NOTES. 191 
Mr. W. H. Seaman of Washington sends us the following note : 
‘I send you by mail a small tin box containing minerals, which 
are specimens of an incrustation, forming on parts of the northern 
face of the Washington monument in this city. It is about two 
hundred feet high, unfinished, and the top protected by an im- 
perfect shed of boards. The walls are gneiss faced with marble, 
and this curious stalagmite, for such it really is, appears to be 
formed’ by the water percolating from the top of the wall through 
the joints, and dissolving a part of the mortar which is deposited 
upon its outer surface. The deposits always commence at a joint 
and widen as they descend like the letter A, covering. sometimes 
several square feet, usually firmly attached to the marble. The 
edifice has been built about twenty years. Mr. Clark, architect of 
the Capitol, states that a similar incrustation forms on the inside 
of the arches, under the capitol steps, but it is scraped otf every 
year.” It is certainly interesting as an example of natura! de- 
posit under artificial conditions. t 
We are glad to inform our readers that the tax on alcohol, so 
grievous to museums, is to be removed when used for scientific 
purposes. According to the Boston “Journal” Prof. Agassiz’s 
bill, as it is called, to remit the excise duties on alcohol used for 
Scientific purposes, which was passed by the House on the 23d, 
was passed February 12th by the Senate, and will soon become a 
law. The bill provides that the alcohol can be withdrawn from 
bond by the Presidents or Curators of scientific institutions or 
Colleges, for the sole and exclusive purpose of preserving speci- 
mens of anatomy, physiology or of natural history, or for use in 
any chemical laboratory of such institutions; and if any alcohol 
thus obtained shall be used for any other purposes than those 
Specified, then the officers of the institution or their sureties shall 
Pay the tax on the whole amount withdrawn from bond, together 
with a like amount as a penalty in addition thereto. 
We regret to announce the death of Prof. F. B. Maury, the 
author of the “ Physical Geography of the Sea” and of *‘ Sailing 
Directions” for seamen. 
THe Government has appropriated $75,000 for the continuance 
next year of Prof. Hayden’s geological survey of the public lands, 
and $10,000 for the completion of the reports of Mr. Powell’s 
expedition. : 
