MiseeUaneovs InteUig&ru lf>5 



(5.) By direct appeals to the people through the public press, 

 ami by circulating so far as means allow, books and documents 

 informing the public of the defects of the common system of 

 weights and measures, the means most proper for its amendment, 

 and the great advantages whioh the acceptance of a universal 

 system would insure to all mankind. 



2. Royal Society of X. S. Wales, vol. xxii, Part 2. 188R.— 

 This number of the Journal and Proceedings contains an import- 

 ant illustrated paper by J. K. Tennison Woods on the anatomy 

 and life-history ot'Mollnsoa peculiar to Australia; a paper on the 

 desert-sandstone of Australia, making it largely of volcanic 

 origin, by the same ; a catalogue with comparative observations 

 of the older Tertiary fossils of Australia, by Prof. R. Tate ; notes 

 on N. S. W. minerals, by A. Liversidge ; and other papers. 



8. Reports of Examinations of Waters and Water Supply and 



related subjects during the years 1886-89, by E. W. Hilgard. — 



The following note on the change of saline condition attending 



'ration, in some California lakes is taken from this valuable 



report. 



The three lakes of the Upper San Joaquin Valley — Kern, 

 Buena Vista and Tulare — were once connected, and the alkali 

 contained in their waters is manifestly of the same origin. 

 Evaporation has for years past gradually concentrated their 

 waters, for want of the natural influx (Kern River) now diverted 

 by irrigation ditches. But analysis showed that apart from con- 

 centration, a change in the ratio between the soluble salts has 

 been going on as evaporation progressed. The cause of this 

 change was not obvious. 



The table below giving the results of the analyses made in 1880 

 and one lately made of the water of Tulare Lake, which has like- 

 wise been seriously diminished by evaporation so as to more than 

 double its solid contents, shows a difference has occurred corre- 

 sponding to that which in 1880 existed between Kern and Tulare 

 Lakes. That is, the relative proportions between sodic carbonate 

 on one hand and common and Glauber's salts on the other, have 

 changed, and are tending toward the same ratio that then existed 

 in Kern Lake, evidently as the result of concentration. There 

 has been a relative diminution of the sodic carbonate ; in con- 

 formity with the rule shown in our experiments, above reported, 

 that as the amount of neutral alkali salts is increased, a relatively 

 smaller amount of carbonate is formed under the influence of 

 CaC0 3 and CO.. The calcic carbonate required for the reaction 

 is abundantly present both in the waters and in the deposits of 

 the lake. The following table shows the increase of alkali carbo- 

 nates by concentration. 



Carbonate of Common and 

 Locality. Total Residue. Soda. Glauber's Salt. 



1880, Tulare Lake, near mouth of Kings River, 38*55 1 I'll 



1880, Tulare Lake, middle 81-83 1 129 



1880, Tulare Lake, southend 81-49 1 135 



1888, Tulare Lake, middle 204 00 1 1-5*8 



1889, Tulare Lake, north end 30307 1 104 



1880, Kern Lake 211-50 1 1-78 



