408 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 114. 



gards his observation as proving that the two 

 formations are distinct. The arkose which 

 forms a continuous belt separating the flinty- 

 slate and the unaltered green shales is be- 

 lieved to be a regular member of the Carbonif- 

 erous series. F. A. Gooch discusses the use of 

 hydriodic acid in the estimation of molybde- 

 num. This subject was treated in 1806, by 

 Goosh and Fairbanks, but their methods were 

 criticised by Friedheim. The present article 

 shows that certain errors of calculation in an 

 earlier paper by Friedheim and Euler vitiate 

 the conclusions reached in the criticism referred 

 to. I. C. Russell gives an abstract of the re- 

 sults of recent observations in southeastern 

 Washington, especially as regards the immense 

 lava fields of the region and the gorge formed 

 through them by the Snake river ; this is said 

 to rival the Grand Canyon of the Colorado in 

 grandeur, though lacking its brilliant coloring. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADE3IIES. 

 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 



The Philosophical Society of Washington 

 held its 464th meeting on the 20th inst, at 

 which B. D. Preston, of the United States Coast 

 and Geodetic Survey, read a paper on ' The 

 Transcontintental Arc from Cape May to San 

 Francisco,' which was followed by a paper by 

 Wm. Eimbeck, of the same Survey, on 'The New 

 Primary Base Apparatus,' used by the Survey, 

 illustrated by one of the bars mounted. Mr. J. 

 Howard Gore read a paper on ' A Dutch Prac- 

 tical Charity,' and Charles R. Dodge read a 

 paper on ' Systematic Classification of Textile 

 and other useful Fibers of the World,' illus- 

 trated by samples. 



Bernard R. Green, 



Secretary. 



SCIENCE CLUB OP THE UNIVERSITY OP WIS- 

 CONSIN, JANUARY 18, 1897. 



The subject, ' Modern Methods of Milk Pres- 

 ervation,' was presented by Professor H. L. 

 Russell. He divided the different methods 

 proposed into three classes: 1. Those exclud- 

 ing bacteria from the milk ; 2, those inhibiting 

 the development of bacteria as in condensed 

 or preserved milk, or where milk is kept at 



temperatures too low for bacterial growth; and 

 3, those in which bacteria are actually de- 

 stroyed, as in the various methods where heat 

 is employed, as in pasteurization and sterliza- 

 tion. He also discussed the new method, de- 

 vised by Dr. Babcock and himself, of restoring 

 the consistency to pasteurized milk products. 

 Mr. Louis Kahlenberg, in his paper, ' The Toxic 

 Action of Dissolved Salts and their Electrolytic 

 Dissociation,' gave, as an introduction, a brief 

 explanation of the theory of electrolytic disso- 

 ciation and the reasons for holding the same. 

 The general proposition was made that the 

 physiological action of a solution of an electro- 

 lyte depends on the action of the undissociated 

 molecules, together with that of the ions pres- 

 ent. The results of many experiments upon 

 plants performed by the author and Mr. R. H. 

 True and Mr. F. D. Heald were cited to sub- 

 stantiate this view. It was further pointed out 

 that experiments on bacteria performed at 

 the University, and recent investigations car- 

 ried on at the University of Leipzig, further 

 confirm the general proposition which was first 

 published in the Botanical Gazette of August, 

 1896, by Kahlenberg and True. The signifi- 

 cance of the discovery to physiological chem- 

 istry, agriculture, bacteriology and therapeutics 

 was briefly mentioned. 



Wm. S. Marshall, 



Secretary. 



NEW BOOKS. 



A Treatise on Analytical Statics. Edward John 

 RouTH. Cambridge University Press. New 

 York, The Macmillan Company. 1S96, 1892. 

 Vol. I. Pp. xii+301. Vol. II. Pp. xii+ 

 224. 



Elementary Text-book of Physics. Wm. A. An- 

 thony and Cyrus F. Brackett. Revised 

 by W. F. Magie. 8th edition. New York, 

 John Wiley & Sons. London, Chapman & 

 Hall, Ltd. 1897. Pp. viii-f-512. $4.00. 



Researches upon the Antiquity of Man. Henry 

 C. Mercer. Boston, Ginn & Co. 1897. Pp. 

 178. 



Die Chemie in tiiglichen Leben. Dr. LassAR- 

 COHN. Hamburg and Leipzig, Leopold Voss, 

 1807. 2d edition. Pp. vii+303. 4 M. 



