54 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VIII., No. 180 



differ widely in their fertilizing effects on the 

 farm. Among the manurially rich food, decorti- 

 cated cotton cake has been employed. One im- 

 portant economical fact has been clearly brought 

 out : viz. , that even heavy dressings of concentrated 

 soluble nitrogenous manures, whether ammo- 

 nium sulphate or sodiiim nitrate, leave in the soil, 

 when applied to cereal crops, no appreciable resi- 

 due for the use of a succeeding crop. W. 

 London, July 3. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The thu-ty-fifth meeting of the American asso- 

 ciation for the advancement of science will be 

 held at Buffalo, from Wednesday morning, Aug. 

 18, until Tuesday evening, Aug. 24, 1886. For 

 the third time, at intervals of ten years each, the 

 association has accepted an invitation to hold a 

 meeting in Buffalo. The local committee intend 

 to make the meeting a great success ; and mem- 

 bers who were at the meeting of 1876 need only 

 to recall it, in order to form an idea of what the 

 coming meeting promises to be. To those who 

 were not present, it is only necessary to state that 

 the facihties which the city offers are all that can 

 be desired, both in regard to rooms for the several 

 sections and in hotel accommodations, wliile the 

 health and comfort of the city in the month of 

 August are well known. The headquarters of the 

 association wUl be at the high school, and all the 

 offices and meeting rooms will be in that building 

 or in one of the schoolhouses near by. The hotel 

 headquarters will be at the Genesee house. Board 

 and lodging for members and tlieu- families may 

 he had at the rate of $1 to $3 a day, and reduced 

 rates have been obtained from many railroads. 

 A special circular in relation to railroads, hotels, 

 and other matters, has been issued by the local 

 committee. In order to take advantage of these 

 arrangements, members who have not received 

 the local committee's circular should send for a 

 copy at once. Arrangements for excursions and 

 receptions will be announced by the local com- 

 mittee. The officers of Sections D and H have 

 issued special ckculars relating to the meeting, 

 which can be had by addressing the respective 

 secretaries. Special information relatmg to any 

 of the sections wUl be furnished by their officers. 

 In Section E special attention will be given to the 

 problems connected with the Niagara Falls and 

 its gorge. 



— Two Italian physiologists have recently been 

 experimenting upon the effect of various drugs on 

 the sense of taste. They find that the prolonged 

 application of ice removes the sensibility for all 

 tastes, — sweet, sour, salt, and bitter. The effect 



of cocoaine is to destroy the sensibility for bitter 

 only. All other substances can stUl be tasted, but 

 the application of a bitter substance yields only a 

 sensation of contact. The removal of the sensibil- 

 ity remains the longer, the longer and more in- 

 tense the application of the cocoaine. Of course, 

 the effect is only transient. They find other sub- 

 stances that reduce the sensibility for bitter taste ; 

 but cocoaine seems to be the only one which selects 

 all the fibres that conduct the sensation of bitter, 

 and paralyzes them. Other substances, such as 

 caffeine and morphia, diminish the discriminative 

 sensibility between different intensities of bitter. 

 The application of a two-per-cent solution of sul- 

 phuric acid has a peculiar effect. It makes dis- 

 tilled water taste sweet, and even makes a quinine 

 solution have a sweet taste, but this only at the 

 tip of the tongue ; elsewhere it tastes bitter, as 

 usual. These experiments are partictdarly im- 

 portant because they are the first that promise a 

 rational application of the law of specific nerve- 

 energy to the sense of taste. They seem to sug- 

 gest the sujiposition of separate fibres for the 

 conduction of separate tastes, and thus make close 

 connection with the recently discovered hot and 

 cold points in the skin, which are the terminal 

 portions of nerve-fibres for the separate conduction 

 of sensations of heat and cold. 



— Protap Chandra Eoy of Calcutta, secretary 

 of the Datavya Bharata Karyalaya, has issued an 

 appeal for aid in rescuing the ancient Indian 

 literature. The Datavya Bharata Karyalaya has, 

 within the course of the last eight years, printed 

 and gratuitously distributed two editions of the 

 Mahabharata in Bengalee translation, each edition 

 comprising nearly three thousand copies. The 

 fourth edition of the Mahabharata (the thu'd of the 

 series for gTatuitous distribution) has been com- 

 menced, and it will take some time before it is 

 completed. One edition of the Harivanga, com- 

 prising three thousand copies, has been exhausted. 

 The Ramayana also, that was taken in hand, has 

 been completed, the text of Valmiki being pub- 

 lished with a translation. Roughly estimated, the 

 Bharata Karyalaya has distributed up to date 

 nearly twelve thousand copies of the Ramayana, 

 Mahabharata, and the Harivanga taken together, 

 and that number will sweU to eighteen thousand, 

 when the fourth edition of the Mahabharata shaU 

 be complete. Leaving aside the arithmetical re- 

 sults of the Karyalaya's operations, it might fakly 

 be presumed that the genuine demand for eighteen 

 thousand copies of the sacred books of India rep- 

 resents a degree of interest taken by the people in 

 the history of then- past that is certainly not dis- 

 couraging. An English translation of the Maha- 



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