June 19, 1891.] 



SCIENCE. 



34' 



utmost value, but the '• researches are models which must ever 

 serve to show how such determinations should be effected, and 

 the innumerable precautions which must be taken " His refuta- 

 tion of the celebrated hypothesis of Prout, at least in its original 

 form, is noted ; as also the services rendered to the chemist by 

 his teaching how to prepare pure re-agents, — the methods de- 

 vised for the purpose being themselves, in many cases, important 

 contributions to chemical science. The address concludes thus: 

 " Your ' Recherches sur Ics Rapports reciproques des Poids atoni- 

 iques' must be handed down to future generations as oue of the 

 most valuable classics of the exact sciences. Apart from the in- 

 trinsic value of your work, you have, through it. exercised a be- 

 neticent influence on your colleagues throughout the world, the 

 importance of which cannot be over esliinated, ;ind in the eyes of 

 chemists generally you are ever regarded as an honor to science, 

 to your country, and to the distinguished academy of which you 

 have been an ornament for hnlf a century." 



— The monthly report of State Geologist Arthur Winslow of 

 Missouri is at hand. From it we learn that during the month of 

 May examinations of clays and structural materials have been 

 continued in Franklin. Wan-en, and St. Charles Counties: and 

 the mineral springs of Barry, McDonald, Vernon, Cedar, Henry, 

 Benton, and Camden Counties have been visited, and samples of 

 their waters have been collected for analysis. The examinations 

 of clays and structural materials have further been extended into 

 Ralls. Pike, and Marion Counties. Detailed mapping has been 

 prosecuted in the south-east in Madison County, and west in Ray 

 and Johnson Counties, anil about a hundred and ninety square 

 miles have been covered. Examination of coal deposits have been 

 made in Marion County, and samples of coals have been collected 

 for test. In the laboratory, analyses have been made of coals and 

 mineral waters, and the experimental work on clays has contin- 

 ued. MucB material has been collected for the report on the pal 

 eontology of the State, and, in this connection, public and private 

 collections in St. Louis, Hannibal, Sedalia, Columbia, Kansas City, 

 and Tabor were visited and studied. 



— Lieut. Reed of the United States Artillei-y stated in a recent 

 paper that photography has been largely used for surveying in 

 Canada under the direction of .Mr. E. Deville, the surveyor-gen- 

 eral. The Dominion survey made in the ordinary way proved 

 very expensive and slow when the Rocky Mountains were reached, 

 and photography was ac'ordingly resorted to The camera used, 

 as described in Engineering, was a carefully made mahogany, 

 brass bound, rectangular box, half-plate size. When in use it was 

 placed on, a tripod furnished with levelling screws, and levelled by 

 means of two ordinary tube levels attached at right angles to each 

 other, and which could be placed on that face of the camera which 

 happened to be uppermost. The means for determining the 

 horizon and principal Imes were the images of four fine combs, 

 one midway on each side, .attdched to the camera immediately in 

 front of the plate, the use of small stops m.aking these imig:es 

 clear. The lens used was a Dallmeyer wide angle. No. 1, A. of 5| 

 inches focus, affording a horizontal angle of sixty degrees when 

 the plate was disposed with its longer edge horizontal. Six double 

 plate holders were employed. But one adjustment of this camera 

 is required, namely, to insure the verticality of the plate when the 

 tube-levels indicate that the ca;nera is level. The best way to 

 effect this is to substitute for the plate a good plane mirror, face 

 to the rear; then set up a transit in the vicinity. The axis of the 

 telescope being horizontal, observe a distant point intersected by 

 the cross wires, also its image in the mirrnr : if the latier is also 

 intersected, the mirror is vertical; if not then the tube levels need 

 adjustiient. This box camera being rigid, and the focus therefore 

 permanent and suited to distant views and the lines on the faces 

 indicating the lield of view, no ground glass or cloth is needed. 

 Care is taken to make the plate- holders exactly alike, a condition 

 which, so far as distance from lens to plate is concerned, is ascer- 

 tained by measurement Oithochromatic gelatine plates give the 

 best results. Mr Deville considers that a survey marie in this way 

 is as accurate as a plan plotted with a very gond protractor or 

 made with a plane table. A good deal of attention h.as been de- 

 voted to the subject in France by Dr, Gustave ]e Bon. who has 



shown how to obtain all the survey details from a single photo- 

 graph and one compass observation, provided any one distance 

 contained in the photograph is known. 



— The kryokonite collected by Nordenskjold in Greenland in 

 1883 has been investigated by WillHng, and, according to the En- 

 gineering and Mining Journal, has tieen found to consist mainly 

 of feldspar, quartz, mica, and hornblende. Garnet, zircon, mag- 

 netite, augite, sillimanite, together with a nitrogenous organic sub- 

 stance, are also present in it. The larger part of the dust is thought 

 to be a sediment from the air, and (o have been obtained by it 

 from a region of crystalline schists. But the most interesting con- 

 stituents of the dust, little chrondri of opaque, isotropic, trans- 

 parent, and double-refractive material, are considered to be of 

 cosmic origin, owing to their similarity to the chrondri obtained 

 in deep-sea soundings. If the amount of dust collected from the 

 snow in Gi'eenland represents the fall in one year, the total 

 amount falling upon the entire sui-face of the earth in this time is 

 12.5.000,000 kilograms, equivalent to a cube of 31 yards on a side. 



— Herr P. von Slenin has given a deseription in Globus (Bd. 

 Iviii. No. 12) of the Tcheremis, a synopsis of which appears in the 

 Scottish Oeographical Magazine for June. The details are taken 

 from a monograph written by Professor Smirnoff, of Kazan Uni- 

 versity, who visited this people in the spring of 1888. The main 

 body now dwells between the Volga and Viatka : they are also 

 found on the Kama, the Bielaja, and its tributaries. Their coun- 

 try falls into two distinct divisions — the "mountain land," 

 stretching from Vassilssursk on the west to llyinka on the east, 

 and the '■ meadow land." much larger in extent, bounded on the 

 ■west by the Velluga ami its tributaries, the Yuronga and the 

 Usta, on the north by the Viatka, on the east by the Ilet, and on 

 the south by the Volga and the lower Kama. The number of 

 the Tcheremis is given by Smirnoff as 313,591. The mountain 

 land is vvell clothed with woods of tir and pine, and possesses a 

 very fertile soil; and its inhabitants, who are taller, more power- 

 ful, and handsomer than their lowland brethren, foUow agricul- 

 tural pursuits, while the meadow-land Tcheremis, seventy per 

 cent of w hose territory is covered with forest, maintain themselves 

 chiefly by the chase. Little in the villages of the Tcheremis is of 

 native origin. Their houses, clothing, dishes, etc., are copied 

 from their Russian or Tartar neighbors. A hut of thin planks, 

 roofed with shingles and used as a summer dwelling, is a pecul- 

 iarity of the Tcheremis' farm-house, and the women's dress shows 

 some marks of originality. Polygamy still prevails among the 

 pagan Tcheremis. Professor Smirnoff believes that it was not in- 

 troduced through Mohammedan influence, but is a modification of 

 hetairism, under which system all the women of the tribe were 

 common property. In some dislricts it is still the practice to 

 carry off a wife by force, and in oUiers the customs observed at 

 the marriage indicate its former existence. The purchase of 

 wives succeeded to rape, owing to Turkish influence, the price 

 being at first regarded as an expiation, as is indicated by the 

 name it bears. The Tcheremis believe in a life after death, and 

 credit the dead with the power of returning to the world. Ac- 

 cordingly, they place food and drink in the coiHns, and on certain 

 festivals prepare feasts for their departed relatives. In a child's 

 coffin they place a string, on which is measured the height of the 

 father or mother, at the same time expressing a hope that the 

 child will grow up to be an efficient workman; and they la> bridal 

 garments in the coffin of a girl. From the ranks of the dead are 

 recruited a vast host of evil spirits; e.g., various kinds of fever 

 are caused by the spirits of spinsters. The gods of the Tcheremis 

 are also very numerous. There are the God of Heaven, the God 

 of the Dawn, the Ruler of the World, the .Mother of the Bright 

 Sun. and many others. All those deities which stand in close 

 relation to men — such as the gods u ho give rain, guard the cat- 

 tle, and protect the fruit and fish — are propitiated with sacri- 

 fices. At the present day, however, the Tcheremis offer part only 

 of the victiiVi, the head or heart, and in some districts substitute 

 cakes made in the shape of a horse. The place of sacrifice is usu- 

 ally a grove, and is chosen by a supposed sign from the gods, such 

 as the bursting forth of a ne»v spring, .\mong the mountain 

 Tcheremis the Greek Church has made considerable progress. 



