i66 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 34^ 



be used tentatively in each of the great divisions of the earth, and 

 with reference to the ultimate establishment of a universal scheme 

 after all those divisions have been thoroughly investigated. 



The time has come when North American geologists can, and 

 ought to, hold a commanding position in this respect ; and when 

 we have elaborated a scheme of classification for the formations of 

 our own continent, it will have equal claim to the favorable consid- 

 eration of the geological world with any other. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



After a stoppage of two years, caused by a lack of funds, 

 work was recently resumed on the double tunnel under the Hudson 

 River between this city and the New Jersey side. Operations are 

 restricted as yet to the Jersey City end of the north or up-river 

 tunnel, which has been excavated to a distance of nearly two thous- 

 and feet from the shaft. The total length of the tunnel from shaft 

 to shaft, when completed, will be 5,600 feet, to which must be ad- 

 ded the length of the inclines or approaches leading to the surface, 

 work upon which has not been begun. Work is carried on under 

 an air-pressure of about thirty-four pounds to the square inch, and 

 the heading progresses at the rate of twenty-five feet a week. 



— Professor Elihu Thompson has perfected an invention by which 

 the rails of street or steam railways may be welded together by elec- 

 tricity after being placed in position. A dynamo propels over the 

 tracks an electric welding machine, which welds the rails into one 

 continuous line after it passes over them. It is proposed to have at 

 every one hundred feet a break, to allow for expansion. Any kind 

 of rails can thus be welded. 



— There has been patented in Germany a process by means of 

 which sulphuric acid for manufacturing purposes can be safely 

 transported. The inventor takes advantage of a property of cer- 

 tain salts — of which alkaline sulphates are representatives — by 

 which they give up their water of crystallization when heated and 

 take it up again when cool ; and he does so by mi.xing the salts in 

 an anhydrous condition with a calculated quantity of sulphuric 

 acid. The whole mass becomes granular, or may be formed into 

 cakes, and when heated the whole liquefies, and may be used as if 

 it were sulphuric acid, for the presence of bisulphate of soda does 

 no harm. 



— Several reports received at the Hydrographic Office in Wash- 

 ington during the past month serve to illustrate the source of many 

 doubtful or imaginary dangers to navigation that encumber the 

 charts so long before their existence can be disproved. On July 

 14, in 43° 17' north latitude, 57° 32' west longitude, the captain of 

 a Norwegian vessel sighted an immense dead whale which at a 

 distance had the appearance of a rock. A number of sea-birds 

 were about it. On July 22 the German steamship " National," 

 while on a scientific exploring expedition, passed a dead whale 

 under similar circumstances. On Aug. 2 the captain of a British 

 steamship sighted a dead whale, about a hundred feet long, showing 

 six feet out of water. It will readily be seen how easily such an 

 obstruction might be mistaken for a shoal, and, if reported in a 

 region where the depths are not too well known to admit of the 

 possibiUty of such a thing, it might add one more doubtful danger 

 to the many that have been reported. 



— A nailless horseshoe which has been undergoing severe tests 

 in England during the past two years, with satisfactory results, is 

 described as follows : The shoe is attached by a steel band which 

 passes below the coronet from one extremity of the heel to the 

 other. This band is kept in position by a steel pillar which runs 

 from the centre of the shoe up to the centre of the hoof. In addi- 

 tion there are three short studs, one in the centre of the shoe, and 

 the others near the heel and on each side of it. It can be put on 

 by any one who has once seen the process, which takes about half 

 the time required with the cold-shoe system, which latter is an im- 

 provement as regards time on the ordinary process with nails. The 

 nailless shoe diminishes or puts an end to cutting, and is particu- 

 larly suited to brittle hoofs or hoofs with sand cracks. It costs as 

 little, weighs as little, and lasts as long as the ordinary shoe ; and, 

 moreover, is not sucked off on heavy ground. 



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NEW YORK, September 6, 18 



No. 344. 



CONTENTS: 



The Julien Electric Traction 

 System i57 



Gold Extraction by a New Pro- 

 cess 158 



An Improved Standard Clark 

 Cell with Low Temperature 

 Coefficient H. S. Carhart 159 



The Wenstrom Dynamo 159 



The North American Me 



Charles A . JVkite 160 



Notes and News 166 



Editorial 166 



The Toronto Meeting of the Amer- 

 ican Association. 



Mathematical Theories of the 

 Earth R. S. Woodward 167 



Among the Publishers 172 



One of the features of\he meeting of The American Asso- 

 ciation at Toronto just closed was the growth of the societies de- 

 voted to special branches of science which meet each year at the 

 same time and place as the association. The Botanical Club has 

 been in successful operation for some years, as has also the Agri- 

 cultural Society. This year there was held a meeting of the Geo- 

 logic Society, and the formation of a chemical society was vigor- 

 ously discussed. The Entomological Club is another of the groups 

 into which congenial spirits unite, possibly to free themselves of the 

 more cumbersome meetings of the sections of the association. Of 

 the vice-presidents' addresses, we print this weeK those of vice-presi- 

 dents R. S. Woodward and C. A. White. That by Professor H. S. 

 Carhart, in the Physics Section, was a review of theories of electrical 

 action. In the Chemical Section, Professor W. L. Dudley spoke of 

 " The Nature of Amalgams." He gave a rhumi of the most impor- 

 tant work done in this interesting field, and a few results of his own. 

 Appended to the address is a complete index to the literature, em- 

 bracing over three hundred titles. In the Section of Mechanics 

 and Engineering no address was delivered, and the work of the 

 section was quickly over, few papers being presented. Vice-presi- 

 dent G. L. Goodale's address before the Biologic Section was on 

 protoplasm. The address of Vice-president Garrick Mallery, be- 

 fore the Anthropologists, treated of the " Israelite and Indian, a 

 Parallel in Planes of Culture." This we hope to print in an early 

 number. The remarks of Vice-president C. S. Hill before the Eco- 



