2l8 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 320 



SCIENCE 



A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



PUBLISHED BY 



N. D. C. HODGES, 



47 Lafayette Place, New York. 



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 of our correspondents. 



NEW YORK. March 22. 18 



No. 320. 



CON 



The Water PnoBLbM of Ne 



York 



Prunes in France 



Some New Electric Railways . 

 The Submarine Boat " Gymnote 

 Natural Gas in Ohio in 188S... 

 The D 

 Health M 



Analysis of Foods 



The Surgeon-General and the Na- 

 tional Board of Health 



Temperance Instruction in Public 



Schools 



Diphtheria and Sanitation 



Ethnology. 



The Blackfoot Sun-Dance 



A Survival of Corporal Penance... 



Electrical News. 

 Small Engines for Electric Lighting 

 Accumulators 



Notes and N ews 



TENTS : 



Editori/ 



Purity of Drugs. 



The Adirondack Forests : 



The Utility of Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Stations : 



The Encouragement of Higher 



Education H. B. Adams : 



Book-Reviews. 

 The Government of the People of 



the United States : 



A Text Book of Elementary Biolo- 



gy- 



Chemical Lecture Notes : 



Letters to the Editor. 



Origin of Fish in Isolated Waters 



Chs. B. Palmer : 

 The Soaring of Birds 



y. G. MacGregor ; 

 Shall We Teach Geology ? 



The Reviewer : 

 Curves of Literary Style A.B.M. : 

 Wind Velocity and Wind-Pressure 



H. A . Hazen : 

 Queries and Answers ... ; 



Dr. Willis G. Tucker, analyst of drugs, has made his eighth 

 annual report to the State Board of Health of New York. He has 

 collected and analyzed 326 samples of drugs, and pharmaceutical 

 chemicals and preparations. These include acetic acid, calomel, 

 chloroform, ether, glycerine, iodoform, tincture of chloride of iron, 

 lime-water, saffron {Crocus), santonine, and sulphur. Forty-three 

 per cent were found of good quality ; 13.5 of fair quality ; and 24.2 

 of inferior quality ; and 19.3 not as called for, that is to say, substi- 

 tuted articles, as, when saffron {Crocus) was asked for, common 

 safflower was sold. Fifty-three samples of stronger ether were ex- 

 amined. Of these, 20 were of good quality, 5 fair, 26 inferior. 

 One sample was spirit of nitrous ether, and another the so-called 

 " concentrated nitrous ether." As Dr. Tucker says, such errors 

 as these are the grossest of blunders, and the consequence of such 

 ignorant or careless sales might be most serious to the purchaser. 

 As stronger ether is used as an anesthetic, it ought to be of good 

 quality. If the samples e.xamined by Dr. Tucker represent the 

 true condition of affairs throughout the world, it is not surprising 

 that evil results sometimes follow the use of ether as an anaesthetic, 

 as his results show that more than 50 per cent of the ether he 

 tested was of inferior quality. Dr. Tucker expresses the opinion 

 that the work done during the past two years has had a decided 

 effect in improving the quality of the drugs sold throughout the 

 State. 



THE ADIRONDACK FORESTS. 



As the majority of persons are interested in the preservation of 

 our forests in the East, the arguments of Garden and Forest, in 

 its issue of March 6, in favor of State control, will probably meet 

 with some response. It is hardly likely that the direful picture 

 which the writer of the article would bring before our mental vision 

 will be realized ; since the State of New York varies little in its 

 commercial environment from New England, and in New England 

 the tree-covered area has been on the increase for fifty years. So, 

 while the constant change from freshet to drought may never • be 

 the fate of northern New York, yet the primeval forests may be 

 gone as a pleasure-ground. The editor of Garden and Forest 

 argues as follows : — 



The complete destruction of the Adirondack forests is inevitable 

 if existing condition? and methods of treatment are to continue. 

 Unimportant improvements in the details of their management may 

 be made from time to time ; such improvements have been made 

 within the last few years, and others are now proposed ; but the 

 processes of destruction are much more rapid and extensive than 

 the effect of these comparatively insignificant means of ameliora- 

 tion, and there is at present no reason to expect that any effective 

 provision will be made for the permanent protection of any part of 

 this important region. Nothing can be done, indeed, without a 

 thorough change in the system of control and administration of the 

 forests on the State lands. The methods now pursued interpose 

 no serious check to the influences which will extirpate the woods in 

 a comparatively short time. If the devastation of the region, al- 

 ready far advanced, is completed, centuries of time will be required 

 for any process of restoration. 



The destruction of the North Woods will produce a change in 

 the flow of the principal rivers of the State, and in the water-supply 

 of the Erie Canal, which will cause widespread disaster to the in- 

 terests of the people. There will be uncontrollable freshets at the 

 times of heaviest rainfall, and when the snow melts in the spring ; 

 the channels of the rivers will be choked by debris brought down 

 from the hills ; and in summer, when a full volume of water is most 

 needed, the flow will be insignificant. If this ruin is consummated, 

 it will be a most serious blow to the prosperity of the State and of 

 all classes of its people. 



Not less important is the value of the region, in its relation to 

 the health and life of the people of the country, as a place of resort 

 for the inhabitants of the towns, and for all who need the restora- 

 tive and vitalizing atmosphere and influences of a region of sylvan 

 beauty and peace. As our population becomes more dense, the 

 need and value of wild, rough tracts, incapable of cultivation, will 

 be greatly increased. Beyond the arrangement required for the 

 subsistence and comfort of the multitudes of visitors, no settlement 

 or inhabitancy should be permitted in any part of the wilderness. 

 If the forests are destroyed, the entire charm and attractiveness of 

 the region will be eliminated, and a scene of hideous desolation will 

 be substituted which no one will ever wish to look upon. 



The only plan by which such injury can be averted, and means 

 provided for the permanent conservation of these invaluable forests, 

 is the acquisition by the State of the entire Adirondack region. 

 While portions of it remain in the hands of private owners, injuries 

 to State lands adjacent to their holdings cannot be prevented. But 

 it would be senseless and wicked toexpend the money which would 

 be required for this purpose while the present system of control 

 continues. It has proved entirely inadequate for the protection of 

 the forests on the lands which already belong to the State, and it 

 would be the extreme of folly to acquire property at great cost 

 when there is danger that it might soon be dissipated and de- 

 stroyed. 



Unless a system of permanent control, under competent direc- 

 tion, can be put in operation, the people of New York may as well 

 relinquish all thought of saving the Adirondack forests, and all 

 interest in the subject. There can be no adequate or successful 

 administration of a great forest-preserve while its management is 

 , subject to the possibility of frequent change, because it is treated 

 as a portion of the political patronage of the Stale governn'fnt. 

 Unless the care of the forests on the State lands can be place 1 in 

 the hands of men of such known and obvious character and qu lii- 



