December 27, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



439 



whether the kaki really possesses as good a flavor as one of our 

 thoroughly ripened and frosted native persimmons from Georgia 

 or Virginia, a fruit which some people consider about the best that 

 grows. A cross between the American and Japanese species 

 might be expected to produce a fruit of larger size and finer color 

 than that of the former, and with a richer flavor than any of the 

 cultivated forms of kaki. The Asiatic persimmon, according to 

 Rein, is " undeniably the most widely distributed, most important, 

 and most beautiful fruit-tree in Japan, Corea, and northern China. 

 In Japan it endures night frosts at a temperature of from 12° to 

 16° C. It can be cultivated high up in the valleys, and far beyond 

 the limit of the bamboo cane. It is a stately tree, after the fashion 

 of a pear-tree, with beautiful deciduous leaves, almost as large as 

 those of some magnolias, but of bright green color, and resembling 

 those of the pear in shape only. The new leaves come in May. It 

 blossoms in June. The season of ripe fruit is late in autumn, from 

 the middle of September to the end of November. There are 

 many kinds of kaki, ranging in size from a small hen's egg to a 

 big apple. * Some are nearly spherical, others oblong, others heart- 

 shaped. In color of the outer skin, they run from light orange- 

 yellow to deep orange-red. They are distinguished also by their 

 taste, which is pleasant in its way, and reminds one of tomato, as 

 does the color also. They are not only eaten in a soft, doughy 

 condition, in which those of the Migako-no-dj6, in the province of 

 Hiuga, are prized most highly, but. the fruit is gathered while still 

 hard, to ripen afterward. The best in Japanese estimation are 

 Tariigaki, that is, ' tub persimmons,' which have been converted 

 from astringent into sweet fruit by being kept in an old sake tub. 

 The bitter, astringent taste of all green kaki remains, even in the 

 ripe fruit, in the case of most varieties ; and it is from these that, 

 during the summer, an astringent fluid, rich in tannin, is prepared 

 (called Shibu), — an acid of considerable importance in several 

 industries. When over-ripe and dried in the sun, pressed some- 

 what flat, and then put away in boxes, the sweet kaki get to look 

 and taste in a few months, when skinned, like dried figs, and are 

 used like them. The white powder which covers these dried per- 

 simmons in boxes is natural sugar that has exuded from the fruit. 

 In September the kaki-tree, laden with a large, orange-colored 

 fruit, is a great ornament to the landscape. This beauty 't pre- 

 serves till it loses its leaves in October." 



— The great utility of the electric light on vessels passing through 

 the Suez Canal is shown by the fact that during the year 1888 the 

 average time occupied by vessels in passing through was 37 hours 

 57 minutes, when the boats in question were not fitted with the 

 electric light, and 22 hours 32 minutes for those vessels so fitted, 

 which are then able to proceed at night. The saving effected in 

 the time of transit is therefore very considerable, and the use of the 

 electric light is rapidly spreading. During the first three months 

 of the year 295 vessels thus fitted passed through the canal, but 

 during the last three months the number had increased to 519. 



— On Wednesday evening, Dec. 11, a preliminary meeting was 

 held at St. Paul, Minn., for the purpose of organizing a scientific 

 society. A few years since, the St. Paul Academy of Natural 

 Sciences was totally destroyed by fire, losing a valuable library and 

 museum. From this loss it has never recovered, a subsequent 

 effort to renew its operations not meeting with success. It is ex- 

 ceedingly gratif)ing now to note that the present movement de- 

 velops unexpected strength, and from a larger number than ever 

 before. A chairman and secretary, with a committee of twelve, 

 were named to draught articles of organization and report early in 

 January, when several hundred memberships are expected. It is 

 also interesting to note, that, in connection with the work usually 

 planned for an institution of this kind, the idea of forming a series 

 of classes in different branches of science, with special reference to 

 elementary and practical study, seems to receive unanimous sup- 

 port. This will be substantially the same scheme as the " Uni- 

 versity School Extension System," which is producing handsome 

 results. 



— The American Historical Association will hold its sixth annual 

 meeting, Dec. 28-31, in the city of Washington, D.C. The even- 

 ing sessions will be in the lecture-room of the Columbian Univer- 

 sity, 15th Street, where the association met during the Christmas 



holidays last year. The morning sessions will be in the lecture- 

 room of the National Museum, by permission of the Board of Re- 

 gents of the Smithsonian Institution. The recent incorporation of 

 the association by Congress, and the relation now^established be- 

 tween the society and the Smithsonian Institution, make it espe- 

 cially desirable that the members should convene again in the 

 Federal city. The headquarters of the association will be at The 

 Arlington, where accommodations are promised to members of the 

 association at reduced rates. Members are expected to make their 

 own arrangements at this hotel or elsewhere. Round trip tickets 

 from New York to Washington, via the Pennsylvania or the Balti- 

 more and Ohio Railroad, are sold in New York for ten dollars. 

 The advantages of Washington as a meeting-place for a national 

 historical society are very obvious. The attractions of the capital 

 in winter, the opportunity of easy access to public record offices 

 and the Congressional Library, the general interest of the govern- 

 ment buildings, the National Museum, etc., — all combine to make 

 a visit to Washington at once a pleasure and an advantage to 

 students of American history. The holiday season was chosen by 

 the committee on time and place, because it is generally conven- 

 ient for members, and it is easier at that time to obtain good hotel 

 accommodations, Congress not being in session. There will be 

 time in the afternoon hours for members to engage in private con- 

 ference, in visiting, or sight-seeing, for the literary exercises are 

 restricted to morning and evening sessions. One of the great ad- 

 vantages of this annual meeting of the association is the opportunity 

 for members to meet one another in a social way, and to discuss 

 matters of common interest. Special courtesies will be extended 

 to the association by the Cosmos Club and by the Hon. Horatio 

 King of Washington, D.C. The programme is as follows : Satur- 

 day, Dec. 28, " The Literature of Witchcraft," by Professor George 

 L. Burr, Cornell University ; " The Journalism of the French 

 Revolution," by Ex-President Andrew D. White, Ithaca, N.Y. ; 

 " The French Revolution in San Domingo," by Herbert Elmer 

 Mills, instructor in history, Cornell University ; " A Newly Discov- 

 ered Manuscript, ' Reminiscences of the American War of Inde- 

 pendence, by Ludwig, Baron von Closen, Aide to Count de Ro- 

 chambeau,' " by Clarence Winthrop Bowen ; " Recent Historical 

 Work of the Universities " (inaugural address), by Charles Kendall 

 Adams, president of the American Historical Association ; " His- 

 torical Survivals in Morocco," by Talcott, Williams of Philadel- 

 phia. Monday, Dec. 30, " The Origin and Early History of our 

 National Scientific Institutions," by Dr. G. Brown Goode, assistant 

 secretary of the Smithsonian Institution ; " The Development of 

 International Law as to Newly Discovered Territory," by W. B. 

 Scaife ; " The Impeachment and Trial of President Johnson," by 

 Dr. William A. Dunning, Columbia College, New York; "The 

 Trial and Execution of John Brown," by Gen. Marcus J. Wright, 

 War Records Office, Washington ; " A Defence of Congressional 

 Government," by Dr. Freeman Snow of Harvard University ; " The 

 Economic and Social History of New England, 1620-1789," by 

 William B. Weeden, president of the Brown University Historical 

 and Economic Association ; " Correspondence of the Pelham Fam- 

 ily and the Loss of Oswego to the British," by William Henry 

 Smith, Associated Press, New York ; " Early History of the Ballot 

 in Connecticut," by Professor Simeon E. Baldwin of the Law De- 

 partment, Yale L'niversity ; " Certain Phases of the Westward 

 Movement during the Revolutionary War," by Theodore Roose- 

 velt, civil service commissioner. Tuesday, Dec. 31, "Bacon's Re- 

 bellion," by Edward Eggleston ; " The Constitutional Aspects of 

 Kentucky's Struggle for Autonomy, 1784-92," by Ethelbert D. 

 Warfield, president of Miami University, Oxford, O.; "Facts from 

 the Records of William and Mary College," by President Lyon G. 

 Tyler, Williamsburg, \'a. ; " Materials for the Study of the Gov- 

 ment of the Confederate States," by John Osborne Sumner, A.B., 

 Harvard University ; " Notes on the Outlook for Historical Studies 

 in the South," by Professor William I^. Trent of the University of 

 the South, Sewanee, Tenn. ; " Report on the Bibliography of the 

 American Historical Association," by Paul Leicester Ford of 

 Brooklyn ; " The Spirit of Research," by James Schouler of Bos- 

 ton ; " The Perils of Historical Study," by Justin Winsor, librarian 

 of Harvard University ; " The Government as a Guardian of 

 American History," by Worthington C. Ford of Washington. 



