Am.  Jour.  Pharin.  \ 
starch,  L899.  / 
Notes  and  News. 
ix 
NOTES  AND  NEWS. 
Wm,  R.  Warner  &  Co.  sustained  a  very  heavy  loss  from  the  burning  of  their 
office  buildings  at  122S  Market  Street,  Philadelphia,  on  February  17th.  The 
entire  stock  together  with  the  building  were  completely  destroyed,  but  the  full 
extent  of  the  loss  cannot  be  estimated  until  their  fire-proof  safes  have  been 
recovered.  They  have  improvised  an  office  and  stock  room  at  their  laboratory, 
639-41-43  North  Broad  Street,  and  are  enabled  to  supply  goods  with  their  cus- 
tomary promptness. 
Dr.  O.  Loew  is  now  the  expert  in  Chemical  Physiology  of  Plants  in  the 
Division  of  Vegetable  Physiology  and  Pathology  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of 
Agriculture.  This  Division  is  one  of  the  strongest  in  the  Department  as  the 
experts  represent  the  best  talent  in  botany.  Dr.  Loew  is  at  present  occupied 
with  the  question  of  tobacco  curing  and  fermenting,  on  which  he  has  made  a 
series  of  new  observations,  and  which  will  be  published  shortly  in  a  Bulletin. 
Other  problems  as  those  on  the  "function  of  the  mineral  constituents  in 
plants;"  "the  easy  destruction  of  plant  parasites,"  and  "also  studies  in 
the  relation  of  various  organisms  in  water,"  etc.,  are  being  investigated. 
Upper  Regions  of  The  Air. — In  a  very  interesting  article  in  The  Forum 
for  January,  having  the  foregoing  title,  Professor  Trowbridge,  of  Harvard 
University,  accounts  for  the  phenomena  of  the  Northern  Lights,  thunder 
storms  and  the  magnetism  of  the  earth  on  the  hypothesis  that  the  very  short 
waves  of  light  or  energy  from  the  sun  are  absorbed  by  our  atmosphere  and 
converted  into  electrical  and  magnetic  waves.  The  long  waves  of  energy  from 
the  sun  are  called  heat-waves,  and  the  intermediate  waves,  light-waves,  both 
of  which  we  receive  in  full  measure,  while  the  short  waves  are  stopped  by  our 
atmosphere  and  manifested  in  other  ways,  as  already  indicated  by  the  pro- 
posed hypothesis.  That  the  sun  is  concerned  in  these  phenomena  the  author 
considers  consistent  with  the  great  modern  doctrine,  that  all  the  energy  we 
receive  from  the  sun  is  electro-magnetic.  This  hypothesis  becomes  all  the 
more  interesting  when,  in  these  later  days,  as  stated  by  the  author,  all  the 
observed  phenomena  of  electricity  point  to  the  truth  of  the  theory  that  light, 
heat  and  electricity  differ  only  in  wave-length. 
New  Method  of  Waterproofing  Paper. — The  German  journal  Neueste 
Erfindungen  describes  the  following  method  of  making  a  waterproof  paper  : 
The  sheet  is  coated  on  both  sides  with  a  solution  consisting  of  1  part  gelatine, 
4  parts  water  and  1  part  glycerine.  When  dry,  the  paper  is  immersed  in  a 
10  per  cent,  solution  of  formalin.  After  this  treatment,  the  paper  is  said  to 
become  impervious  even  to  steam.— Jour,  of  the  Frankli?i  Institute,  1899,  p.  73. 
The  PeelETIer-Caventou  Memoriae. — The  total  list  of  subscriptions — 
which  is  hardly  likely  to  be  much  increased  now — to  this  memorial  totals  up 
to  12,926  francs.  Very  few  but  Frenchmen  have  subscribed  to  it. — The  British 
and  Colonial  Druggist,  1898,  p.  93. 
Waste  of  Sweepings  in  Street  Cleaning.—  The  Department  of  Agri- 
culture estimates  this  loss  in  354  cities  at  $3, 000,000  annually. 
Lead  as  an  Abortifacient.— The  Lancet  records  the  case  of  a  married 
woman,  aged  23  years,  whose  health  was  described  as  having  previously  always 
