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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 198. 



great epeirogenic movements, perhaps more 

 interesting than those of any other part of 

 the workl in such late geologic periods. 

 Dr. J. F. Whiteaves, Paleontologist of the 

 Canadian Geological Survey, Ottawa, Can- 

 ada, was elected to be the Vice-President for 

 Section E, and Professor Arthur Hollick, of 

 Columbia University, ISTew York City, to be 

 its Secretary, in the Association meeting at 

 Columbus, Ohio, next year. Geology is 

 also represented in the election of Professor 

 Edward Orton, of Columbus, to be the 

 President of that meeting. 



Waeren Upham, 

 Secretary of Section E, 1898. 



NOTES ON INOEQANIG CHEMISTRY. 

 The presidential address of Sir William 

 Crookes before the British Association at 

 Bristol this year was concerned with two 

 themes. The first of these was the world's 

 wheat supply and how it can be increased. 

 Not only is Great Britain unable to raise 

 her own wheat supply, but the wheat-pro- 

 ducing area of the world is being so rapidly 

 taken up that by 1931 the world will be un- 

 able to raise enough for consumption, and 

 the immediate prospect will be a wheat 

 famine. This can be obviated only by in- 

 creasing the wheat crop per acre, that is by 

 using fertilizers to a much greater extent 

 than is at present the case. The chief 

 fertilizer needed is combined nitrogen. The 

 Chili saltpeter now extensively used is 

 brought from northern Chili, but if used on 

 all wheat land, the supply from the Chili 

 mines would be exhausted in a very few 

 years. Cultures of bacteria which assimi- 

 late atmospheric nitrogen have been tried 

 as a fertilizer, but thus far with little suc- 

 cess. The great desideratum is a process 

 for the manufacture of sodium nitrate di- 

 rectly from the nitrogen of the air. With 

 an indefinite supply of fertilizer the world's 

 wheat yield can be doubled with little in- 

 crease of acreage. This would tide matters 



over till the latter part of the twentieth 

 century, when it may be hoped that the 

 luxuriant vegetable growth of the tropics 

 will be utilized for food supply. At all 

 events, the wheat famine would be post- 

 poned till the present generation has dis- 

 appeared from active work. It may not 

 prove impossible to solve the problem of 

 ' fixing ' atmospheric nitrogen even at the 

 present time. In 1892 Professor Crookea 

 exhibited at a Soiree of the Eoyal Society 

 an experiment on the ' Flame of Burning 

 Nitrogen.' Nitrogen will burn in oxygen 

 if the heat of the ignition point can be 

 maintained. This can be done by the 

 electric current, and it is calculated, that by 

 utilizing the energy of Niagara for elec- 

 tricity, sodium nitrate can be manufactured 

 at a cost of not over $25 per ton— less than 

 its present price. This figure would prob- 

 ably be reduced were the operations carried 

 on on a large scale. The amount of nitrate 

 needed for fertilizing the whole possible 

 wheat acreage of the world would be twelve 

 millions of tons annually ; Niagara could 

 furnish the electrical energy for the manu- 

 facture of this without sensibly diminishing 

 its flow. 



The second part of Professor Crookes' 

 address was devoted to recent developments 

 in chemistry and electricity. Dewar's 

 liquefaction of hydrogen and the conse- 

 quent low temperature work; Ramsay's 

 discoveries of krypton, neon and metargon; 

 Nasini's discovery of coronium in the vol- 

 canic gases at Pozzuoli; Marconi's applica- 

 tion of Hertz's discovery to telegraphy 

 without wires; Zeeman's phenomenon and 

 the possible light it may throw on the 

 ether; the theory of the Rontgen rays and 

 their nature; a possible theory for the 

 Becquerel rays emitted from uranium and 

 its compounds, and the allied rays from 

 thorium, and Curie's newly discovered 

 polonium — these were all considered, and 

 then the announcement made of a new 



