September 4, 1891. J 



SCIENCE. 



133 



the average of five years the produce from broaicast seed is con- 

 siderably smaller than from the same quantity of seed drilled. 

 The results of seven years' experiments point clearly to the latter 

 part of September or first of October as the most favorable season 

 for sowing wheat on this farm. A single experiment, made this 

 year, fails to sliow any advantage in favor of cross drilling over 

 sowing the same quantity of seed in the ordinary manner. No 

 larger crop has been produced this year from mixed seed of two 

 varieties than from pure seed of the same varieties sown sepa- 

 rately. The land upon which these experiments were made lies 

 in the valley of the Olentangy, one of the largest branches of the 

 Scioto. The soil is a yellow loam, part first and part second bot- 

 tom. It is either naturally underdrained with gravel or artificially 

 drained with tiles, and its average yield of wheat for thirteen 

 years has been over twenty-six bushels per acre, on an annual 

 acreage of about thirty acres. 



— The laughing plant is the name of a plant growing in Arabia, 

 and, according to the Medical Times, is so called by reason of the 

 effect produced upon those who eat its seeds The plant is of 

 moderate size, with bright yellow flowers, and soft, velvety seed- 

 pods, each of which contains two or three seeds resembling black 

 beans. The natives of the district where the plant growsdry 

 these seeds and reduce them to powder. A dose of this powder 

 Tias similar effects to those arising from the inhalation of laughing- 

 gas. It causes the most sober person to dance, shout, and laugh 

 with the boisterous excitement of a madman, and to rush about 

 ■cutting the most ridiculous capers for about an hour. At the ex- 

 piration of this time exhaustion sets in, and the excited person 

 falls asleep, to awake after several hours with no recollection of 

 his antics. 



— The following persons will be the officers of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science for the ensuing year: 

 President, Professor Joseph Le Conte of the University of Califor- 

 nia; vice-presidents, Section A, Professor J. H. Eastman, Naval 

 Observatory, Washington; B, Professor B. F. Thomas, State Uni- 

 versity, Columbus, O. ; C, Dr. Alfred Springer, Cincinnati; D, 

 Professor Jolm D. Johnson, Washington University, St. Louis; E, 

 Professor H. S. Williams of Cornell ; F, Professor S. P. Gage of 

 Cornell; H, W. H. Holmes of Washington; I, S. Dana Horton, 

 Pomeroy, Ohio; permanent secretary, F. W. Putnam of Harvard 

 University; general secretary, Amos W. Butler, Brookville, Ind. ; 

 secretary of the councils, Professor T. H. Norton, Cincinnati; sec- 

 retaries of sections: A, Professor W. Upton of Brown University; 

 B, Professor Brown Ayers, Tulane University, New Orleans; C, 

 Professor J. L. Howe, Polytechnic Institute, Louisville; D, Pro- 

 fessor H. Landuth of Vanderbilt University, Tenn. ; E, Professor 

 E. D. Salisbury, State University, Madison, Wis. ; F, Professor L. 

 B. D. Halstead, Rutgers College; H, Mr. Colin of Philadelphia; I, 

 Professor Lester Ward of the Geological Survey, Washington; 

 treasurer, William Lilly, Mauch Chunk, Penn. ; auditors, Dr. H. 

 Wheatland, Salem, Mass , and Professor Mehau, Germantown, 

 Penn. The next meeting of the association will be held in August, 

 1892, at Rochester, N.Y. 



— A meeting was held in Washington, on Aug. 2S, at the 

 ■Columbian University, which promises to result in the formation 

 of one of the most valuable organizations in the country for the 

 advancement of geological work, and especially of official geologi 

 ■cal work. This is an official organization of the directors of the 

 state and national geological surveys. There were present at the 

 meeting Maj. J. W. Powell, director of the United States geologi- 

 cal survey; Professor James Hall, State geologist of New York: 

 Professor J. M. Safford, State geologist of Tennessee; Professor J. 

 W. Spencer, State geologist of Georgia; Professor E. A. Smith, 

 State geologist of Alabama ; Professor J. A. Holmes, State geologist 

 of North Carolina; Mr. Arthur Winslow, State geologist of Mis- 

 souri; Mr. E. T. Dumble, State geologist of Tex-as; and Professor 

 J. Lindalil. State geologist of Illinois. Maj. Powell was elected 

 chairman of the meeting and Mr. Winslow was elected secretary. 

 After a few preliminary remarks in explanation of the reasons for 

 calling the meeting, ]Mr. Winslow read a paper suggesting a plan 

 of organization and explaining the objects of and the results to be 

 ■derived from such an official association. As prominent among 



the important objects of the associatton the following may be cited : 

 (1) the determination of the proper objects of public geological 

 work; (2) the improvement of methods; (3; the unification of 

 methods; (4) the establishment of the proper relative spheres and 

 functions of national and state surveys; (5) co-operation in works 

 of common interest, and the prevention of duplication of work; 

 (6) The elevation of the standard of public geologic work, and the 

 sustenance of an appreciation of its value; (7) the inauguration of 

 surveys by States not having such at present, to co-operate with 

 the other State surveys and with the national survey. As an im- 

 mediate result of this meeting a committee of six was elected to 

 consider the matter of organization, with the power to frame a 

 constitution and by-laws, to be reported to the association at a 

 time and place to be selected by the committee. This committee 

 consists of Maj. J. W. Powell, chairman ; Professor E. A. Smith, 

 Professor J. A. Homes, Dr. J. C. Branner, Mr. Arthur Winslow, 

 and Professor W. H. Winchell. It is a matter of sincere con- 

 gratulation that the association, whose organization has been an 

 oft-mooted question, is now in a fair condition to become an es- 

 tablished fact. That it will serve as an invaluable agent in secur-' 

 ing harmony and efficiency in the important public work will be 

 readily appreciated. 



— Snow-drifts are found a serious disturbance of the Russian 

 railway system. With a view to forecasting such occurrences, 

 according to Nature, M. Sresnewskij has lately collected informa- 

 tion about snow-drifts on the Russian lines during 1879-89 (Re}}, 

 fiir Met.). The drifts occur in the northern and eastern govern- 

 ments, chiefly with south-west wind, but in southern Russia with 

 north east. In the north greater gradiants are required than in 

 the south. The maximum of the drifting is in mid-winter, but 

 there is more in the second half of winter than in the first, that 

 having more snow. In the course of winter the snow grows in 

 thickness, so that in March there is more to drift than in Decem- 

 ber. The marked diminution of drifting in February is due to 

 the less wind in that month (a fact not yet explained, as the num- 

 ber of cyclones shows no decrease). Two kinds of drifting are 

 distinguished; it may be only or chiefiy snow lying on the ground 

 that is whirled and carried along, or the wind may drive falling 

 snow. There are most drifts in the months that have least snow- 

 fall and the smallest number of days of snow. The snow-drifts 

 in South Russia with north-east wind are chiefly connected with 

 anticyclones in the central region, or cyclones on the southern 

 border ; those in the east and north with cyclones in European 

 Russia. In central Russia they occur with cyclonic winds of va- 

 rious direction, seldom with anticyclones. 



— An investigation (more comprehensive than the previous ones 

 by Forel, Fritz, and others) of the variations of Alpine glaciers has 

 been recently made by Herr Richter of the German and Austrian 

 Alpine Club. To six advances of glaciers, previously known, he 

 adds three, and his account of the six differs somewhat from pre- 

 vious ones. The dates of commencement of the nine advances 

 are 1593, 1630, 167.3, 1712, 1705, 1767, 1814, 183.3, 1873 (?). The 

 following are some of Richter's conclusions, as given in Nature of 

 Aug. 20: Glacier advances recur in periods varying between 

 twenty and forty-five years; on the average of three centuries, 

 thirty-five years. The advances are not all of equal intensity, nor 

 alike in their progress. Nor is the intensity in a given advance- 

 period the same in all glaciers. In the case of some glaciers, a 

 period is occasionally skipped, the advance or retirement being 

 very weak, so that the thirty-five years period gives place to one 

 of seventy years. The glacier variations correspond, in general, 

 with Briickners climate variations. The glacier advance gener- 

 ally begins a few years after the moist and co^l period has set in. 

 There is no good reason to suppose that, in historic time, before 

 the sixteenth century, the Alpine glaciei'S were smaller than now, 

 or that variations occurred of a different order and period from 

 those of the last three hundred years. About 1880 the earth was 

 passing through a moist and cold perio.i, which should have re- 

 sulted in a general advance; but the adrance has been but slight 

 hitherto, and, in the eastern Alps, mostly absent. The cause of 

 this is not at present clear, but the mild nature of this last cold 

 period may have something to do vvith it. 



