VARIETIES. 
185 
tain  delay  is  necessary  for  the  change  ;  and  the  different  nations  are  alone 
capable  of  fixing  its  duration.  Let  us  observe  in  the  meantime  that  expe- 
rience in  several  countries  has  proved  that  a  too  long  delay  does  not  have 
the  effect  of  sensibly  facilitating  the  accomplishment  of  this  task.  Thus  it 
is  desirable  that  Governments  take,  henceforth,  the  following  measures, 
viz.: — 
1.  To  order  the  teaching  of  the  metric  system  in  public  schools,  and  to 
require  that  it  should  form  part  of  the  public  examinations. 
2.  To  introduce  its  use  into  scientific  publications,  in  public  statistics, 
in  postal  arrangements,  in  the  custom  houses,  and  other  branches  of  Gov- 
ernment administration. 
3.  The  commission  does  not  consider,  as  appertaining  to  its  mission, 
the  duty  of  making  standards  the  exact  prototypes  of  those  of  Paris.  The 
Government  of  each  country  will  take  upon  itself  the  verification  of  each 
of  these  standards. 
The  commission  declares  that  the  present  report  contains  the  expres- 
sion of  its  deliberations  and  conclusions.  It  expresses  a  wish  that  differ- 
ent nations  will  yield  to  the  solicitations  of  science  and  the  manifestation 
of  opinion. — Lon.  Chem.  News,  July  12,  1887. 
Castor  Oil  Bean  in  California. — The  San  Francisco  Bulletin  says  : 
The  experiments  made  last  year  in  cultivating  castor  beans  in  this  State 
may  be  set  down  on  the  whole  as  successful.  And  yet  the  success  was 
not  so  as  to  warrant  any  very  heavy  ventures  in  this  direction. 
The  bean  plant  grows  luxuriantly  and  the  yield  is  very  great,  surpassing, 
in  those  instances  which  came  under  our  observation,  that  of  any  other 
oil  seed  save  the  sunflower.  But  there  is  no  way  of  gathering  the  crops 
known  to  our  people,  which  dispenses  with  a  large  amount  of  hand  labor. 
The  seeds  do  not  ripen  simultaneously,  but  a  few  only  at  a  time,  ranging 
over  a  period  of  several  weeks.  If  the  seeds  are  not  gathered  as  soon  as 
ripe  the  balls  snap,  the  beans  are  scattered  over  the  ground,  and  in  that 
condition  are  hardly  worth  the  cost  of  gathering.  When  labor  can  be  had 
cheap,  as  for  instance  that  of  children  or  Chinamen,  no  doubt  the  crop 
can  be  raised  at  a  large  profit. 
The  beans  will  even  plant  themselves  and  grow  with  very  little 
attention,  often  monopolizing  the  grounds  to  the  exclusion  of  weeds.  But 
the  trouble  is  they  cannot  gather  themselves,  or  ripen  so  that  a  clean  job 
can  be  done  by  any  agricultural  machine  yet  invented.  There  is  likely 
to  grow  up  here  a  large  demand  for  the  castor  bean,  and  no  doubt  the 
difficulties  we  have  noticed  will  be  finally  ©vercome.  The  making  of 
castor  oil  will  soon  come  to  be  a  special  business,  and  we  may  say  that 
much  more  skill  is  required  in  the  manufacture  of  merchantable  castor 
oil  than  is  required  in  the  production  of  any  other  of  the  vegetable  oils. 
With  a  powerful  press  the  grinding  process  may  be  wholly  dispensed 
with;  but  the  bleaching  and  clarifying  process  requires  considerable  skill 
aud  some  knowledge  of  chemistry. — Jour.  App.  Chem.,  May,  1867. 
