck modification of the activated 



sludge process, which will be tested from raw sew- 

 age to clarified eflfiuent and to dried sludge. 

 Chables L. Parsons, 



Seoretai'y 



THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR 

 THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 



SECTION E— GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY 



Section E of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science held its sessions this year 

 in conjunction with the Greological Society of 

 America and the Association of American Geog- 

 raphers, in Eosenwald Hall of the University of 

 Chicago, from December 28 to January 1. In ac- 

 cordance with the agreement whereby the affiliated 

 societies take charge of the program whenever they 

 meet jointly with Section E, the Section had no 

 program of its own. The address of the retiring 

 vice-president, Dr. Charles Kenneth Leith, of the 

 University of Wisconsin, upon the subject, "The 

 structural failure of the lithosphere, " was deliv- 

 ered on the evening of December 28 at the annnal 

 smoker of the Geological Society of America. It 

 has been published in Science. The papers of the 

 general sessions will appear in the Bulletin of the 

 Geological Soci-ety of America, Vol. 32, and in the 

 Amials of the Association of American Geograph- 

 ers, Vol. 11. 



At the regular meeting of the Sectional Com- 

 mittee the following were nominated for sectional 

 officers : 



Vice-president and Chairman of the Section, Dr. 

 Willet G. Miller, director of the Ontario Bureau of 

 Mines. 



Secretary for 4 Years, Dr. Elwood S. Moore, 

 Pennsylvania State College. 



The election of a committee member was not re- 

 quired this year. 



ROLLIN T. Chamberlin, 



Secretary 



SCIENCE 



A Weekly Journal devoted to the Advancement of 

 Science, publishing the official notices and pro- 

 ceedings of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science 



Published every Friday by 



THE SaENCE PRESS 



LANCASTER, PA. GARRISON, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, N. Y. 



Entered in the posi-afficc at Lancutcr, Pa., u lecoad daw nutter 



