76 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVI. No. 392 



— A very odd result of rivalry betvceen two tiger-snakes is 

 recorded by Mr. D. Le Souef, Assistant Director of the Melbourne 

 Zoological Gardens, in a recent number of the Victorian Natural- 

 ist. One of the snakes vpas large, the other being small. Not 

 long ago both happened to fasten on the same mouse, one at each 

 end. Neither would give way, and the larger snake not only 

 swallowed the mouse, but also the smaller snake. In about ten 

 minutes nothing was seen of the smaller snake but about two 

 inches of its tail, and that disappeared next day. 



— In an experiment made by the Noith Cai-olina experiment 

 station, a series of plots was laid out in such manner that one end 

 of each plot should be on land on which cow peas had been pre- 

 viously plowed under, and the other end on land without peas. 

 The whole was sown to wheat, and kainite, acid phosphate, and 

 cotton seed meal were applied to the several plots, singly and in 

 combination, two plots being left without any fertilizer. The 

 result was that on the land which had had no cow peas the highest 

 increase of any of the fertilized over the unfertilized plots was 

 four bushels per acre (for 300 pounds of cotton seed meal), while 

 on the green manured land the increase from the pea vines was 

 from six bushels at the least to fifteen bushels per acre, averaging 

 ten bushels. 



— With all their learning and teaching power, the German 

 universities retain some rather unlovely traditions, of which 

 duellini; is perhaps the most redolent of barbarism. True, the 

 vast majority of "hostile meetings" between undergraduates 

 seldom result in more than facial disfigurement; but sometimes, 

 when firearms are the weapons chosen instead of swords, danger 

 is inevitable, and even death may occur. A melancholy illustra- 

 tion of this has lately been witnessed at Wurzburg, where, as 

 narrated by the Lancet, a highly promising and amiable " candi- 

 datus medicus " lost his life. Paul Fleurer, the unfortunate youth 

 in question, seems to have played a truly chivalrous part in the 

 encounter; for after a first, and then a second, interchange of 

 shots, he held out his hand twice in token of reconciliation with 

 his antagonist, but in vain. A third interchange was insisted on, 

 and poor Fleurer fell mortally wounded, and died in a few min- 

 utes. At his funeral, which was attended by the students in large 

 numbers, and with all the insignia of mourning, oraisons funebres 

 were delivered, the principal of which refenred to the deceased as 

 the victim of an "unfortunately still prevailing prejudice" — 

 sorely an inadequate condemnation of a practice which finds no 

 favor in the better-mannered academic life of Great Britain and 

 America. 



— A bulletin of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, now 

 in press, gives the results of an experiment in feeding sugar beets 

 to milch cows, made during the past winter, together with a 

 summary of tvpo similar experiments, one made by the station in 

 1889 and one by the farm department of the Ohio State University 

 in 1879. In the last named experiment eight cows were kept 

 under test for eleven weeks; in 1889, twelve cows for eight weeks; 

 and in 1890, twelve cows for nine weeks, the cows in each case 

 being weighed daily, as well as their feed and milk. In each of 

 the three experiments the cows ate more hay and more total dry 

 matter when feeding on beets than on other foods (hay, meal, and 

 bran in 1879, com silage in 1889 and 1890). and in each case more 

 milk was given from the beets than from the other foods, but it 

 is not yet demonstrated that the increase of milk was produced 

 economically. For twelve years records have been kept on the 

 farm now occupied by the station, which shows that the average 

 yield of beets over this period has been nearly sixteen tons per 

 acre, against an annual jield of about fifty-five bushels of shelled 

 corn per acre. But a crop of fifty-five bushels of shelled corn, 

 with its fodder, will contain nearly twice as much dry matter as 

 sixteen tons of beets, and these experiments indicate that, whether 

 fed dry, as corn meal and dry fodder, or as corn ensilage, the dry 

 matter of the corn crop will be found about as effective, pound for 

 pound, as the dry matter of the beet crop. It is possible to raise 

 much more than sixteen tons of beets to the acre. One crop of 

 two acres is reported at thirty-seven and one-half tons per acre, 

 and smaller areas have given still larger yields, but such crops 

 require very rich land and thorough culture. Whether it is possi- 



ble to produce a pound of dry matter in beets as economically as 

 it can be done in corn is not yet definitely settled, but the proba- 

 bilities are against it. 



— A Royal Commission has been appointed in England to in- 

 quire and report " what is the eflfect, if any, of food derived from 

 tuberculous animals on human health, and, if prejudicial, what 

 are the circumstances and conditions with regard to the tubercu- 

 losis in the animal which produce that efEect upon man." Lord 

 Basing is chairman. The other Commissioners are Professor G. T. 

 Brown, Dr. George Buchanan, Mr. Frank Payne, and Professor 

 Burdon Sanderson. 



— The following method for preserving ice in a pitcher will not 

 come amiss to those who need it for use all night or in the sick 

 room. Fill the pitcher with ice and water, and set it on the cen- 

 tre of a piece of paper ; then gather the paper up together at the 

 top and bring the ends tightly together, placing a strong rubber 

 band around them to hold it close, so as to exclude the air. The 

 Medical and Surgical Reporter says that a pitcher of ice-water 

 treated in this manner has been known to stand over night with 

 scarcely a perceptible melting of the ice. 



— The corrosion of steel by salt water is said to be much greater 

 than that of iron. Mr. David Phillips stated in a recent address 

 before the British Institute of Marine Engineers, says Engineering 

 News, that he had experimented from 1881 to 1888 with two 

 plates of Bessemer boiler steel, two of Yorkshire and two of B. B. 

 Staffordshire boiler iron. The plates were, as nearly as possible, 

 6 by 6 by f inches, and were kept immersed in salt water. The 

 results show a great difference between the behavior of steel and 

 iron. The steels lost 120 per cent more than the irons the first 

 three years, when the plates were in contact; 124 per cent more 

 the second three years, when they were insulated; and 136 per 

 cent more for the whole period of seven years. 



— The number of vessels passing through the Suez Canal at 

 night by means of electric light is increasing with extraordinary 

 rapidity. The regulations for the use of the electric light went 

 into operation in March, 1887, and during the remainder of that 

 year (according to statistics given in Engineering) the number 

 using it was 394. In 1888 the number rose to 1,611, and in 1889 

 it reached 3,445. Prior to March, 1887, the privilege of travelling 

 by night with electric light had been restricted to vessels carrying 

 the mails. Since then all ships which conform to the regulations 

 are allowed to proceed by night. The average time of transit has 

 also been considerably shortened. In 1886 it was 36 hours; in 

 1887. 33 hours 58 minutes; in 1888, 31 hours 15 minutes; and in 

 1889 it had been reduced to 25 hours 50 minutes. The average 

 time for vessels using the electric light in 1889 was 32i hours. 

 The shortest time taken by a steamer in the transit of the canal 

 in 1889 was 14f hours, which is ten minutes less than the fastest 

 passage on record previously. 



— Artificial musk is a recent chemical achievement. A process 

 for its production has been patented in Germany, the inventor 

 being Herr A. Bauer, of Gisparsleben, in the Erfurt district. It 

 is a familiar experience in organic chemistry, that on introduction 

 of nitro groups (NOg) into organic bodies, by action of nitric acid, 

 a smell like that of musk is often noticed. In the present process, 

 as described by iVafitre, pure butyl-toluol is treated with a mixture 

 of sulphuric and nitric acid, and the nitrocompound is purified by 

 crystallization from alcohol, the yellowish white crystals smelling 

 strongly like musk. According to Dr. Paul (Humboldt), the smell 

 is not perfectly pure, and it can be distinguished from that of 

 musk by the perfumer, but not by the general public. Curiously, 

 a one per cent alcoholic solution has not the smell of musk. Only 

 after dilution with water does this come out, and the dilution may 

 be carried far before the smell is lost. With 1 in 5,000 it is still 

 quite distinct. Certain properties of the new product seem ta 

 render it very useful in the perfuming of soap. 



— In the new quarterly statement of the Palestine Exploration 

 Fund, Mr. Flinders Petrie gives a short report of his recent exca- 

 vations at Tell Hesy, in Palestine, which. Nature says, prove to be 

 remarkably interesting. The remains of Tell Hesy consist of a 

 mound which is formed of successive towns, one on the ruins ot 



