314 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VI., No. 140. 



— At a recent meeting of the Deutsche gesell- 

 schaft fiir natur und volkerkunde Ostasiens, Dr. 

 H. Fesca gave a paper on the agricultural circum- 

 stances of Japan in general, and of the province of 

 Kai in particular. In the opinion of the author, 

 wages in Japan are not less than in western 

 Europe, especially in Germany. To this Dr. Wag- 

 ener agreed, and added that apparent exceptions 

 could always be traced back to purely local condi- 

 tions. For instance, in many places porcelain 

 was manufactured very cheaply, because the clay 

 was prepared by the peasants quite incidentally ; on 

 their way to the field they took a basketful of clay 

 from a pit in the neighborhood, dehvered the raw 

 material to a pounder driven by water found on 

 the way, and on their return carried for little pay 

 the ready pounded clay to a manufacturer. In the 

 same way, Mr. Netto said, in many places gold 

 is washed, where a regular trade would by no 

 means pay ; on rainy days, or when for any reason 

 field work is interrujDted, the people go to washing 

 gold, since other work is not at hand. 



— Concerning the little filaments of ice that ap- 

 pear on the surface of the soil after the first frost 

 succeeding a heavy rain, W. Prinz {del et terre, 

 July, 1885) states that they are pressed out from 

 the soil through small openings by the expansion 

 of water in the ground as freezing proceeds. The 

 size of the filaments depends upon the size of the 

 openings through which they have been forced by 

 expansion from beliind, and the flutings with which 

 they are covered correspond with uregularities in 

 the walls of the openings through which they are 

 forced. 



— New Grenada possesses agricultural and min- 

 eral resources of the first order, which the opening 

 of the routes across Panama will no doubt develop. 

 The lower valley of the Magdelena, it is true, be- 

 ing formed of impermeable ground kept very moist 

 by forests, is a seat of malaria and of yellow fever. 

 The high valley of Honda is better favored, being 

 much more permeable, less woody, and unvisited 

 by miasma and fever. In revenge, however, the 

 Indians and native blacks five in fear of leprosy, 

 and all races are liable to the curious carathe, a 

 disease which discolors the skm in places, more 

 particularly the face, hands and feet. On the sides 

 of the mountain, however, the climate is much 

 more agreeable and very healthy. The population 

 of New Grenada, a mixture of Spaniards, negroes 

 and Indians, is about 2,000,000, and is spread 

 over a territory much greater than that of France. 



— At the Aberdeen meeting of the British associa- 

 tion Lieutenant-colonel Playfair referred to the 

 fact that the remains of magnificent Roman farms 



were to be found on the sandy plains of Tunis. 

 The little hillsides were now nothing but sand, for 

 the vegetable mould which once covered them has 

 been washed away, and may now be found in the 

 neighboring vaUeys buried beneath some feet of 

 sand and water. No more striking instance of the 

 importance of preserving forests could, in his 

 opinion, be found. 



WASHINGTON LETTER. 



The society of science in Washington has its 

 ' season ' nearly as well defined as that of fashion, 

 and almost coincident with the departure of the 

 votaries of the latter is the setting out to various 

 quarters of the globe of the representatives of 

 the former. Not all, but a very considerable 

 number of the scientific men of the capital are 

 'in the field' during the summer months, but 

 they are there for work and not for pleasure, 

 except such as is naturally incident to their more 

 serious occupations. Just now they are begin- 

 ning to reappear ; the various scientific bureaus 

 are taking on an appearance of initial activity, 

 and the rooms of the Cosmos club, in which 

 the various elements that go to make up human 

 knowledge are wont to hold high carnival, 

 are gradually losing that lonesome and deserted 

 appearance which has been their chief character- 

 istic for some months. It is to be presumed that 

 these laborers have brought their harvest with 

 them, and that during the coming winter they will 

 be busily occupied in its threshing and winnow- 

 ing, and in its dedication to the public good 

 through the public printer. 



In the meantimp the home contingent has not 

 been extremely small, nor has it been entirely idle. 

 It is safe to say that in at least one case, that of the 

 coast and geodetic survey, the affairs of the central 

 office have, to an unusual degree, occupied the 

 thoughts of those connected with it, and, indeed, 

 of many others who are interested in the true 

 welfare of government scientific work. Amon^ 

 such, general satisfaction was expressed with the 

 action of the administration in the selection of 

 Professor Agassiz as its superintendent, and great 

 disappointment that he felt constrained to decline 

 the responsibility. Under decidedly unfavorable 

 conditions most of the regular work of the survey 

 has gone on without serious interruption. One of 

 the veteran observers of this corps, Mr. George W. 

 Dean, was in the city a day or two recently, hav- 

 ing returned from a longitude campaign at Colo- 

 rado Springs and various connecting points. 



In the geological survey, while the geologists, 

 topographers, etc., have spent the summer in the 

 field, the chemical laboratory under Professor 



