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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVIII. No. 458 



miserably below what, in the majority of cases, they can afford. 

 The heroism of the monks should be remembered by the well-lo-do 

 holiday visitor. They begin their career at the age of eighteen 

 or nineteen. After fifteen years' service the severe climate has 

 made old men of them. For eight or nine months out of the 

 twelve they see none but the poorest wayfarers, when the cold is 

 intOHse, the snow lying deep, the danger from storms incessant 

 and fearful. Their sole companions are the dogs, whose keen 

 scent has guided them to the snow wreath under which the buried 

 traveller !ias so often been rescued and brought to life — dogs like 

 that noble fellow " Barry," who saved forty men in his time, and 

 who noiT, carefully stuffed, adorns the museum at Bern. 



— The Brooklyn Institute announces courses of lectures on 

 Geology and ArchEeology, by Professor Franklin W. Hooper. The 

 separate courses will be devoted to physiography, the earth's 

 structure, the earth's history, glaciers of the age of ice, local 

 geology, and archaeology. Each of the lectures will be illustrated 

 by sixty or more lantern photographs and by collections of geo- 

 logical or archaeological specimens. The courses are subject to 

 alteration to meet special requirements. The Institute will con- 

 duct thpse courses of lectures on the so-called •' University Exten- 

 sion'' plan, under the title of "Institute Extension Lectures." 

 Each lecture will be preceded by a conference on the subject of 

 the previous lecture. A syllabus of each course of lectures, to- 

 gether with directions for reading and study, will be provided. 

 Those who desire may present themselves for examination at the 

 close of a course by giving ten days' notice. CertiBcates will be 

 issued by I he Institute to those who pass a satisfactory examina- 

 tion. Arrangements for courses may be made with the Institute. 

 The lectures may be given in the rooms occupied by the Institute, 

 or at any convenient point in Brooklyn and the immediate vicinity. 

 The Institute Extension Lectures are independent of the other 

 work at the Institute, and special course tickets are necessary for 

 admission to them. 



— The report of Arthur Winslow, State geologist of Missouri, 

 shows that, during the month of October, inspections of iron ore 

 deposits have been made in Randolph, Monroe, Benton, Henry, 

 Hickory, Franklin, Reynolds, Crawford, and Dent Counties. In- 

 spections of lead and zinc deposits have been made in Pettis, Ben- 

 ton, Hickory, Camden, Miller, Cole, Osage, Franklin, and Rey- 

 nolds Counties. Inspections of coal beds have been made in 

 Cooper, Saline, and Lafayette Counties, and surveys have been 

 made for the purpose of constructing a model of an important coal 

 deposit in the first named county. Detailed mapping has been 

 prosecuted in Henry, Benton, and St. Francois Counties, and over 

 330 square miles have been covered. For outlining the areas 

 of the crystalline rocks examinations have been made of an area 

 covering about 300 square miles in Reynolds and Iron Counties, 

 and the areas of the geological formations in portions of six town- 

 ships in Greene and Polk Counties have similarly been mapped. 

 Examinations of important clays of the State have been continued 

 and additional experimental tests on sixteen samples of such are 

 now completed. In the ofRce much has been done on the prelim- 

 inary report on the coal deposits of the State, which will be placed 

 in the printer's hands this month. Work on the preparation of 

 the reports on the mineral waters and on the paleontology of the 

 State has also progressed well. Further, much draughting has 

 been done of illustrations to accompany reports of detailed maps 

 and sections. Engraving of these maps has been started and can 

 now be continued uninterruptedly with the supply of maps which 

 have been prepared during the past months. Bulletin No. 5 has 

 been distributed. 



— No sooner is one antiseptic chemical rejected by some disap- 

 pointed disciple of antisepticism, says the Medical Press, than he 

 is greeted by a new chemical possessing all the virtues and free 

 from all the vices of its predecessor. The list commenced with 

 the peerless carbolic acid and its many preparations, all of which 

 made way for the ill-smelling iodoform or the poisonous corrosive 

 sublimate ; these in turn were pushed aside for newer and 

 >nore popular remedies, until " ariostol " claimed notice; still, 

 however, the search goes on, and of course the demand begets a 

 supply. Dr. Berlioz now presents to the Parisian Academy of 



Medicine a new chemical which already has proven itself worthy, 

 if we accept the statements of its advocates, of general recognition 

 as the best of antiseptics. He names it " microcidine," a name 

 which it is hardly entitled to, seeing that its germicide powers are 

 inferior to those of corrosive sublimate. According to Professor 

 Polaillon, the nesv drug is not a definite chemical compound, but 

 rather a mixture of B naphthol and hydroxylate of sodium. This 

 new product is soluble in three times its weight of cold water, the 

 solution being of a brown color, which disappears on dilution. 

 The chief advantages claimed for this, the latest of antiseptics, is 

 its slight cost, and that it is non-poisonous. 



— A new use has been found for waste glass. Any fragments 

 of broken glass of various colors are mixed together, after having 

 been broken to a suitable size; they are then placed in moulds, 

 lined with silica, talc, or some other resisting material, and fired. 

 A coherent mass is produced which can be dressed and cut into 

 blocks, nhich ar", of course, irregularly colored. Such blocks may 

 be used as ariificial marble. The blocks are usually rough on one 

 side, owing perhaps to incomplete fusion; this gives a surface 

 which is admirably adapted for causing them, especially if they 

 are slab-like in form, to adhere to walls with the addition of a 

 little mortar. Fine decorative effects can thus be proiluced. De- 

 signs in relief can be obtained by pressure while the block or slab 

 is still plastic. If a suitable mould be prepared with movable 

 partitions, then pieces of glass can be arranged in such a way that, 

 upon fir-ing, a very effective "stained-glass" windovv is produced, 

 the necessity of using "leading," as in the ordinary way, being 

 thus obviated. 



— The other day, Mr. Flinders Petrie delivered at the Owens 

 College, Manchester, a most interesting address on exploration in 

 Egypt which is reported in Nature. It had been thought, he 

 said, that the immense mounds of rubbish indicating the sites of 

 towns had been made on purpose, but they resulted from the 

 natural decay of the mud-brick buildings. These heaps of ruined 

 walls and earth and potsherds rose even to eighty feet high in 

 some places; but other ancient sites were much le.^s imposing, and 

 might even not attract notice on the open desert. The higher the 

 mound the longer the place had been inhabited; and if the surface 

 was of a late period, the earlier parts, which were most needed, 

 were under such a depth of rubbish as to be practically inaccessi- 

 ble. Much could be known at first sight ; and prospecting had now 

 become as scientific a matter in antiquities as in geology. Knowing, 

 by a glance at the sherds on the top, what was the latest period 

 of occupation of the site, and knowing the usual rate of accumula- 

 tion of a mud-brick town — about five feet in a century — we could 

 guess how far back the bot;toin of the mound must be dated. 

 Other remains had different indications. If in the midst of a great 

 mound there was a wide flat crater, that was probably the temple 

 site, surrounded by houses which had accumulated high on aU 

 sides of it. Speaking of the results of exploration, Mr. Petrie said 

 that we now realized what the course of the arts had been in Egypt. 

 In the earliest days yet known to us — about 4000 B.C. — we found 

 great skill in executing accurate and massive stonework, such skill 

 as had hardly ever been exceeded. We found elaborate tools used, 

 jewelled saws and tubular drills. We saw the pictorial arts as 

 fully developed as they were for thousands of years later. But 

 what led up to this we were still feeling for. 



— Dr. H. von Wlislocki, as we learn from Nature, has published 

 a capital paper on the handicrafts of Hungarian gypsies, whom 

 he has had many opportunities of observing. If we may judge 

 from the illustrations, they have a considerable aptitude for de- 

 sign. In the summer they make bottles out of pumpkins, which 

 they decorate with various drawings. On each bottle the space is 

 divided into four zones, crosses being cut into the uppermost zone, 

 serpents into the second one, circles into the third, and zigzag 

 lines into the fourth. The crosses mean " May you be happy ! "; 

 the serpents, "May you have no enemies !"; the circles, "May 

 you always have money!"; the zigzag lines, "May you be 

 healthy ! " Brandy is kept in the bottles; and when a guest is re- 

 ceived, the first gypsy who drinks says, " May you be happy !"; 

 the second, "May you have no enemies!'' — and soon. Pretty 

 walking-sticks are also among the things made by the Hungarian 



