July 3, 1891.] 



SCIENCE. 



same rate as in commercial fertilizers. The pile of manure thus 

 made was put in a place exposed to the weather, and where the 

 drainage was so good that all the water not absorbed by the ma- 

 nure ran through and off at once. It remained exposed from 

 April 35 to Sept. 23, 1890, at which time it was carefully scraped 

 up, weighed, and a sample taken for analysis. It was found that 

 the 4,000 pounds had shrunk to 1,730 pounds during the five 

 months, and analysis showed that this 1,730 was less valuable, 

 pound for pound, than the original lot of manure. It had not 

 only lost by leaching, but by heating or " fire fanging" during 

 periods of dry weather, and the value of the pile of 4,000 pounds 

 had shrunk from §5.60 to $2.13, a loss of 62 percent. In summing 

 up the results of this experiment. Director Roberts says: " It seems 

 safe to say that under the ordinary conditions of piling and expo- 

 sure, the loss of fertilizing materials during the course of the 

 summer is not likely to be much below fifty per cent of the origi- 

 nal value of the manure." Further experiments showed that the 

 liquid manure from a cow is worth as much per day as the solid 

 manure, and that the combined value of the two is nearly ten 

 cents per day, if valued at the same rate as commercial fertilizers ; 

 that from a horse is valued at seven cents per day, that from a 

 sheep at one and one-half-cents, and that from a hog at one-half 

 cent. Director Roberts is careful to explain that these values 

 will have to be modified to suit individual circumstances. What 

 he means is, that, if farmers can afford to buy commercial fertili- 

 zers at current prices, then the manures of the farm are worth 

 the prices given. The bulletin closes with plans illustrating a 

 cheap manure shed, under which manure may be saved with 

 practically no loss. 



— Considerable progress is being made by the government of 

 Japan in its survey operations, as we learn from the Proceedings 

 of the Royal Geographical Society for June. A map on the scale 

 of 1:300,000 was commenced sixteen years ago, and is now pub- 

 lished (in seventy-seven sheets) for the whole of the islands except 

 Yezo. This is, however, considered merely as a provisional pub- 

 lication, being based on Japanese methods of work, and therefore 

 not to be relied on for accuracy. A modern sm^vey was com- 

 menced eleven yeai's ago, with triangulation of four orders, and 

 depending on some five base-lines. Copper-plate, photogravure, 

 and lithography are employed in the reproduction of these maps, 

 and few if any Europeans are employed. The work appears to 

 be excellent. Only a small proportion is completed, and it will be 

 many years before the whole is finished. About three hundred 

 of the published sheets can now be bought : the scale is 1 : 20,000. 

 A map on a scale of 1: 100,000 is also being prepared, based on 

 the 1 : 20,000 map, but no sheets are yet for sale. The names on 

 these maps are in Japanese characters. In the Geological Survey 

 of Japan reconnaissance map, Roman characters are used, and 

 1 : 400,000 is the scale. 



— At a meeting of the Geographical Society of Paris, on March 

 20, the Minister of Public Instruction communicated a report by 

 MM. Rousson and Willems upon their scientific mission to Tierra 

 del Fuego, a condensed translation of which appears in the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Royal Geographical Society for June. The region 

 explored by them is comprised within 53° 30 ' and 53' 30' south 

 latitude, and 68° 15' and 70° 30' west longtitude. This part of 

 the country is traversed by a chain of mountains running from 

 Cape Bogueron, where it rises abruptly to over 1,650 feet, to Cape 

 Espiritu-Santo. Great lagoons, forming small rivers, extend into 

 the immense plains. The watercourses are very numerous, but 

 many of them are dried up in summer. The Rio del Oro, which 

 is the most important stream of the northern part of the island, 

 empties itself into the Bay of Felipe. The climate is very variable, 

 according to the locality. The travellers did not suffer from cold 

 at all during their journeys, but two men were frozen to death at 

 Porvenir. The climate, however, is not so rigorous as supposed. 

 The lowest temperature recorded by the travellers was 43". F., 

 and the maximum 69°, the nights being always very cold. Winds 

 are very frequent, the most violent being those from the west, 

 which attain a velocity of seventy miles an hour. During the 

 three most rigorous months of the year, only six days of rain and 

 two of snow were registered, but on the higher hills much more 



snow fell. The winter was stated by the. natives to have been 

 exceptionally mild. The Indians inhabiting the north of the island 

 are the Onas. They are very tall, and sometimes attain over six 

 and a half feet in height. Their skin is copper- colored and oily; 

 their face is oval, forehead narrow, and their long hair falls down 

 over their shoulders. Their eyes are small, and eyebrows well 

 defined ; nose slightly aquiline, cheek-bones prominent, mouth very 

 large, with small yellowish teeth. They are very muscular and 

 strong, and are great warriors, being continually in conflict with 

 the Indians of the west and south. It is an error to suppose that 

 they are cannibals, or that they burn their corpses. Several places 

 were found where the Indians had buried their dead. They be- 

 lieve in a spirit whom they call " Waliche," and to whom they 

 refer all good and evil. The north of Tierra del Puego is com- 

 pletely destitute of trees. The only shrubs found there are the 

 calafate, the romorille, and the mata-nigra. Quadrupeds are few, 

 but birds of all kinds plentiful. Magnetic iron can be obtained in 

 all parts in great quantity, and gold is also found at some points, 

 but often at very great depths. The native population of the north 

 may be estimated at not more than three hundred. The whole 

 mainland north of the Straits of Magellan, which ten or twelve 

 years ago was unoccupied, has in recent years become covered 

 with small farms, where sheep and horned cattle are reared, and 

 these farms have prospered to such an extent that the vast region 

 they occupy is even now too small. The cordillera of the Andes 

 bars any extension towards Chili, so that it may be concluded that 

 the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego will, in the near future, receive 

 the overflow of Patagonia. There is already on the island a model 

 farm where nearly twenty thousand sheep and over sixty thousand 

 horned cattle are reared. ' 



— "I have never expressed any opinion to my professional 

 brethren on the fundamental value of Koch's method, simply be- 

 cause I do not know hosv such an opinion can be formulated," 

 said Professor Virchow recently in the Prussian House of Depu- 

 ties, during a debate on granting additional funds for the Koch 

 Institute. " I have only communicated a series of personal ob- 

 servations," he continued, " which have indeed been of service in 

 directing attention to one part of the question, and have especially 

 enforced the need for calm and objective study that is so requisite 

 in these difficult subjects. Dr. Graf [a previous speaker] is still 

 steeped in optimism. He has no right to speak of the importance 

 of the matter until he has proved it, and it is, in fact, not proved. 

 But it would be just as foolish if we, as pessimists, were to say, 

 'The matter is of no importance whatever; it is only a poison, a 

 noxious substance.' The question has, in fact, been developed in 

 unexpected directions, leading in many quarters to the hope that 

 very striking results can be produced by these powerful measures 

 — a hope we cannot yet say has been annihilated. As a matter 

 of fact, there is not a single case known in which any form of 

 tuberculosis has been cured by this means. All cases which were 

 for a while regarded as cured have afterward been found to re- 

 lapse. The improvements were merely temporary, such as often 

 occur under other treatment. On the other hand, there is no 

 doubt whatever that many serious dangers have been revealed, 

 with regard to which I may claim some merit for myself. Never- 

 theless, from what I have just said, no doctor who feels called 

 upon to make further trial of the remedy could by any possibility 

 lay himself open to prosecution. The original trials were, in point 

 of fact, made after results had been obtained in animals which 

 seemed to justify the expectations that were raised regarding the 

 discovery." 



— Theo. B. Comstock, late of the Geological Survey of Texas, 

 is now director of the University of Arizona, at Tucson. 



— Professor A. T. Wood, formerly of the University of Illinois, 

 has accepted a position as professor of mechanical engineering in 

 the Washington University, St. Louis, Mo. 



— Dr. John I. Northrop of Columbia College has died as the re- 

 sult of burns received June 25. Dr. Northrop, with two assistants, 

 had gone down in the cellar of one of the buildings to supervise 

 the placing of some newly acquired specimens in alcohol, when 

 an explosion occurred and aU three were severely burned. Dr. 

 Northrop was about thirty years old and was highly esteemed. 



