July 26, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



59 



covering was destroyed when its alkaline properties had been 

 neutralized by the absorption of carbonic acid. IVIagnesia, how- 

 ever, was proved to be most serviceable, seeing that it does not 

 absorb carbonic acid ; and not only does it protect the iron from 

 galvanic action, but it also does not affect the anti-fouling qualities 

 of the paint. 



— We have received the " Annual Report of the Board of Edu- 

 cation and the Superintendent of Public Instruction of New Jersey " 

 for the year ending Aug. 31, 1888. The report of the board oc- 

 cupies but a single page, and is of no general interest, while that 

 of the State superintendent is mainly statistical. The State has 

 increased its expenditure for schools of late, the increase for the 

 year reported over the previous year being $450,000 ; and all the 

 documents before us show that the authorities are alive to the need 

 of educational improvement. It is not many years since the 

 schools of the State were first graded, and the results of the change 

 are reported as gratifying. Manual training has been introduced 

 in a few places, but sufficient time has not yet elapsed to determine 

 its real value. The reports of the county and city superintendents 

 form the largest and most interesting part of the volume before us, 

 but we have not space to particularize any of them. They detail 

 the various methods employed in the different localities, with sug- 

 gestions on various points. The report contains a large amount of 

 statistical matter conveniently classified and arranged. 



— The official returns of the last vintage of France show a 

 sensible improvement over that of the previous year. It produced, 

 says the Jotirnal of the Society of Arts, 30,102,151 hectolitres of 

 wine, being an increase of 5,768,867 hectolitres over 1887, and a 

 diminution of 1,601,000 hectolitres only on comparison with the 

 average production of the previous ten years. There were in 1888 

 1,843,580 hectares under vines. There is an augmentation of pro- 

 duction in 37 departments, and a decrease in 40 departments. It 

 is in the southern districts that the improvement is the most marked, 

 while the regions of the east and west are most unfavorable. The 

 departments of the south, which were the first attacked by the 

 phylloxera, have been also the first to reconstitute their vineyards 

 by the introduction of American stocks. These efforts have been 

 in general successful, and in a short time it is hoped this region 

 may regain its former importance. The mildew has in most of 

 these departments been combated by the employment of sulphate 

 of copper. The abundant rains during a portion of the summer, 

 and the fine weather which followed in September, contributed to 

 the development of the grapes, and the gathering was effected in 

 excellent conditions. On the contrary, in the colder regions, the 

 persistent rains of summer checked the ripening of the grapes, and 

 retarded the vintage until the approach of frost. The wine-growers 

 had recourse, as in preceding years, to the employment of sugar to 

 improve the quality and increase the produce of their wines. No 

 less than 36,633 tons of sugar were used for this purpose in i888. 

 Larger quantities of foreign wines vv'ere also imported to meet the 

 demand for mixing. The imports were, from Spain, 7,008,000 

 hectolitres; Italy, 1,082,305 hectolitres; and Algeria, 1,089,000 

 hectolitres. The deficiency in the production was also made up 

 by the manufacture of wines from the marc with sugar added, and 

 from dry imported raisins. Of the former, 2,388,000 hectolitres 

 were made ; and of the latter, 2,220,000 hectolitres. The produc- 

 tion of wine in Algeria is largely on the increase. The quantity 

 made in 1888 was 2,728,373 hectolitres, against 1,902,457 in 1887. 

 There are over 88,326 hectares under culture with vines in Algeria. 



— On the evening of Jan. 31 last, about 9 o'clock, says Nature, the 

 self-recording barometer at the Deutsche Seewarte showed a sudden 

 dip of about .04 of an inch, with a corresponding jump upwards a 

 few minutes afterwards ; and in the course of a day or two it was 

 found that the barographs at other stations exhibited a similar 

 phenomenon. Although the disturbance cannot be compared in 

 any v^fay to the air-wave caused by the Krakatoa eruption, yet the 

 rapidity of its translation proved it to be a noteworthy meteorolo- 

 gical phenomenon, and its behavior over central Europe is dis- 

 cussed in an article contributed to the Antialen dcr Hydrographie 

 iind maritimen Meteorologie for June, by Dr. E. Herrmarfn of the 

 Deutsche Seewarte. The disturbance is traced from Keitum (lati- 

 tude 54° 54'), where it occurred at 7h. 50 m. p.m., Berlin time, on 

 Jan. 31, to Pola (latitude 49° 42'), which it reached at 4h.3Sm. a.m. 



on Feb. i, having travelled at the rate of about 71 miles per hour. 

 In an easterly and westerly direction the disturbance seems to have 

 been confined to narrow limits. The barometer was high over 

 southern Europe (30.5 inches), with minima (28.7 inches) over 

 northern Finland, and between Iceland and Norway. There was 

 no earthquake in Europe at the time, and the cause of the phe- 

 nomenon remains at present unexplained. 



— During the year 1886 the masonry and iron-work of the Madrid 

 and Baudin bridges at Paris, says Engineering, v»ere thoroughly 

 cleansed by the process of M. de Liebhaber. These processes, 

 chemical in their nature, were at first applied to the cleaning 

 of limestones, but in these bridges materials of a different na- 

 ture were dealt with. The surfaces to be cleansed are submitted 

 to the action of a jet of mixed (dilute) hydrochloric and sulphuric 

 acids, and left for two or three hours, when they are brushed, and 

 finally washed with a water-jet. In the case of limestone, the 

 hydrochloric acid unites with the calcium, forming chloride of 

 lime, which is then decomposed by the sulphuric acid, forming a 

 calcium sulphate ; this being precipitated on the face of the 

 stone, and containing all the impurities, which are then removed 

 by the action of the brush and water-jet. In many cases this 

 treatment will not succeed unless the stone is previously prepared, 

 as the masonry becomes coated with a deposit of impurities con- 

 tained in the atmosphere, which prevents the acids reaching the 

 stones. In this case, before applying the acids, the stone is cov- 

 ered with a paste, consisting of a mixture of carbonate of soda and 

 calcium hydrate, which is called " tolugene." It is spread over 

 the masonry to a thickness of from one-half of a millimetre to one 

 milUmetre, and left there for from three-quarters of an hour to an 

 hour, when the excess is washed down and brushed off, and the 

 acids applied as described. In cleaning iron-work, the " tolugene " 

 alone is used. It is spread over the work either with a trowel or 

 brush, and in the course of an hour or so will have united with all 

 the oil of the paint, leaving the red lead on the work in the form of 

 a powder, which can be easily washed oi? with a jet of water. In 

 cleansing brick, the work is first paintdd with a solution of am- 

 monium fluoride, and this immediately afterward is treated with a 

 jet of concentrated sulphuric acid, which liberates hydrofluoric 

 acid ; and this attacks the silicates, depriving them of their silica. 

 The whole surface is afterward thoroughly washed with water. 



— Reaumur, more than one hundred and fifty years ago, made 

 quite extensive researches on clothes-moths ; and, observing that 

 they never attacked the wool and hair on living animals, he inferred 

 that the natural odor of the wool, or of the oily matter in it, was 

 distasteful to them. He therefore rubbed various garments with 

 the wool of fresh pelts, and also wet other garments with the 

 water in which wool had been washed, and found that they were 

 never attacked by moths. He also experimented with tobacco- 

 smoke and the odors of spirits of turpentine, and found that both 

 of these were destructive to the moths ; but it was necessary- to 

 close the rooms very tightly, and keep the fumes very dense in 

 them for twenty-four hours, to obtain satisfactory results. Mr. C. 

 H. Fernald (Bulletin No. 5 of the Hatch Experiment Station of the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College) has always found that any 

 material subject to the attacks of moths may be preserved from 

 them if packed away with sprigs of cedar between the folds. The 

 odor of cedar is so disagreeable to them that they will not deposit 

 their eggs where this odor is at all strong. Chests of cedar, or 

 closets finished in the same wood, will protect clothing from moths 

 as long as the odor is strong ; but this is lost with age, and then 

 they are no protection. It must be remembered that the odor of 

 cedar, camphor, etc., only prevents the moth from laying her eggs 

 on the fabrics ; but if the eggs are laid before the garments are 

 packed away with cedar, etc., the odor will not prevent the hatch- 

 ing of the eggs nor the destructive work of the larvae afterwards. 

 Clothing may also be protected from moths by packing it in bags 

 made of either stout paper or cotton cloth, if made perfectly tight, 

 but this must be done before the moths appear on the wing in the 

 spring. 



— Professor Edward S. Morse of Salem, Mass., has received no- 

 tice of his election as corresponding member of the Berlin Society 

 of Ethnology, Anthropology, and Archeology, accompanied by the 

 society's diploma. 



