August 29, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



357 



method used by the authors consists in decom- 

 posing alloys of antimony with dilute acids, 

 but in their experiments with the ordinarily 

 used zinc-antimony alloy, the hydrogen evolved 

 contains under the most favorable condi- 

 tions, less than one per cent, of stibin. After 

 experimenting with several alloys, that of 

 antimony with magnesium proved to he by 

 far the best. With such an alloy containing 

 thirty-three per cent, of antimony, the gas 

 given off on treatment with cold dilute hy- 

 drochloric acid contains upwards of foui-teen 

 per cent, of stibin, and nearly three fourths 

 of the antimony used is obtained as the hy- 

 drid. This is readily condensed by liquid air 

 to a colorless solid, melting to a colorless 

 liquid at — 88° and boiling without decompo- 

 sition at — 17°. When the gas is perfectly 

 pure it is fairly stable, but after some hours 

 it begins to decompose with the deposition of 

 metallic antimony. It decomposes rapidly at 

 150°. 



Analyses of two specimens of early Egyptian 

 remains have been recently published. The 

 first is a vase of the fourth dynasty, and 

 from the analysis Berthelot concludes that it 

 was originally produced by baking a mixture 

 of fine sand with litharge and common salt. 

 The other specimen was a cold chisel dating 

 from the Thebaines dynasty. This consisted 

 of two parts cemented together, the outer por- 

 tion being of an alloy containing 92.6 per 

 cent, copper and 4.7 per cent. tin. The core 

 was much richer in tin, having 84.6 per cent, 

 copper and 13.3 per cent. tin. 



J. L. H. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 Dr. Alexander Agassiz has been appointed 

 a member of the Prussian order, ' pour le 

 merite.' 



The committee of the fund raised to com- 

 memorate the eightieth birthday of Professor 

 Virchow announces that it has handed 

 over a sum of over $12,000 to the Rudolf 

 Virchow Foundation. 



Dr. Ch. Wardell Stiles, zoologist of the 

 Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture since 1891, has been 



transferred to the U. S. Treasury Department 

 as 'chief of the Zoological Division, Public 

 Health and Marine-Hospital Service of the 

 United States,' with permanent headquarters 

 at the Hygienic Laboratory in Washington, 

 D. 0. The Zoological Division is a new divi- 

 sion recently authorized by congress for the 

 purpose of investigating the practical relations 

 of zoology to public health matters. It is 

 made a part of the Hygienic Laboratory au- 

 thorized by congress several years ago. 



The advisory committee appointed by King 

 Edward in connection with the erection of a 

 sanatorium for tuberculosis in England an- 

 nounces that 180 essays were sent in in com-. 

 petition for the three prizes. The first prize, 

 of the value of £500, has been awarded to Dr. 

 Arthur Latham. 



The Society of Arts has awarded the Shaw 

 prize for industrial hygiene to Mr. James 

 Tonge, Jr., of Westhoughton, Lancashire, for 

 his hydraulic mining cartridge. 



Nestor Ponce de Leon, M.D. (Columbia), 

 has been appointed medical inspector for the 

 port of Havana. 



The introductory address of the Medical 

 Department of Owens College, Manchester, 

 will be given by Sir Dyce Duckworth on Oc- 

 tober 1. 



De. George Eeisner has returned from 

 Egypt, where he has been making archeolog- 

 ical collections for the Phoebe Hearst Museum 

 in the University of California. 



Dr. W. F. Hendrickson, instructor in pa- 

 thology in the University of Pennsylvania, 

 died on August 21, at the age of twenty-six 

 years. 



Me. George M. Hopkins, the author of works 

 popularizing science and one of the editors of 

 the Scientific American, died on August 17, at 

 the age of sixty years. 



Dr. Emile Dunant, curator of the Arche- 

 ological Museum at Geneva, was killed on 

 August 22 while ascending Mount Pleureur. 



The death is announced of Dr. Leopold 

 Schenk, formerly professor of embryology at 

 the University of Vienna. It will be remem- 

 bered that Dr. Schenk published a work on the 



