758 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 489. 



esting to know that some of the ground 

 beetles attack the ripening strawberries in 

 England, precisely as do similar insects with 

 us, and it is especially interesting to learn 

 that good results have been obtained by sink- 

 ing small ' pudding-basins ' in the soil be- 

 tween the rows of strawberries and baiting 

 the beetles with lights and sugar water. It 

 is also of interest to us to know that Byturus 

 tomentosus attacks the raspberry in England 

 precisely as does its congener, B. unicolor, in 

 America. 



The volume gives every promise of meeting 

 a demand among the agricultural classes for 

 just this sort of helpful literature, but since 

 it was received we have been surprised and 

 pained to learn that continuance has been 

 made impossible from the fact that the Eoyal 

 Board of Agriculture has refused to grant 

 funds for publication of future volumes. 



When we recall that, for almost a quarter 

 of a century, the late Miss Eleanor A. Orm- 

 erod carried on this work and published an- 

 nually her valuable and painstaking reports, 

 all at her own private expense, from which 

 this board of agriculture made constant and 

 copious abstracts, not always with too scru- 

 pulous credit, and now this same body refuses 

 to contribute the mere pittance to enable 

 Professor Lankester and Mr. Theobald to con- 

 tinue the work, we are forced to admit that 

 our British (no, English) cousins have some 

 characteristics that we find it hard to compre- 

 hend. However, the apple growers of the 

 United States, Canada and Tasmania, who 

 keep up with the times, will doubtless con- 

 tinue to furnish England with apples at profit- 

 able prices, and, as they jingle good British 

 gold in their pockets, they will mentally smile 

 at the little bigness of the Royal Board of 

 Agriculture, which body seems inclined to 

 further assist by a continuation of the condi- 

 tions most favorable for future commercial 

 transactions in fruit, etc., between these coun- 

 tries and England. F. M. Webster. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



A SPECIAL meeting of the Chemical Society 

 of Washington was held on Wednesday 



April 6, 1904, at eight o'clock p.m. in the 

 chemical lecture hall of the Columbian Uni- 

 versity. The meeting was addressed by Dr. 

 Charles Baskerville, of the University of North 

 Carolina, who after being introduced by the 

 president spoke upon the following subjects : 



Geo. F. Ktjnz and Chaeles Baskerville: 

 ' Kunzite and its Unique Properties.' 



Chas. Baskerville and L. B. Lockhaet: 

 ' Cause of Radio-activity.' 



Chas. Baskerville : ' Thorium, Carolinium, 

 Berzelium.' 



The speaker exhibited specimens of kunzite 

 and described some of its peculiar properties. 

 In regard to the cause of radioactivity he 

 called especial attention to the observation 

 that all minerals which have the property of 

 becoming phosphorescent under the action of 

 radium rays, contain the element helium. The 

 possibility was suggested that there is a rela- 

 tionship between the emanations of radio- 

 active bodies and helium. In regard to the 

 last subject on the program the speaker en- 

 tered into greater detail, from both the histor- 

 ical and the experimental side of the question. 

 He described the work which has occupied the 

 attention of himself and a large number of 

 assistants for the past ten years. 



At the conclusion of the address some ex- 

 periments were shown and specimens of 

 radium of different degrees of activity were 

 exhibited. 



The 150th regular meeting of the Chemical 

 Society of Washington was held Thursday 

 evening, April 14, 1904, in the assembly hall 

 of the Cosmos Club. 



The first paper on the program, entitled 

 ' The Feldspars — The Eolation between their 

 Composition and Certain Physical Properties,' 

 was presented by Dr. E. T. Allen. An ab- 

 stract of this paper has already been furnished 

 Science for publication. 



The second paper on the program, entitled 

 ' Solubility of Gypsum in Solutions of Potas- 

 sium Sulphate and Sodium Sulphate,' by F. K. 

 Cameron and J. F. Breazeale, was presented 

 by Dr. Cameron. The authors showed that 

 at 25° C. with increasing concentration of 

 potassium sulphate the solubility of calcium 

 sulphate at first falls from 2.126 gms. CaSO, 



