SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1067 



of State, read a paper on ' ' Confucianism. ' ' It 

 existed before Confucius was born but was called 

 by Ms name because its sacred books were in 

 large part edited by him and he is now one of the 

 chief objects of worship in the system. Confu- 

 cianism is not merely a system of ethics, as an 

 elaborate description of its rites and sacrifices 

 showed. In 1907 the Empress Dowager raised 

 Confucius to equal rank with the Supreme Deity 

 in the pantheon. President Yuan Shih-kai par- 

 ticipated last September in the worship of Con- 

 fucius at the temple in Peking and offered sacri- 

 fice to Shangti in the Temple of Heaven. An- 

 cestor worship prescribed by Confucianism is kept 

 up in private life but Buddhism also is popular 

 in its modified form, which offers immortality in 

 the ' ' Western Heaven. ' ' Freedom of worship is 

 claimed in China. Daniel Folkmar, 



Secretary 



THE NEW ORLEANS ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



The regular monthly meeting of the academy 

 was held on Tuesday, April 19, at Tulane Univer- 

 sity. The president. Dr. Gustav Mann, in the 

 chair and thirty-two members and fellows present. 

 The first paper of the evening was read by Pro- 

 fessor Hugh Mercer Blain, of Louisiana State 

 University, ' ' The Old South in Humorous Sketch 

 and Story." Following Professor Plain's paper 

 were two short papers, the first by Dr. J. H. Clo, 

 "A New Form of Conductivity Bridge." A de- 

 scription of a direct-reading device for measuring 

 the electrical conductivity of conductors between 

 the limits 10"^ and 10"* with a modification by 

 which the instrument may become an ohmmeter of 

 wide range. The second was by Dr. F. P. Chil- 

 lingworth, ' ' Some Notes on the Mechanism of the 

 Heart," illustrated by an original model devised 

 by the speaker. All three papers were the sub- 

 ject of discussion. R. S. Cocks, 



Secretary 



THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 



At the meeting of the society held on May 7, 

 the following paper was read: 

 Oil Concentration of Ores: Howard W. DtrBois. 



Oil has recently been found to be very efficient 

 in the concentration of ores of the base metals, 

 especially copper and zinc. Many of the largest 

 mining companies are adopting this process where 

 water concentration methods have given an unsat- 

 isfactory recovery due to the metals having a spe- 

 cific gravity similar to the gaugue. 



The exact action of the oil is rather imperfectly 

 understood, as the exceedingly small quantities 

 (less than %o of one per cent, in some cases) em- 

 ployed have a concentrating action quite dispro- 

 portionate to the quantities of oil used. In brief, 

 the concentration seems to be due to the selective 

 action developed by the oil, which coats the me- 

 tallic particles with a thin film forming an attrac- 

 tive medium for the attachment of gas bubbles 

 produced in the process. These bubbles act like 

 so many life preservers, causing the metallic par- 

 ticles to float on the surface and are collected con- 

 tinuously. The gangue is precipitated through 

 the mass of the oil-water mixture and is drawn off 

 continuously. Some ores which would only give a 

 50-per-cent. extraction by the standard water 

 concentration methods have given a recovery as 

 high as 93 per cent., by the oil process. 



The process is a very cheap one and can be ap- 

 plied to a great variety of ores. The courts have 

 declared that the process is open for use without 

 royalty obligations. The installations already 

 made indicate that it will revolutionize concen- 

 trating methods for the base metals and will play 

 the same part in cheapening the extraction of the 

 base metals as the cyanide process has in the 

 case of the precious metals. 



THE INDIANA ACADEMY OP SCIENCES 



The Indiana Academy of Sciences met at Bloom- 

 ington, Ind., on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 

 May 20, 21 and 22. On Friday evening Professor 

 Foley, of the physics department of Indiana Uni- 

 versity, gave a lecture on ' ' Electrical Discharges, ' ' 

 which was illustrated by about fifty experiments. 

 A "smoker" followed the lecture. On Friday 

 morning fifty members tramped to the reservoir be- 

 longing to the university, making a study of the 

 geology and botany of the region en route, and at 

 noon a picnic luncheon was served by the local 

 members. On Friday afternoon automobiles were 

 provided and the party visited a number of the 

 limestone quarries and stone mills of the district. 

 Many interesting operations were witnessed, 

 among them the diamond sawing and the turning 

 of limestone. On Friday evening the Bloomington 

 members of the academy gave a banquet to the 

 visiting members. On Saturday morning a num- 

 ber of members visited the cave region near 

 Mitchell, Ind. The fall meeting of the academy is 

 to take place at Indianapolis early in December. 

 F. B. Wade, 

 Press Secretary 



