440 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 331 



crevice, which brought us to a sudden stop. It was high time : we 

 were already on the very edge, and in two seconds more we should 

 have been swallowed up in the bottomless abyss. We came across 

 several more, and, in spite of the greatest care, we had other hair- 

 breadth escapes. Once we were within an ace of destruction 

 through a snow-bridge falling." 



— The Journal de la Chambre de Commerce de Constantinople 

 says that the cultivation of the red-pepper plant occupies a very 

 important place among the several branches of cultivation prac- 

 tised in Turkey. This cultivation is chiefly making progress in the 

 cantons of Karadja Abad, in the districts of Vardar Yenidje and of 

 V6dine, vilayet of Salonica. Formerly the production of red 

 pepper was unimportant, for it was limited to the requirements of 

 local consumption in the vilayet ; but, since foreign countries have 

 bought these peppers, cultivation has rapidly extended. The plant 

 itself prefers a sandy and humid soil, where it grows sometimes 

 almost in the water. It is estimated that the plant produces from 

 120 to 400 okes (oke = 2.84 pounds) of pepper per deunum (deunum 

 = 40 square paces), according to quality. On an average, the ex- 

 penses do not exceed 300 gold piastres for the cultivation of each 

 deunum ; and an oke of this pepper costs from 30 paras up to 5I 

 piastres, according to quality. The profit realized on the average 

 is from 300 to 350 piastres per deunum. Harvesting only com- 

 mences when the plants are entirely red. The produce of the first 

 gathering is of superior quality ; but that of the last is bad, as the 

 pepper-plant reddens imperfectly in the autumn. This year the 

 yield of red pepper has reached, in the canton of Yenidje Karadja 

 Abad, the figure of 350,000 okes, and in that of V^dine Karadja 

 Abad, about the same amount. Of this yield, 45 per cent is ex- 

 ported to Europe ; 30 per cent to Bulgaria, Servia, and Austria- 

 Hungary ; the remainder being sent to different parts of the Turk- 

 ish Empire. 



— The seed-trade appears to be destined to a very great expan- 

 sion in California at a not very distant period. In the single county 

 of Santa Clara, not less than 1,200 acres are now devoted to the 

 production of garden-seeds. Over 60,000 pounds of lettuce-seed, 

 and 120,000 pounds of onion-seed, have been shipped east from 

 these grounds in a single season. In other counties a quite im- 

 portant business has been developed in the production of clover- 

 seed, beans, and peas, for the supply of distant markets. While 

 that State may not secure the Jmonopoly of the seed-business, be- 

 cause good seeds are grown in the Atlantic States, the rapid in- 

 crease of business in California indicates that one, at least, of the 

 great centres of the seed-business, is to be in that State. The 

 quality of many small seeds produced there, such as onion and 

 lettuce, will have much to do in bringing the seed interest into 

 greater prominence. 



— The June Magazine of American History, with which its 

 twenty-first volume is completed, opens with a sketch of " The 

 Historic Capital of Iowa," now the seat of the State University, 

 written by Mrs. Eva Emery Dye of Iowa City. The second con- 

 tribution is an account of " The Ancient and Honorable Artillery 

 Company of Massachusetts," by C. E. S. Rasay, M.A., the roman- 

 tic story beginning with the first settlers of New England, and 

 closing with the recent interchange of civilities between the Ancient 

 and Honorable London and American Artillery Companies, the 

 two oldest military organizations in the world. Following these, 

 Georgia divides the honors of the number with Iowa and Massa- 

 chusetts in an able article by T. K. Oglesby, on " Georgia and the 

 Constitution." " The Last Twelve Days of Major John Andre," 

 by Hon. J. O. Dykman, unfolds a suggestive field of study, and is 

 to be continued through two future issues of the magazine. " A 

 Boston Writing School before the Revolution," by William C. 

 Bates, gives a picturesque picture of men and scenes in that early 

 period. No feature of the June number, however, will be likely to 

 attract more attention than the " Evolution of the Constitution," 

 by C. Oscar Beasley. " The Study of the Mental Life of Nations," 

 by Franklin A. Beecher ; a hymn, " The Washington Centennial," 

 by J. R. Barnes ; " A Hundred Years to Come," by an unknown 

 author ; and three letters of Hon. Roger Griswold to his wife, con- 

 tributed by Mrs. J. Osborne Moss, — may be noted. 



— Since salicylic acid has been prohibited for the preservation of 

 drinks and foods, some brewers have undertaken to use benzoic 

 acid for the preservation of beers. In doses of five to six grams to 

 the hectolitre, benzoic acid, if not especially poisonous, is at least 

 active in preventing to a noticeable extent the assimilation of the 

 albuminoids, and in modifying the mucous secretions. From this 

 result digestive troubles in those persons who continue to use it for 

 any length of time. Notwithstanding the small amount used in- 

 dustrially, it is probable that this use should be prohibited, as is 

 that of salicylic acid. All antiseptics interfere with the normal 

 digestive powers of the human system, and consequently with 

 proper nutrition, and it is necessary that their use in the industries 

 should come to an end. 



— Professor F. E. Nipher made a verbal report at a meeting of 

 the Engineers' Club of St. Louis, May 15, on a recent investigation 

 into the performance of an engine working at a fixed cut-off with- 

 out governor. Measuring the brake horse-power, the pressure of 

 the supply-steam, and speed, he finds that the performance of the 

 engine is represented by an hyperbolic paraboloid, in which the 

 lines of constant load and the lines of constant speed are rectilinear 

 elements. At any fixed pressure, the relation between output and 

 speed is represented by a parabola, the vertex of which represents 

 a condition of maximum output. The condition of maximum out- 

 put at any pressure is, that the moment of the force on the brake- 

 arm must be one-half that moment, M', which will bring the engine 

 to rest, while the speed must be one-half that speed, N', which the 

 engine would have if the load were entirely removed. The maxi- 



mum output is then in horse-power, M'N'. Professor Nipher 



33000 

 stated that he should proceed to determine whether mean effec- 

 tive pressure might be substituted for pressure of supply-steam. 

 His present opinion was that it could. In that case, indicated 

 horse-power could be represented as a function of the same co- 

 ordinates, P and A'^ The equation for indicated horse-power is 

 33000 



P N= (indicated horse-power), where 7? is piston radius, 



+ 7r7?=Z 

 and L is stroke. This is also an equation of the hyperbolic parab- 

 ola, the axes of which are in an entirely different position from 

 those of the surface of brake horse-power. Both surfaces contain 

 the pressure axis. The difference between the two horse-power 

 ordinates will give the real engine friction for any load and speed. 

 It follows from these equations that the work consumed in the fric- 

 tion of an engine is constant for all loads if the speed is constant. 



— Two naturalists, the one a Hollander, and the other a Ger- 

 man, — Messrs. Kannegieter and Fruhstdrfer, — have just started 

 on a zoological exploration to Borneo, Java, and Sumatra. 



— At the meeting of the Royal Meteorological Society, London, 

 May 15, Mr. W. H. Dines gave an account of some experiments 

 made to investigate the connection between the pressure and velocity 

 of the wind. These experiments were made for the purpose of 

 determining the relation between the velocity of the wind and the 

 pressure it exerts upon obstacles of various kinds exposed to it. 

 The pressure-plates were placed at the end of the long arm of a. 

 whirling-machine which was rotated by steam-power. The author 

 gives the results of experiments with about twenty-five different 

 kinds of pressure-plates. The pressure upon a plane area of fairly 

 compact form is about a pound and a half per square foot, at a 

 velocity of twenty-one miles per hour ; or, in other words, a press- 

 ure of one pound per square foot is caused by a wind of a little 

 more than seventeen miles per hour. The pressure upon the same 

 area is increased by increasing the perimeter. The pressure upon 

 a i-foot plate is proportionally less than that upon a plate either 

 half or double its size. The pressure upon any surface is but 

 slightly altered by a cone or rim projecting at the back ; a cone 

 seeming to cause a slight increase, but a rim having apparently no 

 effect. At the same meeting Dr. C. H. Blackley told of an im- 

 proved method of preparing ozone paper, and other forms of the- 

 test, with starch and potassium iodide. Some years ago the author 

 made some experiments with the ordinary ozone test papers, but 

 found that the papers did not always give the same result when, 



