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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 326 



cloud-ring averaging about five hundred miles in diameter ; and 

 the region of stormy winds, three hundred miles, or even less. In 

 low latitudes the entire storm moves westward and north-west- 

 ward, about seventeen miles an hour ; in middle latitudes, north- 

 westward and northward, moving more slowly as it recurves ; and 

 finally north-eastward, with a velocity of translation of twenty or 

 even thirty miles an hour, its area increasing rapidly as it follows 

 the Gulf Stream toward the Grand Banks, and sweeps across the 

 Atlantic toward northern Europe. 



— The weather forecasts for May of the Hydrographic Office 

 are, that fair weather will prevail generally over the North Atlantic 

 with occasional northerly gales along the American coast, and 

 moderate north-westerly gales along the transatlantic steamship 

 routes, north of the 40th parallel. Northers in the Gulf of Mexico 

 will occur less frequently, and be of less duration, but are liable to 

 be of great violence. There will be a notable increase of fog off 

 the Grand Banks, due to the northward movement of the Gulf 

 Stream and the southward extension of ice brought down by the 

 Labrador current. Icebergs and field-ice may be encountered al- 

 most as far south as the 40th parallel, between the 41st and 58th 

 meridians. 



— A large assemblage of men and women who are interested in 

 the discussion and study of psychological matters gave Professor 

 ElHott Coues a hearty reception at Cartier Hall, 80 Fifth Avenue, 

 New York, Wednesday evening, April 24, when he lectured on 

 modern miracles. 



— The semi-annual meeting of the American Antiquarian Soci- 

 ety was held at Boston, April 24. President Salisbury presided. 

 The secretary reported the acknowledgment by Gladstone of his 

 election as a member of the society. The report of the treasurer 

 made the following showing: cash investments, §107,141; cash on 

 hand, $7,609 ; amount of the thirteen funds, S'05.937- On motion 

 of Senator Hoar, the society voted to ask the Rev. Dr. Hamlin to 

 prepare a history of the Roberts College, Constantinople, together 

 with the attitude of the Turkish Government toward it. 



— The executive committee of the International Exhibition of 

 Geographical, Commercial, and Industrial Botany, to be held at 

 Antwerp in 1890, we learn from Nature, has decided to celebrate 

 on this occasion the three hundredth anniversary of the invention 

 of the microscope. It proposes to organize what it calls a retro- 

 spective exhibition of the microscope, and an exhibition of instru- 

 ments produced by living makers. Conferences relating to all 

 important questions connected with the microscope will also be 

 held. The exhibition ought to be remarkably interesting, and will 

 no doubt be a great success. 



— According to a recent statistical return, 12,486,407 hectolitres 

 (hectolitre = 22 imperial gallons) of beer were produced last year 

 in Austria, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, — a falling-off of 190,019 

 hectolitres as compared with 1887. The exports, however, in- 

 creased by 9,087 hectolitres, having amounted to a total of 250,963 

 hectolitres. 



— Professor Liebreich. at a meeting of the Berlin Physical So- 

 ciety, March 22, exhibited a series of experiments intended to ex- 

 plain the occurrence of the inert layer in chemical re-actions. Two 

 years ago, we learn from Nature, he had demonstrated to the so- 

 ciety the chief phenomena of its occurrence, as seen when a solu- 

 tion of sodium carbonate is mixed with chloral hydrate. When 

 this is done, the larger part of the mixed fluids very soon becomes 

 milky, owing to the formation of innumerable small drops of chlo- 

 roform, while at the same time a thin layer on the surface of the 

 fluid remains clear. This clear portion is the inert layer, and is 

 bounded above by the general meniscus of the mixture, and below 

 by a curved surface, whose convexity is turned upwards towards 

 this meniscus. The speaker had, by means of a series of experi- 

 ments, disposed of the view which had been put forward, that the 

 inert layer is only a portion of the mixed fluids, from which the 

 chloroform had evaporated. Of these experiments it may suffice 

 to mention only one, in which the fluid was poured into a flat, open 

 basin until it projected with a convex surface above the edges of 

 the basin. Notwithstanding the larger fluid-surface thus exposed, 

 no inert layer was to be seen. Similarly he had been able to show. 



by observations under the microscope, that the phenomenon cannot 

 be explained by any vortex movements in the fluid. Further, the 

 assumption that it is due to a solution of alkali from the glass> 

 which then prevents the precipitation of the chloroform, had been 

 excluded by using a vessel made of quartz crystal. Professor 

 Liebreich inclined to the view, on the basis of his past experiments 

 (which, however, must be further followed and extended), that the 

 suppression or slowing of the chemical re-action at the surface of 

 the fluid, which gives rise to the inert layer, is determined by the 

 greater solidity and resistance of this part of the liquid. 



— At the Massachusetts Agricultural College Experiment Sta- 

 tion, according to Garden and Forest, pollen was taken from a 

 carnation- flower of a magenta color, and, after being kept in a dry 

 place for five days, was applied to the stigmatic surfaces of a yel- 

 low flower. From twenty-seven seeds obtained by this crossing, 

 nineteen plants were grown, all but one of which produced double 

 flowers. Five of them bore yellow flowers of various lighter and 

 deeper shades, eight bore magenta flowers, four bore scarlet flow- 

 ers, and two white-striped flowers. In another trial the pollen 

 used was taken from a flower of the same variety, — in this case a 

 yellow-striped one, — and the seedlings all showed yellow-striped 

 flowers, although they varied somewhat in shade. This seems to 

 indicate that for the production of varieties distinct in color, cross- 

 fertilization is a necessity. 



— Garden and Forest quotes this simple method of testing the 

 quality of a pear : write a name with pen and ink upon the dry 

 skin of the fruit. If the ink is quickly absorbed, leaving clear, 

 sharp lines, the quality of the fruit is good ; if the skin does not 

 absorb the ink quickly, and the lines are blotted, the quality in in- 

 ferior. 



— Four articles have been prepared at Harvard College Ob- 

 servatory in successive years, with the object of exhibiting, so far 

 as conveniently practicable, the recent progress of observations of 

 variable stars. These articles were published in the " Proceedings 

 of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences." An index to 

 observations of variable stars, just published, is intended to provide 

 similar information for the entire period from the beginning of 

 1840 to the -end of 1887. It makes no pretension to absolute com- 

 pleteness, which would not at present be attainable ; but it may 

 still prove serviceable as a further step towards the systematic ar- 

 rangement which is so much to be desired in the existing mass of 

 information respecting variable stars, and in the absence of which 

 the profitable study of their changes is extremely difficult. The 

 observations are in general unpublished, and have been reported 

 to this observatory by the astronomers who made them. It may 

 be hoped that this record of their existence will in some cases 

 insure their preservation, and make them available to future in- 

 quirers. It will also show to what extent particular variable stars 

 have been observed at particular times, and will thus serve to guide 

 observers in the selection of stars for future observation. Three 

 large series of unpublished observations by Argelander, Heis, and 

 Schmidt, important both from their early date and from the reputa- 

 tion of the observers, are mentioned. 



— Mr. C. Carus- Wilson writes, in a letter to Nature, that he has 

 devised a simple and effective dry method by which the denser 

 minerals — zircon, rutile, tourmaline, etc. — maybe separated from 

 sand. A piece of cardboard about two feet long is bent in the 

 form of a shoot or trough (it must not be allowed to break), and 

 held in this form by elastic bands at either end. This must then 

 be held, or fixed, at an angle sufTiciently inclined to allow the sand 

 to travel slowly down the shoot on being gently tapped. A small 

 quantity of the sand to be treated is now placed at the head of the 

 trough, which is then tapped with the finger. When the trough is 

 tapped, the sand travels slowly down ; and, in doing so, the denser 

 grains lag behind, forming a dark mass in the rear of the stream. 

 This dark mass increases as the sand flows on, and must be col- 

 lected and placed in a receptacle just the moment before the last 

 tap would cause it to fall off the trough. When a sufficient quan- 

 tity of this denser sand has been thus collected, it should be placed 

 in the lid of a cardboard box (about twelve inches by six), and 

 gently shaken to and fro at a slightly inclined angle, the mass being 



