20 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. ir., No. 22. 



tin, and antimony were obtained by this process. — 

 (Berichte deutsch. cJiem. r/esellscli., xvi. 999.) c. r. m. 



[14 

 {Analytical.) 

 Determination of nitrogen. — A new metliod 

 for determining nitrogen, applicable to all nitrogen 

 compounds, is proposed by H. Grouven. It consists 

 essentially in burning the substance at a bright-red 

 heat in a current of superheated steam. He iirst ap- 

 plied the process on the large scale to the production 

 of ammonium salts from peat, but has since perfected 

 it as an analytical method. The substance is burned 

 in a boat, and the vapors arising from it are iiassed 

 over a glowing layer of small fragments of a prepa- 

 ration called by the author ' contact-mass', and then 

 through standard acid, as in the soda-lime method. 

 The contact-mass consists of an ignited mixture of 

 peat, chalk, and cement clay in certain proportions, 

 and must be renewed after about fifty combustions. 

 The advantages claimed for the method are, that com- 

 bustions may succeed each other rapidly in the same 

 apparatus (constructed of iron, with asbestos stop- 

 pers), that large quantities of material (two to three 

 grams) may be used, that no drying or pulverization is 

 necessary, and that it may be combined with an ash 

 determination. Nitrates are dissolved with addition 

 of sugar, sufficient clay is added to make a stiff 

 dough, and the latter is introduced into the appa- 

 ratus. The metliod is said to give concordant results, 

 which are slightly higher than those obtained by the 

 soda-lime method. — {Landw. vers.-stat., xxviii. 343.) 

 H. P. A. [15 



AGBICULTUEE. 



Chemistry of ' f airy^rings.' — The formation on 

 pasture-land of so-called 'fairy-rings,' that is, of circles 

 of dark-green grass more luxuriant than the sur- 

 rounding herbage, has long been supposed to be con- 

 nected with the growth and decay of fungi, which 

 serve as manure for the grasses which succeed them. 

 The effect has by some been ascribed chiefly to the 

 ash of the fungi, while others attribute it largely to 

 their nitrogen. Two views are possible in regard to 

 the way in which the fungi enrich the soil. They 

 may have the power of attacking those organic and 

 mineral matters in the soil which are- not available 

 as food for higher plants, and so of converting them 

 into an available form, or it is possible that they 

 have the power to assimilate free nitrogen from the 

 air, and thus increase the store of this element in 

 the soil. Lawes, Gilbert, and Warington have en- 

 deavored to decide between these alternatives by ana- 

 lyzing samples of soil from within, on, and outside of, 

 several sucli rings. Almost uniformly tlie percent- 

 age of nitrogen in the surface-soil to the depth of 

 nine inches was greatest outside the ring, least 

 within it, and intermediate on the ring. The results 

 of the carbon determinations were similar, but less 

 uniform. The authors conclude that the fungi sim- 

 ply render more available to vegetatiou materials 

 already existing in the soil ; and that, as these mate- 

 rials are taken up and removed in the more abundant 

 growth which follows, the soil is naturally impover- 

 ished. This conclusion applies, in the first place, to 



the nitrogen ; but it would seem that it must be equal- 

 ly true of the ash ingredients. Whether there may 

 not also be an evolution of free nitrogen by the fungi, 

 or whether, on the other hand, nitrogen may not be 

 assimilated from the air, are undetei'mined questions ; 

 but the phenomena are explainable without these sup- 

 positions. — (Journ. chem. soc, ccxlvi. 208.) ii. p. A. 



[16 

 GEOLOGY. 



Pueroo beds in France. — Professor E. D. Cope 

 referred to an analysis by Dr. Lemoine of the marsu- 

 pial types belonging to the faune certiaysienne as 

 having been made considerably later than the speak- 

 er's diagnosis of similar forms from the Puerco beds, 

 which belong to the same geological horizon. He 

 claimed, that, as the age of the American formation 

 had been the first to be definitely determined, its name 

 should be applied to the corresponding Frencli de- 

 posits. — {Acad. nat. sc. Pliilad.; meeting June 12.) 



[17 



The Allegheny oil-sands Mr. C. A. Ashburner 



stated that he had recently examined the Allegheny 

 oil-fields of western New Tork, and had been able to 

 determine one or two points of interest both to com- 

 merce and to geology. After defining the Bradford 

 and Allegheny oil-fields, the varying horizons of the 

 oil-supply were alluded to. He had determined that 

 the Allegheny oil-sands of New York were not above 

 the Bradford sands of Pennsylvania, but were the 

 same. Investigations extended into Livingston, Steu- 

 ben, and Wyoming counties, N.T., established the 

 belief that the sands alluded to belong to the 

 lower Chemung group. Mr. Ashburner further re- 

 marked, that, while these sands are doubtless for the 

 most part reservoirs of oil produced in lower strata, 

 some of the material was foi'med from plants con- 

 tained in the sands themselves. The oil in Pennsyl- 

 vania never reaches the reservoirs from above. 



Mr. Benjamin S. Lyman stated his belief that the 

 oil always originates in the sand where it is found. — 

 {Acad. nat. sc; meeting June 12.) [18 



GEOGRAPHY. 



(Ai-ctic.) 

 Northern notes, Atlantic region. — The Ger- 

 manla sailed from Hambuig, June 20, with provisions 

 and instruments for the German expedition at Cum- 

 berland lulit. The departure of the Willem 



Barents in search of the Dutch expedition on the 



Varna took place as proposed. The account 



recently published of the wintering at Cape Flora, 

 Franz Josef Land, by the Eira party, contains numer- 

 ous items of interest in connection with the proposed 

 use of this land as a starting-point or base for more 

 northerly expeditions. As might be expected from the 

 insularity of the land, the winter iS' milder than in 

 the same latitude on the west Greenland coast. The 

 land is probably slowly rising, like most other arctic 

 land. Terraces ninety feet above the sea-level were 

 observed. Resident land-animals, such as reindeer, 

 arctic hares or rabbits, and ptarmigan, there are none. 

 Of wandering arctic animals who live in the sea or 

 on the ice, and are common to the whole frozen re- 



