Januart 22, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



159 



ical station. They were stocked with pro- 

 visions for fully 18 months, and the place 

 also abounds with penguins, fish and seals. 

 Mr. Bruce reports that all on board the Scotia 

 are in robust health and eager for further 

 work. 



De. H. W. Wiley, chief of the Bureau of 

 Chemistry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 appeared before the committee on commerce 

 of the house of representatives on January 5, 

 in support of the pure food bill now before 

 congress. 



The regular annual meeting of the New 

 Mexico Academy of Sciences, held on De- 

 cember 28, at Santa Fe, was well attended 

 and interesting papers were presented. The 

 geological part of the program included the 

 following : Presidential address by Hon. Frank 

 Springer on the ' Life of Louis Agassiz ' ; 

 ' Note on Block Mountains,' by Dr. Charles 

 R. Keyes ; ' New Rapid Assay Method for 

 Zinc,' by Professor Francis 0. Lincoln; ' Gla- 

 ciation in the High Plateau of Bolivia,' by 

 Professor W. G. Tight ; ' Revised Geological 

 Column for New Mexico,' by Dr. Charles R. 

 Keyes ; ' Notes on Some New Mexico Min- 

 erals,' by Dr. Ruf us M. Bagg ; ' Some Irriga- 

 tion Problems in New Mexico,' by Professor 

 Oliver R. Smith ; ' Geographic Development 

 of South America, by Professor W. G. Tight. 

 The president of the academy is Hon. Frank ■ 

 Springer, of Las Vegas; vice-president, Dr. 

 Charles R. Keyes, president of the New 

 Mexico School of Mines, Socorro; secretary. 

 Professor W. G. Tight, of Albuquerque. 



At a recent meeting of the State Commis- 

 sion in Lunacy, held December 1, the recom- 

 mendation Contained in the resolution passed 

 by the advisory board of the Pathological In- 

 stitute, October 29, 1903, to the effect that: 

 " Physicians appointed to the state hospital 

 service should serve a preliminary term of 

 from three to six months on Ward's Island; 

 that the Pathological Institute and the Man- 

 hattan State Hospitals on Ward's Island or- 

 ganize a training school for this purpose and 

 that provisions be made for the construction 

 of additional accommodations in connection 

 with the staff house at Manhattan State Hos- 



pital, west," was given careful consideration! 

 The recommendation was adopted, and the 

 state architect has already been notified to 

 arrange at once plans and specifications foi' 

 the construction of an addition to the staff 

 house at Manhattan, west, to the extent of 

 providing twelve additional bed-rooms. 



At a meeting of the British Astronomical 

 Association, held on December 30, Sir William. 

 Ramsay gave a lecture entitled ' Some Specu' 

 lations regarding Atoms and Stars.' Begin-- 

 ning with a sketch of the discovery of helium,, 

 he gave reasons for holding that terrestrial 

 helium was the same as that existing in the; 

 sun, and that there was no other unknown 

 body, asterium, associated with it in the chro- 

 mosphere, as was sometimes supposed. He next 

 pointed out that of the group of inactive gases, 

 helimn, neon, argon, krypton and xenon, only 

 helium and krj^pton had been detected in 

 stellar bodies, and went on to apply the fact 

 that the characteristic line, of krypton was 

 prominent in the spectrum of the aurora to 

 the explanation of that phenomenon. These 

 five gases, having their molecules composed of 

 single atoms, not of a pair of atoms like the 

 other gases of the atmosphere, would get 

 heated more rapidly than the others, and would 

 be carried up more rapidly to the outer con- 

 fines of the atmosphere by the general at- 

 mospheric circulation. Hence the top layers 

 of the atmosphere might be supposed to con- 

 sist largely of those gases. Now, Arrhenius's 

 hypothesis was that electrified particles were 

 shot out from the sun and in turn electrified 

 the gases in those top layers; in this way the 

 argon and its companions would be excited to 

 yield their characteristic spectra. The reason 

 why that of krypton alone was visible was, as 

 was indicated by laboratory experiments he 

 had carried out, because it had a greater power 

 of emitting light than the others. The aurora 

 might then be considered as a ring discharge 

 round the poles of the earth, by which the 

 yellow-green line of krypton, the line that 

 made the aurora what it was, was caused to 

 shine out, the streamers being the effect of 

 the magnetic action exerted by the earth. In 

 the latter part of his lecture, Sir William 

 Ramsay described some of the phenomena af- 



