116 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 107. 



in the possession of Dr. B. S. Hedrick, for- 

 merly Examiner in the U. S. Patent Office. The 

 specimen was in the form of a cartridge, con- 

 sisting of long staple gnu cotton, and although 

 the paper was torn somewhat it was still pos- 

 sible to read that it was labeled ' cotton for 

 shooting,' and that it was made by ' Lennig, of 

 Philadelphia, under patent of October 6, 1846.' 



The gun cotton is in a complete state of pres- 

 ervation and, as it apparently dates from 

 shortly after Schoenbein's patent was filed, it is 

 probably the oldest specimen in this country 

 and shows that properly made gun cotton is a 

 stable product. Prof. Munroe then offered in 

 the same connection a copy of Schoenbein's 

 original United States patent, and discussed his 

 claim to being the original discoverer of gun cot- 

 ton, holding that although he had much improved 

 the process of manufacture, and made it prac- 

 ticable, that Braconot Pelouze and Dumas, had 

 all preceded him in producing an explosive, 

 cellulose nitrate. There was some discussion, 

 especially as to a discrepancy between the dates 

 of the patent and that on the specimen pre- 

 sented by Prof. Munroe. 



Dr. W. J. Hedrick referred to the connection 

 of his father with the Patent Office, and said 

 that formerly the laboratory of the Agricultural 

 Department, which was then under the Interior 

 Department, was connected with the Patent 

 Office, and that the specimen might have come 

 from this laboratory. Dr. Littlewood said that 

 he had tried to obtain further data, but had found 

 no explosives in the oflEice as old as this speci- 

 men. He further stated that few would be 

 handed down by him to his successor, as his 

 policy was to remove all explosives as soon as 

 possible. Mr. Dewey said that he would not 

 put much faith in the date on the specimen. 

 Lennig may have made a mistake in the date. 

 He was sceptical as to its age. Prof. Munroe 

 said that if it dated back only to 1860 it was 

 old. After further discussion by Dr. Fireman 

 and Prof. Munroe, Mr. W. D. Bigelow gave a 

 description of a ' Convenient Apparatus for the 

 Estimation of Urea in Urine by the Hypobro- 

 mite Method.' The apparatus consisted of a 

 burette so bent that the graduated part forms 

 the arc of a circle, the center of which is a lip 

 at the end farthest from the stop cock. Above 



the stop cock is a thistle-tube top for the intro- 

 duction of the reagents. A. C. Peale, 



Secretary. 



TEXAS ACADEMY OP SCIENCE. 



The mid-year meeting of the Texas Academy 

 of Science was held in San Antonio, December 

 31, 1896. 



At the afternoon session the following papers 

 were read : ' Notes on the Physiology of the 

 Central Nervous System of some of the Lower 

 Amimals,' by W. W. Norman, professor .of 

 biology in the University of Texas. ' The 

 Evolution of Culture,' by Thomas Fitzhugh, 

 professor of Latin, University of Texas. ' Ver- 

 tical Curves for Eailways,' by J. C. Nagle, 

 professor of engineering, Agricultural and Me- 

 chanical College of Texas. ' Notes on Indian 

 Corn and some of its Uses Among Modern and 

 Ancient Mexicans,' by Dr. David Cerua, Med- 

 ical Department of the University of Texas. 



The chief event of the evening session was 

 the address of Maj. C. E. Dutton, U. S. A., on 

 'The Economics of Concentrated Capital.' 

 Dr. George Bruce Halsted, President of the 

 Academy, also spoke briefly on ' The Greatest 

 Foundling House of the World, a Personal Study 

 in Eussian Sociology.' 



Dr. Cerna had the pleasure of presenting to 

 the Academy, Mrs. Frances Long Taylor, a 

 daughter of Dr. Crawford W. Long, of Georgia, 

 the well known discoverer of the ansesthetic 

 properties of ether. 



At the close of the meetiug the members of 

 the Academy were entertained by Major Dut- 

 ton at his residence. 



Feedeeic W. Simonds. 



NEW BOOKS. 



Catalogue des bibliographies geologiques. Emm. 

 DB Maejoeie. Paris, Gauthier-Villars et 

 fils. 1896. Pp. xx+733. 



Life and Letters of William Barton Sogers. Ed- 

 ited by his wife, with the assistance of Wm. 

 T. Sedgwick. Boston and New York, 

 Houghton, MifHin & Co. 1896. Vol. I., 

 viii+427; Vol. IL, vi-|-451. $4.00. 



Problems of Biology. Gboege Sandeman. Lon- 

 don, Swann, Sonnenschein & Co.; New York, 

 The Macmillan Co. Pp. 213. $2.00. 



