1X2 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVII. No. 429 



being so great, and making it impossible for the French manu- 

 facturers to make their china as cheaply as their foreign neighbors, 

 various devices have been tried, but with little success. In order 

 to compete, wages have been reduced to the lowest point, and stUl 

 the manufacturers are said to have lost money. The coal that is 

 employed is necessarily costly, as a smokeless, long-flame variety 

 is required. Many of the factories bum wood only, as that pro- 

 duces a purer white than the very best kinds of coal; but wood is 

 dearer than coal. It is consequently only used in &-ing the 

 muffles, and in the finest grades of porcelain. A few years ago 

 a new process was tried, that baked the porcelain in a short time; 

 but the cost made the process impracticable. It was under such 

 circumstances as these that one of the most progressive houses in 

 Limoges was induced to employ petroleum or residuum oils as a 

 fuel, to accomplish which, an American firm using the Wright 

 burner was requested to make a trial with the fuel. There was 

 very much doubt and fear connected with the experiment; but 

 after a time it was attempted, and the results were far better than 

 anticipated. The heat was shown to be absolutely pure. No gases 

 or smoke in any way discolored the china, which came from the 

 kiln much whiter, and in better condition, than when it is fired 

 with the best of wood. In the muffles there was a decided advan- 

 tage. The delicate colors, which show at once the presence of the 

 slightest quantity of gas, were perfect. " This new discovery," 

 says Consul Griffin, "promises to revolutionize the whole porcelain 

 industry." It is estimated, that, by employing these oils, there 

 will be a reduction of about 15 or 20 per cent in the making of 

 china. The only question now is the present classification of re- 

 siduum oils in the customs tariff, as the present duty on petroleum 

 — 120 francs per ton — is prohibitive ; but strong pressure is being 

 l)rought to bear on the French Government to have fuel oils classi- 

 fied as fuel, which pays only 1 franc 30 centimes a ton. New life 

 is given to an industry that was seriously threa-tened; and it is 

 hoped that the French porcelain will be brought to a greater state 

 of perfection by this new American invention. 



MEXICAN ARCHEOLOGY. 



Me. Gael Lumholtz writes, " Since I wrote last, I have had 

 an interesting though sometimes rather rough time of it, crossing 

 Sierra Madre in December and January. We had snow several 

 times, and the grass is of poor quality, so I lost altogether thirteen 

 of my animals. There are three Sierias to cross at an elevation 

 of about nine thousand feet: you may therefore easily imagine 

 what a rough country it is to traverse in the winter-time, making 

 our own trails. I had thirty men and about a hundred animals, 

 and I pulled through all right. My camp is now near Casas 

 Grandes in Chihuahua, where my animals are resting The sci- 

 ■entiflc result is very satisfactory so far. The most interesting 

 things I came across were some wonderfully well-preserved skele- 

 tons in a series of caves. In some of the caves were small vil- 

 lages; others were reserved as burial-places, and here I dug out 

 several of the above-mentioned skeletons, the porphyry pulp 

 having preserved for centuries the corpses so well as to be made 

 into some kind of mummies. The features on some are complete, 

 -even hair and eyebrows still there. These people were of small 

 stature, and bear a striking resemblance to the Moqui Indians of 

 the present day. In the eastern slopes of Sierra Madre I also dug 

 out many mounds, and every day brought to light fine stone im- 

 plements aul beautiful pottery. I might profitably spend two 

 years in excavating mounds only; but I am going on with this 

 kind of work only till the end of April, when I start out again in 

 the mountains. Among the fossils found on the western slopes 

 of Sierra Madre. near Nacory, is a huge horn six feet eight inches 

 long and twenty-six inches at the lai'gest circumference, probably 

 belonging to some extinct bison. Many birds and plants (about 

 two thousand) were found. I am entirely confident of the success 

 of the expedition. Next time you will hear that I have found 

 people alive in the caves. There is a wonderfully rich field before 

 me, and I know that my expedition will bring greater results 

 than anybody at present anticipates. But the expenses are far 

 greater than I expected. My animals only cost three thousand 

 ■dollars. In December and January I paid wages each month, re- 



spectively, $1,000 and $1,02.5. I mean to reduce my force; but 

 a small party cannot well travel here, as tliere are plenty of 

 Apaches, and farther south any amount of bandits that are equally 

 bad. I now have a fine gang of men and every thing in regard 

 to outfit complete, speak Spanish fairly well, am on excellent 

 terms with the Mexican Government (they imprisoned lately for 

 three years an inspector who stopped my provisions last fall), and 

 the field before me is of exciting interest. But more material 

 support will be needed, if I shall not have to go just with two or 

 three men. Still, I am determined to do even that, because I 

 must accomplish my aim. I am now on a fortnight's trip to the 

 United States to see some friends that I think may give me fur- 

 ther support, and on the 26th or 28th of April I expect to be on 

 the march again." 



HEALTH MATTERS. 



Influence of Exercise on Digestion. 



De. Steeng, in a lecture before the Medical Society of Giessen, 

 on " The Influence of Exercise onDigestion," an abstract of which 

 appeared in the Lancet for March 7, states that he concludes from 

 his own experiments that this influence is of a retarding nature. 

 His experiments, however, suffer from the fact that he always 

 injected 300 cubic centimetres of water before obtaining the con- 

 tents of the stomach, so that the proportion between gastric juice 

 and water continually varied. The first experiments in the clinic 

 at Giessen were m^de on two dogs. Twenty-five grams of meat 

 suspended in 300 cubic centimetres of warm water were twice 

 injected into the fasting stomach; and after one feeding, the 

 dogs were compelled to remain for three hours in absolute bodily 

 rest, while after the other feeding they were made to take active 

 exercise. After the three hours, the contents of the stomach were 

 obtained and analyzed. The quantity did not essentially differ in 

 the two cases: the experiments consequently tended to prove that 

 exercise does not influence the time required for digestion. The 

 chemical analysis also detected no difference. The same results 

 were obtained by substituting the white of an egg for the meat. 

 The experiments were then repeated twenty- five times on three 

 men with healthy stomachs. Two of these suffered from sycosis, 

 and the third from insipient muscular atrophy. They were fed 

 each time with 200 grams of minced meat, a bun, a plate of 

 bouillon, and three spoonfuls of mashed potatoes, and the con- 

 tents of their stomachs were obtained four hours and a half after- 

 wards. The exercise after meals consisted partly in gymnastics, 

 partly in walking. Absolute rest was obtained in bed. These 

 experiments gave the same results as those on the dogs, the differ- 

 ence resulting from the chemical analysis being especially imper- 

 ceptible. The author therefore concludes that the gastric function 

 is in no way influenced either by muscular action or by absolute 

 rest. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



*■#* Correspondents are requested to he as brief as possible. The writer's name 

 is in all cases required as proof of good faith. 



The editor loill be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character 

 of the journal. 



On request^ tioenty copies of the number containing his communication will 

 be furnished free to any correspondent. 



The Pollination of Zea Mays. 



The brief report, in Science of March 27, of tlie interesting exr 

 periments with American corn at Cornell University does not give 

 the results of the control tests, and thus fails to prove that re- 

 moving a number of the tassels.from a corn-field increases the yield 

 of the emasculated stalks. The standard given for comparison is 

 the yield of certain stalks under abnormal conditions. 



The experiments of Darwin, Gaertner, and others, make it 

 probable that the fertilization of a monoecious organism with the 

 male element of another individual of the same species increases 

 the vigor of the progeny, and, conversely, that self-fertilization 

 either results in sterility or a weakened progeny. 



Applying this biological law to the corn-field in question, it 

 might be claimed that the stalks which were allowed to tassel 

 were self-fertilized to an abnormal degree, and thus were weak- 



