November 13, 1891. J 



SCIENCE. 



271 



gypsies. On the top of one of those sketched in the article two 

 female lieads are admirably carved. These represent Ana, the 

 Queen of the Keschalyis, or forest fairies, who dwell among the 

 mountains, where they sit — three being always together — on 

 Tooks, spreading out their long hair over the valleys, thus giving 

 I'lse to mists. Queen Ana lives in a black palace, and sometimes 

 wanders over the world in the form of a frog. Frogs, toads, and 

 serpents are her favorite animals. When she meets any one in 

 her natural form, she exclaims " Ana ! ", which means " Bring ! " 

 Should the person understand the cry and bring a frog, a toad, 

 or a serpent, he is richly rewarded. If he fails to do so, he 

 is either killed with a piece of a rock, or struck by some terrible 

 malady. 



— The belief is quite general among strawberry growers that 

 imperfect flowered varieties are less liable to injury by frost than 

 perfect, or staminate flowered sorts. Two heavy frosts occurred 

 on May 5 and 17, 1891, which did much injury, as all varieties 

 ■were then in bloom. The large number of varieties on trial at 

 the Ohio Agricultural Station made it possible to test the accuracy 

 of the belief above stated. The Enhance and Parker Earl, both 

 ■varieties having perfect flowers, escaped with but little more in- 

 jury than the imperfect flowered sorts, but aside from these ex- 

 ceptions, the varieties of this class suffered far more injury than 

 those having imperfect flowers. These varieties are later in bloom- 

 ing than most others, and possibly they are uncommonly hardy, 

 tout it is safe to make the generalization that perfect flowered 

 sorts are less hardy when in bloom than those having imperfect 

 flowers. 



— Some interesting facts about the tastes and manners of Lon- 

 don board-school children were brought out at a meeting of the 

 workers of the Children's Happy Evenings Association, held at 

 the house of Mrs. Moberley Bell, who will in future act as hon- 

 orary secretary of the Association. According to The Educational 

 Times, the room where children gather to listen to fairy tales, 

 play quiet games, and do needlework is more popular than the 

 room given over to romping and noisy games. Painting is the 

 favonce occupation, and with the paint boxes provided by the 

 Association the children delight in coloring the illustrated adver- 

 tisements from daily and weekly papers— one lady worker 

 remarking that fashion advertisements were first favorites. The 

 experience of the workers seemed to be that it was quite possible 

 for the boys and girls to dance and play together, and that the 

 efi'ect was beneficial to both, provided the staff of helpers was 

 sufficiently large. 



— In the Revue Agricole, published in Mauritius, M. A. Daruty 

 de Grand pre gives an account of his attempts to raise sugar-cane 

 fi-om seeds. The seeds, according to Nature, were sent from 

 Barbados by the Governor in March, 1890. M. de Grandpre 

 planted them with the greatest care, and after five days was for- 

 tunate enough to obtain five minute seedliuiis out of the hundred 

 seeds used. The young plants he raised did not all prove equally 

 vigorous, and he was able to save only one, which, at the time 

 when his report was written, had formed a fine clump of twenty 

 shoots with long ribbon leaves. "I believe," he says, "that we 

 may with reason cherish the most sanguine hopes from from the 

 propagation of sugar-cane from seeds — more especially if we try 

 an intelligent system of cross-fertilization of the varieties we pos- 

 sess — rather than by planting cuttings, which maintain without 

 appreciable alteration the respective characteristics of the pai'ent 

 plants. Thus we shall be able to supplement the weak points in 

 our best varieties of sugar-cane by crossing them with others 

 which are remarkable for the qualities it is intended to infuse into 

 them, and we shall moreover obtain, by a process of selection, a 

 cane rich in saccharine matter, which will enable us to compete 

 successfully against the highly improved sugar-beet." 



■ — The Association of Colleges in New England, impressed with 

 the real unity of interest and the need of mutual sympathy and 

 help throughout the different grades of public education, invites 

 the attention of the public to the following changes in the pro- 

 gramme of New England grammar schools which it recommends 

 for gradual adoption : (t) The introduction of elementary natural 



liistory into the earlier years of the programme as a substantial 

 subject, to be taught by demonstrations and practical exercises 

 rather than from books. (3) The introduction of elementary 

 physics into the later years of the programme as a substantial 

 subject, to be taught by the experimental or laboratory method, 

 and to include exact weighing and measuring by the pupils them- 

 selves. (3) The introduction of elementary algebra at an age not 

 later than twelve yeai-s. (4) The introduction of elementary plane 

 geometry at an age not later than thirteen years. (5) The offer- 

 ing of opportunity to study French, or German, or Latin, or any 

 two of these languages, from and after the age of ten years. In 

 order to make room in the programme for these new subjects 

 the Association recommends that the time allotted to arith- 

 metic, geography, and English grammar be reduced to what- 

 ever extent may be necessary. The Association makes these 

 recommendations in the interest of the public school system as a 

 whole ; but most of them are offered more particularly in the 

 interest of those children whose education is not to be continued 

 beyond the grammar school. At the thirty-fifth annual meeting 

 of the Association, held at Brown University, Nov. .5-6, it was 

 voted that these suggested changes be transmitted to the various 

 faculties for their consideration and for action by the Association 

 next year. 



— A case which occurred in Sussex illustrates well the manifold 

 sources from which arsenical poisoning may be derived. A man 

 named Wesley, we learn from the British Medical Journal, died 

 with symptoms of gastro-enteritis, while five other people in the 

 family were taken seriously ill. It transpired that they had all 

 partaken of some home-made gooseberry wine, and that this had 

 been stored in a cask previously used for the reception of a cer- 

 tain weed-killer largely composed of arsenic, and there could be 

 but little doubt that the poisoning was due to the arsenic. A case 

 very similar to this occurred some years ago, when a man lost his 

 life by drinking beer out of a pot which had been cleansed with a 

 patent cleansing fluid containing arsenic, and there is also the 

 well-known wholesale poisoning at an industrial school, when 

 over 300 children were poisoned by some water being added to 

 their morning milk which had been drawn from a tank recently 

 cleansed of fur by a solution of arseulte of soda. Happily on 

 that occasion no fatal result occurred ; but the result was not so 

 fortunate in the Bradford peppermint-lozenges case, when out of 

 200 sufferers seventeen died; here arsenic had been used to adul- 

 terate the lozenges in mistake for sulphate of lime. Another case 

 of accidental poisoning will doubtless be fresh in the recollection 

 of our readers, when the poison was absorbed through the skin; 

 we refer to the two infants who lost their lives through the 

 use of a violet powder into the composition of which arsenic 

 had entered. The lesson to be learned from the recent and 

 other cases is that cleansing liquids are very dangerous 

 things. 



— The Scientific Alliance of New York, recently organized, in- 

 cludes the New York Academy of Sciences, the Torrey Botanical 

 Club, the New York Microscopical Society, the Linnsean Society of 

 New York, the New York Mineralogical Club, and the New York 

 Mathematical Society. The secretary of the council is Dr. N. L. 

 Britton of Columbia College, to whose efforts the new system is 

 principally credited. Instead of announcements separately issued, 

 the members of the different societies receive in a single bulletin 

 a comprehensive statement of the proposed meetings of each for 

 the month, and as persons frequently are members of several of 

 the societies the convenience of the direct comparison which is 

 provided in dates and subjects is at once appreciated. A folding 

 card bulletin, as easy of reference as a calendar, gives one space 

 to the notices of each society, and one of the spaces contains a 

 general chronological index. An additional fold is given in any 

 issue for special announcements when required. The highly ap- 

 proved plan of unity of measures thus in operation is similar in 

 principle to that of Burlington House, London, and if succeeding 

 in the manner expected from present favorable circumstances, the 

 New York Scientific Alliance will be established at some future 

 day in a building of its own, containing many united collections 

 in one great exhibition. 



