476 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 403. 



ably be added a part of the 13 engaged in 

 the dye-stuff industry. 



Among all the industries, the largest per- 

 centage of increase has been in that of wood 

 distillation, including the production- of wood 

 alcohol, acetate of lime, and charcoal. The 

 increase was from $1,885,469 in 1890 to $5,- 

 775,455 in 1900. This is, however, by no 

 means so significant as the statistics of the 

 soda industry, which increased from five mill- 

 ion dollars in 1890 to over ten millions in 

 1900. Owing to lower price, this represents 

 nearly a quadrupling of production. What is 

 more important in this industry is that this 

 country is now practically independent of 

 foreign supply. In 1890, 60 per cent, of the 

 soda ash and sal soda and over 70 per cent, 

 of the caustic soda used were imported, while 

 in 1900 only 9 per cent, of the former and less 

 than 5 per cent, of the latter were manufac- 

 tured abroad. 



Considerable emphasis is laid in the 'Bul- 

 letin' on the possibilities of the alkali lakes 

 of the Sierra Nevada as a source of supply. 

 The production from this source has been re- 

 stricted by the lack of a market, owing to the 

 cost of transportation. With the development 

 of the industries of the Pacific slope, and the 

 demand from the other side of the Pacific 

 Ocean, it is probable that these remarkable 

 supplies can be utilized to a much greater 

 extent than in the past. Mono Lake alone 

 contains enough soda to supply this country 

 at its present rate of consumption for a hun- 

 dred years, Owens Lake enough for fifty years, 

 while other smaller lakes could considerably 

 more than double this amount. 



Nearly one half of the 'Bulletin' is taken 

 up with a ' Digest of Chemical Patents,' giving 

 an abstract of all chemical patents issued from 

 the founding of the United States Patent Of- 

 fice up to 1900. This was prepared by Mr. 

 Story B. Ladd, and is of great value. Its 

 value would be still more increased if it could 

 be carefully indexed by subject and by paten- 

 tee, and issued as a separate publication. 



In this connection it is worth while to note 

 that the 'Bulletin' calls attention to the in- 

 equitable patent laws of this country, by 

 which a foreigner can, by obtaining an Ameri- 



can patent, enjoy the monopoly of sale in this 

 country, even though the article in question 

 may be manufactured abroad, and owing to 

 competition may be sold at a low price every- 

 where else in the world (except in England, 

 whose laws in this respect resemble ours). 

 On such an article the tariff serves only to 

 increase the price to the American consumer, 

 who is by the patent prevented from enjoying 

 any benefit from competition. This is un- 

 doubtedly the chief reason which has hindered 

 the development of most chemical industries 

 in this country except those of the heavy 

 chemicals. J. L. H. 



BOTANICAL NOTES. 

 A WORD AS TO INDEXES. 



It is time that reform was made in the in- 

 dexing of botanical books. There appears to 

 be an impression among index-makers that 

 people want their indexes sorted into various 

 kinds, so that we find, for example, an ' index 

 of illustrations,' an ' index of English names,' 

 an ' index of Latin names,' an ' index of 

 synonyms,' etc. If this thing goes on we may 

 have, in addition to the foregoing, indexes of 

 the names of persons cited; indexes of experi- 

 ments, descriptions and discussions; indexes 

 of original paragraphs ; indexes of second- 

 hand paragraphs, etc. Probably nearly every 

 user of books will agree that more than one 

 index is a nuisance. WTien one takes up a 

 book to look for Mahonia it is awkward and 

 annoying to find that it is not in the ' index 

 of Latin names ' but must be sought in the 

 ' English index.' How is one to know where 

 to look for Sapodilla, and Sassafras ? In some 

 recent indexes the first is given in the 

 English index, while the second occurs only in 

 the Latin index. 



It may be said that after all our inveighing 

 against indexlessness we ought to be doubly 

 thanlvful for two indexes, instead of making 

 complaints, but here, as elsewhere, it is pos- 

 sible ' to have too much of a good thing.' Let 

 not the book-maker, in his zeal to avoid index- 

 lessness, inflict upon his readers an evil which 

 is only one remove from that in its power of 

 annoyance. Give us a good index, and let 



