396 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 14. 



their own work in the states, is to purchase the 

 memoirs out of their abundant professorial incomes. 

 What that means when it comes to the illustrated 

 memoirs and atlases, most needed by the actual 

 worker, is too obvioits to need discussion. They will 

 simply have to be done without by those not within 

 reach of a large public library. 



Heretofore, a certain number of copies of such 

 publications, outside of those placed at the disposal 

 of congressmen, were distributed gratuitously to 

 those known to be actively interested in the subject, 

 by the authors, or heads of surveys, who knew exact- 

 ly whom to reach among their scientific co-workers; 

 and the stimulus thus given to research and scien- 

 tific intercourse was very great. All this is now 

 effectually embargoed: the very men whom these 

 documents shovild reach are cut off from them by 

 this penny-wise and pound-foolish legislation. 



If it be true that the United States cannot afford 

 to continue the expenditure involved in the gratuitous 

 distribution of such costly publications, even for the 

 encouragement of scientific research, it would be far 

 better that their cost should be reduced from the 

 magnificent quartos and royal folio atlases to such 

 material and dimensions as can be afforded consis- 

 tently with a judicious gratuitous distribution, in- 

 trusted, for example, to the judgment and discretion 

 of the director, the Smithsonian institution, and the 

 National academy, severally or jointly. The scien- 

 tific publications would then be quite sure not to be 

 wasted, and yet would with equal certainty reach 

 those whose active interest in the progress of science 

 should entitle them to their possession. This is the 

 more needful, since the extension of the national 

 survey into the states will, for the time being, un- 

 doubtedly render state surveys less numerous, and 

 more scantily endowed for scientific work; so that 

 the publications of the national survey will be the 

 chief source of information hereafter. It does seem 

 that what the states could afford to do gratuitously 

 for their own citizens could be afforded by the 

 national government, now that this kind of work 

 has practically passed into its hands. 



E. W. HiLGAED. 

 Berkeley, Cal., April 19, 1883. 



THE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT- 

 STATION OF CONNECTICUT. 



Annual report of the Connecticut agricultural experi- 

 ment-station for 18S2. New Haven, Slate, 1883. 

 114 p. 8°. 



The major portion of this report is, as 

 usual, occupied witli analyses and valuations 

 of commercial fertilizers, and divers other fer- 

 tilizing materials, and though valuable in its 

 way, and in accordance with the design of the 

 station, contains little of general scientific in- 

 terest. The review of the fertilizer-market 

 for the past year, on pp. .56-60, must prove 

 of considerable aid in the valuation of fertil- 

 izers, and will doubtless attract the attention of 

 both manufacturers and consumers. 



Among the fodder analyses are two of dupli- 

 cate samples of field-corn and of fodder-corn, 

 selected with especial care, and also of ensilage 

 from the same material. These analyses dis- 



closed the interesting fact, that the duplicate 

 samples of the same material differed more in 

 some cases than did the ensilage and the fresh 

 substance. These results illustrate the great 

 difficulties that stand in the way of preparing 

 a fair sample of such a bulky plant as maize, 

 and throw considerable doubt on the accuracy 

 of some of the recenth' published results re- 

 garding the changes which maize undergoes in 

 the silo. 



The most generall}' interesting portion of 

 the repoi* is the paper on ,Milk,' by Dr. E. 

 H. Jenkins, which includes the results of sev- 

 eral analj-ses of the milk of single Guernsey 

 cows, and of over two hundred partial analyses 

 of the mixed milk of herds. These results 

 afford valuable data in regard to the variations 

 which may occur in commercial milk, and the 

 possibility' of establishing b}' law a standard 

 of purity for milk. In regard to the variations 

 in the milk-solids, "an inspection of all the 

 results . . . leads to the conclusion, that, in 

 pure herd-milk, the solids may in some cases, 

 and at certain seasons, sink as low as 10 or 

 10.5 per cent, and the fat to 2.6 per cent ; and 

 that very frequentlj' (in 28 per cent of the 

 samples examined at this station) the solids 

 are less than 12 per cent." 



In one case the total solids amounted to 

 only 9.79 per cent, though it was not certain 

 that the milk was unadulterated, and, in six 

 cases out of two hundred and seven, to less 

 than 10.5 per cent. Dr. Jenkins comes to the 

 following conclusions regarding the standard 

 of purity for milk : — • 



' • As evidence of watering, simply, specific 

 gravitj' furnishes by far the most satisfactory 

 test; and, if 1.029 is adopted as a minimum, 

 no pure milk will be condemned. In some 

 cases moderatelj' watered milk may escape 

 detection. 



" If we will establish a minimum limit for 

 the percentage of solids and fat which shall 

 in no case condemn pure milk in any localit3", 

 we shall have to make it absurdly low, and 

 thus offer a premium on \yatering milk of good 

 quality." 



While evidently doubting the practicability 

 of establishing a general standard of purity 

 for milk, Dr. Jenkins thinks it possible to es- 

 tablisli by mutual consent local standards for 

 limited districts, where the pasturage and other 

 conditions are tolerably' uniform. Where this 

 is done he would not have the question of the 

 purity of the milk raised at all, but would sim- 

 ply condemn all which falls below the standard 

 as too poor to use. Both suggestions seem 

 worthy of general consideration. 



