524 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 175 



land, and one-fourth to the Church of Rome. He 

 believed that Tasmania had not progressed more 

 rapidly because she had hitherto suffered from 

 contiguity to, and comparison with, the neighbor- 

 ing colonies, which offered a wider field and greater 

 scope for the energy and enterprise of the settler. 

 As this field, however, gradually became occupied, 

 Tasmania's progress would again become assured. 

 He thought, however, that a colony which had 

 increased her revenue during the last decade from 

 £340,000 to £550,000, and her exports from £1,000,- 

 000 to £1,400,000, was not to be deemed wanting 

 in progress. 



— Mrs. J. Lawrence Smith has presented to 

 Harvard college a tablet in memory of her hus- 

 band. The tablet is of bronze inlaid with silver, 

 and is to be placed with the Smith collection of 

 meteorites purchased by Harvard college after Dr. 

 Smith's death. In the centre of the tablet there 

 is an enamel portrait of Professor Smith, and this 

 is surrounded by the different medals and decora- 

 tions with which he was honored. It will be re- 

 membered that the collection of meteorites was 

 sold for ten thousand dollars, of which sum Mrs. 

 Smith contributed two thousand. With the eight 

 thousand dollars actually received, Mrs. Smith has 

 generously endowed the Smith medal, which is at 

 the disposal of the National academy of sciences. 



— The engraving of the various index-catalogue 

 charts for the U. S. coast and geodetic survey 

 has been commenced ; the chart of the whole At- 

 lantic coast and Gulf will be out by the middle of 

 August ; that for the Pacific coast will be issued 

 Jan. 1. The Pacific coast tide-predictions for the 

 year 1887 are now in the hands of the public 

 printer ; the predictions for the Atlantic coast will 

 be sent to the printer this week ; and the entire 

 series will be ready for issue by the 1st of August. 



— Plate No. 10 of the detailed topographical 

 survey of the District of Columbia, made by As- 

 sistant John W. Donn of the U. S. coast survey, 

 under the direction of the engineer commissioners 

 of the district, has been printed and sent to the 

 commissioners. The drawing of plate No. 16 is 

 complete, and will be placed in the hands of the 

 photolithographer this week. This sheet will 

 show the location of the estate recently purchased 

 by President Cleveland for a summer residence. 

 For the want of sufficient funds, it has only been 

 practicable to keep one topographical party at 

 work on this important survey. Those ha\ing 

 charge of the direction and execution of this 

 work are urging congress to appropriate sufficient 

 money to employ at least one more party and two 

 skilled draughtsmen, in order to complete it. 



— Bulletin No. 15 of the Ohio agricultural ex- 



periment-station contains an interesting account 

 of further experiments by Prof. H. A. Weber 

 upon the microscopic methods of distinguishing 

 butter from other fats proposed by Dr. Thomas 

 Taylor, and which were mentioned in a recent 

 number of Science. It will be remembered that 

 Dr. Taylor's first claim was that butter, cooled 

 slowly under certain conditions, formed ' globules,' 

 which, when viewed by polarized light, showed a 

 well-defined St. Andrew's cross. Professor Weber 

 having shown that this appearance was not charac- 

 teristic of genuine butter, but might be produced 

 in any common fat by treatment similar to that 

 applied to the butter, Dr. Taylor then practically 

 abandoned his claims for this test, and called par- 

 ticular attention to another test as being most 

 important and characteristic. According to Dr. 

 Taylor, if a sample of butter is viewed by polarized 

 light, a plain selenite being placed between po- 

 larizer and analyzer, a uniform color is observed : 

 if any solid fat, like lard or tallow, be thus 

 viewed, the fat will exhibit prismatic colors. It 

 is this test which has been the subject of Professor 

 Weber's investigations, and he finds it as falla- 

 cious as the former one. Any of the fats under 

 consideration, if melted, and cooled slowly, and 

 then submitted to Dr. Taylor's test, will show the 

 prismatic colors, due to the action of the com- 

 paratively large crystals formed upon the polar- 

 ized light. On the other hand, the same fats, if 

 cooled quickly, so as to prevent the formation of 

 large crystals, present the uniform tint claimed 

 by Dr. Taylor as characteristic of butter-fat. An 

 interesting observation was made upon a sample 

 of butter which had been kept in a closed tin box 

 in the laboratory, and had become alternately 

 hard and soft with the changes of temperature, 

 but never melted. This butter, which had hardly 

 been exposed to greater changes of temperature 

 than much country butter is liable to, showed the 

 prismatic colors claimed by Dr. Taylor as charac- 

 teristic of foreign fats. Professor Weber con- 

 cludes this account of his experiments in the fol- 

 lowing words: "Taking the whole of Dr. Tay- 

 lor's microscopical investigations into account, it 

 may be said that they have received more atten- 

 tion at the hands of American investigators than 

 their crude methods and erroneous conclusions 

 would warrant." 



— The distinguished mechanical engineer, 

 Adolphe Hirn, has been decorated with the Order 

 of the rose by the emperor of Brazil. 



— Assistant C. H. Boyd of the coast survey has 

 been instructed to make an examination into the 

 changes in the shore line in the vicinity of Mono- 

 moy, Mass.; instructions have been issued to Suli- 



