January 16, 1891.] 



SCIENCE. 



3> 



wbich the descriptions left unsettled, and which could only 

 be settled by the most careful structural study and the com- 

 parison of the types, involving a trip to Europe. 

 Conclusion. 



I have thus touched, gentlemen, upon a few of the many 

 subjects that crowd upon the mind for consideration on an 

 occasion like this, — a few gleanings from a field which is 

 passing rich in promise and possibility. It is a field that 

 som.e of us have cultivated for many years, and yet have 

 only scratched the surface ; and, if I have ventured to 

 suggest or admonish, it is with the feeling that my own 

 labors in this field are ere long about to end, and that I may 

 not have another occasion. At no time in the history of the 

 world has there, I trow, been gathered together such a body 

 of devoted and capable workers in applied entomology. It 

 marks an era in our calling, and, looking back at the prog- 

 ress of the past fifteen years, we may well ponder the 

 possibilities of the next fifteen. They will be fruitful of 

 grand results in proportion as we persistently and combinedly 

 pursue the yet unsolved problems, and are not tempted to 

 the immediate presentation of separate facts, which are so 

 innumerable and so easily observed that their very wealth 

 beconaes an element of weakness. Epoch-making discoveries 

 result only from this power of following up unswervingly 

 any given problem or any fixed ideal. The kerosene 

 emulsion ; the cyclone nozzle ; the history of Phylloxera 

 vastatrix, of Phorodon humuli, of Vedalia cardinalis. — 

 are illustrations in point : and, while we may not expect 

 frequent results as striking or of as wide application as 

 these, there is no end of important problems yet to be solved, 

 and from the solution of which we may look for similar 

 beneficial results. Applied entomology is often considered a 

 sordid pursuit ; but it only becomes so when the object is 

 sordid. When pursued with unselflsh enthusiasm bom of 

 the love of investigation and the delight in benefiting our 

 fellow-men, it is inspiring ; and there are few pursuits more 

 deservedly so, considering the vast losses to our farmers 

 from insect injury and the pressing need that the distressed 

 husbandman has for every aid that can be given him. Our 

 work is elevating in its sympathies for the struggles and 

 sufferings of others. Our standard should be high, — 

 the pursuit of knowledge for the advancement of agriculture. 

 No official entomologist should lower it by sordid aims. 



During the recent political campaign the farmer must 

 have been sorely puzzled to know whether his interests 

 needed protection or not. On the abstract question of 

 tariff protection to his products, we, as entomologists, may 

 no more agree than do the politicians, or than does the 

 farmer himself ; but ours is a case of protection from in- 

 jurious insects, and upon that there can nowhere be division 

 of opinion. It is our duty to see that he gets it with as 

 Jittle tax for the means as possible. Gentlemen, I thank 

 jou. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 A SERIES of experiments upon the synthetical production of 

 cyanogen compounds by the mutual action of charcoal, gaseous 

 nitrogen, and alkaline oxides or carbonates, at high temperatures 

 and under great pressure, are described by Professor Henipel in 

 the Berichte, and quoted im Nature of Dec. 18. Bunsen and 

 Playfair long ago showed, that, when charcoal and potassium 

 carbonate are heated to redness in an atmosi^hece of nitrogen, a 

 certain quantity of cyanide of potassium is formed. Since that 

 time Margueritte and Sourdeval have further shown that barium 

 •carbonate may be used in place of the potash, and that the 

 toarium cyanide produced may be again decomposed by steam into 



ammonia and baiium carbonate. These re-actions afforded a 

 theoretically continuous process for the conversion of atmospheric 

 nitrogen into ammonia, — a process which, if it could only be 

 worked on tlie large scale, would doubtless be of immense value. 

 Unfortunately, however, only small proportions of the substances 

 appear to enter into the re-action at ordinary pressures : hence the 

 yield is not sufficiently large to render the process economical. 

 Professor Hempel, howei^er, by means of a simple pressure appa- 

 ratus, has sho«n that the re-action is very much more complete, 

 and, when potash is used, very energetic, under the pressure of 

 sixty atmospheres. His apparatus consists of a strong cylinder 

 closed at one end, and worked out of a single block of steel. The 

 steel top screws tightly down, so as to form a, closed chamber, 

 and is pierced with two apertures, — one for connection with the 

 com pressing-pumps, and a second to admit the passage of an 

 insulated copper rod. Witliin the steel cylinder is placed a smaller 

 cylinder of porcelain, in which the mixture of the alkaline oxide 

 or carbonate and charcoal is placed. Through the centre of this 

 mixture passes a rod of charcoal, which is connected above with 

 the copper rod, and below with the steel cylinder itself, in such a 

 manner, that, when the wires from a strong battery or dynamo are 

 connected with the projecting end of the copper rod and the ex- 

 terior of the steel cylinder respectively, the rod of charcoal becomes 

 heated to redness. The pumps are then cnused to force in nitro- 

 gen gas until the desired pressure is registered on the gauge. 

 Experimenting in this manner, it was found that the amount of 

 barium cyanide formed in fifteen minutes under a pressure of sixty 

 atmospheres was nearly four times that formed at ordinary atmos- 

 pheric pressure, while in case of potassium cat bonate the re-action 

 was so energetic that in a few seconds the heated carbon rod itself 

 vv'as dissolved : hence it is evident that the formation of cyanides 

 by heating together alkaline carbonates and charcoal in an atmos- 

 phere of nitrogen is greatly accelerated by largely increasing the 

 pressure under whicii the re-action occurs. 



— A well-attended meeting for the inauguration of an American 

 Morphological Society was held in the Massachusetts Institute of 

 Technology, Boston, on Dec. 39 and 30, 1890. Officers for the 

 meeting were elected as follows : president. Professor E. B. Wil- 

 son; secretary and treasurer, Dr. I. Playfair McMurrich; execu- 

 tive committee. Professor E. L. Mark, Professor C. S. Minot, and 

 Dr. E. A. Andrews. After the details of the organizaiion had 

 been completed, the following papers were read and discussed : 

 " On the Development of the Scyphomedusae," by I. Playfair Mc- 

 Murrich; "On the Intercalation of Vertebrae," by G. Baur; "The 

 Heliotropism of Hydra, a Study in Natural Selection," by E. B. 

 Wilson; "The Early Stages of the Development of the Lobster," 

 by H. C. Bumpus; "Some Characteristics of the Primitive Verte- 

 brate Brain," by H. F. Osborn; "The Development of Nereis and 

 the Mesoblast Question," by E. B. Wilson; " The Prae-oral Organ 

 of Xiphidium," by W. M. Wheeler; " A Review of the Cretaceous 

 Mammalia," by H. F. Osborn; " Spermatophores as a Means of 

 Indirect Impregnation," by 0. O. Whitman; "The Phylogeny of 

 the Actinozoa," by I. Playfair McMurrich. The following are the 

 officers of the society for the ensuing year : president, Professor 

 C. O. Whitman; vice-president. Professor E. L. Mark; secretary 

 and treasurer. Dr. I. Playfair McMurrich; executive committee, 

 the officers of the society. Professor E. B. Wilson, and Professor 

 H. F. Osborn. 



— "Iron Smelting by Modern Methods" will be the subject of 

 the February article in the American Industries Series now running 

 in The Popular Science Monthly. Every man who wishes to un- 

 derstand the progress of the great industries that have made the 

 wealth and prosperity of the United States should read this series. 

 Col. Garrick Mallery will contribute an article on " Greeting by 

 Gesture," in which he describes many curious sahitations, such as 

 stroking one another's heads and bodies, rubbing noses, kissing, etc., 

 practised in all parts of the world. The February number will 

 also contain the conclusion of Dr Andrew D. White's paper, 

 "From Babel to Comparative Philology," and that of Professor 

 Huxley's discussion of the Aryan question and prehistoric man. 



— In Science for Dec. 26, 1890, p. 361, second column, seventh 

 line from the bottom, " 3,810 " should read " 5,810." 



