I04 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVI. No. 394 



However perfect the definitions or severe the penalties for 

 violations of the law may be, still, unless the means for en- 

 forcing its provisions are furnished, no good would come of 

 it. The establishing and maintaining the force necessary for 

 the due supervision and control, under a national law, of 

 such adulterated foods should be suitably provided for, and 

 the rules and regulations for their guidance should be vested 

 in some responsible bureau officer, with the approval of the 

 Secretary of the Department. 



This force should be divided into two classes: (1) The in- 

 spectors, who would be assigned to certain districts, and 

 should visit all manufactories of food products, including 

 slaughter-houses and dairies, and the places of all dealers 

 where articles of food intended for consumption are sold, 

 displayed, or stored, procuring, by purchase or otherwise, 

 samples for inspection or analysis. They should have the 

 necessai'y police authority to detain, seize, or destroy adul- 

 terated articles of food w^herever found, as now vested in 

 most municipal sanitary police officers. (2) The analysts, 

 under the control of a chief, would be required to make the 

 necessary chemical and physical examinations of the samples 

 of food collected by the inspectors, or submitted, under suita- 

 ble regulations, by other parties. The duly verified certifi- 

 cate of an analyst, stating that the examination of the sample 

 submitted shows it to be adulterated within the meaning of 

 the act, shall be received as evidence of the fact in any pro- 

 ceedings taken against any person for violation of the law. 

 The defendant, however, shall have the right to require the 

 attendance of the analyst for the purpose of cross-examination. 



Standards of strength, quality, or purity of different foods 

 shall be fixed from time to time and prescribed by the Secre- 

 tary of the Department for the guidance of the analysts. 



"Where samples of food products are received from the 

 public at large they should be accompanied with an affidavit 

 stating the facts in the case, and a small fee for the analysis 

 of the same should be paid in advance. 



The inspection of meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, and especially 

 milk, should be done daily in any large city, and properly 

 belongs to the health department of such city. 



If such a law should take the form of a revenue measure 

 many provisions of existing laws in regard to special taxes, 

 stamps, brands, returns, notices, etc., could be made to apply, 

 and very little increase in the force of the laternal Revenue 

 Bureau would be needed. 



If the manufacturers of adulterated goods paid special 

 taxes at the rate of one dollar per month, wholesale dealers 

 fifty cents per month, and retail dealers twenty cents for the 

 same time, and a tax of one mill per pound were collected on 

 every article of food adulterated within the meaning of the 

 act, the revenue thus derived would not much more than 

 cover the expense of enforcing such a law. 



Edgar Richards. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



An ingenious contrivance has been recently adopted at the 

 Hippodrome in Paris, with a view to producing scenic effects in 

 the central oval space, without the spectators opijosite being seen 

 at the same time. Nature describes the contrivance as an ellipti- 

 cal screen of fine steel netting, which is let down in comparative 

 darkness, so as to be about twelve feet in front of the benches. 

 This is painted on the inner side with a representation of the Place 

 du Vieux Marche at Rouen (the piece being " Jeanne d'Arc"), and, 



as it is strongly illuminated, at a given moment, from the centre, 

 the light outside being low, a spectator at any point has an excel- 

 lent view of the scene, while seeing nothing of the crowd beyond. 



— James W. Queen, who founded the well-known house of 

 James W. Queen & Co. of Philadelphia, died on July 12. He had 

 been retired from business many years, so that his death will have 

 no effect on the Philadelphia firm. 



— In his recent thesis on the influence of the sea-shore on leaves 

 M. Pierre Lesage shows by conclusive evidence, says Nature, that 

 a marine habitat leads to a thickening of the leaves. The palis- 

 sade-cells are more numerous and larger than in the leaves of the 

 same plants grown inland. Apparently the sea-salt is the cause 

 of this alteration, as plants cultivated in artificially salted soil 

 yield thicker leaves. The observations of M. Lesage bear on some 

 ninety species of plants which are In their natural state found 

 near the sea (in Brittany) as well as inland. 



—Professor Thomas F. Hunt, Assistant Agriculturist of the 

 Illinois Experiment Station, reports a comparative feeding test 

 between corn fodder and corn silage, the results of which are 

 slightly in favor of the dry cured fodder. While the results of the 

 experiments are somewhat contradictory, those which bear evi- 

 dence of the greatest thoroughness agree in indicating that there 

 is practically no difference between the feeding values of a given 

 quantity of corn cured as ensilage and an equivalent quantity 

 cured as dry fodder, provided equally good husbandry has been 

 practised in both cases. Whether corn may be cured and pre- 

 served more economically by the one process or the other depends 

 largely upon local circumstances and seasonal peculiarities. 



— Commenting on an article on -the influence of the moon on 

 weather, by Dr. G. Meyer, Nature says, that, although such inves- 

 tigations have hitherto given a negative result, the author thought 

 that with the materials furnished by synoptic charts he might 

 eliminate local influences, and he gives tables extending over a 

 number of 3 ears, which seem to show the influence of the moon 

 in lowering the height of the barometer in the months of Septem- 

 ber to January, at the time of full moon, and in raising it during 

 the first quarter. The Deutsche Seewarte, which communicates 

 the article, points out that a similar result has been independently 

 arrived at by Captain Seemann, one of the assistants of the in- 

 stitution. The same effect or any other is not perceptible in other 

 months. 



— The following facts, quoted by Nature from its French name- 

 sake La Nature, relate to exceptional seasons in past centuries. 

 They were collected by M. Vdlard, of Valence, for France espe- 

 cially, and for Europe generally. In 1283 the winter was so mild 

 that corn-flowers were sold in Paris in February. New wine was 

 also drunk at Liege on Aug. 24. In 1408 the winter was so severe 

 that nearly all the Paris bridges were carried away by the ice. 

 Ink froze in the pen, although a fire was in the room. [A similar 

 fact is quoted by Dove as occurring at Sebastopol on Dec. 13, 1855.J 

 All the sea between Norway and Denmark was frozen. The 

 summers of 1473 and 1474 were disastrously hot. In the winter 

 of 1544^45 wine was frozen in barrels all over France. It was cut 

 with hatchets and sold by the pound. In 1572-73 nearly all the 

 rivers were frozen. The Rhone was traversed by carriages at 

 various places. In 1585 the winter was very mild; corn was in ear 

 at Easter, but the third week in May was extremely cold. 



— The Belgian Legation at Mexico has recently reported to the 

 Belgian Government on the subject of " guimbobo," kno\?n also 

 as " angu," which is found in the State of Vera Cruz, a plant 

 which should be included in the catagory of all the varieties of 

 Mexican textiles. An American specialist has been appointed tO' 

 examine and report upon the fibre-producing qualities of this 

 plant. This gentleman has discovered that the guimbobo pro- 

 duces not only a fibre of very superior quality, but that it can be 

 easily and cheaply cultivated; moreover, the fi-uit of the plant 

 constitutes a nutritious food. According to the Journal of the 

 Society of Arts, it appears from experiments that have already 

 been made that the guimbobo differs essentially from the ramie, 

 cotton, and hemp, as in the guimbobo the covering of the plant 

 surrounds the fibre, and is not mixed up and interlaced with it; 



