Febeuaey 14, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



279 



teetli of a fossil buffalo, together witli the 

 bones of deer, pigs, and a fossil elephant 

 (Stegodon) ; some of these bones had been 

 split open in order to extract the marrow. Dr. 

 Elberts computes that these people lived 20,- 

 000 years ago, but, as the correspondent of 

 the Pall Mall Gazette does not give the data 

 upon vehich this estimation is based, this date 

 must await the publication of all the facts. 

 It is evident that we may congratulate our 

 German colleagues on having discovered re- 

 mains of early inhabitants of Java who were 

 apparently in their " Neolithic " stage of cul- 

 ture. It is to be hoped that when the finds 

 are published in full it will be possible to 

 learn what manner of men they were. We 

 understand that the expedition is now in 

 south Sumatra, where fossil plants will also 

 be collected, in the hope of determining 

 whether Sumatra had an lee age." 



On January 21, Lord Lister was enrolled as 

 an Honorary Burgess of the City of Glasgow. 

 According to the account in the British Medi- 

 cal Journal the lord provost. Sir William 

 Bilsland, who presided at the ceremony, re- 

 called Lord Lister's connection with the city 

 while professor of surgery at the university 

 and visiting surgeon at the royal infirmary. 

 It was at Glasgow that he achieved world- 

 wide distinction as a scientist and a surgeon 

 by his discovery which had saved thousands 

 of lives and greatly lessened human suffering. 

 It had been well said that Lord Lister's work 

 marked a new epoch in modern surgery, and 

 his name would have an imperishable place 

 alongside the greatest in his profession and 

 among the noblest benefactors of humanity. 

 Professor Sir Hector Cameron accepted on 

 behalf of Lord Lister, who was unable to be 

 present, the casket containing the burgess 

 ticket, and read from him a letter recalling 

 his connection with the University and the 

 city, in the course of which he said : " Hav- 

 ing in due time been elected by the managers 

 of the Eoyal Infirmary as surgeon to that 

 institution, I experienced uniform considera- 

 tion at their hands when applying to the 

 treatment of wounds the great truth which 

 had been recently revealed by the illustrious 



Pasteur regarding the nature of fermentative 

 changes in organic substances. That tnith, 

 though it seemed to me to shine clear as day- 

 light from Pasteur's writings, was for many 

 years not generally recognized, and thus it was 

 my privilege to witness in my own practise, 

 as the application of the principle became 

 gradually improved, the revelation of patho- 

 logical truths of fundamental importance and 

 a revolution in practical surgery, and I look 

 upon the years spent in your city as the 

 happiest period in my life. The old infirmary 

 is now giving place to more commodious build- 

 ings; and, great as must necessarily be the 

 expense in this undertaking, I do not doubt 

 that the proverbial liberality of Glasgow will 

 prove fully equal to the occasion." 



DuEmG the last year hydrologists of the 

 U. S. Geological Survey have been making a 

 study of the quality of the water of Lehigh 

 River. The chief purpose of this work is to 

 determine the nature and extent of the varia- 

 tions in the character of the water at different 

 seasons of the year and its suitability for use 

 by manufactories and for domestic purposes. 

 At the same time the studies made show what 

 minerals are dissolved from the soils of the 

 Lehigh Valley and the quantity of each. 

 Samples of the river water have been collected 

 from day to day at South Bethlehem and 

 shipped to the survey's laboratory at Wash- 

 ington, D. C, where chemists have submitted 

 it to critical analysis. These studies are still 

 unfinished, but many conclusions regarding 

 the stream have been reached. It is shovni, 

 for example, that each year about 270,000 tons 

 of dissolved minerals are carried past South 

 Bethlehem. Of this quantity 10.2 per cent, 

 is silica, the chief constituent of sand and of 

 most rocks; more than 15 per cent, is calcium, 

 washed into the stream as sulphate and car- 

 bonate of lime; nearly 6 per cent, is mag- 

 nesium; nearly 8 per cent, is sodium, one of 

 the constituents of common salt; only 1 per 

 cent, is iron. The grand total of the minerals 

 borne by the stream is made up of the metals 

 named, carried in combination as sulphates, 

 carbonates, chlorides and nitrates. The sul- 

 phate compounds are the chief constituents, 

 amounting to about 116,000 tons a year; the 



