the central organs mainly through the full-line connections. A simultaneous stimulus of all the end organ from A to B would then reach the central organ mainly through the dotted connections just as would a stimulus moving from B to A.

W. S. FRANKLIN.

OCCURRENCE OF THE VIRGINIA OPOSSUM IN SOUTHERN CENTRAL NEW YORK.

DURING the present year several Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana) have been killed near Owego, Tioga Co., N. Y. Some twelve years ago a farmer residing near here told me he had killed one. Last fall a large female was killed on a mountain side two miles east of this village, and while myself hunting a mile farther east, on December 3d, I met a hunter who had just caught two. He had tracked them a mile or so through the snow, and finally dug them out of a woodchuck's hole. They were both dead when found, probably having starved, as their stomachs were empty. Their skulls are in my possession. Several days later he secured another, an old one, the sex I do not know. It was taken four miles west of where the two young ones were captured. The animal is alive and in his possession. This man is an oldtime hunter and trapper, and considered truthful. He told me he had seen their tracks several times before. I have failed to learn of anyone who has liberated a pair of these animals or even had a pair in captivity. The capture of two, early in the fall, has come to me, but I cannot say if it is authentic.

I wish particularly to note that this record comes from Owego, N. Y., not Oswego, two widely separated places.

OWEGO, N. Y.

J. ALDEN LORING.

NOTES ON INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. THE December number of the Journal of the American Chemical Society contains an extended review of the year's progress in applied chemistry by Dr. Wm. McMurtrie. Development along these lines is going on more rapidly than ever before, and it is encouraging to note that this country is taking its place as an important factor in chemical technology. While

Germany will long hold the first place in those industries in which chemistry plays an important part, America has already become an important factor, especially in the field of electro-chemistry, and it requires little effort of the imagination to see, in the not-far-distant future, the supremacy crossing the water. Dr. McMurtrie's review is well worth careful perusal by the economist as well as the chemist. Only a few points can be noticed in this column. In Germany, at the close of 1896, 96 chemical works, with $64,000,000 capital, gave a return of nearly $8,000,000, an average of 12.3% as against 8.9% for 1897. Of these the coal tar industries gave the highest returns, 24%, while the fertilizer industries gave the lowest. An interesting announcement has been made by Dupre that gold can be extracted from ores by an inexpensive solution containing sodium thiosulfate, ferric halids, with an acetate. The solution extracts fifteen to twenty times as much gold as a cyanid solution in the same time, and does not attack sulfids; hence, if the success of the process is confirmed, it may be expected to replace the cyanid and chlorination processes for low grade and sulfid ores. Great progress has been made in the metallurgy of zinc, and there is every reason to believe that within a few years the old and unsatisfactory process will be entirely displaced, except for very pure ores. The use of the electric furnace is revolutionizing the preparation of phosphorus, and with the increased production in France and Russia, and prospective developments in Germany and at Niagara Falls, the English' monopoly is seriously threatened. The advantages of the new processes are both the reduction of price and the increased protection of the health of the operatives. The electrolytic alkali industry is still in an experimental stage, but with the certainty of future success, indeed, it may be said that the great question to-day is the selection and development of the best electrolytic method. Already in the manufacture of potassium chlorate the electrolytic methods have taken the lead, with a consequent marked fall in price. The commercial production of liquid air and of oxygen on a large scale will render possible many new developments along many lines. The production of calcium carbid

and acetylene continues to attract much attention. Ten French factories are now making calcium carbid and four more are being built, and it is said two French villages are lighted wholly by acetylene gas, at a cost of 50 per cent. less than coal gas. On the other hand, Welsbach is making improvements in his burner, and Nernst gives hope of a yet more brilliant and economical source of light, as has already been described in the columns of SCIENCE. In conclusion, Dr. McMurtrie says: "In every direction industrial progress is suggestive, and we may expect advancement in all directions with increasing intensity. Commercial artificial indigo, commercial artificial silk, commercial mercerized cotton in its various forms, the new colors and medicinal substances from carbon compounds, new concentrated nutritive substances, synthetic albumen, the various toxins and extracts of animal matters of therapeutic value, all claim a large share of attention; and so do hundreds of other substances and processes in which the principles of chemistry find application to human needs."

IN the Italian Gazetta Rebuffat contributes an exhaustive study of hydraulic cements. These he divides into two classes: (1) amorphous, compact cements, which consist of lime, calcium orthosilicate and calcium aluminate, in which, however, the free lime may be wanting; this class contains the hydraulic limes and quick settling cements. (2) Crystalline cements, consisting of a crystalline compound of calcium orthosilicate and lime, with a varying quantity of calcium aluminate; this class contains Portland cements and those rich in silica. After hardening, however, all these cements have the same qualitative composition, consisting of a mixture of calcium hydrate, hydrated calcium silicate of the formula 2(SiO,, 2CaO), H,O, and hydrated calcium aluminate, with a small amount of inert matter. In cements rich in silica a small amount of a double silicate of calcium and aluminum is present, which accounts for the resistance of these cements to sea water. The hardening of cements is chiefly due to the hydrating of the calcium silicate, and to a lesser degree to the hydrating of the calcium aluminate.

IN a recent English patent Weil and Levy claim to electroplate aluminum in baths to which various organic substances are added. Thus for the deposition of silver, hydroquinol is added to an ammoniacal cyanid solution; for copper, ammonium gallate or pyrogallate is used; for nickel, milk sugar, and the same for gold.

J. L. H.

CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. CLIMATE AND HYGIENE OF THE CONGO FREE

STATE.

An important volume on the climate, soil and hygiene of the Congo Free State has been issued as the second part of the Proceedings of the Congrès National d'Hygiène et de Climatologie Médicale de la Belgique et du Congo, held in Brussels, August 9-14, 1897. The investigation, of which the results are embodied in this report, was undertaken by a commission of the Société royale de Médicine publique et de Topographie médicale de Belgique. On this commission meteorology was represented by M. Lancaster, Director of the Meteorological Service of Belgium, which is equivalent to saying that whatever concerns meteorology and climatology in this report is admirably done. As a whole, this volume gives us the most complete and most scientific account of the meteorology and medical climatology of this interesting district that has yet appeared. The first chapter, of 404 pages, is devoted to the meteorology, and presents a careful summary of what is known concerning the atmospheric conditions and phenomena of the region, including many tables and diagrams. This portion of Africa is one of great interest to meteorologists on account of the seasonal migration of the belt of equatorial rains, and the data concerning the rainfall at Vivi and other stations are, therefore, especially welcome. Chapter II., of twenty pages, is devoted to the geology and soil conditions. 400 pages are concerned with the medical climatology and hygiene of the region in general and of the different stations in particular. This last chapter is an extremely valuable one. Of especial interest at the present time is the evidence afforded (p. 464-5) by the result of European colonization in the Congo Free State

Over

that, contrary to the general rule, northern Europeans have succeeded there better than southern Europeans. Italian laborers on the railroad are reported as having suffered more from the climate than many Scandinavians employed on the river. It must be remembered, however, that, of the two occupations, railroad construction and steamboat service, the latter is usually far more healthy, especially in a tropical climate, and a higher disease and death rate are naturally to be expected among persons engaged in the former occupation.

A NEW MOUNTAIN ANEROID BAROMETER.

WHYMPER, in the London Times of December 17, 1898, describes a new mountain aneroid which gives results of astonishing accuracy. The ordinary aneroid is well known as being a very inaccurate instrument at high altitudes. In Appendix C (Comparisons of the Aneroid against the Mercurial Barometer'), in his 'Travels amongst the Great Andes of the Equator,' Whymper himself says that "with aneroids of the present construction it is unlikely that decent approximations to the truth will be obtained at low pressures, even when employing a large number of instruments." The errors in Whymper's whole series of observations amounted in the worst cases to as much as two inches, as compared with the mercurial barometer. The new barometer is the invention of Col. H. Watkin, C.B., Chief Inspector of Position-Finding in the (British) War Department. It is so constructed that it can be thrown out of action when not in use, and put in action when required. When out of action no variations in atmospheric pressure, however large, produce any effect on it. This adjustment is effected by having the lower portion of the vacuum box so arranged that it can rise, instead of having it fixed, as is usually the case. Α screw arrangement is attached to the lower portion of the vacuum chamber, and under ordinary conditions this screw is released and the chamber put out of strain. When a reading is to be made, the screw is turned as far as it will go, thus bringing the instrument into the normal condition in which it was graduated. Whymper has made a large number of readings with the new aneroid and finds the error, in

THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK.

BULLETIN 3 of the New York Zoological Society bears testimony to the rapid progress that has been made since July 1, 1898, as may be seen by the following statement of work completed up to December 1, 1898. The Elk House has been practically finished. The Bird House is ready to receive its roof. The foundation walls of the Reptile House have been completed, and the steel floor-beams put in place. All excavating for the first series of Bear Dens has been completed, also all plumbing for drainage and water-supply. The brick walls. of the bathing-pools have been built, and stone walls to carry the iron work. The excavation of ponds for the Ducks' Aviary and the construction of three islands have been completed. On the south island twelve enclosures have been laid out, with suitable shelter-houses, and about one hundred native shrubs have been planted. A stone wall, going down to bed rock, has been constructed around the Prairie Dogs' Knoll (eighty feet in diameter), and capped with cut stone. Excavations have been made for the walls and stone work of eight Wolf and Fox Dens, and the walls have been laid ready for the cage work. One sleeping den for wolves has been constructed. About five hundred cubic yards of sandy earth has been hauled to the Pheasant's Aviary, to make dry ground for the runways. This was removed by necessity from the Bear Dens, at no cost to the Aviary. The excavation for the Beaver Pond has been completed, and all the grading necessary thereto. The excavation necessary

for the Buffalo House has been made. A trench nine hundred and sixty-three feet in length, has been dug for the stone walls to

support the iron fence for the Beaver Pond. The Society is in urgent need of an antelope house and a monkey house, and it is hoped that these will come as gifts from individuals, as the provision hitherto made is for the accommodation of American quadrupeds and birds, and this will exhaust the $106,000 at the disposal of the Society.

The most elaborate of the structures commenced is, by all odds, the Reptile House; this will have a length of 146 feet and a width of 100. It is being constructed of buff mottled brick, combined with granite and terra-cotta. It will be roofed with slate, heated by hot water, and its cost, with cages, will be about $40,000. It is beautifully situated on the edge of a forest of great oaks, very near the geographical center of the park. Close to the southeastern corner of the building is a natural pool in a wide outcrop of granite rock, which will speedily be converted into a summer home for saurians.

It is hoped that the Reptile House can be completed by April, 1899, in time to receive its cages and collections for the opening of the park in May.

The Director has found it necessary to give a chapter concerning the purchase of wild animals,' which deserves to be widely read, since with the proper changes it may be made to apply to collectors in various branches of history. The gist of it is contained in the following paragraphs:

"Not unfrequently it happens that a hunter who captures an animal that to him is strange imagines that it is worth double its real value, and feels indignant when a zoological garden offers him what is really a fair price. In about nineteen cases out of every twenty the man who captures a wild animal thinks it is worth far more than it really is. For example, if we were to offer a farmer's boy $2.50 for a wild goose that he had caught and cooped, the chances are he would be highly indignant; but at this moment we know of thirty-two wild geese for sale, property crated, at that price.

If we were asked to name the greatest small annoyance that comes in the daily mail of a zoological park we would reply: The letters which say, "What will you give me for it?" Very often not the slightest clue is given to the

size, age, sex or condition of the captive animal. All these are left to be divined by the man who is asked to submit an offer."

F. A. L.

THE STATISTICAL METHOD IN ZOOLOGY.

THE statistical method of biographical investigation has recently been used by Walter Garstang, the naturalist in charge of the fishery investigation of the Plymouth Laboratory, with great success. He claims that it is possible to identify the different schools of fish which approach the shore, even when these schools are made up of individuals which appear to be quite alike. He shows that the mackerel of the American coast are really different from the animals of the same name found along the European coast, and he further shows that the mackerel which frequent the shores of the British Isles may be sub-divided into two principal races, an Irish race and a race frequenting the English Channel and the North Sea. It thus seems that a species heretofore supposed to be widely distributed and given to migrating over long distances of the ocean is really cut up into a number of races, which probably do not intermingle and which may have very limited ranges. If it can be proved-and it now appears to be proved-that the local representatives of each species of animals are branded with indices of consanguinity, which indices may be detected through the plotting of curves of frequency, a new and most fascinating line of investigation is opened to the zoologist, the comparative anatomist and the student of geographical distribution.

BOTANICAL NOTES.

A BOTANICAL ALMANAC.

H. C. B.

A HANDY little book, bearing the title of 'Deutscher Botaniker Kalender für 1899,' has been prepared by Paul Sydow, of Berlin. It is modeled after the well-known 'Chemiker Kalender' of Dr. Biedermann, which for twenty years has been well-nigh indispensable to the chemists and physicists. This botanical almanac includes a diary (in which notable events, as the births and deaths of great botanists, are recorded), a money table, tables of weights and

measures, the 'Berlin Rules,' catalogue of exsiccati, catalogues of botanic gardens, botanical museums, botanical collections and places where deposited. The publishers (Borntraeger, Berlin) have done their part well, both in printing and binding. The light-colored linen cover and its conventionalized water-lily ornamentation are in most excellent taste.

CHECK LIST OF FOREST TREES.

A VERY convenient, revised and condensed edition of Sudworth's' Arborescent Flora of the United States' has recently been issued by the Division of Forestry, under the title 'Check List of the Forest Trees of the United States.' It makes use of the modern nomenclature, gives lists of common names, and includes notes as to the range of each species. The following corrections should be made in a later edition :

Pinus ponderosa scopulorum Engelm., add in Nebraska eastward along the Niobrara River to the 99th meridian, and to the 103d meridian on the North Platte and Lodge Pole Rivers.

Hicoria ovata (Mill.) Britt., change to southeastern instead of northeastern Nebraska.

Hicoria laciniosa (Michx. f.) Sarg., add southeastern Nebraska.

Hicoria alba (Linn.) Britt., add southeastern Nebraska.

Populus tremuloides Michx., change from southern to western Nebraska.

Quercus velutina Lam., add southeastern Nebraska. Asimina triloba (Linn.) Dunal., add southeastern Nebraska.

Pyrus coronaria Linn. This species is recorded in local catalogues as occurring in eastern Nebraska, but it is P. ioensis (Wood) Bailey, if this is to be regarded as a distinct species.

Prunus demissa (Nutt.) Walp., add from central Nebraska westward.

Cercis canadensis Linn., add southeastern Nebraska. Rhus copallina Linn., add southeastern Nebraska. Acer saccharum Marsh., strike out eastern Nebraska, as this species does not occur in this region in the wild state, although freely planted.

Acer rubrum Linn., strike out eastern Nebraska, as this species does not occur in this region in the wild state, nor is it often planted.

Esculus glabra Willd., add southeastern Nebraska. This check list will render a good service not only to botany, but still more to forestry and horticulture, in giving currency to the revised nomenclature of our forest trees.

CRETACEOUS AND TERTIARY PLANTS.

F. H. KNOWLTON, phytopaleontologist of the United States Geological Survey, publishes, in Bulletin 152 of the Department of the Interior, a most valuable catalogue of the Cretaceous and Tertiary plants of North America. In Lesquereux's catalogue of twenty years ago but seven hundred and six species were included, of which one hundred and fifty seven are from the Cretaceous, and five hundred and forty-nine from the Tertiary. In the list before us about twentyfive hundred species are included. The list is strictly alphabetical and is not divided so as to enable one to easily estimate the number from each period. The date and place of publication of each genus and species are given with much care. The modern nomenclature is used, even to trinomials and the double citation of authors. Much attention is given to synonymy, and to the citation of the more important references, especially to such as include descriptions and figures.

LEWIS AND CLARK'S PLANTS.

THOMAS MEEHAN was fortunate enough to discover, some time ago, in the custody of the American Philosophical Society, some packages of dried plants which, on examination, turn out to be the long-lost collection made by Lewis and Clark, in 1803 to 1806, during their expedition across the Western country from St. Louis to the mouth of the Columbia River. They were examined by Dr. B. L. Robinson and J. M. Greenman, of the Herbarium of Harvard University, and compared with Pursh's treatment of this collection, in his Flora America Septentrionalis in 1814, and the results have been published in the Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences of Philadelphia (January, 1898). Mr. Meehan notes that this collection contains all but sixteen of Lewis's plants as described by Pursh in his Flora,' and of the missing numbers seven are represented in the herbarium of the Academy by authentic specimens from Lambert's herbarium. Mr. Meehan says further that 'only a few of these seven missing ones are of material importance,' and that for all practical purposes all the plants of Lewis and Clark's expedition are now deposited in the Academy.' CHARLES E. BESSEY.

THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA.