812 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 856 



plumages and molts of Nortli American 

 species. The second collection belonging to 

 Dr. Leonard 0. Sanford, of New Haven, Con- 

 necticut, contains about 400 specimens, largely 

 non-passerine birds, and includes rare species 

 especially among the albatrosses and petrels, 

 some of -which are not represented in the 

 American Museum collections. 



An arrangement has been concluded be- 

 tween the German and English governments 

 and the Marconi Company by which the 

 weather observations transmitted by wireless 

 telegraphy from ships on the Atlantic will be 

 made mutually available to the English and 

 German Meteorological Offices. Experiments 

 in this direction were made in 1909. The 

 new arrangement is expected to come into 

 force by next year at latest. The observations 

 will be transmitted to the Meteorological Office 

 in London, to the Marine Observatory at 

 Hamburg and to the Meteorological Station 

 at Aachen. 



Is Bulletin 420 of the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey, entitled " Economic Geology 

 of the Feldspar Deposits of the United 

 States," by Edson S. Bastin, there are descrip- 

 tions of the many feldspar deposits in the 

 country and the extent to which the industry 

 has grown. The principal consumers of feld- 

 spar are manufacturers of pottery, enamel 

 ware, enamel brick and electric ware. The 

 trade demands that feldspar for use in pot- 

 tery be nearly free from iron-bearing min- 

 erals (biotite, garnet, hornblende, black tour- 

 maline, etc.) and that it contain little if any 

 muscovite. Feldspar is also used in the man- 

 ufacture of emery and carborundum wheels, 

 as a flux to bind the abrading particles to- 

 gether. Small quantities of feldspar are used 

 in the manufacture of opalescent glass and 

 carefully selected pure feldspar is used in the 

 manufacture of artificial teeth. Some is used 

 in scouring soaps and window washes, the fact 

 that feldspar is slightly softer than glass ren- 

 dering these soaps less liable to scratch win- 

 dows or glassware than the soaps in which 

 quartz is the abrasive substance. Two firms 

 in New York and one in Connecticut crush 



feldspar for poultry grit and for use in the 

 manufacture of ready roofing. In a number 

 of the feldspar quarries garnets, green tour- 

 malines and aquamarines (beryl) of gem qual- 

 ity are found, but seldom in such quantity as 

 to warrant mining for the gems alone. Mr. 

 Bastin mentions a feldspar quarry in Con- 

 necticut where some of the cavities that 

 yielded gem tourmalines were as large as a 

 bushel basket. At another quarry in the 

 state a large transparent green tourmaline 

 about seven inches long was found. This 

 stone is now in the museum of the Wesleyan 

 University at Middletown, Conn. One pocket 

 in the same quarry contained a large crystal 

 weighing several pounds, of pale-blue to pale- 

 green color, the tints being similar to those 

 observed in some aquamarines. Unfortu- 

 nately, this crystal was much shattered in the 

 blasting, but the fragments have yielded a 

 number of small cut gems of great beauty. 



VNIVEBSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 



Governor Foss has signed the bill by which 

 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

 will receive $100,000 annually from the state 

 for ten years. By the terms of the measure 

 the Institute will maintain 80 free scholar- 

 ships to be apportioned among the 40 sena- 

 torial districts of the state. 



Tpie California legislature has passed a bill 

 which has been recently signed by the gov- 

 ernor appropriating $25,000 for a soils labora- 

 tory building, equipment and other improve- 

 ments at the Citrus Experiment Station. 

 About $1,500 of this amount will be used in 

 improving the irrigation system, $2,500 to 

 complete the title for building site and nur- 

 sery grounds, about $2,000 for incidentals, 

 leaving $19,000 for' building and equipment. 

 The work of this laboratory is to be confined 

 to the study of citrus soils from their chem- 

 ical, physical and biological phases. 



The legislature of Hawaii, just adjourned, 

 appropriated $Y5,000 for a new building for 

 the College of Hawaii and $20,000 for main- 

 tenance expenses. The committee of educa- 

 tion favored the adoption of the plans that 

 have been drawn up for the development and 



