172 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. XVII. No. 425 



Sept. 29 to Oct. 1 the rows were cut and husked, and the stalks 

 and ears weighed and counted, with the following results: — 



It will thus be seen that the number of good ears and the weight 

 of merchantable corn were both a little more than fifty per cent 

 greater on the rows from which the tassels were removed than 

 upon those upon which the tassels were left. This is not only 

 true of the two sets of rows as a whole, but with the individual 

 rows as well. In no case did a row upon which the tassels were 

 left produce anywhere near as much as the tasselled rows on 

 either side of it. In fact, the results given above are really the 

 aggregate results of twenty-four distinct duplicate experiments, 

 each of which alone showed the same thing as the aggregate of 

 all. 



By abortive ears is meant those sets that made only a bunch of 

 husks, and sometimes a small cob, but no grain. It will be no- 

 ticed that they were by far the most numerous on those rows 

 from which the tassels were not removed. It will also be noticed 

 that the total of the good, poor, and abortive ears is about fourteen 

 per cent greater on the rows on which the tassels were left, while 

 the weight of merchantable corn is more than fifty per cent 

 greater on those rows from which the tassels were removed. 



HEALTH MATTERS. 

 Action of an Infusion of Coffee on Bacteria. 



In studying the germicidal action of coffee. Dr. Luderitz made 

 use of infusions of different degrees of concentration, varying from 

 five to thirty grains of coffee to ten cubic centimetres of water. 

 According to The Sanitary News, he mixed from four to six drops 

 of pure culture-broth with eight to ten cubic centimetres of this 

 infusion, and at the end of a certain time he withdrew parts of 

 this mixture and cultivated them in gelatine. Experiment showed 

 that the micrococcus prodigiosus dies in a ten-per-cent infusion of 

 coffee in from three to five days, the bacillus of typhus in from 

 one to three days, the proteus vulgaris in from two to four days, 

 the staphylococcus aureus In from four to seven days, the strepto- 

 coccus of erysipelas in one day, the bacillus of cholera in from 

 three to four hours, the bacillus of anthrax in from two to three 

 hours, and the spores of anthrax in from two to four weeks. In a 

 thirty-per cent infusion of coffee the typhus bacillus dies in one 

 day, the staphylococcus aureus in from one to three days, the 

 bacillus of cholera in from half an hour to two hours, the bacillus 

 of anthrax in two hours, the spores of anthrax in from two to four 

 weeks. In a second series of experiments Luderitz studied the 

 influence of an infusion of coffee mixed with gelatine on the de- 

 velopment of bacteria. These experiments showed that the micro- 

 coccus prodigiosus does not vegetate in gelatine containing from 

 three to nine per cent of coffee, the bacillus of typhus in gelatine 



with three per cent of coffee, the proteus vulgaris with from five 

 to nine per cent, the staphylococcus aureus with two per cent, the 

 streptococcus of erysipelas with one per cent, the cholera bacillus 

 with one, and the bacillus of anthrax with 0.6 per cent. The 

 action is the same for the different qualities of coffee, and is due, 

 not to the caffeine, but to the products of the roasting of the coffee. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



A FEW more points may be added to what was said on the 

 Etruscan question in Science, Feb. 20, p. 99. M. Zanardelli has 

 published, in the last volume of the Bulletin de la Societe d'An- 

 thropologie de Bruxelles (1890), a paper on the relationship of the 

 Etruscan, Umbrian, and Osoan languages to the modern Italian. 

 So far as the first-named goes, the resemblances are merely 

 phonetic, as in the frequency of syllables ending in vowels. Pro- 

 fessor Ferdinando Borsari of Naples has contributed to the last 

 number of the Rassegna Scientiflca a new study of the famous 

 inscription of Menep phtah (of the nineteenth dynasty), in which 

 the Etruscans, and, as bethinks, the Sicilians and Sardinians, are 

 for the first time mentioned {Etrusehi, Sardi e Siculi nel xiv° 

 Secolo prima dell 'Era volgare). He does not meet all the objections 

 offered to these identifications, nor does he note the recent sug- 

 gestions as to the interpretation of the inscription by Dr. Max 

 Miiller and others. 



— From the annual report of the special committee of the 

 American Society of Civil Engineers, on uniform standard time, 

 we learn that the advantages of the 24 hour notation are begin- 

 ning to be recognized in various branches of civil life. In hospitals, 

 for example, to prevent mistakes by nurses in the administration of 

 medicine, in recording temperatures, and in other matters, the new 

 system is being gradually introduced; also in weather-tables and 

 in the recording of meteorological readings : indeed, in departments 

 where simplicity of system and accuracy are essential, the new no- 

 tation is being spontaneously brought into use in many quarters. 

 For two or three years back the Canadian Almanac has abandoned 

 the old notation and substituted the new. It is in connection with 

 railway ssrvice, however, that the general introduction of the 

 24-hour notation may mainly be looked for. 



— The notion that the Welsh had in pre-Columbian times some 

 knowledge of the American continent has for centuries found ad- 

 vocates, but never a competent critic. The latest is B F. de 

 Costa, vvho reprints from the New England Historical and Gene- 

 alogical Register of January, 1891, his article on "The Pre-Co- 

 lumbian Voyages of the Welsh to America." He complains that 

 the accounts of the alleged voyages of the Welsh to America 

 about 1170 have not received the attention they merit; but Mr. 

 De Costa aids little to this end. The passages he quotes are at 

 second-hand and translations, and are eminently vague. They 

 tell us at most that some sea-rover Madoc (there were many Ma- 

 docs) found land in the West, and settled there. But both the 

 date' of this occurrence, and any definite information as to the 

 land, are wanting. Why not print the originals, with a discus- 

 sion of their sources? We are the more inclined to require this 

 from a writer who dares the misleading statement that "the 

 ancient literature of the Welsh carries us back to a period before 

 the Christian era." 



— In the " Report of the Lightning-Rod Conference" (London 

 and New York, Spon, 1882), on p. 63, we read, "On the 13th 

 June, 1854, the ' Jupiter ' was struck by lightning The conductors 

 were in place; that of the mainmast which was struck went 2 

 metres (6 feet 6 inches) into the sea, and had at its end a ball 

 2 kilos in weight. After being struck the conductor had disap- 

 peared and the pieces of it were scattered everywhere." Further 

 on, the report states that " the • Jupiter " received no damage." 

 There are a large number of cases on record in which the con- 

 ductor is reported as destroyed or even dissipated, and yet no 

 damage (always with the proviso noted below) occurred to the 

 buildings or ships to which the conductors were attached. Gen- 

 erally it is stated that this fortunate result was in spite of the de- 



