October 21, 1898.] 



SCIENCE, 



529 



' Some of the Important Results of Re- 

 cent Chemical Investigations of Plant and 

 Animal Cells,' E. A. de Schweinitz. 



' Composition of Ohio Wines,' A. W. 

 Smith and Norman Parks. The ratio of 

 glycerol to alcohol in native wines is 

 usually taken as 7-14 to the 100. From 

 pure wines made by the authors it varies 

 from 3.9 to 11.8 to the 100 with an average 

 of 5. 



' The Determination of Turbidity of 

 Water,' W. P. Mason. 



' EfBciency of the Elmira Filtei'ing Plant,' 

 W. P. Mason. 



Miss Isabel F. Hyams and Mrs. Ellen H. 

 Richards, in presenting their paper, ' On the 

 Composition of Oscillatoria proUfiea (Gre- 

 ville) 0. rnbescens (de Candolle) and its Re- 

 lation to the Quality of Water Supplies,' 

 exhibited samples of the blue-green alg£e 

 found in Jamaica Pond, Boston, during the 

 months of May, June and July. The algte 

 seem to be identical with that found in 

 Lake Geneva in 1834-6, and later in Lake 

 Merat. During the growth of this moss the 

 water assumes a brownish-red appearance, 

 and on a hot, still day it separates out as a 

 cream, which is easily driven by the winds 

 upon the rocks, where it decays, giving off 

 a disagreeable, fetid odor. While numerous 

 substances were extracted from the moss, 

 no ill effect is known which may be attrib- 

 uted to this source. 



' The Le Seuer Electrolytic Pi'ocess for 

 the Production of Caustic Soda and Bleach- 

 ing Powder,' read by Dr. C. L. Parsons, 

 depends upon iron bars supporting a wire 

 gauze as a diaphragm and the use of plati- 

 num-iridium anodes bound up in glass. In 

 another paper, ' A Review of the Electro- 

 lytic Processes for the Production of Caustic 

 Soda and Bleaching Powder,' by the same 

 author, it was claimed that the process de- 

 scribed would replace the Castner-Kellner 

 and other processes on account of economy 

 and efSciency. 



' The Alum Question in Water Purifica- 

 tion,' E. G. Smith. 



Dr. C. F. Mabery and Mr. K. Land- 

 grebe stated that ' The Effect of an Electro- 

 lytic Bath on the Tanning of Leather' was 

 the reduction of the time consumed, and 

 they observed that the percentage of ni- 

 trogen was lower in leather so tanned. 



* Some Records in the Year's Progress in 

 Applied Chemistry,' Wm. McMurtrie. 



' The Progress in Utilization of City 

 Garbage, with Special Reference to the 

 New Plant in Boston,' Bruno Terne. 



' On the Removal of Hardness from 

 Water for Boiler Purposes,' C. F. Mabery 

 and E. B. Baltzly. All kinds of hard water 

 have from 90-98 per cent, of the lime pres- 

 ent and all suspended matter are precipi- 

 tated cold by treatment for twenty-four 

 hours with half the calculated amount of 

 sodium aluminate. 



' New Process for the Commercial Pro- 

 duction of Oxygen and its Industrial Ap- 

 plications," Romyn Hitchcock. 



The meeting was most successful in every 

 way. 



Chas. Baskeeville, 



Secretary. 



University of North Carolina. 



PHYSICS AT THE BOSTON 3IEETING OF THE 

 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOB THE AD- 

 VANCEMENT OF SCIENCE (/.). 

 Sectioist B of the American Association 

 was organized with Vice-President F. P. 

 Whitman in the Chair. His vice-presi- 

 dential address, on color-vision, printed in 

 the issue of Science for September 9th, was 

 well received and constitutes a resume of 

 the subject of great value. 



The program of the section included 

 fifty titles of papers, of which forty were 

 read before the section. Many of these 

 papers were of very high order and almost 

 every one of them was creditable and in- 

 teresting. 



