a 
370 
as it comes from the kilns. It is of seven qualities, 
the values varying from 101 to 115 lire per ton. 
Except in the better-worked ‘solfare,’ the separation 
of the sulphur from the earths in which it is contained 
is still conducted in Sicily by means of kilns (cal- 
curoni), which do not require any additional fuel, but 
~which entail the consumption and loss of about one- 
third of the sulphur itself. About 18,000 hands are 
employed in the Sicilian ‘solfare,’ of whom about 
14,000 work in the interior of the mines, including 
those employed in the transport of the ore to the 
surface. The sulphur in many mines is still carried 
to the surface on the backs of boys called ‘ carusi,’ of 
whom there are about 3,500. 
—Prof. F. H. Snow writes to the Topeka daily 
capital as follows: — 
The climate of eastern Kansas is not the climate 
of western Kansas. Any discussion of this subject 
will be entirely inadequate which fails to recognize 
the fact that Kansas is meteorologically divided into 
two distinct regions, separated from each other by an 
intermediate area, whose climate exhibits a gradual 
transition between the eastern and the western sec- 
tions. The inclusion of two such widely differing 
regions in one civil commonwealth has its disadvan- 
tages as well as its advantages. The striking adap- 
tability of western Kansas to sustain the immense 
cattle interests of that section adds an important 
element of prosperity to the state; but the fact that 
thousands of new-comers, from ignorance of the 
climate, have attempted to introduce ordinary agri- 
cultural operations upon the so-called ‘ plains,’ and 
have disastrously failed in the attempt, has placed 
an undeserved stigma upon the good name of Kansas 
in many far distant communities, and has undoubt- 
edly somewhat retarded immigration during the past 
few years. It is time for the general recognition of 
the fact, that, except in the exceedingly limited 
area where irrigation is possible, the western third 
of Kansas is beyond the limit of successful agricul- 
ture. Yet this portion of Kansas, upon the basis 
of one individual to each ten acres, has the capacity 
to continuously sustain an aggregate of nearly two 
million head of cattle. The last biennal report of 
the State board of agriculture represents the total 
number of cattle in the entire state as less than one 
and a half millions, which is considerably below the 
number which might be supported by the western 
third of the state alone. 
The average direction of the winds in eastern 
Kansas is from the south-west. ‘The average velocity 
of the wind at Lawrence is a little more than fifteen 
and a half miles an hour. This is sufficiently high 
to assist materially the proper ventilation of our 
houses and our clothing, but does not justify the 
common expression in other parts of the country, 
that the Kansan lives in a continual gale. For the 
sake of comparison, it may be mentioned that the 
average hourly velocity of the wind in Philadelphia 
is eleven, at Toronto nine miles, and at Liverpool 
thirteen miles. The greatest velocity recorded at 
Lawrence was at the rate of eighty miles per hour, 
from 3.35 to 3.45 A.m., April 18, 1880. 
SCIENCE. 
The average 
as 
[Von. IIL, No. 59. 
annual distance travelled by the wind at Lawrence 
is a little more than a hundred and thirty-eight thou- 
sand miles. March and April are the two windiest 
months, the velocity rising to nearly twenty miles 
an hour. July and August are the two calmest 
months, the rate subsiding to less than twelve miles 
an hour. 
— The Canadian naturalist, which was discontinued 
last June, has re-appeared as the Canadian record of 
natural history and geology, published by the natural 
history society of Montreal. The former journal was 
published for the society by Messrs. Dawson Brothers. 
We regret the unnecessary change of title, when the 
scope of the journal is precisely the same as before, 
and it remains the organ of the same society. 
— The belief of the Hawaiians, that the Achatinel- 
lae emit musical sounds, is an old one; and these 
pretty little mollusks were sometimes called ‘ singing- 
snails.’ The Rev. H. G. Barnacle, M.A., of the 
Transit of Venus expedition in 1874, heard the 
music, which he compares to the sound of many aeo- 
lian harps. Hitherto the native story has not found 
credence among conchologists; but this gentleman 
succeeded in determining that the sound was due to 
the friction of the shells upon the bark of the trees, 
over which they are dragged by their inhabitants. 
As most of the species are arboreal, and they exist 
in millions, it is conceivable that the sound, should 
be distinctly audible; yet that it should bein any way 
musical is singular. 
— Miss Fannie M. Hele has recently observed the 
effect of food on a lemon-colored variety of Helix 
aspersa. A diet of lettuce reduced them to a dirty- 
brown yellow; and the more lettuce given to them, the 
darker and dingier the color of the shell became. A 
reversed specimen was bred from, in the hope of secur- 
ing additional specimens of this rare variety; but to 
no purpose: the eggs, when hatched, produced only 
normal individuals. 
— During the past year, four new additions were 
made to the group of small planets between Mars 
and Jupiter, making the number two hundred and 
thirty-five in all. No. 232, named Russia, was discov- 
ered the 31st of January, 1883, by Palisa, at Vienna: 
its magnitude is the twelfth, and the elements of 
its orbit exhibit no peculiarities. No. 233, not yet 
named, was discovered by Borelly, at Marseilles: its - 
magnitude is the eleventh, and the elements of its 
orbit are as yet undetermined. No. 234, named Bar- 
bara, was discovered the 12th of August, 1883, by 
Peters, at Clinton: its magnitude is the ninth, and 
the elements of its orbit exhibit no peculiarities. 
No. 235, named Carolina, was discovered the 21st of 
November, 1883, by Palisa, at Vienna: its magni- 
tude is the twelfth, and the elements of its orbit are 
as yet undetermined. The twelve small planets im- 
mediately preceding the above have received names 
as follows : — 
220, Stephania. 
221, Eos. 
222, Lucia. 
223, Rosa. 
224, Oceana. 
225, Henrietta. 229, Adelinda. 
226, Weringia. 230, Athamantis. 
227, Philosophia. 231, Vindobona, 
228, Agathe. 
