42 
SCIENCE 
SCIENCE: 
A Weekly Record of Scientific 
Progress. 
JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 
Published at 
229 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 
P. O. Box 3838 . 
SATURDAY, JULY 24, 1880. 
To Correspondents. 
All communications should be addressed to the Editor — Box 3838, P. 
0 ., New York — with name and address of writer, not necessarily for pub- 
lication without consent. 
Scientific papers and correspondence intended for publication, should be 
written legibly on one side only of the paper. Articles thus received will 
be returned when found unsuitable for the Journal. 
Those engaged in Scientific Research are invited to make this Journal 
the medium of recording their work, and facilities will be extended to 
those desirous of publishing original communications possessing merit. 
Proceedings of Scientific Societies will be recorded, but the abstracts 
furnished must be signed by the Secretaries. 
Both questions and answers in k ‘ Notes and Queries” should be made 
as brief as possible ; an answer appearing to demand an elaborate reply, 
may be written in the form of an article. 
To Subscribers. 
Terms of subscription for Science will be $4 a year, payable in advance. 
Six months, $2.50. Single copies 10 cents. 
Subscriptions forwarded by mail should be addressed to the Editor, 
Box 3838, P. O., New York, and Post-office orders made payable to 
u John Michels.” 
To Advertisers. 
Terms tor advertising may be obtained at the office of Journal, 229 
Broadway. 
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCE- 
MENT OF SCIENCE. 
We direct the attention of our readers to the ap- 
proaching meeting of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science, which will be held this year 
at Boston, commencing at io o’clock on Wednesday 
morning, the 25th of August. 
As it is generally believed that the Boston meeting 
will be the largest and most important hitherto held, 
we are completing arrangements with the Executive, 
by which abstracts of all papers read may be printed in 
“Science” contemporaneously with the meeting of the 
Association, together with a full report of the proceed- 
ings ; we have reason to believe that such a course 
will be welcome to the members of the Association, 
and useful in many respects. In a later number we 
propose to give fuller particulars in regard to this 
matter, and in the meantime would be glad to hear 
from those who will read papers at this meeting, par- 
ticularly where illustrations are necessary, as by a little 
co-operation greater justice to the publication of such 
papers may be attained. 
We may state for the convenience of non-members 
desirous of being admitted as members, that by paying 
the fees in advance (eight dollars), before the meeting, 
member’s tickets will be sent, which will secure to new 
members and nominees the same privileges possessed 
by old members. 
The attention of entomologists is directed to the an- 
nual meeting of the Entomological Club of the Asso- 
ciation, which will be held at the rooms of the Boston 
Society of Natural History, on Tuesday, August 24th, 
at which all interested in entomology are invited to be 
present. 
We notice by the prospectus that the suggestion 
made at Saratoga to form a sub-section devoted to 
Physiology and Anatomy will be carried out at Boston, 
and it is also probable that new sub-sections in Geology 
and Physical Geography will be formed. 
We trust that all interested in science who can at- 
tend this meeting of the Association will not fail to be 
present, and that many new members will enroll them- 
selves and take part in the proceedings. 
Independent of the interest attached to the meeting 
of the Association several excursions have been plan- 
ned, which will add greatly to the pleasure of those 
present, and cannot fail to make the trip to Boston one 
which will be long after recalled by many agreeable 
remembrances. 
A new sulphate of alumina (sesquibasic sulphate of 
alumina) has been prepared by M. Marguerite. One 
method is by decomposition of alum of ammonia through 
heat. When the alum is heated to a red heat carefully, 
there remains after the operation anhydrous sulphate of 
alumina ; if the calcination have been pushed further, there 
is partial decomposition. The matter held by the water 
gives a liquor which, concentrated, deposits crystals of the 
sesquibasate. Ordinary sulphate of alumina, dried and col- 
ored gently, gives the same reaction, and the new sulphate 
can also be got by the wet process. (See Comptes Rendus). 
A curious geological effect has recently occurred in Sicily. 
On the morning of the 20th May the half of an old chateau 
at the seaside, between Catania and Acireale, fell in conse- 
quence of alteration of an enormous volcanic rock which 
had supported it. This rock was about 50m. high and 80m. 
in circumference ; its form nearly cylindrical. It was 
placed on an older layer of lava, which forms a promontory. 
The rock is in such a state of disseggregation, that pieces 
can easily be detached with the hand. The effect seems 
due to superoxidation of the iron, which it contains in 
abundance, and to the action of carbonic acid on the cal- 
careous matter in it. The chateau in question is a very old 
one, but its walls were entire, and one might visit it in all 
its parts. Half an hour before the fall, a family of tourists 
had taken up residence in it, with a view to visiting the 
Cyclops islands, which rise a short way off. 
