408 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 169-. 



month is beginning to be looked upon as 

 commonplace. There is scarcely a metal 

 which cannot be deposited electrolytically 

 with comparative ease and the prices of 

 some of the rarer metals is going down 

 rapidly. Ziiic used to.be considered a diffi- 

 cult metal to deposit successfully. It is 

 now produced in some of the Australian 

 mines in almost a pure state from refrac- 

 tory ores at the rate of thousands of tons 

 per annum. Similarly the old method of 

 galvanizing is rapidly disappearing and 

 electro-deposition is taking its place and 

 this metal is now so deposited on the hulls 

 of ships, on anchors and other smaller 

 articles cheaply and perfectly. A new in- 

 dustry has practically sprung up and there 

 is every indication that the technical chem- 

 ist of the near future will have to take an 

 inferior place unless he be also well versed 

 in electricity and electrical appliances. 

 This branch of applied science is revolu- 

 tionizing many things. It has within a 

 few years produced an enormous improve- 

 ment in our magazine illustrations, and 

 has, at the same time, reduced the cost of 

 this kind of literature and of atlases and 

 charts enormously. Electro-chemistry is 

 now used on a large scale for the produc- 

 tion of chlorate of potash, bleaching ma- 

 terials, alkalies, coloring matters, antisep- 

 tics, like iodoform, anaesthetics, like chloro- 

 form, etc. In fact,, it is getting to be diflS- 

 cult even to enumerate the manufactures 

 in which it is used. It has revolutionized 

 the extraction of gold, and plants of enor- 

 mous capacity are now in use in some of 

 the gold fields, the poorest ores and tailings 

 being made to yield up almost the last trace 

 of the precious metal. The production of 

 ozone by the ton, the purification of sewage 

 and the sterilization of water are all ac- 

 complished facts. 



Some progress has even been made in the 

 introduction of chemicals through animal 

 tissue by electrolysis or cataphoresis, and 



Rontgen has shown us how to see through 

 the body. 



Then, again, we have got the electric fur- 

 nace, and with it the power to fuse almost 

 the most refractory substances. In this way 

 aluminum is now produced at a few cents 

 a pound, whereas most of us remember 

 when its price had to be reckoned in hun- 

 dreds of dollars. In a similar way phos- 

 phorous is now produced on a large scale, 

 as are also various carbides, carborundum, 

 acetylene, etc. 



It is impossible to look back over the his- 

 tory of electricity and its applications and 

 notice the apparent geometric ratio in which 

 advances are being made, and not to specu- 

 late on what a giant this science is going to 

 become in another quarter of a century. 

 Undoubtedly no one can study this one 

 branch of science without being persuaded 

 of the great value of scientific work for the 

 advancement of human enterprise. 



Thomas Gray. 



EosE Polytechnic Institute. 



A PROPOSED BUILDING FOB THE SCIENTIFia 

 ALLIANCE OF NEW YORK* 



The Scientific Alliance is the outgrowth 

 of several coaferences of commissioners 

 from all of the societies now included in the 

 Alliance (except the Entomological Society, 

 which was not then in existence, and also 

 of the ISTew York Branch of the Archaeologi- 

 cal Institute of America, which, however,, 

 did not enter the final organization), called 

 by a committee appointed by the New York 

 Academy of Sciences, in February, 1891, 

 ' to consider what methods might be- 

 adopted for mutual benefit and support.' 

 The first meeting of the Commission was 

 held at the American Museum of Natural 

 History on March 11, 1891, and amongst 

 the subjects discussed was ' the desirability 



*Report of the Building Committee, C. F. Cox, 

 Chairman, to the Council of the Scientific Alliance of. 

 New York. 



