February 28, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



321 



ing the next few months be transferred to the 

 National Zoological Park at Washington, which 

 aflFords room and security, they will be safe, 

 and their natural increase in the future can be 

 distributed by exchange with the zoological 

 gardens of the various parts of the United 

 States, so that no large city need be without its 

 representatives of the great herds so often re- 

 ferred to in our early history, and now a mem- 

 ory. 



GENERAL. 



The Kansas University Quarterly announces 

 that a discovery of much interest has recently 

 been made in western Kansas of an extinct 

 species of Bison, the skull having an expanse 

 of nearly four feet. Embedded below the 

 humerus of the skeleton was a small but per- 

 fectly formed arrow head. The Bison has not 

 yet been identified with certainty, but seems 

 closely allied to B. antiquus, though evidently 

 larger. The formation is apparently the same 

 as that which yielded the skeletons of Platy- 

 gonus, recently obtained by the University of 

 Kansas. The Bison skeleton, that of a bull, 

 will be mounted shortly in the University 

 museum. 



In the last Berichte, G. W. A. Kahlbaum 

 calls attention to the fact that the so-called 

 Liebig's condenser was not devised by Liebig, 

 but by a student of medicine at Gottingen, 

 Christian Ehrenfried Weigel. In his disserta- 

 tion ' Observationes chemical et mineralogical,' 

 which was defended March 25, 1771, he de- 

 scribes and figures a condenser similar to the 

 ordinary ' Liebig,' except that the upper end of 

 the cooler is open and overflows into a funnel, 

 instead of having a tube to convey away the 

 water. Liebig never claimed to be the inventor 

 of his condenser, but describes it in his ' Haud- 

 buch' (1843) as 'der Gottling'sche Kiihlap- 

 parat,' while Gottling in his ' Almanach ' 

 (1794) rightly ascribes its invention to Weigel, 

 who was then professor of botany and chem- 

 istry at Greifswald. 



The February number of Science Progress 

 contains a translation of Prof. Ostwald's ad- 

 dress on scientific materialism of which Prof. 

 Remsen gave a full account in a recent (Febru- 

 ary 14th) number of this Journal. 



GusTAV FoCK, of Leipzig, oflTers for sale 

 several valuable libraries including the chemical 

 library of the late Prof. Lothar Meyer. This li- 

 brary contains about 10,000 volumes and disser- 

 tations and is offered for sale at the moderate 

 price of M. 7,200. 



Bbv. J. J. Thompson has announced a paper 

 to be read before the Royal Society of London 

 on February 13th, on the discharge of electricity 

 produced by the Rontgen rays and the effects 

 produced by these rays by dielectrics through 

 which they pass. 



The Botanical Gazette states that the Pharma- 

 ceutische Rundschau has changed its name to the 

 Pharmaceutical Revieiv, and is hereafter to be 

 published chiefly in English, though not to the 

 exclusion of German articles. The veteran 

 editor. Dr. Fr. Hoffmann, retains his connec- 

 tion with the Review, but has associated with 

 himself Dr. Edward Kremers, Director of the 

 School of Pharmacy of the University of Wis- 

 consin. The direct cooperation of seven of the 

 leading pharmacists and chemists has been se- 

 cured, and their names appear upon the title 

 page. The place of publication also changes 

 from New York to Milwaukee, where the Phar- 

 maceutical Review Publishing Co. has charge 

 of all business matters. 



Two yew trees on the new grounds of Co- 

 lumbia College, said to be about one hundred 

 years old and the finest in America, were in 

 the way of the approach to the library and are 

 being moved. The roots have been carefully 

 excavated while the earth is frozen to them. 

 It is curious that these trees were presented to 

 the Bloomiugdale Asylum by the trustees of 

 Columbia College when they acquired the Ho- 

 sack Botanical Garden, which is now the estate 

 from which the College receives a large part of 

 its income. 



It is stated in the last issvie of Nature (February 

 13) that "calcic carbide is already made at 

 Spray, North Carolina, at a cost of 20 dollars 

 per ton, by the alternating electric current 

 passed through a mixture of powdered coke and 

 lime. Works have been erected at Niagara which 

 will produce the. calcic carbide at 10 dollars a 

 ton, beginning about the middle of this month." 

 This cost seems to be that given by those in- 



