he en ba 
464 
reaction to some organic amine, and hopes to con- 
tinue the investigation of it. ——C. A. Crampton 
and H. W. Wiley, Bi-rotation of commercial starch- 
sugars, and a method of analysis based thereon. —— 
G. L. Spencer, A method for the determination of 
phosphoric acid in commercial fertilizers. This was 
essentially an improvement on the volumetric ura- 
nium process. —— H. W. Wiley, A method of deter- 
mining the end reaction in sugar-reductions. 
San Diego society of natural history. 
Murch 7. — Mr. D. Cleveland made remarks relat- 
ing to a tubular stone found in Temecula Cafion, sup- 
posed by him to have been used by the Indians as a 
pipe. Mention was also made of 
the Indians using the leaves of 
several species of Nicotiana (N. 
Clevelandi and N. Bigelovii) as a 
substitute for tobacco. EN 
medium-sized olla was described 
by Mr. C. R. Orcutt as having 
been made by the Indians of 
Lower California in imitation of 
a teapot, with anose and perfora- 
tions in the side of the unglazed 
pot, and which was used by them 
to steep the leaves of Mentha 
Canadensis, L.—— Miss K. O. 
Sessions presented specimens of 
a rock from San Benito county, 
Cal., which is largely used in the 
adulteration of soap, and the best 
substance known for that pur- 
pose. —— Mr. Jos. Winchester 
presented a chart representing the 
comparative meteorology of San Diego (on San Diego 
Bay) and Poway (twelve miles from the coast) dur- 
ing the last five years; showing that the rainfall is 
greatly less near the coast than among the hills, while 
the humidity of the atmosphere near the coast is 
greater for ten months in the year than away from 
the coast. The explanation of the chart by Mr. 
Winchester was followed by a general discussion. 
— Mr. C. R. Orcutt read a few notes on the native 
cacti, mentioning several undescribed species of this 
county and Lower California. 
NOTES AND NEWS. 
THE detailed results of Mr. G. F. Wright’s studies 
in 1882 and 1883, of the southernmost drift margin 
in the Ohio valley, are recently published by the 
Western reserve historical society. The pamphlet 
includes a revised reprint of Mr. Wright’s lecture on 
glacial phenomena in the United States, from which 
we copy, in reduced form, the accompanying figure 
of part of the drift boundary in the states examined: 
Several other cuts illustrate the boundary by counties 
in much greater detail. The description of the district 
opposite Cincinnati, where the effects of ice-action 
are traced across the Ohio into Kentucky, is still con- 
fessedly incomplete; but, so far as observed, there: is 
SCIENCE. 
wherever studied in detail. 
‘[Vor> Igy No. : 
no question of the presence of true, iene 
glacial drift south of the river. It is to be noticed 
that another invasion of Kentucky is marked on the 
map here given, farther down the valley, at Madison; 
and that the retreat of the glaciated area towards 
Indianapolis seems to mark the division between two 
lobe-like extensions of the drift, which are now found 
to be frequently characteristic of the old ice-front, 
The report attempts 
little of novelty in its subject-matter, being confined 
closely to questions of distribution; but the contin- 
ual repetition of the familiar evidences of glaciation, 
—scratched rocks, heavy till, large granite bowlders, 
kames, and kettle-holes, — limited by a line of great 
MAP OF SOUTHERN INDIANA AND OHIO, SHOWING GLACIAL BOUNDARY. 
irregularity, both horizontally and vertically, presents 
precisely the definite commonplace proof that is 
wanted in connection with the many scattered obser- 
vations heretofore made. vie: 
— The trustees of the Peabody academy of science 
at Salem have decided to make a fireproof additional 
building, seventy by fifty feet, and two stories high. 
The additions to the ethnological collections, espe- 
cially from Japan and Corea, have been very consider- 
able during the past year. 
— A recent calculation of the population and area 
of Australia states that there are only three human 
beings to every four square miles. 
— The London society of arts has received a dona- 
tion of twelve hundred pounds from one of its mem- 
bers, Mr. William Westgarth, to be expended on prizes 
for the best essays on dwellings for the poor, and the 
reconstruction of central London. The essays should 
include the following points: 1. The reconstruction 
of the central part of London with regard to the plan 
of the streets; 
soil; 3. Re-arrangement of the levels, and provision of 
subterranean ways for the accommodation of electric 
wires, pipes for water-supply, coma, ate and asa 
provision for warehousing. 
The prizes for these essays will ba: one of nee: sacad 
dred pounds, 
2. Removal of the old.and_ poisoned 
and one of two hundred and fifty 
i 
