MARcH# 21, 1884.] 
had therefore attained a good old age. About four 
years ago, in failing health, he resigned his official 
positions, but afterwards recovered his vigor, so that 
he might have been expected to see his university 
fairly entered upon its fourth century. The end of 
this excellent man came suddenly, — we believe, in 
the same week in which his son, Isaac Bayley Bal- 
four, was elected professor of botany at Oxford. The 
elder Balfour was eminent only as a teacher of bot- 
any, in which he had great success, and in the devel- 
opment and administration of the admirable garden 
and arboretum of the Scottish capital. 
— A *‘general geologic map of the area explored 
and mapped by Dr. F. V. Hayden, and the surveys 
under his charge, 1869 to 1880,’’ forms No. 11. of the 
series accompanying the twelfth and final report of 
the geological survey of the territories. This map 
was not mentioned in our notice of the report 
(Science, No. 51), as it was omitted in the earlier 
distributed volumes; but it is of especial value in 
presenting a general review, that is nowhere given 
in the reports, of what has been accomplished by Dr. 
Hayden’s parties. It includes all of Colorado and 
Wyoming, the greater part of Montana, and half of 
Dakota and Nebraska. It has unfortunately no topo- 
sraphic shading; and there is no distinction made in 
the coloring of those parts that have been examined 
with satisfactory detail, and others where informa- 
tion is derived from reconnoissance, or even from 
hearsay. Still, the more notable features of the re- 
gion are well shown, —the broad monotony of the 
plains, the inconstant variety of the irregular moun- 
tain uplifts, the long-continued paleozoic and meso- 
zoic conformity, and the absence or insignificant 
_representation of the Devonian in the Rocky Moun- 
tains proper, and the unconformable overlap of the 
tertiary. Of more local peculiarity, there may be 
mentioned the isolated uplift of the Black Hills, here 
well shown in its relation to the ranges farther west; 
the abrupt change from a north and south to an east 
and west trend in the Laramie range; the appearance 
of narrow and parallel Great Basin ranges at the 
western margin of Wyoming; and the crescentic form 
of the Big Horn range. Concerning this last and the 
more northern part of the map, further exploration 
may require considerable changes. 
— Mr. Paul Bert read to the Paris academy, at a 
recent meeting, the latest results of his researches 
into the effects of anaesthetics. He believes that the 
use of chloroform in surgical cases, where the patient 
suffers from weakness of the heart, may be made 
comparatively, if not entirely, safe. Mr. Bert is of 
opinion that the quantity of an anaesthetic is less 
important to observe than the tension of the vapor 
inhaled, and the proportion of air with which it is 
mixed. He has constructed an apparatus with which 
he administers a proportion of eight grams of chloro- 
form to a hundred litres of air. Experiments which 
he has made with this have shown, that not only 
is a saving of chloroform effected, but the danger 
is considerably lessened. The pulse of the patient 
inhaling the mixture is calm, and the temperature of 
the body is not sensibly lowered; while in only four 
SCIENCE. 
369 
cases out of twenty-two was the slightest appearance 
of nausea produced. 
To this proposition of Bert’s, Gosselin objected 
that the use of a cumbersome piece of apparatus, in 
place of the convenient sponge or handkerchief, ought 
to be considered; and that by Bert’s method a uni- 
form amount of chloroform must needs be adminis- 
tered to all patients, regardless of their susceptibility 
to its effects. 
Bert rejoined, that with the sponge there was great 
danger of exceeding the safe tension of the vapor. 
His experiments with dogs showed, that, with six 
grams of chloroform to a hundred litres of air, a dog 
could be rendered insensible; with ten grams, the 
insensibility comes on in a few minutes, and can be 
allowed to continue for an hour and a half with 
safety; while, with twenty-four grams, the dog was 
dead in forty-five minutes. 
— The petroleum industry of Baku still continues 
to attract attention. Messrs. Hobel, whose work there 
has been of such importance to the development of 
the trade, have published a pamphlet on the capabili- 
ties of the province, and the commerce of the Black 
Sea; while a book is announced in the literary jour-' 
nals, dealing with the working of petroleum since 
classical times. The title is ‘Petrolia;’ and it is by 
Mr. Charles Marvin, of Khiva fame. 
—The Centraiblatt fir textil industrie recently 
published an article on the increase in manufactur- 
ing industry in Livonia, Esthonia, Courland, and the 
Polish provinces of Russia. The first three proy- 
inces contain 1,329 factories, the annual production 
of which now represents a total value of more than 
£12,000,000, this sum being nearly double the amount 
for 1873. In Courland the main industry is the dis- 
tillation of spirits, which in 1882 attained a value of 
nearly £1,000,000. The development of Polish indus- 
try took place, for the most part, during the years 
1877-80. In the year 1881 Poland contained 19,000 
factories, which produced wares of the total value of 
about £30,000,000. The greatest progress has been in 
the textile industries. One factor in the industrial 
activity of Poland has been the steady demand for 
yarn from factories in the interior of Russia. The 
cotton industry is the most important: in 1881 it 
employed about 20,000 work-people, its out-turn rep- 
resenting a value of £5,000,000. Next comes the 
woollen industry, with 15,000 work-people, and a yearly 
production of £3,500,000in value. In the linen branch 
10,000 work-people are engaged, and the production 
represents about £1,000,000 per annum. The raw 
material is, for the most part, obtained from the inte- 
rior of Russia, only a small quantity being imported. 
Moscow, Charkoff, and St. Petersburg are the prin- 
cipal markets. 
— The Engineer states that the world’s average 
product of sulphur is about 280,000 tons, of an average 
value of 109.20 lire per ton = 30,793,000 lire, or over 
£1,200,000 sterling. Of this total, Sicily produces 
242,000 tons. There is an export duty of 11 lire per 
ton on sulphur, and the average export is 216,000 
tons. The Sicilian sulphur is mostly exported raw, 
