from American petroleum by Young, it appears that the same classes of
hydrocarbons, paraffins, polymethylene compounds of naphthenes and
aromatic hydrocarbons are present in these and in Russian and Galician
petroleums; but that Russian petroleum contains a relatively larger
amount of naphthalenes and, in all probability, of aromatic
hydrocarbons, than Galician, and Galician a larger amount of the same
hydrocarbons than American petroleum.
NOTES.
An old contributor, Dr. A. F. A. King, of Washington, D. C., writes us
calling attention to the interesting fact that we printed an article
of his as far back as September, 1883, suggesting the mosquito theory
of malaria, and giving a number of observations which seemed strongly
to support this view.
Experiments made by F. H. Hall and W. P. Wheeler, at the New York
Agricultural Experiment Station, regarding the best food for "chicks,
pullets, cockerels, and ducklings," seem to indicate conclusively that
part of the protein must be drawn from animal sources if we are to get
the best results. Rations in which from forty to fifty per cent of the
protein was supplied by animal food produced more rapid growth and at
less cost of production.
Messrs. A. Stutzer and Hartlieb, of Breslau, have detected bacteria in
Portland cements, which provoke the liberation of the nitrogen from
nitrogenous compounds in water, and the formation of nitrous and
nitric acids that act upon the lime in the cement and promote its
disintegration.
According to Industries and Iron, the tides are now utilized for
generating power at Pont-l'Abbé, Finisterre, France, during fourteen
hours per day. At flood tide the water flows through a canal two miles
and a half inland into a pond in the rear of the power house, and
returns to the sea at ebb tide. The total fall is seven feet and a
half, and eighty-horse power is generated by means of turbines. Means
have been considered for applying this method of generating power to
various industries.
A proposal for an International Physical Congress has been accepted by
the authorities of the Paris Exposition of 1900, and the congress will
be held from the 6th to the 12th of August, under the auspices of the
French Government. It immediately precedes the International
Electrical Congress. So far as has yet been determined, the subjects
of the addresses and reports will be classified under the headings of
the definition and fixing certain units (of pressure, scale of
hardness, quantity of heat, etc.), the Bibliography of Physics, and
National Laboratories. The final programme is, however, still to be
settled. The subscription for membership is twenty francs, or four
dollars. The foreign secretary of the congress is M. Charles Edouard
Guillaume, Pavillon de Breteuil, Sevres (Seine et Oise), Paris.
In a book called Literary Munich Portraits, with brief biographical
sketches by Paul Heyse, are given of twenty-five of the most prominent
literary men of that brilliant capital. Only two authors not Germans
are included. One of them is our contributor, E. P. Evans. The other
is the Norwegian novelist Björnson. Heyse leaves himself out, although
he is the greatest literary character of them all.
Some recent experiments, conducted jointly by the Kew Observatory
Committee and the International Bureau of Weights and Measures at
Sèvres, were made to compare the platinum thermometer of Professor
Callendar, which measures temperature by the varying resistance of a
platinum wire, and the older mercury and gas thermometers. It was
found that below 100° C. the differences between the observed values
on the nitrogen scale and those deduced from the platinum thermometer
are exceedingly small, and that even at the highest temperature (590°)
the differences only amount to a few tenths of a degree.
The American Chemical Society has gained 232 members during the past
year, making the present number 1,540. The report of the committee on
the analysis of coal, submitted to the recent meeting of the society
at Columbus, Ohio, embodied detailed instructions in regard to the
best methods of analyzing coke, and outlined a plan for securing
uniformity in such analysis by chemists throughout the land. This
report was adopted.
At the recent annual meeting of the American Society for the Promotion
of Agricultural Science Prof. W. J. Beal reported concerning the
germination of seeds, after long keeping, that experiments had been
tried with various seeds five, ten, fifteen, and twenty years old,
from which it appeared that seeds of a large number of important
plants would germinate after fifteen years, but the number sprouting
after twenty years was small.
A paper was read by Dr. L. O. Howard, at the recent meeting of the
American Society of Entomologists, recording the success which has
been obtained by the fig-raisers of California in fertilizing the
Smyrna variety of figs by the aid of the blastophaga which issues from
the Capri figs covered with their pollen. A generation of the
blastophaga has been developed at Fresno by which many Smyrna figs
have been satisfactorily fertilized, and there is considerable
probability that the insect has at last established itself on
California soil.
The five hundredth anniversary of the birth of Gutenberg, associated
with the invention of printing, is to be celebrated at Mayence, June
24, 1900. It is hoped that the foundation of a Gutenberg Museum may be
a result of this movement. An exhibition illustrating the art and
progress of printing is also expected to be held.
The conclusion is drawn by the Italian, Signor Albini, from
investigations on the nutritive value of whole-meal bread, that it is
inferior to that of ordinary white bread, and that a further
disadvantage comes from the excessive quantity of indigestible matter,
formed of the harder parts of the pericarp of the grain, which it
contains.
We have to add to our obituary list of men known in science the names
of Edward Orton, LL. D., Professor of Geology in Ohio State
University, late State Geologist of Ohio, and late President of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, at Columbus,
Ohio, October 16th, in his seventy-first year, of whom we shall
shortly give a more extended sketch, with portrait; Grant Allen,
writer of several scientific books and articles, and a contributor to
the Popular Science Monthly; Prof. Theodore Elbert, German geologist,
aged forty-two years; Dr. Max Barth, Director of the Agricultural
Station of Rufach, Alsace, aged forty-four years; M. Paul Janet,
member of the Paris Academy of Moral Science, and formerly professor
at the Sorbonne; Edward Case, English engineer, well known for his
method of groining to prevent the sea from encroaching on the coast,
September 22d; Hamilton Y. Castner, whose name is associated with the
establishment of processes for the electrolytic production of alkali
and bleaching powder from common salt, and for the extraction of
aluminum; Dr. Oscar Baumann, of Vienna, African explorer, author of a
map of the Congo, geographical articles, and books relating to his
explorations; and Dr. J. W. Hicks, Bishop of Bloemfontein, formerly
demonstrator in chemistry in the University of Cambridge, and author
of a text-book on inorganic chemistry.
Transcriber's Notes:
In this e-text, the following symbols have been used:
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Obvious printer's errors have been repaired, other inconsistent
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