42 



SCIENCE. 



SCIENCE: 



A Weekly Record of Scientific 

 Progress. 



JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 



Published at 



229 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 



P. O. Box 8838. 



SATURDAY, JULY 24, 1880. 



To Correspondents. 



All communications should be addressed to the Editor — Box 3838, P. 

 0.. New York— with name and address of writer, not necessarily for pub- 

 lication without consent. 



Scientific papers and correspondence intended for publication, should be 

 written legibly on one side only of the paper. Articles thus received will 

 be returned when found unsuitable for the Journal. 



Those engaged in Scientific Research are invited to make this Journal 

 the medium of recording their work, and facilities will be extended to 

 those desirous of publishing original communications possessing merit. 



Proceedings of Scientific Societies will be recorded, but the abstracts 

 furnished must be signed by the Secretaries. 



Both questions and answers in " Notes and Queries " should be made 

 as brief as possible ; an answer appearing to demand an elaborate reply, 

 may be written in the form of an article. 



To Subscribers. 



Terms of subscription for Science will be $4 a year, payable in advance. 

 Six months, $2.50. Single copies 10 cents. 



Subscriptions forwarded by mail should be addressed to the Editor, 

 Box 3838, P. O., New York, and Post-office orders made payable to 

 " John Miche's." 



To Advertisers. 



Terms lor advertising may be obtained at the office of Journal, 229 

 Broadway. 



AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCE- 

 MENT OF SCIENCE. 



We direct the attention of our readers to the ap- 

 proaching meeting of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, which will be held this year 

 at Boston, commencing at 10 o'clock on Wednesday 

 morning, the 25th of August. 



As it is generally believed that the Boston meeting 

 will be the largest and most important hitherto held, 

 we .are completing arrangements with the Executive, 

 by which abstracts of all papers read may be printed in 

 "Science" contemporaneously with the meeting of the 

 Association, together with a full report of the proceed- 

 ings; we have reason to believe that such a course 

 will be welcome to the members of the Association, 

 and useful in many respects, In a later number we 

 propose to give fuller particulars in regard to this 



matter, and in the meantime would be glad to hear 

 from those who will read papers at this meeting, par- 

 ticularly where illustrations are necessary, as by a little 

 I co-operation greater justice to the publication of such 

 papers may be attained. 



We may state for the convenience of non-members 

 desirous of being admitted as members, that by paying 

 the fees in advance (eight dollars), before the meeting, 

 member's tickets will be sent, which will secure to new 

 members and nominees the same privileges possessed 

 by old members. 



The attention of entomologists is directed to the an- 

 nual meeting of the Entomological Club of the Asso- 

 ciation, which will be held at the rooms of the Boston 

 Society of Natural History, on Tuesday, August 24th, 

 at which all interested in entomology are invited to be 

 present. 



We notice by the prospectus that the suggestion 

 made at Saratoga to form a sub-section devoted to 

 Physiology and Anatomy will be carried out at Boston, 

 and it is also probable that new sub-sections in Geology 

 and Physical Geography will be formed. 



We trust that all interested in science who can at- 

 tend this meeting of the Association will not fail to be 

 present, and that many new members will enroll them- 

 selves and take part in the proceedings. 



Independent of the interest attached to the meeting 

 of the Association several excursions have been plan- 

 ned, which will add greatly to the pleasure of those 

 present, and cannot fail to make the trip to Boston one 

 which will be long after recalled by many agreeable 

 remembrances. 



A new sulphate of alumina (sesquibasie sulphate of 

 alumina) has been prepared by M. Marguerite. One 

 method is by decomposition of alum of ammonia through 

 heat. When the alum is heated to a red heat carefully, 

 there remains after the operation anhydrous sulphate of 

 alumina ; if the calcination have been pushed further, there 

 is partial decomposition. The matter held by the water 

 gives a liquor which, concentrated, deposits crystals of the 

 sesquibasate. Ordinary sulphate of alumina, dried and col- 

 ored gently, gives the same reaction, and the new sulphaie 

 can also be got by the wet process. (See Comptcs Rendus). 



A curious geological effect has recently occurred in Sicily. 

 On the morning of the 20th May the half of an old chateau 

 at the seaside, between Catania and Acireale, fell in conse- 

 quence of alteration of an enormous volcanic rock which 

 had supported it. This rock was about 50m. high and 80m. 

 in circumference ; its form nearly cylindrical. It was 

 placed on an older layer of lava, which forms a promontory. 

 The rock is in such a state of disseggregation, that pieces 

 can easily be detached with the hand. The effect seems 

 due to supcroxidation of the iron, which it contains in 

 abundance, and to the action of carbonic acid on the cal- 

 careous matter in it. The chateau in question is a very old 

 one, but its walls were entire, and one might visit it in all 

 its parts. Half an hour before the fall, a family of tourists 

 had taken up residence in it, with a view to visiting the 

 Cyclops islands, which rise a short way off. 



