January 17, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



107 



Furthermore, the statements regarding the 

 cost of manufacture of industrial products, 

 such as alcohol, unless they have been scruti- 

 nized and confirmed by experienced manu- 

 facturers, must be accepted with "reserve and 

 may also have some tendency to defeat the 

 object of the book. Wm. McMurtrie 



Synopsis of Mineral Characters. By Ealph 

 W. Richards. New York, John Wiley & 

 Sons ; London, Chapman & Hall, Ltd. 190Y. 

 This is an alphabetically arranged list of 

 minerals and their chief physical character- 

 istics, with concise definitions and descrip- 

 tions; the chemical composition expressed by 

 an empirical formula. Simple blowpipe re- 

 actions are also given. The book is intended 

 as a reference work for those who have studied 

 mineralogy and need notes to aid in the identi- 

 fication of minerals in the field. It is a com- 

 pact 12mo of 100 pages, which may be carried 

 about in the pocket conveniently, and will un- 

 doubtedly prove very useful to students and 

 field workers. J. P. Iddings 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE FORTIETH ANNUAL MEETING OP THE KANSAS 

 ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



At the meeting of the Kansas Academy of 

 Science held in Emporia on November 29 and 

 30, among the many important papers read the 

 following may be mentioned: 



" Natural Gas obtained from Trees," by 

 F. W. Bushong and D. F. McFailand. This 

 paper gives an analysis of natural gas obtained 

 by boring into Cottonwood trees. The authors 

 showed that this gas contained 7.21 per cent, 

 of carbon dioxide and about 61 per cent, of 

 marsh gas, and 30 per cent, of nitrogen. 

 L. E. Sayre discussed the percentage of 

 extractives in certain drugs and spices, and 

 commented on the necessity of having im- 

 proved and reliable methods for making these 

 determinations. He also mentioned some 

 " fake " medical preparations that were upon 

 the market, and referred to the work of the 

 board of health in trying to reform the 

 fraudulent methods of labeling. Considerable 

 attention was paid to the progi-ess of the 

 water survey of Kansas in papers read upon 



the chemical work by E. H. S. Bailey and 

 F. W. Bushong, on the bacteriological work 

 by M. A. Barber and W. J. Starin, on the 

 field work by H. N. Parker, and upon engineer- 

 ing problems by W. C. Hoad. C. F. Men- 

 ninger read a paper on " Gastric Ferments," 

 showing the remarkable advancement in the 

 knowledge of this subject that has recently 

 been made. F. B. Dains and E. W. Brown re- 

 ported on the reaction of formanidines, giv- 

 ing an account of some newly discovered 

 bodies. Some new finds in the Kansas Chalk 

 beds were reported by Chas. H. Sternberg. 

 A fossil tooth and other bones from Phillips 

 County was discussed by J. T. Lovewell. A 

 very practical paper on the " Food Habits of 

 the Blue Jay " was read by L. L. Dyche. In 

 this he showed the murderous intent of this 

 bird, not only from observation, but also from 

 numerous dissections of the blue jay, in which 

 the heart and other vital parts of birds were 

 found in the crop. Grace E. Meeker dis- 

 cussed a curious " Impatiens " recently found. 

 W. Knaus, besides reporting on additions to 

 Kansas coleoptera, mentioned some new 

 coleoptera found in New Mexico, and many 

 interesting species collected at night in Mc- 

 Phefson, Kansas. " A Parasite on Eggs of 

 Mantis " was the subject of a paper by Mrs. 

 L. C. E. Smyth. L. C. Wooster read a paper 

 on the " Antiquity of Man's Body-building 

 Instincts." B. E. Eogers in a paper upon 

 " Tuberculosis " emphasized the importance of 

 greater precautions to prevent the spread of 

 this disease. " The Abnormal Character of 

 Man " was the title of a paper by J. M. Mc- 

 Wharf. W. F. Hoyt in an entertaining way 

 gave a report on some scientific frauds and 

 fallacies. The " Buried City of the Pan- 

 handle " was the subject of a paper by F. L. 

 Eyerly. B. B. Smyth discussed harmonics 

 and magic hexagons. The advantage of fire- 

 less cooking was explained by J. T. Lovewell. 

 H. P. Cady gave a resume of his work on 

 the occurrence of neon in natural gas, and 

 showed that it was possible to obtain neon 

 in appreciable quantities from this source. 

 Papei-s on the " Quantity of Water found in 

 Oysters " as they are marketed, and the " Oc- 

 currence of Copper in Oysters," were pre- 



