982 
ment or the promotion of an unfit person. It 
prohibits the use of political or other influence 
to secure promotion or assignment, and I be- 
lieve properly codrdinates the prerogatives of 
‘Congress and the executive officers of the gov- 
ernment in the matter of the appointment to 
and the control of the federal service. It places 
each employee strictly upon his merits and com- 
pels him to work out his own salvation, while 
the present law leaves all this to the caprice of 
the executive officer or the rules of a commission. 
Tt prohibits the removal of any employee for po- 
litical reasons, and makes his tenure of office 
-secure so long as his services are advantageous 
to the government, and no longer. Without 
one cent of expense to the Government, it pro- 
vides for the separation from the public pay 
rolls of disabled or aged officials, and at the 
same time provides support in their hours of 
need. 
PRoFEssOR WM. E. HOYLE, in the Library 
Association Record of November, speaks as fol- 
lows of the Conciliwm Bibliographicum of. Zurich 
and its work: ‘ Zoologists are deeply indebted 
to Dr. Field for the self-sacrificing energy with 
which he has unstintingly devoted his time and 
his money to the advancement of the bibliogra- 
phy of their science, and it is not a little sur- 
prising that the Royal Society, which is matur- 
ing schemes for acard bibliography of the whole 
of science literature, should not have taken 
counsel with the only man who.has had exten- 
sive practical experience of this kind of work. 
There is no doubt that when the admirable 
qualities of the catalogue become more widely 
known in England, more and more zoologists 
will subscribe to itand provide themselves with 
the cards bearing on the subjects of special 
‘value to them. Few private individuals will 
take the whole catalogue, unless they are pre- 
pared tO spend time upon it and to provide 
ample space for it. It will be much more suit- 
able for University and City libraries, the great 
storehouses of bibliographical information, to 
become subscribers and take full charge of all 
the cards. An attendant would then be en- 
trusted with their arrangement and would be 
quickly able to direct any inquirers to the right 
part of the catalogue, which would be kept in- 
tact and securely fixed on rods like other card 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Vou. X. No. 261. 
catalogues with which we are already fa- 
miliar.”’ 
THE class in Soil Physics at the University 
of Illinois asa part of their laboratory work, 
have undertaken a special study of samples of 
soil taken at different depths from two plats of 
ground. One of the plats has been subjected 
to a continuous cropping of corn for twenty-four 
years, and the other to a rotation of corn, oats, 
and oats and clover, for the same length of 
time, neither receiving any addition of fertil- 
izers during the period, and all of the stalks 
and straw in case of the grain crops being each 
year removed from the plants. The results of 
the examination so far show that there has been 
a marked loss of humus in the soil which has 
been subjected to constant cropping of corn. 
This loss is greatest in the surface nine inches 
of the soil and amounts to more than 50 per 
cent. of the entire humus content as compared 
with that of the rotation. This loss of humus 
is evinced by a decrease in the producing ca- 
pacity of the soil, which is now only one-third 
to one-half of that of average Illinois soils under 
ordinary farm conditions. It is also shown by 
a marked change in the color and physical tex- 
ture of the upper layers of the soil, the soil be- 
ing of a lighter color owing to the loss of organic 
and vegetable matter and to the ultimate soil 
particles being apparently reduced in size, which 
gives the soil an increased capillary power. 
WE learn from the London Times that witha 
view of making the law on the subject of wild 
bird protection uniform throughout the metro- 
politan police district, the London County 
Council intends to apply to the Home Secretary 
for the issue by him of a new order under the 
Wild Birds Protection Acts in regard to the 
County of London. Under the proposed new 
order the time during which the killing and 
taking of wild birds is prohibited by the Act of 
1880 is extended so as to be from February 
1st to August 31st. During the period from Sep- 
tember 1st to January 31st the killing or taking 
of certain birds is also prohibited. These will, 
therefore, be protected during the whole year. 
The list of birds so protected includes the chaf- 
finch, cuckoo, goldfinch, honey buzzard, gulls, 
kingfisher, lark, landrail, linnet, martin, swal- 
