November 30, 18fv5.] 



SCIENCE. 



713 



thirteen tubers planted May 4, nine furnished plants, 

 which bliiomed July 12, and in September ripened a 

 crop of tubers no laiger than the seed planted, or of 

 the size of small hazel-nuts. The leaves were small, 

 deep giayish-green above, not hairy ; the stems, much 

 branclied, deep purple at the nodes; the flowers, white 

 and numerous. The tubers were very diffusely spread 

 in the soil. 



An analysis of the tubers harvested by the station 

 chemist, Dr. S. M. Babcock, is as below: — 



Water 64.44 



Ash 1.17 



Albuminoid (N. X 6.25) . . . 4.86 



Crude fibre 7S 



Nitrogen (free extract) . . . 28.62 

 Fat (ether extract) .... .13 



100.00 

 E. Lewis Stctrtevant, Director. 



N. Y. agricultural experiment-station, 

 Geneva, X.Y., Nov. 14, 1S83. 



Musical sand. 



In September (no. 31) you published a brief ab- 

 stract of our preliminary paper on the singing-beach 

 of Manchester, Mass. Since then we have contin- 

 ued our investigations, and collected additional data 

 and material. One of us has just returned from a 

 visit to the singing-beach on the west shore of Lake 

 Cbamptain, four miles and a half south of Platts- 

 burg, Clinton county, N.Y. This beach is about 

 seven hundred feet long, crescent-shaped, and termi- 

 nates at the south end in low cliffs of limestone, and 

 at the north end in shelving rocks of the same mate- 

 rial. About a hundred feet north of the beach the 

 limestone is quarried for building-purposes. 



The acoustic phenomena previously described in 

 connection with Manchester and Eigg are reproduced 

 at Lake Champlain quite perfectly. On the occasion 

 of our visit, however, the sand retained traces of 

 moisture, and the noise, indicated by the syllable 

 groosh, was less strong than it would otherwise have 

 been. Two tests, however, showed that the sound 

 made by rubbing the sand witli the hand, and press- 

 ing it on the strata below, could be heard distinctly 

 at a distance of more than a hundred feet. The 

 tingling sensation in the toes, produced by striking 

 the sand with the feet, was also perceived. We failed, 

 however, to obtain sounds by rubbing the sand be- 

 tween the p.ilnis of the hands, — a method which 

 yielded remarkable results at Manchester and at Eigg; 

 but this failure is doubtless due to the imperfect dry- 

 ness of the sand. Having learned, by experience with 

 samples from the aforesaid localities, that they lose 

 their acoustic properties after repeated friction, we 

 tested this question directly on the beach. We found, 

 that, by rubbing a definite quantity of sand continu- 

 ously, its power of emitting sounds gradually dimin- 

 ished, and finally ceased. 



The sand is unusually fine, and its grains of re- 

 markably uniform size, averaging about 0.2 millimetre 

 in diameter. Even to the naked eye their tendency 

 to a spherical shape is apparent; and, when examined 

 under the microscope, they are found to consist, to 

 the amount of about thirty per cent, of round and 

 polished grains of colorless quartz, usually of spheri- 

 cal, ellipsoidal, and reniform shapes; about the same 

 quantity of angular to subaiigular grains of the same 

 mineral, colorless, reddish, and yellowish, sometimes 

 enclosing scales of hematite, grains of magnetite, and 

 fluid cavities; a considerable number of fr.agments 

 of a tricUnic felspar, angular to subangular, color- 

 less, and sometimes exhibiting cleavage-planes, and 



lines of striation ; many short fibres and fragments 

 of hornblende, and apparently augite, of a deep green 

 color, often irregularly colored reddish brown by de- 

 composition, and possessing strong dicliroisra; and 

 a few miiuite particles of menaccanite and magnetite. 

 In conclusion, we will be greatly obliged to any 

 reader of ScIE^■CK for information of additional lo- 

 calities of sonorous sand, and especially for samples 

 for microscopical studv. 



II, C, BoMox and A. A, Julien. 



XOT. 19, 1883. 



November shovsrer of meteors. 



Watch was kept liere for the Xovemlier shower of 

 meteors by myself and a number of students on the 

 mornings of the 13lh and 14tli, — on the loth from 2 

 to 4, on the 14lh from 2 to 6. The observers were in 

 a room having southern and eastern exposures, and 

 meteoroids were looked for only in those directions. 

 It was quite cloudy on the 13th, and only one luete- 

 oroid was seen; nearly clear on the 14th; and con- 

 sidering the fact that the moon was nearly full, and 

 stars of the fourth magnitude could not be seen with- 

 out attention, more meteoroids were seen llian were 

 expected, nearly all coming from the radiant in Leo. 

 Owing to the fact that their appearance was not fre- 

 quent enough to maintain constant attention, it is 

 likely that most of those which were near the limits 

 of visibility escaped observation. The maximum 

 seemed to be at about 4.30. At 3.20 a very brilliant 

 one, much exceeding Sirius in brilliancy, wiis seen. 

 Michigan agricultural college. L. G. C.*JJfENTER. 



SOME RECENT STUDIES ON IDEAS OF 

 MOTION. 



Sludien titer die hewegungs vorslellungen ■ Von Dr. 



S. Stricker, professor in Wien. Wien, Brart- 



multer, 1882. 6-f-72 p. 8°. 



These studies are efforts in esperimeutal 

 psychology, with aecompanj'iug speculations, 

 by a physiologist who has already written upon 

 like subjects in his ' Studien iiber das bewusst- 

 sein. ' The style is fragmentarj', and not always 

 ver^' clear ; and there are some confusing etforts 

 to frame a new terminologj'. Above all, the 

 author's training in general philosoply is very 

 imperfect ; and therefore what he says in the 

 latter half of this essay, ' Ueber die quellen 

 unserer vorstellungen von der causalitiit.' is 

 almost wholly antiquated and iusignilicant, 

 having been superseded ever since Hume, 

 whom, in fact, our author seems in one respect 

 to have wholly misapprehetided. But in his 

 direct observations of mental facts, Professor 

 Stricker attracts one's attention as having given 

 some indei)endent contribution to the discus- 

 sions about the relation of the muscular sense 

 to our ideas of motion. Even here, it must 

 be remarked, he p.tys little attention to the 

 fact that others liave been at work before him, 

 and seems to tiiink his ideas quite new. Yet 

 what he has done is to observe, and record his 

 observations ; and in so far forth he has done 

 what we want done in the psychological field. 



