366 



SCIENCK 



[Vol. XIV. No. 356 



in size ; 2. Variation caused by exercise, training, and education ; 

 3. Variations due to disease ; 4. Characters assumed as the result 

 of accident or mutilation. It is well settled that abundance of 

 food affects the development and size of the individual and of the 

 offspring. All cattle-breeding proceeds on this postulate. A good 

 example of the second class of variations is afforded by the evolu- 

 tion of the trotting horse, which began during the present century, 

 and has proceeded so far as to produce a breed of horses which 

 have actually lost the instinct to run, and trot even while they are 

 young. Variations due to disease are equally powerful, but less 

 susceptible of demonstration. An example is ringbone in horses, 

 caused by accident to the individual, but transmitted to offspring. 

 As regards heredity of mutilations, numerous instances are cited, 

 among which were enumerated several cases of malformed fingers 

 in offspring of parents whose fingers had been injured by accident. 

 Conspicuous instances of sports developing into varieties are cer- 

 tain forms of merino-sheep, and sequoia-trees of a certain type of 

 foliage. Professor Brooks, in discussing the paper, according to 

 the abstract in The Medical Recoj-d, opposed Brewer's view, and 

 said that adaptations of nature have been evolved for the good of 

 the species, not for that of the individual : hence they are not or- 

 dinarily transmitted, and the inherited effect of the influence of en- 

 vironment bears no appreciable effect on the evolution of species. 

 Thus the larva of worker and drone bees is protected by an enve- 

 lope of silk all around, while that of the queen bee leaves the abdo- 

 men unprotected, for the obvious purpose of enabling the mature 

 queen to sting her larval rival when the swarming season is over, 

 thus sacrificing the individual for the good of the community. The 

 generation of polymorphic hydroids is an instance where the func- 

 tions of generation are not exercised by the working members of 

 the group, so that instincts acquired by experience are not trans- 

 mitted. The bodies of all animals are similar polymorphic aggre- 

 gations of cells. The cells of the body which are exposed to ex- 

 ternal influences and vicissitudes are outside the line of succession 

 in generation. Dr. H. C. Wood of Philadelphia also opposed 

 Brewer's conclusions. He doubts whether there is such a thing as 

 hereditary disease. ' It is not the disease, but the liability to dis- 

 ease, that is inherited ; in other words, the lack of power of resist- 

 ance to external irritation. Consumption, for instance, is caused 

 by the presence of an organism, the bacillus. This bacillus is cer- 

 tainly not inherited. We all breathe it, but not all become con- 

 sumptive. Persons who have not sufficient power of resistance are 

 affected by disease. These persons have inherited a weak consti- 

 tution, or their powers of resistance have been weakened. This is 

 all the heredity there is about it. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The recent great reduction in the price of aluminum, made 

 possible by improved methods of production, will doubtless lead to 

 its adoption, to the exclusion of other metals, in the manufacture 

 of transits, compasses, field and opera glasses, hand-levels, etc. 

 The fact that it takes a beautiful finish, has a low specific gravity, 

 is easily worked, and is practically non-corrosive, makes it the 

 ideal metal for such purposes. 



— The properties of quicksand are thus described in the Me- 

 chanical News : " The difference between building-sand and true 

 quicksand is most easily explained by comparing building-sand to 

 road-metal, while the quicksand must be represented by fragments 

 no larger than large buckshot, but shaped like very smooth pota- 

 toes. In a word, the quicksand is small and thoroughly water- 

 worn, so that every fragment has been deprived of all its angles 

 and fairly well polished. Its particles are very small as compared 

 with those of the building-sand. The smaller the size and the 

 more complete the rounding, the more nearly will the sand approach 

 a liquid condition when it is moistened. The first glance at a fairly 

 mounted sample of quicksand under a microscope is sufficient to 

 show that the quickness of the sand is amply accounted for by the 

 innumerable friction-wheels which the particles themselves furnish. 

 Sharp or building sand, on the other hand, will show few round 

 corners, many angles, corners, and a general condition like that of 

 broken stone. Sea-sand is often unfit for building, even though 

 perfectly deprived of its salt, the reason being that the particles 



have been worn and polished till they have no more binding-power 

 than so many cobblestones. It is well to remember that quicksand 

 when dry, if very fine, shows the same properties as a liquid. In 

 holding up the centres of large bridges, it is sometimes put into 

 cylinders with a plunger on top of it. It will, when thus confined, 

 hold up the load like a column of water. When it is desired to- 

 strike the centres, a plug is drawn out of the side of the cylinders, 

 and the sand flows out like so much water. The advantage, of 

 course, is that the sand does not need a packed piston, and does 

 not leak out, though the work be prolonged for years. Quicksand, 

 when dry and confined, forms an admirable foundation, and when 

 wet can be loaded over its whole surface, and give a good support 

 if side openings can be avoided. 



— According to the Paris correspondent of London Industries, 

 the Maussier process of manufacturing aluminum is coming to the 

 front, for it is announced that one of the largest engineering firms 

 has undertaken to work it on an extensive scale. The process, he 

 continues, comprises three distinct periods and kinds of opera- 

 tions, — the desilification, the reduction, and the liquation. The 

 desilification is effected by means of fluorine or fluoride of calcium 

 at a high temperature in the presence of carbon. Lime, or the 

 carbonates of potassium or sodium, may be added to facilitate the 

 decomposition of the silicate. The reduction or expulsion of the 

 oxygen is obtained by means of iron and manganese raised to 

 incandescence in the presence of carbon. The liquation, the object 

 of which is to separate the aluminum from the iron and the man- 

 ganese, is effected by dropping the molten mass into carbon ingot 

 moulds. These moulds are made of wood-charcoal. The alumi- 

 num so obtained is nearly pure. 



— To add to the many obligations under which he has laid Cam- 

 bridge University, Professor Sidgwick has offered to give ;£ 1,500 

 towards the completion of the new buildings urgently required for 

 physiology, on condition that the work is undertaken forthwith. 

 The Financial Board has accordingly recommended a scheme by 

 which this can be effected. Nature adds, " The alliance between 

 mental science and physiology which this gift represents is a bright 

 feature of Cambridge studies at present." 



— A novel and interesting application of science to art may now 

 be seen at the Arts Exhibition, London, where Mrs. Watts 

 Hughes shows specimens of what she calls " voice figures." As 

 described in Nature, these are' practically Chladni's figures pro- 

 duced in a viscid medium. Semi-fluid paste is spread on an elastic 

 membrane stretched over the mouth of a receiver. A single note 

 ," steadily and accurately sung " into the receiver throws the paste 

 into waves and curves. -The patterns formed are either photo- 

 graphed immediately after production, or are transferred as water- 

 color impressions while the membrane is still vibrating. Fanciful- 

 names, e.g., " wave," " line," " flower," " tree," " fern," are given to 

 these. The effect, especially in transparencies, is very beautiful. 

 Some of the forms would repay the study of physicists as well as 

 of artists. The most interesting are perhaps the " daisy forms," in 

 which we are told that " the number of petals increases as the 

 pitch of the note which produces them rises." The apparatus em- 

 ployed is not exhibited, and the descriptive label is not very clear, 

 but we understand that Mrs. Hughes would be most pleased to 

 explain the matter to any one scientifically intererested in it. Her 

 address is 19 Barnsbury Park, N. 



— The recently established Geological Survey of Arkansas, of 

 which Dr. John C. Branner is director, has taken up its work with 

 remarkable vigor and success. The first volume, containing the 

 administrative report for 1 888 and a report on the geology of 

 western central Arkansas, was rapidly followed by the second, on 

 the neozoic geology of south-western Arkansas, the body of which 

 is the result of the joint work of the United States Geological Sur- 

 vey and of the Geological Survey of Arkansas. By this co-opera- 

 tion Professor Robert T. Hill was able to extend his studies on 

 mesozoic geology over Arkansas, and the volume is chiefly taken 

 up by his report. The third volume is a preliminary report upon 

 a portion of the coal-regions of Arkansas, which will be followed 

 by a fuller report later on, as topographical as well as geological 

 work is still bein'g carried on. 



