SCIENCE 



Editorial Committee : S. Newcomb, Mathematics ; E. S. Woodwaed, Mechanics ; E. C. Pickeeing. 



Astronomy; T. C. Mendenhall, Physics ; R. H. Thueston, Engineering; Ira Eemsen, Chemistry; 



J. Le Conte, Geology; W. M. Davis, Physiography; O. C. Marsh, Paleontology; W. K. Brooks, 



C. Hart Mereiam, Zoology; S. H. Scudder, Entomology; C. E. Bessey, N. L. Britton, 



Botany; Henry F. Osborn, General Biology; C. S. Minot, Emhryology, Histology; 



H. P. Bowditch, Physiology; J. S. Billings, Hygiene ; J. McKeen Cattkll, 



Psychology; Daniel G. Bbinton, J. W. Powell, Anthropology. 



Friday, November 18, 1898. 



CONTENTS: 



Inertia as a Possible Manifestation of the Ether : 

 Professor Carl Baeus 681 



The Fauna and Flora about Coldspring Harbor, L. J. : 

 Professor Chas. B. Davenport 685 



T/ie Nernst Lamp: H. Monmouth Smith 689 



Botany at the Anniversary dfeeting of the American 

 Association (II.) : Dr. Erwin F. Smith 690 



Surveys of the Gateways to Alaska 700 



Notes on Inorganic Chemistry : J. L. H 701 



Botanical Notes : — 



Tlie Flora of the Upper Susquehanna; Bombay 

 Grasses: Peofessoe Chaeles E. Bessey 702 



Scientific Notes aiid News 703 



University and Educational News 706 



Discussion and Correspondence : — 



The ' Bipolarity ' Hypothesis : PROFESSOR W. A. 

 Heedman. Peridinimn and the ' Red Water ' in 

 Narragansett Bay : De. A. D. Mead.. The Pro- 

 posed Catalogue of Zoological Biblio(/raphy : De. 

 W. H. Dall. The Nernst Light : H. C. CooPER. 

 The Day of the Week : PROFESSOR Geo. C. Com- 

 STOCK. Northern Rocky Mountain Glaciers : Geo. 

 Bird Geinnell 707 



Scientific Literature: — 



Shaler's Outlines of the Earth's History : PEO- 

 FESSOE Israel C. Edssell. Lassar-Cohn's Die 

 Chemie in tdgliclien Leben : Dr. Ferdinand G. 

 Wiechmann. Wade's Introduction to the Study 

 of Organic Chemistry : J. E. G 712 



Scientific Journals 716 



Societies and Academies : — 



Tlie American Matliematical Society: PeofesSOE 

 F. N. Cole. Biological Society of Washington : 

 F. A. Lucas. Entomological Society of Washing- 

 ton: De. L. O. Howaed. Torrey Botanical 

 Club: E. S. Burgess. Botanical Seminar of 

 the University of Nebraska. Academy of Science of 

 St. Louis : Professor William Trelease. 

 Alabama Industrial and Scientific Society : Pro- 

 fessor Eugene A. Smith 717 



New Books 720 



MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 

 for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Profes- 

 »or J. McKeen Cattell, Garnson-oi-Hudson, N. Y. 



INERTIA ASA POSSIBLE MANIFESTATION OF 

 THE ETHER. 



In the American Journal of Science for 

 October I described certain experiments 

 on the compression of coagulated jelly, to 

 which I am inclined to attach some im- 

 portance, since they establish a case of well 

 defined persistent motion of material bodies 

 in a highly viscous (solid) medium, as the 

 sheer result of the breakdown of stress in 

 the medium in question, and quite without 

 the agency of any force 'acting at a distance.' 

 I ask the reader's indulgence if I recall the 

 main features of these experiments here, 

 for the remarks which I propose to make 

 in the present communication are to be 

 based directly upon them and would lose 

 their point in a mere reference. 



Given a thread of firmly coagulated 

 (10%-20%) gelatine solution 6, Fig. 1, 

 10-20 cm. long, between terminal threads 

 of mercury a and c in a fine bore 

 (J mm.) strong capillary tube (not 

 shown in figure). The upper thread is 

 fixed ; the lower is movable and trans- 

 mits the pressure of a strong force pump. 

 As pressure increases, it will be found 

 that the originally convex meniscus in 

 Fig. 1 is gradually more and more sharp- 

 ened conoidally upward, until the un- 

 stable figure 2 is reached, after which, as in 

 3, a small projectile, usually round and often 

 less than J^ mm. in diameter, is shot up- 

 ward 10-20 cm., against gravity and against 



