Al'RlL 12, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



417 



leiist eight days, even in very cold weathei-. 

 In apparentlj- normal and liealtby oysters 

 and in their juice he found bacteria of 

 various kinds ; the number of which 

 that will grow in gelatin ranging from 240 

 to 1680 per c.c. The number found in the 

 water over the oysters was 9520 per c.c., 

 indicating that the water is purified bj' be- 

 ing taken into the shell. He inoculated a 

 number of oystei-s with typhoid bacilli by 

 injecting a cultiu-e of these organisms be- 

 tween the edges of the shells. The results 

 indicate that the bacilli can live in the 

 oyster for from one to two weeks, but it is 

 doubtful whether they multiply there. But 

 the oysters were cleaned before inoculation, 

 and, after the operation, were apparentlj- 

 not placed in water, but simply kept in a 

 cool room. The research would have given 

 much more definite and conclusive results 

 if the oysters had been placed in brackish 

 water, and then the typhoid bacilli added 

 to this water, so that they might have been 

 taken in and disposed of in the natural 

 way. 



ARGOX . 



According to the London Times, M. Ber- 

 tbelot has supplied the first information 

 concerning the chemical properties of argon. 

 In experimenting with a small quantity of 

 that substance, furnished by Professor Ram- 

 say, he has found that under the influence of 

 the silent electric discliarge it combines with 

 various organic compounds, and notably 

 with benzene. It is decidedly interesting 

 to discover that argon, which is supposed 

 to be totally inert, and lias been vainly sub- 

 jected to all the most potent agencies at the 

 command of the chemi.st, is all the time 

 capable of forming a variety of combina- 

 tions under conditions which always exist 

 in the atmospliere. Great interest also 

 attaches to M. Berthelofs communication in 

 connection witli the obscurity which hangs 

 over the chemical nature and relationships 

 of the new substance. For he pointed out 



years ago that nitrogen combines, under 

 the influence of the silent discharge, with 

 hydrocarbons like benzene, witli carbohy- 

 drates, such as go to build up, the tissues of 

 plants, and even with tertiary products, 

 such as ether. 



GENERAL. 



Dr. William S. W. Ruschenberger, 

 President of the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Science from 1869 to 1881, died on March 

 24th, at the age of eighty-seven years. 



Dr. John A. Ryder, Professor of Embry- 

 ology in the University of Pennsylvania, 

 died on March 26th. 



The Library Building of Harvard Uni- 

 versity will be altered during the present 

 summer in such a manner that the space 

 for books will be greatly enlarged. 



The North Dakota State University must 

 be closed until the next session of the Leg- 

 islature, in January, 1897, owing to the fact 

 that the appropriation has been reduced 

 from $6:5,000 to S15,000. 



The British Association will meet at 

 Liverpool in 1896. The Council have re- 

 solved to nominate Sir Joseph Lister for 

 President. 



T. G. Crowell & Co. announce ' Forests 

 and Forestry ' by the Hon. B. E. Fernow, of 

 the Department of Agriculture, and ' Mar- 

 riage and the Family,' by Professor George 

 E. Howard, of Stanford I'niversity. 



The sixt\--third annual meeting of the 

 British Medical Association will be held in 

 London, July 30th to August 2d, 189."). 



The next meeting of the American Micro- 

 scopical Society will be held at Cornell 

 L^niversity, Ithaca, New York, on August 

 21, 22 and 23, 1895. 



Dr. K. Schmidt lias been made Professor 

 of Physics in the Universitj' of Halle. 



The two final volumes of the report on 

 the scientific results of the voyage of II. M. 

 S. Challenger, prepared under the direction 



