116 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VTL, No. 157 



temperance reform will therefore practically be- 

 gin in the normal schools, to spread thence to all 

 the public schools throughout the various states in 

 which these compulsory laws have been enacted. 

 The receptivity of the young mind is greater than 

 most persons are aware of ; and while, at first 

 thought, the instructions of pupils of the age of 

 six years as to the effects of alcohol and tobacco 

 would not seem to promise very great results, still 

 more may be accomplished than would be antici- 

 pated. Inasmuch as the end aimed at, if reached, 

 would contribute beyond all calculation to the 

 prosperity and welfare of the human race, the 

 experiment is one which should receive every aid 

 and encouragement possible. It would not be 

 strange if the enforcement of the law demon- 

 strated defects : when these become evident, they 

 can be remedied. If legislators passed no law 

 until it was perfect, the country would be deprived 

 of much useful and needed legislation. D. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 Commissioner Colmax of the agricultural de- 

 partment left for St. Louis on Monday to pre- 

 side over the conventions of the National sugar 

 association and the Mississippi valley dairymen's 

 association, which are to be held this and next 

 week. At the latter convention the commissioner 

 proposes to show the delegates the progress he is 

 endeavoring to make in the investigations of the 

 adulteration of food, especially of dairy products. 

 Professor Taylor, the microscopist of the depart- 

 ment, who claims to have discovered an unfailing 

 test for pure butter as compared with the counter- 

 feit article, will be present, and by means of a 

 magic lantern and a series of micro-photographs 

 will explain the discoveries, and make an address. 

 It is understood that the department is not ready 

 to indorse these discoveries as being absolutely 

 without question ; but the commissioner thinks 

 that the convention is entitled to such information 

 as he can furnish, and that the country ought to 

 have the benefit of such suggestions as Professor 

 Taylor lias to make. 



— A letter from Panama, under date of Jan. 

 24, states that a government commission, con- 

 sisting of Professor Rockstrock and Mr. Walker, 

 has been sent from Guatemala to report upon the 

 probability of an outbreak of the Pacaya volcano. 

 The report of these gentlemen announces the total 

 destruction of the village of San Vicente Pacaya. 

 Some forty-four tiled-roof houses completely col- 

 lapsed, nuking such a cloud of dust as to create a 

 belief that a new crater had opened. The hot 

 springs surrounding Lake Amatillan emit a larger 

 volume of water, at a higher temperature, than 



usual. The crater of Pacaya remains unchanged, 

 while that of Fuego has been very lively. 



— The invention of Mr. Edison for sending and 

 receiving messages on a moving train was success- 

 fully tested, Feb. 1, on the Staten Island railroad. 

 The operator sat in the middle of the centre car 

 of the train, before a desk furnished with a Morse 

 telegraphic kej r . He held a telephone at each ear. 

 Under the desk was a battery. From this a 

 ground wire was connected with the car-axle and 

 the rail. Another wire passed through the key 

 and to the roof of the car, which was connected 

 with the roofs of the other cars by short pieces of 

 copper wire. Parallel with the railroad were the 

 telegraph wires of the Baltimore and Ohio com- 

 pany. The induction between the metal roof and 

 the telegraph wires was sufficient to allow of the 

 reception by telephone of Morse signals. 



— Professor Fuchs, in his twentieth annual re- 

 port on the seismological events of 1884, gives 123 

 shocks of earthquakes, distributed in time as fol- 

 lows : winter, 57. (Dec, 19 ; Jan., 28; Feb., 10): 

 spring, 24 (March, 13 ; April, 7 ; May, 4) ; summer, 

 21 (June, 5; July, 9; Aug., 7); autumn, 21 (Sept., 8 ; 

 Oct. , 1 ; Nov. , 12). Those deserving individual men- 

 tion are, March 24, in upper and central Slavonia, 

 where in Diakovar and other places numerous 

 buildings suffered injury ; April 22, in England : 

 May 13, in Crevassa, where a church and other 

 buildings were destroyed ; May 19, on the Persian 

 Gulf, in which two hundred persons fell victims 

 by the overthrow of their houses ; Aug. 10, in the 

 eastern United States ; and the Spanish earth- 

 quakes in December. In regard to the last, Dr. 

 Fuchs believes the centrum was not a point, but 

 a line parallel to the Sierras Tejeda and Almijara : 

 nor does he think they were of greater importance 

 than those of Belluno in 1873, of Agram in 1880, 

 and of Chios in 1881. There was very little vol- 

 canic activity throughout the year, and that only 

 in Aetna, Vesuvius, and St. Augustin, in Alaska. 



— Mr. R. L. Harris has lately read a paper on 

 two Daft electric motors, used on the Baltimore 

 street-railways, before the American society of 

 civil engineers : he reports both of these motors as 

 being very successful in all weathers and condi- 

 tions of the track. The grades are very steep for 

 motors, reaching three hundred and thirty feet per 

 mile in some places ; nevertheless these motors 

 have at no time failed to pull overloaded cars 

 with perfect ease. These motors do the work of 

 tifteen horses each, at an average daily running 

 expense of $4.G2 for fuel and attendance. 



— The recent experiments of the Franklin in- 

 stitute, upon incandescent and arc lights, give the 



