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KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



and accepted the chair of Geology and Min- 

 eralogy at the University of Missouri. He 

 also has charge of the branches of Palseontcl- 

 ogy and Zoology. 



The railroad companies interested in pro- 

 tecting the north bank of the Missouri River 

 above and opposite this city are taking ad- 

 vantage of the unusually favorable fall weath- 

 er and low water to riprap it along their lines. 

 The Government engineers, into whose hands 

 the application of the extremely liberal Con- 

 gressional appropriation for this purpose has 

 been placed, have commenced a preliminary 

 inspection of the task before them and it is 

 hoped that a good use will be made of the 

 money before the high water of next spring 

 shall again undo their work and possibly cut 

 a channel across the isthmus back of Harlem 

 and leave an island in front of Kansas City. 

 Prompt and efficient work, such as is amply 

 provided for in the appropriation, can pre- 

 vent this, but it is highly probable that 

 nothing else can. It is a seiious matter with, 

 this city and if anything can be done to ex- 

 pedite action by the Government officials it 

 should be attended to at once. 



Mr, W. H. Cory, of Philadelphia, has 

 patented a process for the utilization of coal 

 dust and slack by converting it into artificial 

 fuel. This has been attempted many times 

 but has ordinarily failed from the fact that 

 the cost of the process exceeded the value of 

 the manufactured article. Mr. Cory, how- 

 ever, claims, since his process is a cold one, 

 that there is an enormous saving of labor, 

 material and expense as compared wiih the 

 pitch processes, in which the coal and pitch 

 have to be heated. He also claims an ad- 

 vantage on account of the facility of hi; pro- 

 duct for stowage, its cleanliness, hardness 

 and portability ; also as the only process 

 known that will effectually hold together 

 culm, lignite and the non-coking coals dur- 

 ing combustion. Aji efficient and economi- 

 cal process for this purpose is a great desid- 

 eratum to all class of consumers and a suita- 

 ble machine would undoubtedly meet with 

 an extensive sale in the west. 



It seems that in our abstract of Prof. H. 

 C. Bolton's paper read at Montreal we mis- 

 apprehended the scope of his proposed Index 

 of Chemical Literature. He only invites the 

 co-operation of chemists in compiling special 

 indexes of the literature of the various chem- 

 ical elements o" some uniform plan, similar 

 to those on manganese and ozone, already 

 published. At a meeting of the Chemical 

 Section of the A. A. A. S., held August 25th, 

 a Committee was appointed " to devise and 

 inaugurate a plan for the proper indexing of 

 the literature of the chemical elements, to 

 have full power to secure the co-operation of 

 volunteets, and to report at the meeting of 

 the Chemical Section in 1883." The Com- 

 mittee consisted of Dr. H. C. Bolton, Hart- 

 ford, Chaifman, Prof. Ira Remsen, Baltimore, 

 Prof. F. W. Clarke, Cincinnati, Prof. A. R, 

 Leeds, Hoboken, Dr. A. A. Julien, New 

 York. 



Mr. F. W. Voerde, formerly of this city, 

 is now here putting Singer's Elevator Safety 

 Stops upon the elevators of some of the best 

 mercantile houses in the city. The device is 

 extremely simple and effective, and, in view 

 of the numerous elevator accidents that have 

 occurred here lately, it would seem adviss- 

 ble for every person interested in this direc- 

 tion to investigate it carefully at once. 



Work is actively going forward at the 

 new National Museum, and a large force of 

 men is very busy in arranging the natural 

 history collections, removed from the lower 

 floor of the Smithsonian Institution and in 

 opening boxes of collections which have 

 been kept in store, some of them for years, 

 simply because there was no space for exhib- 

 ing them in the old building. 



Prof. H. S. r-RircHEXT, of Washington 

 University, says in a recent letter, inclosing 

 a remittance, "I feel a great interest in the 

 success of the Review and recognize very 

 fully the service you are doing for science itt 

 the western country, and appreciate to some 

 extent, at least, the difficulties of the posi- 

 tion." 



