386 



KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



plosions, though gas is met with in the workings. The experiments, which were 

 witnessed by the officials of this and other collieries, took place in the Parkg'ate 

 seam. A hole about three inches in diameter and four feet deep was drilled 

 through the solid coal, and cleaned out. A perforated iron tube was then in- 

 serted, and the lime cartridge, three inches long, put in When the lime had 

 been rammed home and the hole made up a force-pump was used to inject water 

 into the bottom of the tube around the cartridge. Simultaneously with the in- 

 jection of the water the rending process began, and in thirty minutes about ten 

 tons of coal came down almost in an unbroken mass, one piece being nine feet 

 long. Of the whole of the fall, not more than 6 per cent of the coal was " small/' 

 a much smaller percentage than under the old system. A second trial was 

 made in another part of the pit, and the result was exceedingly satisfactory to the 

 colliery officials. It is anticipated that compressed lime will eventually supersede 

 the use of blasting powder, and thus revolutionize the system of winning coal. — 

 Oldham Chronicle. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



The large amount of space given to the 

 Proceedings of the American Association at 

 Montreal in this number of the Review, will 

 be found well appropriated by every person 

 who takes the pains to read the account 

 given. It is only intended as a popular re- 

 port and contains much of a personal charac- 

 ter that will not appear elsewhere. Our ex- 

 periences were exceedingly pleasant, from the 

 rushing, rapid trip over the Wabash, the Great 

 Western of Canada and the Rome, Water- 

 town & Ogdensburg R. R. to the quiet but 

 charming sail down the St. Lawrence. We 

 made the three thousand mile trip, including 

 the excursions, without an unpleasant ad- 

 venture, and returned home with nothing 

 but the most agreeable recollections of the 

 whole affair. The only regret felt is that we 

 could not have spared two whole weeks for it 

 ii. stead of crowding so much into eleven 

 days. 



One of the most interesting and valuable 

 exhibits at the Montreal meeting was that by 

 Prof. Bassett, of Crawfordsville, Indiana. It 

 c nsisted of several slabs of limestone cover- 



ed with crinoids of the most perfect and 

 beautiful forms. These slabs varied in size 

 from two to six square feet and the crinoids, 

 worked out with the utmost care and delica- 

 cy by the Professor's own hand, and n. 

 ing from a few inches to several fe«. 

 length, lay in great profusion and in all de- 

 grees of entanglement all over them. "Pro- 

 fessor Bassett has purchased the quarry c .1- 

 taining them, said to be almost the only one 

 known in the country and will give his atten. 

 tion to taking them out for the supplying of 

 museums and private collections. He has 

 made some very interesting discoveries con- 

 cerning the habits of these curious animals 

 which he proposes to communicate to the 

 public soon, through the columns of the Re- 

 view. 



Professor Young, of Princeton College, 

 will use the new telescope, for the present, 

 mainly in stellar spectroscopy, a department 

 of research which promises interesting re- 

 sults and requires powerful telescopes. The 

 Princeton telescope ranks second in the Un- 

 ited States and fourth in the world. 



