480 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. IV., No. 94. 



tigation and experience in this important sub- 

 ject in permanent and accessible form has 

 been assumed by one so competent as the late 

 chemist of the department of agriculture, un- 

 der whose direction or at whose instigation so 

 much of the work has been done. Dr. Col- 

 lier's scientific standing, and his thorough 

 knowledge of the sorghum question, will hardly 

 be doubted ; and, if at times he betrays the 

 sanguine temper of the enthusiast, the failing 

 is one which leans to virtue's side. 



In the book before us we have a very full 

 account of the history of sorghum ; a descrip- 

 tion of its leading varieties, including a table 

 for their identification ; and the result of the 

 experience thus far had, relative to the man- 

 agement of the crop and its profitable manu- 

 facture. The preparation and manuring of the 

 ground ; the selection of suitable varieties ; 

 the best methods of planting, cultivating, and 

 harvesting ; the effects of climatic conditions ; 

 the development of sugar in the plant as related 

 to the proper time for cutting the cane ; the 

 operations of milling, defecating, evaporation 

 of the juice, and separation of the sugar ; and 

 the utilization of the waste products, — all 

 receive a due share of attention ; and the whole 

 constitutes an excellent handbook for the in- 

 telligent sugar-maker. 



The book, however, is more than a sugar- 

 maker's handbook. One of the most commend- 

 able features of the work is the fulness with 

 which the evidence upon each point in turn is 

 laid before the reader, thus enabling him to 

 judge for himself of the value of the conclu- 

 sions reached. This feature of the volume 

 cannot fail to make it of great value to all who 

 are engaged in investigations in this direction ; 

 for, not only are the results thus far obtained 

 given with much fulness, but the author is as 

 careful to exhibit our ignorance as our knowl- 

 edge, and does not fail to point out the direc- 

 tions in which further investigations are needful. 



That the latter are numerous need hardly 

 be said. In spite of the great amount of work 

 which this book records, or refers to, much 

 yet remains to be done to render this industry 

 an assured success. Indeed, to us the need 

 of more knowledge is really the most striking 

 conclusion to be drawn from a stud} T of what 

 is already known. Particularly is this the 

 case with regard to the economies of sugar- 

 making, where a wide field is open to inves- 

 tigation. If Dr. Collier's volume shall prove 

 an incitement and aid to the acquisition of 

 more light upon these and other points, as well 

 as be of use to the practical sugar-maker, he 

 may account it as in the best sense a success. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The library of the late Professor Henry has 

 been purchased from his heirs by Dr. A. Graham 

 Bell. It contains about two thousand volumes, at 

 least one-third of which treat of electrical science, 

 and many of these bear marginal notes in the hand- 

 writing of Professor Henry. One of the terms of 

 the sale was that the library should be kept intact. 



— The Norwegian bark Loveid, recently arrived in 

 Philadelphia, reports a very peculiar squall experi- 

 enced Oct. 18, in latitude 39° 49' north, longitude 

 69° 5' west. During fine, clear weather, with a 

 light breeze from the north-west, heavy banks of 

 clouds of most threatening aspect suddenly appeared, 

 driving in every direction. Almost immediately a 

 heavy squall of wind and rain struck the vessel, the 

 wind shifting quickly all around the compass. In 

 the midst of this disturbance, which lasted about an 

 hour, a single peal of thunder was heard, and simul- 

 taneously a bolt of lightning struck the fore royal 

 mast-head, and ran down the mast to the royal yard, 

 which was almost destroyed. The lightning, which 

 looked like a ball of fire, then ran out on the horn 

 of the cross-trees, and 'burst' with a loud report, 

 scattering sparks all over the vessel. The barometer 

 fell suddenly from 30 to 28.60, and then rose as 

 rapidly, the weather becoming pleasant immediately 

 afterwards. This is a rather peculiar squall, con- 

 sidering the locality and the season. 



— The monthly weather-review of the signal-ser- 

 vice, prepared, as announced for the first time in 

 the August number, by Second Lieut. W. A. Glass- 

 ford, has come to be a quarto of twenty-eight pages, 

 with five charts. This is a good growth from the 

 four small pages and three charts of the first issue, 

 eleven years ago. Then, the headings were storms, 

 anti-cyclonic areas, temperature, precipitation, pecul- 

 iar phenomena and facts, rivers, and cautionary sig- 

 nals: now, all these subjects are treated in much 

 greater detail; and among the many additional topics 

 there maybe mentioned atmospheric pressure and its 

 range (illustrated by a new style of chart), Atlantic 

 storms and ice, range of temperature, frosts (illus- 

 trated by a chart for Aug. 9 and 25), winds, local 

 storms, tornadoes and thunder-storms, sunsets, 

 drought, two and a half pages on the earthquake of 

 Aug. 10, meteors, and notes of state weather-services 

 for Alabama, Nebraska, Tennessee, Missouri, Lou- 

 isiana, Ohio, and Georgia. The storm-tracks for the 

 month are remarkably regular, and, with insignificant 

 exceptions, all lie north of the Great Lakes and St. 

 Lawrence : no tropical cyclones were felt along the 

 seacoast. Nine tornadoes are reported, and many 

 violent thunder-storms. Some of the results of the 

 special studies of the latter, undertaken by Mr. H. A. 

 Hazen during the past season, take form in a brief 

 summary, from which it appears that the mean dis- 

 tance and direction of the nine hundred thunder- 

 storms recorded in August, from the centre of the 

 broad cyclonic storms in which they occurred, was five 

 hundred and fifteen miles, a little west of south. A 

 full account of these studies will be of much value 



