716 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XL No. 279. 



plums exhibited by the Iowa and Minnesota 

 stations illustrate varietal differences ; and an 

 exhibit of saltbush from the California Station 

 shows species of Atriplex, which have proved of 

 value on strongly alkaline soils. Electrical de- 

 vices for determining the salt content, tem- 

 perature and moisture content, and a series of 

 samples illustrating the typical agricultural soils 

 of the United States, represent the soil work of 

 the Division of Soils of the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture. The California Station sent six 

 typical soils of that State, and specimens show- 

 ing the results of mechanical analyses of each 

 type of soil, and Hilgard's soil elutriator for 

 mechanical analysis. 



The California Station furnished an olive ex- 

 hibit, consisting of fifty samples of olive oils 

 and more than two hundred samples of olive 

 pits used in the classification of varieties of 

 olives ; and the Alabama Station, a collec- 

 tion of mounted specimens of cotton, showing 

 seventy-two selected and crossbred varieties. 



Several pieces of original apparatus for in- 

 vestigations in vegetable physiology are shown, 

 including an auxanometer for experimental 

 work on the rate of plant growth ; an apparatus 

 for determining the rate of transportation of 

 plants, from the West Virginia Station ; and a 

 centrifuge, used to study the effect of gravity 

 and centrifugal force upon germinating seeds, 

 from the Indiana Station. 



Samples of animal and vegetable fats, a col- 

 lection of chemically pure proteids separated 

 from the seeds of various plants, a collection of 

 one hundred weed seeds, an insect cabinet, a 

 gas desiccator for drying hydrogen gas used in 

 moisture determination, models of round and 

 stave silos, an apparatus for the rapid cooling 

 of wines, a pressure apparatus for experiments 

 with solution under very high pressure, a model 

 of the Atwater-Rosa respiration calorimeter and 

 a full-sized bomb calorimeter are included in 

 the exhibit. 



The dairy exhibit is larger than that in any 

 other line. It includes a series of cheese mod- 

 els from the New York State Station, show- 

 ing the effect of the fat content of the milk on 

 the size of cheese produced ; a collection of 

 forty-eight cultures of dairy bacteria, from the 

 Connecticut Storrs Station ; the original Bab- 



cock milk tester, two more modern forms of 

 the apparatus for hand and power operation, 

 together with a complete collection of the vari- 

 ous forms of apparatus used in the Babcock 

 test. The Scovell milk-sampling tube, Wiscon- 

 sin curd test, Marshall rennet test, acid bottles 

 and other minor apparatus are also included. 



The irrigation exhibit of apparatus and mod- 

 els contains a hydrophore to determine the 

 amount of silt carried by water ; a nilometer 

 used to measure the amount of water passing 

 through streams, flumes and ditches ; a current 

 meter, water register, etc. 



A small exhibit from the Hawaiian Experi- 

 ment Station consists of samples of rocks, lavas, 

 lava products, soils, varieties of sugar cane and 

 samples of agricultural products, such as coffee, 

 rice and sugar. 



There is a large number of charts and en- 

 larged pictures showing the results of experi- 

 ment station work on a wide range of subjects, 

 a complete set of bound bulletins and reports 

 numbering several hundred volumes, and many 

 miscellaneous publications of the stations, to- 

 gether with over one hundred books on ag- 

 ricultural subjects written by station ofii- 

 cers. 



The arrangement and shipment of the exhibit 

 was in charge of Dr. W. H. Evans, of the 

 Office of Experiment Stations, who also super- 

 vervised the preparation of the charts and 

 photographs exhibit. 



Especial interest attaches to this exhibit from 

 the fact that it shows the great progress made 

 by our stations since the Paris Exposition of 

 1889, when the stations made only a small 

 showing, as they were just beginning active 

 operations under the Hatch Act. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



De. a. A. MiCHELSON, professor of physics 

 at the University of Chicago, has been elected 

 a corresponding member of the Paris Academy 

 of Sciences. 



Dr. 0. Habt Mereiam has been elected a 

 foreign member and Mr. Samuel Scudder a cor- 

 responding member of the Zoological Society of 

 London. 



The philosophical faculty of the University 



