August 3, 188;).] 



SCIENCE. 



141 



ure, than saturated and wet steam. Heat is thus 

 obtained without cost, and rendered effective for 

 useful application to a greater extent tlian has 

 hitherto been possible. — ( Amer. mach., July 7.) 

 K. H. T. 1 140 



CHEMISTRY. 

 (.In.i/y^iVn/.) 



Electrolysis of bismuth solutions. — Messrs. N. 

 W. Thomas and E. F. Smith find that bismuth may he 

 accurati'ly determined in solution either as sulphate 

 or as citrate hy electrolysis. By three bichromate 

 cells all the bismuth was deposited in a compact form 

 in three hours. It was washed, first with water, then 

 with alcohol, dried, and weighed. The reduction 

 goes on equally well in a solution containing an ex- 

 cess of citric acid. — {Amer. cliem. journ., v. 114.) 



O. F. M. [141 



Estimation of hardness in vrater without 

 soap solution. — Instead of the usual method for 

 estimating the hardness of w.iter, O. Hehner prefers 

 titration with standard sulphuric acid and sodic car- 

 bonate solutions. He claims that the results ob- 

 tained with the soap solution are very variable and 

 wholly unreliable. — (-4na(ys<, Mav, ISSo. ) c. F. M. 



[142 

 The presence of copper in cereals. — In an 

 article on this subject, Mr. E. F. Willoughby reviews 

 the instances in which copper has been found in 

 cereals, and he quotes the following results obtained 

 bv Dr. V. Galippe : — 



Copper in a kilogram. 

 Wheat from Central France .... 0. 0100 grm. 

 " La Chatre (Indre) ... 0. 0080 " 

 " " Grand Villiers (Oise) . . 0. 00.52 " 



" " Michigan 0. 0070 " 



" " America (Redwinter) . . 0. 008.5 " 



" California 0. 00.50 '• 



" " Native Brie 0. 0054 " 



" " America, soft 0. OlOS " 



" •' Russia, hard (Taganrog) . 0. 0088 " 



" '• Algiers, hard 0. 0062 " 



Rye 0.00.50 " 



Oats 0.01184 •• 



Barley ". oio8 " 



Rice 0. 0016 " 



— [Analyst, yHy, 1883.) c. f. m. [143 



AGRICULTURE. 



Preserved milk. — Loew found that a sample 

 of milk which had been sealed up and heated to 101°, 

 and then preserved for eight years, had undergone 

 decided change. The color was brownish, and the 

 taste intensely bitte». The milk-sugar was changed 

 into dextrose and levulose; the caseine and albumen, 

 into peptone. A sediment yielded crystals of tyrosin 

 after boiling with ])otash. Milk preserved for a year 

 by Scherff's proce^s was found by Vieth considerably 

 altered in taste, but samples kept in a cool cellar for 

 se%'eral months appeared unaltered. — (Bicd. ceiitr.- 

 blatt.. xii. .57.) ii. p. a. [144 



Calculation of feeding-rations. — In two feed- 

 ing-experiments with steers, Caldwell and Roberts 

 found that a ration calculated to corre.«poud to that 



recommended by Wolff for maintenance caused a 

 very decided and steady gain in weight, while a richer 

 ration gave much greater gains than have been ob- 

 tained by other experimenters from rations calculated 

 lu furnish the same amounts of digestible matters. 

 They conclude that " We have not yet suflicient data, 

 from actual feeding-experiments, upon which to base 

 a reliable calculation of the maintenance-ration, or 

 of a ration for the production of a certain effect." — 

 [Itep. Cornell univ. exp. xtat., 188:;-8;}, IS.) u. p. .\. 



[145 



Determination of proteine. — Trials of Stutzer's 

 method of separating true proteine from other nitro- 

 genous matters failed to give Newbury concordant 

 results in the case of several concentrated fodders, 

 .ind numerous difficulties in manipulation were ex- 

 perienced. With coarse fodders the results were 

 concordant. — (Rfp. Cornell unir. ex]}. stat.. 1882-8.3, 

 34. ) n. p. A. [146 



Determination of phosphoric acid. — Pember- 

 ton's method for the volumetric determination of 

 phosphoric acid in fertilizers by titration with a 

 standard solution of ammonium molybdatc gave 

 results closely agreeing with gravimetric determina- 

 tions. Two improvements in the process are de- 

 scribed. — (Sep. Cornell unir. exp. stat., 1882-.83, 29 ) 

 II. P. A. (147 



MINERALOGY. 



Peculiar crystals of fluorite. — On a hand speci- 

 men of Ihiorlti', jirobably from Zinnwald, Boliemia, 

 F. .1. P. Van Calker noticed that there were on all 

 of the small crystals, which were combinations of 

 inhe, hexoctahedron, and octahedron, well-defined 

 markings on each cubic face, making a perfect rec- 

 tangle whose sides were parallel to the intersection 

 of the cube and octahedron. To account for these 

 peculiar markings, which were present on all of the 

 crystals, the author suggested that each crystal might 

 originally have been of a simpler form, around which 

 a subsequent shell of fluorite had been deposited; 

 and a section from a single crystal, cut near and 

 parallel to a cubic face, showed, when examined by 

 transmitted light, a colorless centre, with the rectan- 

 gular marking appearing as a doited line, and outside 

 of this another colorless portion completing the crys- 

 tal. This fully confirmed the author's suggestion 

 of an enclosure of lluorite in fluorite, showing that 

 the crystals were originally of simple form, combina- 

 tions of cube and octaheilron, which hail become 

 coated with some pigment, and subsequently another 

 deposit of lluorite had taken place, building up the 

 hexoctahedron planes on all of the solid angles. — 

 iZeitscbr. knjst, vii. 447.) s. i,. r. |148 



GEOLOGY. 

 Lithology. 

 The eruptive rocks of Tryberg, Sch^rarz- 

 wald. — (;eorge H. Williams has published for the 

 iloctorate degree a v-aluablo petrographical paper on 

 the Tryberg region, the country rocks of which are 

 gneiss, granitite, and granite, cut by dikes of granite, 

 quartz-porphyry, mica-syenite-porphyry, tnica-dio- 



