June 14, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



461 



next year, and others are preparing to enter. It is proposed to es- 

 tablish in the college faculty a course of study in which the biolo- 

 gical sciences will hold the place of honor. In Drs. Leidy and 

 Rothrock and their younger associates in the biological faculty, the 

 university already possesses the means to create a strong school, 

 and we hope the public support will be ample and encouraging. 



— A new substance, singular alike in its chemical nature and in 

 its properties, says Nature, has been discovered by M. Pechard. 

 It is a mixed acid derived from oxalic and molybdic acids, and is 

 therefore termed " oxalomolybdic acid." The crystals of oxalo- 

 molybdic acid, when dry, may be preserved unchanged either in 

 sunshine or in the dark ; but, if moist, they quickly become colored 

 blue when exposed to the sun's rays. If characters be written on 

 paper with the solution, they remain invisible in a weak light ; but, 

 when exposed to sunshine, they rapidly become visible, turning to 

 a deep indigo color. It is curious that this effect only happens 

 when the solution is spread over paper or other surfaces ; for the 

 solution itself may be kept unaltered in the bottle for any length of 

 time, except for a trace of blue at the edge of the meniscus, where, 

 by surface action, a little is spread against the interior glass walls. 

 If a sheet of paper be immersed in a saturated solution of the acid, 

 dried in the dark, and then exposed behind an ordinary photo- 

 graphic negative, a very sharp print in blue may be obtained by ex- 

 posure to sunlight for about ten minutes. The color instantly dis- 

 appears in contact with water ; so that, if a piece of this sensitized 

 paper be wholly exposed to sunlight, one may write in white upon 

 the blue ground by using a pen dipped in water. If, however, the 

 paper with its blue markings be exposed to a gentle heat for a few 

 minutes, the blue changes to black, and the characters are then no 

 longer destroyed by water. 



— The Hydrographical Department of Russia has devoted since 

 1837, according to Nature, a good deal of attention to the secular 

 rising of the coasts of the Baltic Sea, and a number of marks have 

 been made on the rocky coasts of the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland 

 in order to obtain trustworthy data as to the rate of the upheaval 

 of the coasts. Since 1869, observations have been carried on in a 

 systematic way for measuring the changes in the level of the Baltic 

 at several of the above-mentioned marks, and the results of the 

 observations are now summed up by Col. Mikhailoff in the Izvestia 

 of the Russian Geographical Society (vol. xxiv. 3). Taking only 

 those stations at which the secular change could be determined for 

 a number of years, varying from thirty-one to thirty-nine years 

 (1839-78), the rise of the coast in a century would appear to be as 

 follows: Aspo, 20.3 inches; Lehto, 11.5 inches: Island of Kotko, 

 26.7; Sveaborg, 22.8 and 25.1 ; Hangoudd, 33.7; Island of Skot- 

 land, 12.5; Island of Jussari, 31.6 ;,Tvermino, 36.2; Island of 

 Gloskar at Redhamn, 12.2. It thus appears that the figure of 

 about three feet in a century, which was deduced from former 

 observations, cannot be very far from the truth. As to local 

 anomahes, they remain still unexplained. 



— Carpenters and other tool-users who keep up with the times 

 now use a mixture of glycerine, instead of oil, for sharpening their 

 edge-tools. Oil, as is well known, thickens, and smears the stone. 

 The glycerine may be mixed with spirits in greater or less propor- 

 tion, according as the tools to be sharpened are fine or coarse. 

 For the average blade, two parts of glycerine to one of spirits will 

 suffice. 



— The Elizabeth Thompson Science Fund, which has been 

 established by Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson of Stamford, Conn., " for 

 the advancement and prosecution of scientific research in its broad- 

 est sense," now amounts to twenty-five thousand dollars. As ac- 

 cumulated income is again available, the trustees desire to receive 

 applications for appropriations in aid of scientific work. This en- 

 dowment is not for the benefit of any one department of science, 

 but it is the intention of the trustees to give the preference to those 

 investigations which cannot otherwise be provided for, which have 

 for their object the advancement of human knowledge or the bene- 

 fit of mankind in general, rather than to researches directed to the 

 solution of questions of merely local importance. Applications for 

 assistance from this fund, in order to receive consideration, must 

 be accompanied by full information, especially in regard to the fol- 



lowing points: i. Precise amount required; 2. Exact nature of 

 the investigation proposed ; 3. Conditions under which the research 

 is to be prosecuted ; 4. Manner in which the appropriation asked 

 for is to be expended. All applications should be forwarded to the 

 secretary of the board of trustees. Dr. C. S. Minot, Harvard Med- 

 ical School, Boston, Mass., U.S.A. It is intended to make new 

 grants at the end of 1889. The trustees are disinclined, for the 

 present, to make any grant exceeding five hundred dollars : prefer- 

 ence will be given to applications for smaller amounts. The fol- 

 lowing is the list of grants made : $200 to the New England 

 Meteorological Society, for the investigation of cyclonic movements 

 in New England ; §150 to Samuel Rideal. Esq., of University Col- 

 lege, London, England, for investigations on the absorption of 

 heat by odorous gases ; §75 to H. M. Howe, Esq., of Boston, Mass., 

 for the investigation of fusible slags of copper and lead smelting ; 

 $500 to Professor J. Rosenthal of Erlangen, Germany, for investi- 

 gations on animal heat in health and disease ; $50 to Joseph Jas- 

 trow, Esq., of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., for 

 investigations on the laws of psycho-physics ; $200 to the Natural 

 History Society of Montreal, for the investigation of underground 

 temperatures ; $210 to Messrs. T. Elster and H. Geitel of Wolfen- 

 biittel, Germany, for researches on the electrization of gases by 

 glowing bodies ; $500 to Professor E. D. Cope of Philadelphia, 

 Penn., to assist in the preparation of his monograph on American 

 fossil vertebrates; §125 to E. E. Prince, Esq., of St. Andrews, 

 Scotland, for researches on the development and morphology of 

 the limbs of teleosts ; §250 to Herbert Tomlinson, Esq., of Uni- 

 versity College, England, for researches on the effects of stress 

 and strain on the physical properties of matter ; §200 to Professor 

 Luigi Palmieri of Naples, Italy, for the constructionof an apparatus 

 to be used in researches on atmospheric electricity ; $200 to Wil- 

 liam H. Edwards, Esq., of Coalburg, W.Va., to assist the publica- 

 tion of his work on the butterflies of North America; Si 50 to the 

 New England Meteorological Society, for the investigation of 

 cyclonic phenomena in New England; $25 to Professor A. F. 

 Marion, for researches on the fauna of brackish waters ; S300 to 

 Professor Carl Ludwig, for researches on muscular contraction, to 

 be carried on under his direction by Dr. Paul Starke ; $200 to Dr. 

 Paul C. Freer, for the investigation of the chemical constitution of 

 graphitic acid ; $300 to Dr. G. Miiller, for experiments on the resorp- 

 tion of light by the earth's atmosphere ; $300 to Professor Gerhard 

 Kriiss, for the investigation of the elementary constitution of erbium 

 and didymium ; $50 to Dr. F. L. Hoorweg, for the investigation of 

 the manner and velocity with which magnetism is propagated along 

 an iron bar; §150 to Mr. William H. Edwards, to assist the pub- 

 lication of his work on North American butterflies. 



— Charles A. Ashburner, the well-known Pittsburgh geologist, 

 had the honorary degree of doctor of science conferred upon him 

 at the commencement of the University of Pennsylvania, June 7, as 

 an acknowledgment of the high scientific value and merit of his 

 surveys and reports for the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania. 

 Dr. Ashburner was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania 

 about fifteen years ago with the highest rank in his class, and im- 

 mediately entered the corps of the United States Lighthouse Ser- 

 vice Survey. Upon the organization of the Pennsylvania Geologi- 

 cal Survey, he resigned from the government work, and was ap- 

 pointed assistant of Professor Lesley, State geologist, with whom 

 he has been associated ever since. About two years ago he gave 

 up much of his active State work, and went to Pittsburgh to assume 

 connection with Mr. Westinghouse in'his extensive mining inter- 

 ests, particularly in the mining of natural gas ; latterly, however, 

 making e.vtensive geological and mining examinations in the Rocky 

 Mountains and on the Pacific slope. 



— MM. Mannesmann of Remscheid, Westphalia, are manufac- 

 turing fly-wheels capable of double and even treble the speed of 

 fly-wheels made ot cast-iron, the resistance of which is generally 

 limited to a speed of forty metres per second for the rim of the 

 wheel. They have succeeded in obtaining fly-wheels which are 

 capable of acquiring three times the speed of ordinary fly-wheels 

 by constructing the nave and the spokes of iron or steel, and mak- 

 ing a rim entirely of steel wire wound round and round itself a 

 great many times. 



