EDITORIAL NOTES. 



585 



In the lower portion of the State of Dela- 

 ware is a swamp from which for many years 

 past cypress logs have been taken out by 

 shingle-makers at a depth of some fifteen feet 

 below the present surface, which is covered 

 with a thrifty forest of a later day. 



Dr. J. F. Snyder, of Virginia, 111., in an 

 article upon the Burial and Resurrection of 

 the great Indian Chief, Black Hawk, in the 

 St. Louis Republican, closes by saying : "The 

 conviction is daily gaining strength that the 

 race of Indians found in occupancy of this 

 country when it was discovered by the Euro- 

 peans were the people, or the immediate de- 

 scendants of the people, who built the 

 mounds, and students of American archaeol- 

 ogy now agree that mound-building was prac- 

 ticed by some of the tribes down to a com- 

 paratively recent date." We doubt whether 

 Professor Putnam or any other first-class au- 

 thority will endorse this statement M'ithout 

 considerable qualification. 



It is announced that a French engineer, 

 M. Selibot, has discovered a method of using 

 sulphuric acid in the reduction of ores of the 

 precious metals, and, what is very essential to 

 its practicability, a mode of recovering the 

 acid after its evaporation. The process is to 

 be tried in Denver in a practical form shortly. 



In addition to coast line warnings the Sig- 

 nal Service Office has devised a system of 

 railroad notifications, to be employed by lines 

 traversing districts subject to "Northers," 

 in warning other roads of the approach of 

 such storms. Much good may be accom- 

 plished in this way, as road managers thus 

 notified will have time to prepare for the 

 snow-storms which at present so completely 

 paralyze their operations. We presume that 

 Gen'l Hazen's experiences on the great plains 

 of the West have suggested this plan to him. 



Professor F. J. Baker, of the M. E. Col- 

 lege, Baldwin City, Kansas, sends his holi- 

 day greetings in the shape of a renewal of 

 his subscription to " your most excellent and 

 to me most interesting Review." 



The city of Aurora, 111., forty miles west 

 of Chicago, is lighted by the electric tower 

 plan. The system consists of six electrical 

 towers, made of iron rods and net work, each 

 one hundred and fifty feet high. They are 

 crowned with electric lamps of two thousand- 

 candle power each, or equal to one hundred 

 and twenty-five gas jets. The cost complete 

 for each tower and apparatus is about $i,ooo. 



Mr. F. Siemens proposes to adapt tough- 

 ened glass to the manufacture of street lamp- 

 posts, water-mains, and other articles usually 

 made of cast-iron. His claim for glass is that 

 it is stronger than iron, it is imperishable and 

 incorrodible. The profit to the maker will 

 be twice that of cast-iron, but the specific 

 gravity of glass is so much less than that of 

 cast-iron that the consumer will be able to 

 obtain articles at about thirty per cent cheap- 

 er than cast-iron. 



The Committee on Instruction and Lec- 

 tures, of the Academy of Natural Sciences of 

 Philadelphia, announces that the course of 

 instruction in Natural History, inaugurated 

 last Spring, will be resumed during the com- 

 ing Winter, commencing in the first week 

 of January, 1882. The plan of instruction 

 will be similar to that pursued in the first 

 course, and will consist of Lectures and 

 Practical Demonstrations in the Laboratory. 

 Twenty-five to thirty lectures, upon ''Physiog- 

 raphy and Invertebrate Paleontology," will 

 be delivered by Professor Angelo Heilprin. 

 The course of instruction in Mineralogy will 

 consist of about twenty-five lectures, to be 

 delivered by Professor Henry Carvill Lewis. 

 Admission to either of the courses may be 

 obtained by application to the Recording 

 Secretary, Dr. Edw. J. Nolan, Hall of the 

 Academy, 19th and Race Sts. Terms, ^8.00 

 for each course. 



Dr. Edwin Ground, of Linton, Indiana, 

 writes thus encouragingly of the Review : 

 "It is arranged in a convenient, practical 

 and concise manner, and is a journal, not for 

 the professional scientist alone, but for the in- 

 telligent of every class ; being adapted to 

 the widest range of readers of any Science 

 Journal with which I am acquainted." 



