:2o6 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVI. No. 401 



of the corpses with chloride of sodium. But, with every allow- 

 ance for such considerations. Dr. Konig has furnished a striking 

 illustration of the permeability of the immersed human subject to 

 salts in solution, and it is to he hoped that his painstaking re- 

 searches will lead to others in the same important direction. 



Medical Students Abroad. 



Human beings are so much like sheep in their habit of fol- 

 lowing where their predecessors have led, says Medical News of 

 Aug. 30, 1890, that it seems almost useless to attempt to divert 

 itheir course from the clinics of Vienna or Berlin to those of Lon- 

 don, Liverpool, or Edinburgh. Yet any one who has studied both 

 on the continent of Europe and in England must have been im- 

 pressed with a number of advantages possessed by English study 

 -over those offered in still more foreign lands. The advantage of 

 the mother-toDgue is inestimable. Very few Americans who do 

 not possess German blood know enough of the German language 

 to understand the terras used by a rapid lecturer in the Father- 

 land; and, if they do not, they lose that which they chiefly desire, 

 namely, the minute points of the subject before them. The aver- 

 age American going to one of the continental clinics receives most 

 of his instruction from docents, or other instructors of a compara- 

 tively low grade, simply because he is one of hundreds who not 

 only throng around the chief, but overflow to the suoordinates; 

 while in England, notably in London, the number of eminent men 

 is so great, and the percentage of foreign students so small, that 

 each and every one can sit at the feet of the teacher whose writings 

 are known everywhere in the civilized world. While the student 

 in Berlin or Vienna becomes imbued with the views of the single 

 individual- governing a given course, in Loudon he may go from 

 hospital to hospital and obtain different views, and in consequence 

 become a man of broader ideas and greater resource. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



=*** Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. Hie xoriter's name 

 -ds in all cases required as proof of good faith. 



Tlie editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character 

 .of the journal. 



On request, twenty copies of the number containing his covimunication ivill 

 .S}e furnished free to any correspondent. 



On the Minerals contained in a Kiowra County (Kansas) 

 Meteorite. 



A REMAEKABLE group of meteorites has been discovered during 

 the past year in Kiowa County, Kan. In March last a small 

 fragment was identified by the author as being of meteoric origin, 

 and steps were taken by Dr. F. H. Snow of the Kansas State Uni- 

 -versity, Professor F. W. Cragin of Washburn College, and others, 

 to obtain some of these masses. 



The history of this find has been described by Dr. Snow (Sci- 

 ■£nce, May 9, 1890) and by George F. Kunz {Science, June 13, 

 1890). The latter writer, to whom a large number of the speci- 

 jnens of this fall belong, describes some very carefully, and gives 

 ^fiome analyses of the minerals contained. In Science, July 18, 

 1890, another specimen, more recently found at this locality, is 

 •described. This as well as others noticed belongs to the class 

 known as "pallasites." Its weight is two hundred and eighteen 

 pounds and a quarter. 



It is an irregular triangular pyramid about twenty-two inches 

 in height, with a maximum width of seventeen inches. As it 

 was well buried in the mud, one side of it presents numerous 

 cavities in which are crystals that have not been destroyed by 

 handling or by the action of the elements. One of these cavities 

 is four inches in diameter and two inches deep. Nearly all these 

 cavities are filled with more or less perfect crystals of light-yellow 

 ■olivine and chromite. 



The general color of the meteorite is a mottled reddish black, 

 but it is redder than other specimens of this group that we have 

 ;seen. 



The specific gravity of the whole mass was 4.79, showing that 

 there is not as much iron as in some of the specimens reported. 

 A dirty-white incrustation was noticed at several places on the 

 surface. This proved to be calcium carbonate, and is no doubt 



due to a deposit from the calcareous soil in which the mass was 

 buried. A polished section shows the usual Widmannstattian 

 figures after treatment with nitric acid. 



Some quite perfect crystals of yellow olivine were secured. 

 There is much more of an almost black variety of this mineral. 

 Of the latter no analysis was made, as it did not seem possible to 

 secure a uniform sample. It is suggested by Mr. Kunz that this 

 zone is a mixture of olivine and troilite. The yellow olivine has 

 a fusibility of 5-f , blackens before the blowpipe, is attracted by 

 the magnet after ignition but not before, gives the usual iron re- 

 action with the borax bead, and is soluble in nitric acid with sep- 

 aration of gelatinous silica. It has conchoidal fracture and 

 vitreous lustre. The analysis is as follows: — 



SlOu 38 .33 



FeO 13.55 



MgO 46.21 



MuO 29 



Cra03 61 



S .1 trace 



Loss on Igultiou 82 



The chromite, which is found in crystals and masses lining the 

 cavities above tnentioned, is iron-black in color, with a brilliant 

 lustre. It is brittle, gives a brown streak, and is slightly magnetic 

 after ignition. It gives the usual emerald-green bead with borax. 

 It is not acteil upon by acids. Some of the masses are one third 

 of an inch in diameter. In most of these cavities there ai-e about 

 equal quantities of olivine and of chromite. The analysis is as 

 follows: — 



SiOa 1.42 



CaO 0.78 



MgO 6.11 



FeO „ 23.21 



AI2O3 .-: 0.25 



MnO a trace 



Cr203 67.83 



Loss on ignition .24 



The iron-nickel alloy, as shown on a polished surface, is inti- 

 mately associated with the troilite. Its specific gravity is 7.70. 

 It has the following composition: — 



Iron 88.08 



Nickel 11.04 



Cobalt 56 



Sulphur 10 



Phosphorus .11 



Silicone?) 05 



Copper a trace 



A specimen of troilite from the 54.96 pound meteorite of this 

 group was also examined in our laboratory. It could not be 

 picked clean from iron and olivine. After excluding silica and 

 magnesia of the olivine, the composition corresponded quite closely 

 with the analyses of troilite as reported in Dana's "Mineralogy." 



This specimen is remarkable on account of the size of the de- 

 pressions on its surface, and the fact that these depressions con- 

 tain such pure crystals and masses of both olivine and chromite. 

 In the interior the olivine occurs in rounded grains, fiHing the 

 cavities of the iron. E. H. S. Bailey. 



Lawrence, Kan., Aug. 15. 



The Unit Measure of Time. 



On the question of a name for the time-unit, referred to in an 

 article by Dr. Sandford Fleming of Ottawa, in Science of Sept. 26, 

 I see nothing better for what he wants named than " mean solar 

 day." No suitable word of classical derivation occurs to me after 

 thinking of the matter; and I find " mean solar day" as little 

 objectionable as "tropical" or "sidereal," etc., "year." The 

 best time-unit would probably be a pendulum-oscillation (of a 

 given length) vibrating in vacuo at the pole of the earth. 



C: M.ACDONALD. 



Dalhousie College, Halifax, N.S., Oct. 1. 



