AuonsT 17, 18S3.] 



SCIENCE. 



•205 



simple long vowels in such casps. In this 

 l)riini'r these two glides sue not used with (7 

 and 6. To call the r glide, as in hear, a very 

 soft r is misleading, as most of us in the east- 

 ern United States pronounce absolutely no r at 

 all in such words.' ' Here, too, what is said of 

 American pronunciation is inexact ; for surely 

 we all have an ;• glide in words like hearing, 

 while an English reader of Mr. IJell's words 

 would suppose that Americans pronounce hear 



' t^oc Whitney, The elonionls of Knelli>li proiiuncintiou, In 

 hia OrivnUil and linguialic stuiliui}, hccuikI seriei^. 



as he docs, hut hearing like he-ring. The 

 American rule for the r glide may he thus 

 stated for some, perhaps most of us : when 

 the r glide is present at the end of a word, it 

 is retained before any en<ling of derivation or 

 inllection, the consonant r being pronounced 

 in addition after the glide if the ending begins 

 with a pronounced vowel. Thus the glide is 

 heard in boor, boorish, beer, beery, sour, .oar- 

 ing, store, storing, stored; but there is no r 

 glide in Mary, story, fury. Cases like these 

 last seem to have been excluded from the book. 



WEEKLY SUMMARY OF THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



CHEMISTRY. 

 (Gfneral, phi/aUal, find inorganic.) 



Ne^y explosive. — S. H. Ilinile proposes a new 

 explosive iiiixlure composed of 64 parts of nitro-gly- 

 cerine, 12 ainnionium citrate, O.2.") etliyl palmitate, 

 0.2.T calcium carbonate, 23 coal, 0.50 sodium carbo- 

 nate. —( CAeJH. techn. repert., 1883, 153.) c. e. .m. 



[196 



Compressed cartridges. — H. Giittler makes car- 

 tridges of compressed blasUiig-powder, wliich are 

 bound together by dextrine. For this purpose be uses 

 a hard burned charcoal (browu-red), which he claims 

 has the formula C,H|0,,. The mixture of charcoal, 

 sulphur, and nitre are incorpor.ated with the solution 

 of de.xtriue, corned in grains of one to two n\illimetres; 

 and after ilryiug they are presse I into perforated cyl- 

 inders. Tliese cylinders are then dried and shel- 

 l.icked. The reaction due to explosion is represented, 

 when India nitre is used, by C.II,0. + 8 K.V0j + 4S 

 = S CO, +2 11,0+8 N + 2 K,.SO, + 2 K,S. — (C/iem. 

 tec/iH. re/)e)-«., 1883, 154.) o. K. M. [197 



Fulminating compound. — B. G. and F. L. Bene- 

 dict have invented a niixture for use in primers, in 

 place of fulminating mercury, cousisling of 2 parts 

 amorphous phosphorus, S of minium, and 2 of potas- 

 siiun chlor.ale. The oxides of mercury or manganese 

 may be used in pliice of the minium. — (Vliein. leclin. 

 rpiwt., 1883, 1.53.) c. E. M. [198 



AGRICULTURE. 



Soluble and insoluble phosphates. — In experi- 

 ments on potatoes, Swanwick and Prevost, oblaiued a 

 larger yield on plots manured with superphnspliale 

 than on those manured with tlie same phosphate 

 simply ground. A slight increase in the percentage 

 of starch was observed in the potatoes manured 

 with superphosphate. — (Hied, centr.-btalt., xii. 2.50; 

 Tran-s. /i/yW. Of/Wc. soc, 18.S2.) H. P. A. [199 



Value of artificial butter. — There arc, accord- 

 ing to .\d. Mayer, three princip.al points to be regarded 

 in judging of the worth of an nrlicle of diet; viz., 

 harmlessness, taste, and physiological utility. That 

 artificial butter is harmful can hardly be seriously 



claimed; while, as regards its taste, the very magni- 

 tude of the industry shows that the imitation is very 

 successful. The physiological utility of artificial but- 

 ter depends essentially on its digestibility; and on 

 this point Mivyerhas experimented, using as subjects 

 a man, and a boy nine ye.ars old. But shght differ- 

 ences were observed tietween natural and artificial 

 butter; but the former w.as digested a trifle better. 

 When the artificial butter was used in preparing 

 potatoes, it proved to be almost uneatable; and the 

 author suggests that this fact may prove of use in 

 detecting the presence of the former. — {Landw. vera.- 

 Stat , xxi.K. 21.5.) u. V. A. [200 



Butt and tip kernels of corn. — The vegeta- 

 tion of the butt, central, and tip kernels of corn in 

 the field has corroborated llie results already pub- 

 lished as gained in the greenhouse. The figures of 

 vegetations stand as below : — 



1 A 1, Mnv 18 

 1 A 2, 

 I A 3, 



Toi.ll vcgctnlc<t . . 



'I'lital phinteil . . 



l*er cent vt-gctiitt'd 



Junel. Jiifir4.JJunpl. Jane4. 

 44« 533 I SSI S81 

 478 S31 515 SM 

 497 5.i8 I 490 570 

 428 496 463 360 

 362 467 I io6 526 



2211 2.'>88 I 2485 2801 

 3420 3420 i 3420 3420 



2.'i75 2846 

 3420 3420 



— (N.r.agHc.exp.»lat.,bull.xlvii.) h. p. A. [201 

 Chemistry of asparagin. — B. Schuize finds that 

 asparagiii is not decomposed to any notable extent 

 by healing with water, even under a pressure of three 

 to four atmospheres, and in the presence of acid 

 pl.ant-juices. Conseiiuently, when fodders contain- 

 ing asparagin, of which there are many, are cooked, 

 this subst.ance is unaltered; and, since its nutritive 

 value has been estal)lished, the knowledge of this 

 fact is of gcmie importance. When heated with alka- 

 lies, asparagin yields asparaginic acid and ammonia, 

 while a portion of the .acid is further acted on. and 

 malic acid is formed. —(LuncJio. vers.-stat., x\ix. 

 233.) u. P. A. [202, 



