1008 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 313. 



that had been baked hard, when placed in con- 

 tact with a sensitive plate, or separated from it 

 by a layer of carefully selected black paper, 

 and allowed to remain a week or more, affected 

 the plate in the same manner as light, the part 

 affected developing black. He verified this 

 effect by a number of experiments. In the 

 author's opinioa this effect seemed likely to be 

 caused by true Becquerel rays, as it passed 

 through the black paper, which is perfectly 

 opaque to ordinary light. 



William S. Day, 

 Sec^y of Section. 



THE NEW YOEK SECTION OF THE AMERICAN 

 CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 



The regular meeting of the Section was held 

 on Friday evening, December 7th, at the Chem- 

 ists' Club, 108 West Fifty-fifth Street, Dr. C. 

 A. Doremus presiding. 



Special invitations had been sent out to those 

 interested in public water supply, as the feature 

 of the meeting was an address by Professor 

 William P. Mason, of the Rensselaer Polytech- 

 nic Institute, Troy, entitled, ' The Water Sup- 

 plies of the Cities on the Mediterranean,' with 

 lantern illustrations. 



The address began with a description of Gi- 

 braltar, and its peculiar arrangements for water 

 supply. From there to Tunis and other cities 

 on the south shore, including the site of ancient 

 Carthage ; then to Naples and Rome. 



The system at Naples, once so primitive and 

 unsanitary, is now on a scale and of a character 

 to command admiration. 



The typhoid epidemic at Hamburg in 1892 

 was alluded to, and a ' spot ' map gave a 

 graphic representation of the severity of the 

 scourge in Hamburg, and the comparative im- 

 munity of the adjoining town of Altona, which, 

 while having a separate water supply, was not 

 more separated from Hamburg than Harlem 

 from the rest of New York City. 



A still more remarkable fact emphasized the 

 value of filtration. The water supply of Altona 

 was taken from below the sewers of Hamburg, 

 passing through sand filters before distribution. 



At the close of the address a vote of thanks 

 was passed, and some routine business attended 

 to. Four representatives in the council were 



elected, and a committee of three was appointed 

 to confer with the Bureau of Combustibles in 

 regard to the present existing restrictions as to 

 storage of nitric, hydrochloric, and sulphuric 

 acid. 



Messrs. T. J. Parker, A. P. Hallock and 

 William McMurtrie were appointed on this 

 committee. 



The situation, as it now stands, is such that a 

 permit can be obtained for 1,000 pounds only 

 of the acids named, whereas many establish- 

 ments are using more than this amount every 

 24 hours, and, aside from the difficulty of hav- 

 ing the acids delivered each day, any interfer- 

 ence with daily delivery would result in sus- 

 pension of large and important industries. 

 DuEAND Woodman, 



Secretary. 



THE NEBRASKA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



The Academy held its eleventh annual meet- 

 ing in Lincoln at the University of Nebraska, 

 on Friday, November 30th and on Saturday, 

 December 1st. This was without doubt the 

 most important as well as the most interesting 

 meeting the Academy has ever held. The num- 

 ber of papers presented (as well as their subject 

 matter) was especially noticeable for its high 

 character. The meeting was called to order 

 and presided over by President H. Gifford, who 

 took for his address ' A Possible Explanation 

 of the Shape of the Human Auricle.' This ad- 

 dress was illustrated by well selected figures 

 on charts and photographs, showing the exter- 

 nal ear as found in a number of different types 

 of animals both terrestrial and aquatic. In his 

 treatment of the subject, Dr. Gifford called at- 

 tention to the presence of a number of small 

 muscles in the ear as found in these animals and 

 indicated their influence in bringing about the 

 prevailing form of this organ as found in man. 



Professor Haven Metcalf presented a very in- 

 teresting paper on ' Problems relating to the 

 Individuality of Chromosomes,' which was dis- 

 cussed by Professors Duncanson, Metcalf and 

 Ward. In this paper certain characteristics of 

 these bodies were cited as explanatory of the 

 possible ancestry of different hybrid plants. 



Another paper that attracted an unusual 

 amount of attention was that of Professor E. H. 



