I02 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIX. No 472 



— The following experiment is reported In bulletin No. 15 of 

 the Georgia experiment station: The object of this experiment 

 was to determine the effect of applying varying quantities of each 

 of the three elements — nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash. 

 The section selected comprised one acre of very poor, gravelly 

 soil, underlaid by a yellow pebbly clay, inclining to pipe clay. 

 The original growth was scrubby post oak, red and yellow oak, 

 and the soil is probably the poorest on the farm. It was in corn 

 in 1890, fertilized at the rate per acre of 160 pounds of super-phos- 

 phate, 170 pounds of cotton seed meal, and 80 pounds of muriate 

 of potash. The 3 ield was 18 bushels of corn. The land was well 

 broken, April 8, with a one-horse turn-plow, and harrowed smooth. 

 April 14 it was laid oflf into fifty-two rows, running east and west, 

 and four feet wide, using a long scooter, followed by a shovel. 

 The section was then divided in the middle, across the rows, and 

 grouped into plots of three rows each, extending half across the 

 acre, from the west to the middle line, and from the middle line 

 to the east side. The plots were numbered from 1 to 17, com- 

 mencing on the north side of the west half and extending to the 

 south side; then from 18 to 34, continuing from the south side of 

 the east half to the north side. The normal or standard formula 

 was: 156 pounds superphosphate. 19.4 pounds of muriate of pot- 

 ash, and 32.4 pounds of nitrate of soda. This formula was ap- 

 plied to plots 1, 10, 18, and 37. On the next succeeding plots, 3, 

 11, 19, and 28, the potash was doubled, the other ingredients re- 

 maining the same. In the next series, plots 3, 12, 20 and 29, the 

 nitrogen was doubled, the others remaining normal. In the 

 fourth series, plots 4, 13, 21, and 30, both the potash and the ni- 

 trogen were doubled, phosphoric acid remaining normal. In the 

 fifth series the phosphoric acid and potash were doubled, nitrogen 

 remaining normal; and so on through to the eighth series. Plots 

 9 and 26, abutting each other, contained four rows each, and 

 were not fertilized. By this arrangement of the plots ine- 

 qualities in the character and productiveness of the different por- 

 tions of the acre were approximately adjusted or corrected. In 

 the table following the results are given, the yield in the case of 

 the unfertilized plots being the average of two plots, and in every 

 other case being that of four plots. 



— Dust, like the poor, we have always with us, nor ^^ 

 with her newest brooms yet succeeded in banisl^-' 

 is abundant evidence to show that a dust. 

 lurking potentialities of mischief than a ju 

 hungriest wild beasts. To the researches > .^ others 



can now be added, says the British Medical ^^rnal, the results 

 of an elaborate investigation by Dr. Luigi Manfredi of the com- 

 position of the dust of the streets of Naples. The number of 

 microbes of all kinds found in it amounted on the average to 

 .61,521,000 per gramme. Remarkable differences in the propor- 

 'on of micro-organisms were, however, observed in the dust from 

 f erent quarters of the city. Thus, in the streets least exposed 

 ontamination, that is to say, where there was the least traffic 

 vihere the hygienic conditions were most satisfactory, the 

 ° number of microbes in the dust was only 10,000.000 per 

 . On the other hand, in the busiest thoroughfares, the 



average rose to 1,000,000,000, and in some of the dirtiest streets to 

 the enormous figure of 5,000,000,000 per gramme. In this " end- 

 less ocean '' of infinitesimal life, there was a large number of 

 pathogenic organisms, and the unhealthiness of the street or 

 quarter was directly proportional to the number of microbes in 

 the dust. Dr. Manfredi carefully tested the infective power of the 

 dust, and obtained positive results in 73 per cent of his experi- 

 ments. Of forty two cases in which he comraunicuted disease to 

 guinea-pigs by inoculating them with Neapolitan dust, he found 

 the microbe of pus in eight, the bacillus of malignant oedema in 

 four, the bacillus of tetanus in two, the bacillus of tuberculosis 

 in three, not to mention several other microscopic ferce naturae 

 possessing the power of inducing fatal septicaemia in the unfortu- 

 nate guinea-pigs on which they were tried. The moral pointed 

 by these discouraging facts is that our ^diles should take the 

 Dutch housewife for their example, and wage relentless war 

 against dust and dirt of every kind. 



— Prosessor William Guy Peck of Columbia College died sud- 

 denly in Greenwich, Conn., on Feb. 7, aged 72 years. He pub- 

 lished, in 1859, " The Elements of Mechanics," in 1860, an edition 

 of Ganot's " Physics," and was joint editor with Charles Davies 

 of the -'Mathematical Dictionary and Cyclopedia of the Mathemati- 

 cal Sciences." He wrote several other text-books in mathematics. 



— The Institute of Jamaica has begun the issue of special pub- 

 lications. The first, the '' Rainfall Atlas of Jamaica," contains thir- 

 teen colored maps showing the average rainfall in each month and 

 during the year, with explanatory text. The maps are based 

 upon observations made at 153 stations from about the year 1870 

 to the end of the year 1889. The available stations are irregularly 

 distributed, being for the most part sugar estates and cattle-pens, 

 and in consequence of this irregularity the island has been divided 

 into four rainfall divisions. The north-eastern division has the 

 largest rainfall, then comes the west central, next the northern, 

 and lastly the southern. The annual distribution of the rainfall 

 varies from 30 to 35 inches in a few places to over 100 inches in 

 the north-eastern division. The greatest fall is in October, and 

 the least in February. The driest stations are on the north-eastern 

 and south-eastern shores. The maps show the distribution and 

 average amount of rainfall very clearly by different tints, and 

 cannot fail to be of both scientific and practical utility. The work 

 has been prepared, according to Nature, by Maxwell Hall, the 

 government meteorologist. 



— The Equatorial current of the Pacific Ocean, striking against 

 the Philippines and the islands lying to the south of that group, 

 divides into two branches (The Scottish Geographical Magazine, 

 February, 1892), one of which turns southwards to the coast of 

 Australia, while the other, under the name of Kuro Shiwo, or 

 Black Stream, flows past the Liu-Kiu Islands and the coast of 

 Japan. Coining from the warmer equatorial regions, its waters 

 have a higher temperature than that of the sea through which it 

 passes, and hence its limits may be determined by observations of 

 temperature. Its breadth and velocity are greatly modified both 

 by the monsoons of the Chinese Sea and by the storms of the Pa- 

 cific. In fai"- 



linp " 



.0 northern boundary. Its course is marked by 

 - ^ad drift-wood, and also by the dark color to which it 

 ^wes its name. From Rock Island it runs past Nosima Saki into 

 the Northern Pacific. On the northern edge of this stream no 

 current is found as a rule, though occasionally a current in the 

 opposite direction has been noticed. Between the zone where no 

 marine currents are found and the coast of Japan tidal currents 

 occur. The breadth of the zone between the Kuro Shiwo and the 

 coast increases during violent northerly winds, and diminishes 

 when southerly and easterly winds prevail. When the latter blow 

 steadily and with great strength, the current sets more or less di- 

 rectly onto the coast, causing high tides, and it is then necessary 

 for ships to keep a sharp lookout, lest they should be driven 

 ashore. The zone of tidal currents extends for a distance of five 

 to six nautical miles from the coast, and their velocity varies in 



