June 1, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



869 



terranean the chances are that they would be 

 swept away * * *, and hence they are retained 

 (italics ours) until nearly ready for attachment 

 to the rocks." This seems to be a direct trans- 

 position of cause and effect and credits the 

 lowly sponge with an amount of reasoning 

 power and a degree of intelligence that few 

 have suspected it to possess. Why would it not 

 have been quite as accurate and decidedly less 

 confusing to have said that, while we do not 

 know, it seems probable that in the first case we 

 have the normal condition of affairs, while in 

 the second there has been an elimination of 

 those sponges whose young were turned loose 

 into a cold world at top tender an age ? 



These are merely one or two examples, the 

 first that came to hand, of a very prevalent 

 style of writing, but they serve as typical ex- 

 amples of a familiar class. Such statements as 

 these are made with a view of popularizing 

 science by making, it pleasant reading, but it 

 may be questioned if this mode of writing does 

 not merely fail of producing its intended effect, 

 but creates an entirely erroneous impression in 

 the minds of the non-scientific reader for whom 

 it is meant. Does it not teach that evolution 

 is not a passive but an active process, and 

 subtly lead him to think that not only the 

 higher, but the lower animals, even the plants, 

 pass many anxious moments considering what 

 they may do for the benefit of posterity ? Sooner 

 than leave such an impression as this it would 

 seem best to cease ' humanizing the birds.' 



F. A. Lucas. 



N02E8 ON INORGANIC CSE3IISTBY. 

 In the last number of Nature, W. A. Shen- 

 stone and H. C. Lacell, of Clifton College, con- 

 tribute an interesting paper on working silica 

 in the oxy-gas blow-pipe flame. While Gaudin 

 had observed the elasticity of fine threads of 

 vitreous silica as early as 1839, it was not till 

 Professor C. V. Boys rediscovered the valuable 

 qualities of ' quartz threads ' in 1887 that the 

 working of silica in the blow-pipe flame became 

 practical. The authors have done much work 

 with silica which is described in the paper. 

 They find it possible to make thermometer 

 tubes of silica and express the view that the 

 only limit in its application is the matter of ex- 



pense. They note in conclusion certain prop- 

 erties : It is harder than feldspar, but less hard 

 than chalcedony, and its surface appears equally 

 hard, whether cooled rapidly or slowly ; the 

 cold vitreous silica can be plunged safely into 

 the hottest part of the oxy-gas flame, and thick 

 rods and tubes of silica can be heated till plastic 

 and then plunged into cool water without in- 

 jury ; vitreous silica is a very poor conductor of 

 heat and hence it is possible to hold a thick rod 

 of silica very close to a strongly ignited zone. 

 Great developments in chemical and physical 

 laboratories may be expected when it becomes 

 possible to use apparatus of silica, which, in 

 addition to possessing an extreme resistance, 

 will endure the greatest and most rapid varia- 

 tions of temperature. 



In a paper read before the Royal Society of 

 Dublin, by James Holmes Pollok, a new de- 

 posit of kieselguhr is described as occurring in 

 County Antrim, along both banks of the Lower 

 Bann from Toome Bridge, where the river 

 emerges from Lough Neagh, down to Cole- 

 raine at its mouth. The deposit rests on peat 

 and is only covered by vegetation. In places 

 it is four feet in thickness. After drying in the 

 sun, the material is pure white, porous and 

 very light, the specific gravity of the mass being 

 only 0.5422. The deposit is probably now be- 

 ing augmented when the river overflows its 

 banks, and is largely composed of cubical dia- 

 toms from Lough Neagh. 



A PAPER in the Zeitschrift fur anorganische 

 Chemie, by W. Hempel and v. Haasy, on amor- 

 phous silicon brings out several new facts in an 

 old subject. By the action of sodium on the 

 fluorid of silicon and subsequent fusion of the 

 powdered mass with aluminum, a very active 

 form of amorphous silicon is obtained on dis- 

 solving out the aluminum. This silicon burns 

 very readily when heated gently in the air. 

 Heated in chlorin it gives easily silicon chlorid. 

 By direct union with sulfur, silicon disulfid is 

 formed, which is purified by sublimation, form- 

 ing long white needles, similar to the product 

 described by Sabatier as being formed by heat- 

 ing silicon in a current of hydrogen sulfid. On 

 fusion with sodium sulfid, sodium metathio- 

 silicate NajSiSs, is formed corresponding to so- 



