i68 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



required was actually the lowest. An interesting fact brought out is 

 that two pumps at the University of Arizona, operated under practically 

 the same conditions of duty, were very close in performance and costs, 

 one being of reciprocating type, run by steam from wood fuel, the other 

 a centrifugal pump, run by electricity. The cost of the electricity is 

 given at 5 cents per kilowatt-hour, this apparently being the price paid 

 for current to the local electric company. This is not the place to dis- 

 cuss the engineering features, nor does Professor Woodward regard the 

 small number of tests as more than illustrative of a few general princi- 

 ples. But the work is important, and it is to be regretted that the 

 removal of Mr. Woodward to take the professorship of Steam Engineering 

 in the University of Iowa is about to deprive Arizona of his valuable 

 services. 



Dr. Calm, well known in Los Angeles, has done good service by his 

 thorough investigations concerning the effects of "Sulphurous Acid and 

 Sulphites as Food Preservatives. ' ' His paper cited gives details of 

 his researches, from which his own conclusions follow logically. He 

 decides that these preservatives are harmless, not only because not dele- 

 terious in themselves, but because they cannot preserve any but untainted 

 substances; and, if used in excess, the results are such as to give due 

 warning to consumers. 



The recent Bulletins of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the 

 University of California evince careful work. The lines of investiga- 

 tion are jnainly in directions which need long continued study and com- 

 parison. The future importance of the olive oil and wine industries 

 depend upon the solution of just such problems as are now under examin- 

 ation. The laws and methods of fermentation and the effects of tem- 

 perature and composition are too little understood. New information 

 upon these subjects is continually being brought out by the station 

 workers. Although the immediate practical results are often made 

 the measure of their worth, and here they rarely fail to pay their way, 

 the ultimate gain to pure science is far beyond what many realize. 



The Mining Magazine for December is rich in concise, complete, well 

 digested reviews of current progress in mining and metallurgy. The 

 iMning Digest and Mining Index are thorough and well arranged for 

 convenient reference. Among the many periodicals regularly reviewed 

 we find our own Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences. 



The deepest well-boring in the United States for oil or gas, ac- 

 cording to the Engineering and Mining Journal, is on the Bedell farm. 

 West Elizabeth, Pa., twelve miles southwest of Butler. It has a 

 depth of 5,575 feet, and was completed in 1898. The diameters of 

 casing, from top downward, are: First 40 ft., 10 in.; next 320 ft., 8.25 in.; 

 next 1,000 ft., 6.25 in., the remaining distance (below 1,360 ft.) be- 

 ing an uncased boring of 6.25 in. diameter. The temperatures, as 

 taken by Professor Hallock, of Columbia University, were: At 525 ft., 

 57 deg. F.; at 2,252 ft., 64 deg. F.; at 2,397 ft., 78 deg. F.; at 5,010 ft., 

 120 deg. F.; at 5,380 ft., 127 deg. F. 



The boring was stopped by accidental loss of string of tools, closing 

 up the last 1,000 feet of the hole,\» 



