June io, 1892.J 



SCIENCE. 



527 



years past been made at the Kimberley Waterworks. These 

 gaugings having been placed at the disposal of the Society, the 

 author has compared theai with the rainfall of the watershed. 

 There is a marked period of floods and fluctuations at a compara- 

 tively high level from about the end of October to the latter part 

 of April, and a period of quiescence, during which the river 

 steadily falls with very slight fluctuations, from about Apr. 19 to 

 Oct. 31. The highest flood, 525 feet, occurred in 1880, the next 

 highest being 500 feet on Jan. 24, 1891. 



— The admirable results which have attended the artesian bor- 

 ings in the Wed Rir, at Wargla, and more recently at El Golea in 

 the Sahara, have led to a demand being made by the inhabitants 

 of the Mzab in the southern part of the French Sahara, for 

 the assistance of the Government in undertaking experimental 

 borings in that region also. M. G. Holland, one of the few geol- 

 ogists who have explored the Algerian Sahara, and the only one 

 who has visited the extreme south, makes the following ob.serva- 

 tions, reported in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Soci- 

 ety, on the regime of subterranean waters between Laghuat and 

 El Golea. From the north to south in the region of the Laya, 

 and on the chalk plateau which extends to the south, borings have 

 no chance of success. In the shebka of the Mzab and of Metlili, 

 the coudicions are only moderately favorable, and it would be 

 necessary to penetrate down to 700, and even to 1,000, feet. To 

 the south of the 33d parallel the chances of success increase in 

 what M, Rolland calls the shebka of the south of El Hassi. Bor- 

 ings would undoubtedly succeed in the depressions of Dayet Tarfa, 

 El Aref, Zubia, and Bu Fakrun. Further south, springing water 

 would be obtained along the western border of the chalk reliefs, 

 which is unfortunately complicated by the ramifications of the 

 Western Erg, and the depths of the borings would go on decreas- 

 ing until, on approaching the region of El Golea, it would be neces- 

 sary to penetrate down only to 400 feet. 



— The United States Consul-General at Seoul, in his last re- 

 port, says that paper manufacture is one of the leading industries 

 of Corea. This paper is highly esteemed, and always forms part 

 of royal presents, and of the tribute paid to China. Besides its 

 use for writing and for books, it is employed in a great diversity 

 of ways. It serves as string, and in the manufacture of lanterns, 

 fans, umbrellas, shoe soles, hats, boxes, and coats. It is also 

 used for covering floors, walls, and ceilings, and, stretched on 

 frames, supplies windows and doors. It is highly prized in China 

 and Japan, and is especially sought after for the manufacture of 

 umbrellas. It is made from the bush of the mulben-y order 

 (Broussonetia papyrifera'), which is indigenous, growing in many 

 parts of the kingdom, but thriving best in the moist, warm cli- 

 mate of the south. II is chiefly grown from cuttings for this 

 especial purpose, and the wild and cultivated plants are said to 

 be of equal value. The bark, which alone is used, is generally 

 gathered in the spring, and it is boiled for a long time in wa'er, 

 in which a quantity of wood ashes has been mixed, until it be- 

 comes a pulp, the mass having been beaten during the whole time 

 of the boiling. Fine bamboo screens are then placed in shallow 

 wooden vats, and a ladleful of the pulp is evenly spread over 

 the screen by a dexterous circular motion of the hand. This 

 operation is repeated once or twice, or as often as may be neces- 

 sary — the more frequent the operation, the flner the paper — and 

 the screen allowed to drain into the vats, until a proper consist- 

 ency is reached, the drippings being thus saved. They are placed 

 on a hot J-aJigr floor to dry. After the drying has proceeded far 

 ■enough, the paper is laid on a hot floor, and ironed by hand. The 

 long lines in the paper show strands of the bamboo screens, and 

 their nearness, distinctness, or absence indicate the fineness or 

 otherwise of the paper. They are almost imperceptible in some 

 grades of paper, while in others they are distinct and far apart. 

 Paper is made by the Paper Guild, a numerous and prosperous 

 association. The province of ChuUa is the chief seat of manufac- 

 ture. 



— The statement is sometimes made, that, owing to the homo- 

 geneity of steel, a bar of this metal with a surface crack or nick 

 in one of its edges is liable to fail by the gradual spreading of the 

 nick, and thus break under a very much smaller load than a 



sound bar. With iron it is contended this does not occur, as this 

 metal has a fibrous structure. Even the late Sir William Siemens 

 supported this theory, and likeued a bar of steel to one of india- 

 rubber, which, as everyone knows, is greatly weakened by a nick 

 in one of its edges. Sir Benjamin Baker has, however, shown 

 that this theory, at least so far as statical stress is concerned, is 

 opposed to the facts, as he purposely made nicks in specimens of 

 the mild steel used at the Forth Bridge, but found that the tensile 

 strength of the whole was thus reduced by only about one ton per 

 square inch of section. This settled the matter so far as statical 

 stresses are concerned, and we now find in a recent number, of 

 Engineering Aews, an account of an experiment carried out by the 

 Union Bridge Company, in which a full-sized steel counter-bar, 

 with a screw-turned buckle connection, was tested under a heavy 

 statical stress, and at the same time a weight weighing 1,040 

 pounds was allowed to drop on it from various heights. The bar 

 was first broken by ordinary statical strain, and showed an ulti- 

 mate breaking stress of 66,800 pounds per square inch, with an 

 elongation of 29. 17 per cent on 13 inches. The reduction of area 

 at fracture was 53.4 per cent. The longer of the broken parts was 

 then placed in the machine and put under the following loads, 

 whilst a weight, as already mentioned, was dropped on it from 

 various heights at a distance of five feet from the sleeve nut of 

 the turn buckle as shown below: — 



Stress lu pounds per square Inch... 50,000 55,000 60,000 63,000 65,000 

 ft. in. ft in. ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. 

 HelgM of fall 21 26 30 40 50 



The weight was then shifted so as to fall directly on the sleeve nut, 

 and the test proceeded as follows : — 



Stress on specimen in pounds per square incli 65,350 65,350 63,800 



ft. ft. it. 



Heightoffall 3 6 6 



It will be seen that under this severe trial the bar actually carried 

 more than when originally tested statically, showing that the 

 nicking of the bar by screwing had not appreciably weakened its 

 power of resisting shocks. 



— The Councillor of Exploration of the Appalachian Mountain 

 Club asks the assistance of members of the club during the coming 

 season. Record of exploration in any part of the country will be 

 welcome. In the White Mountains the whole region drained by 

 the East Branch of the Pemigewasset needs exploration, especially 

 in regard to the details of ravines, ridges, and minor summits; 

 Mounts Thompson and Hastings have not yet been visited; and 

 the region north and east of the Androscoggin has bad but little 

 attention except in the neighborhood of Gorham and Shelboturne. 

 Members are requested to forward accounts of their visits to all 

 places outside of the track of the ordinary tourists to A. L. Good- 

 rich, Salem, Mass. 



— The president of the Commission appointed to collect funds 

 for the erection of a monument to the late G A. Hirn, at Colmar, 

 Alsace, are calling in the subscriptions, which are now nearly 

 sufficient for the purpose. American subscribers should immedi- 

 ately send theirs to the nearest collector in this country. The 

 sums subscribed abroad amount to from a few marks to several 

 hundred, according to the ability of the subscribers. None is so 

 poor but that he can add his mite. It is hoped that the oppor- 

 tunity to testify, in this country, the appreciation of America and 

 of Americans, and their desire to honor the great genius of Alsace 

 will be taken full advantage of. Contributions may be sent either 

 directly to the president of the Commission, Mon. G. Kern, Colmar, 

 or to either member of the committee in this country. The priv- 

 ilege of taking part in this movement is one not to be measured 

 by money. Numerous small contributions are more desired by 

 the management than a few large ones, and every friend and ad- 

 mirer of Hirn should send his mite. 



— Since 1883, says the Scottish Geographical Magazine, the 

 Dutch Government has been carryingouta triangulation of West- 

 ern Sumatra, and at the end of 1890 the network had been ex- 

 tended over an area of more than 10,000 square miles, while some 

 points had been determined in the northern part of the Padang 

 lowlands and the south of Tapanuli. The base-line extends from 

 Gunung Gadut to Pulau Satu, and is about 113,504 feet, but owing 

 to a probable error of more than 3^ feet, it must be measured again. 



