December 10, 1886.] 



SCIElsrCE. 



537 



school, aud evening lectures by the president of 

 the acaderay, Prof. E. L. Nichols, of the Univer- 

 sity of Kansas, on ' The sky,' and by Prof. John 



C. Branner, of the University of Indiana, on 

 ' Geologists, professional and unprofessional.' The 

 following papers were read : F. H. Snow, Rain 

 cycles in Kansas ; E. B. Cowgill, Meteors of the 

 Biela train ; T. H. Dinstnore, jun.. The meteors 

 of 1885 and 1886 ; T. H. Dinsmore, jun., and A. 



D. Crooks, Color-blindness in the State normal 

 school : E. L. Nichols, On black and white ; W. 

 S. Franklin, On some curves allied to Lissajou's 

 figures : E. L. Nicliols and W. S. Franklin, A 

 preliminary note on the electro-motive force due 

 to magnetism ; E. B. Cowgill, On the magnetiza- 

 tion of a ring ; T. H. Dinsmore, jun., A new illus- 

 tration of the arc light ; D. S. Kelly, The coal- 

 measures of Lyon county ; Robert Hay, Historical 

 sketch of geological work in Kansas ; A. H. 

 Thompson, Additional notes on history of geologi- 

 cal work in Kansas : F. H. Snow, On the species 

 of Dakota leaves in the museum of the University 

 of Kansas ; Joseph Savage, Pink and white ter- 

 races of New Zealand ; Concretionary forms ; 

 Robert Hay, Natural gas in eastern Kansas ; G. H. 

 Failyer and J. T. Willard, Preliminary report on 

 the chemistry of the natural gases of Kansas ; E. 

 H. S.Bailey, Miscellaneous chemical notes ; G. H. 

 Failyer and J. T. Willard, Some notes on the 

 determination of lithium, and on its occurrence in 

 a mineral spring in Jewell county, Kan. ; On some 

 mineral waters of Kansas ; E. H. S. Bailey, On 

 the composition of the lime solution in which 

 straw is digested in the straw-paper manufacture; 



E. C. Franklin, Proximate analysis of Artemisia 

 annua ; L. E. Sayre, A preliminary analysis of 

 Astragalus moilisimus (loco weed) ; J. T. Willard, 

 On variations in the sugar-content of Sorghum 

 vulgare, with an account of some efforts to im- 

 prove the species ; T. H. Dinsmore, jun., New dis- 

 tillation apparatus ; T. H. Dinsmore, jun., and 

 W. S. Picken, Notes on the e£fects of oxygen on 

 animal life ; M. A. Bailey, The minus sign ; B. B. 

 Smyth, Figurate series ; A. K. Thompson, Ethics 

 among animals ; J. A. Udden, Some mounds on 

 Paint Creek, McPherson county : John D. Parker, 

 On mounds in Davis county ; J. R. Mead, Explora- 

 tions among the Pueblo ruins of New Mexico ; L. 

 L. Dyche, Notes on the humming-birds ; N. S. 

 Goss, Additions to the catalogue of the birds of 

 Kansas ; L. L. Dyche, List of birds observed near 

 Hermit's Peak, Las Vegas, N. Mex., with notes ; 



F. H. Snow, Note of the occurrence in Kansas of 

 the Mississippi shapper, or alligator turtle ; F. W. 

 Cragin, On a new variety of a rare Sonoran rep- 

 tile from Kansas ; J. R. Mead, List of the fresh- 

 water Mollusca of Sedgwick county ; E. A. 



Popenoe, A hst of Kansas Hymenoptera in the 

 museum of the state agricultural college ; C. L. 

 Marlatt, On the cedar saw-fly ; W. Knaus, On 

 the distribution of species of Kansas Coleoptera ; 



E. A. Popenoe, A revised list of the Coleoptera of 

 Kansas ; C. L. Marlatt, Notes on the oviposition 

 of the Buffalo tree-hopper ; F, H. Snow, A pre- 

 liminary list of Kansas desmids ; W. A. Keller- 

 man and M. A. Carleton, Second list of Kansas 

 parasitic fungi ; W. A. and Mrs. Kellerman, 

 Kansas forest-trees identified by leaves and fruit ; 

 J. H. Carruth, Scraps of botanical history ; F. H. 

 Snow, A list of plants collected in New Mexico by 

 the scientific expeditions of the University of 

 Kansas. 



— Messrs. Ticknor & Company, Boston, an- 

 nounce the publication of Goethe's ' Faust, a com- 

 mentary,' by Denton J. Snider (2 vols., 12°, $3.50). 

 This is a treatise on the greatest of German poems, 

 giving its history, critical standards, and outline, 

 and analyses and explanations of all the scenes 

 and situations, as seen from a philosophical point 

 of view. 



— The seventh annual meeting of the American 

 society of mechanical engineers was held in this 

 city from Nov. 29 to Dec. 3, Vice-President Towne 

 presiding in the absence of President Sellers. 

 The opening address was a review of the early 

 history of steam-engines in this country, by Hora- 

 tio Allen. The following papers were read : Prof. 



F. Reuleux, Friction in toothed gearing ; Prof. R. 

 H. Thurston, Friction of non-condensing engines ; 

 A. Wells Robinson. Dredging macliinery ; Benja- 

 min Baker, The working-stress of iron and steel ; 

 Andrew C. Campbell, A new conicograph ; Prof. 



G. Lanza, Strength of shafting ; William Kent, 

 Heating capacity of water-gas ; Professor Alden, 

 Formulae and tables for calculating the effect of 

 reciprocating parts of high-speed engines ; Wil- 

 liam Cowles, Fire-boats ; George H. Barrus, The 

 new calorimeter ; Oberlin Smith, Intrinsic value 

 of special tools ; W. E. Partridge, Capital's need 

 of high-priced labor. Among the topics discussed 

 were the following : Transmission of power by 

 flying rope ; Practical value of the sand-blast for 

 sparpening files ; Feed-pumps and injectors ; Ef- 

 fects of exposure upon aluminium bronze ; Anneal- 

 ing-furnaces for small gray -iron castings ; Grit 

 in grinding-rooms, yards, and shops ; Expansion 

 and contraction of drawing-paper ; Cutting of in- 

 tricate templets from very thin metal ; Equipment 

 of mechanical engineering laboratory ; Problems 

 for students of mechanical engineering in the last 

 year of their regular course ; Power required to 

 drive modern American machine-tools. The offi- 

 cers elected for the ensuing year are, president. 



