142 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. Atmospheric Nitrogen as Food for Plants. The results of experiments at the agricultural stations at Middletown and Mansfield, Conn., are in favor of the value of atmospheric nitrogen as a food for plants. The conclusions are deduced from them by Prof. Atwater that many, if not most, of the leguminous plants are able to and do acquire large quantities of nitrogen from the air during their period of growth; and that there is some connection, not yet defined, between root-tubercles and the acquisition of this aliment. The cereals with which experiments have been completed have not manifested the same power, and they do not have such tubercles as are formed on the roots of the legumes. The addition of soil infusions did not seem necessary for the production of root-tubercles. The size and vigor of the plants, and their gain of nitrogen from the air, seemed to be proportional to the abundance of root-tubercles in the experiment. Losses of nitrogen sometimes occurred, but always in cases where there were no root-tubercles. The ability of legumes to gather nitrogen from the air helps to explain the usefulness of certain members of the family as renovating crops, and enforces the importance of using them to restore fertility to exhausted soils. Conversely, the loss of nitrogen suffered by some other crops, such as oats, suggests a possible reason why they should appear to be "exhausting" crops. Coffee in Brazil.- The cultivation of coffee has been greatly extended in Brazil during recent years, chiefly in the southern provinces. The planting is done on freshly cleared ground after a single crop of Indian corn has been raised from it, either by sowing the seed directly or often by transplanting from slips grown in nursery rows. During the earlier years corn, beans, and occasionally sugar-corn are grown between the The coffee-plant usually begins to bear at the fourth year from the nursery, or the fifth or sixth year from the seed. The tree is supposed to reach its prime at ten years old, becomes practically sterile at twenty, and may by care be kept in bearing for forty years. The extremes of the flowering season are from August to January. The berry begins to form in November, and to ripen in April or May, when the harvesting rows. begins. This is done by hand, and generally very carelessly. The berries are washed, dried, and put through various processes of cleaning for the market; what is called "washed" coffee is put through a different process, in which much of the treatment is given under water. Object-Studies in Botany.-Prof. Bessey some time ago urged teachers of botany to give a more intelligent direction to the collections which their pupils will make during the season of study. The usual course is to gather a surplus of the showy flowers which are the most easily studied, and neglect the others, of which less is known. The teacher should take special pains to point out the features of interest in the funguses, etc., which the student may bring in. Let him direct attention to the pores, on the walls of which the spores are developed - to the closely interwoven threads of the body of the fungus. When a spotted strawberryleaf is brought in, let him tell something, if it be but little, about the cause of the spots; and let the pupil be taught to look for similar spots on other plants, and to study them. Do so with lichens, with pond-scums, with green slimes, with mosses, with liverworts-in fact, with whatever is brought in by the sharp-eyed young collector. "He must be a poor teacher indeed who can not suggest something to his pupil about a toadstool or a puff-ball. It is not necessary to know the species or even the genus to which a plant has been assigned in order to be able to make valuable suggestions to one's pupils." Contributions to the Geology of Staten Island. Dr. N. L. Britton has reported to the Natural Science Association of Staten Island concerning observations that lead him to consider that the serpentine and talcose rocks forming the main ridge of the island were derived from magnesian limestone and hornblende or tremolite strata. The rocks were doubtless originally deposited in a conformable sequence, but the serpentines were left on top in the folding of the strata. The hypothesis of a southwestward extension of the crystalline rocks across New Jersey has been confirmed in a well-boring at Perth Amboy. Considerable additions to the fossil flora have been obtained by Mr. Hallick from ❘ to endure the low temperature of 45° F., the ferruginous sandstone on the shore at Tottenville. The occurrence of copper, derived from the decomposition of pyrites, in the limonite ore beds at Todt Hill is mentioned. Several well-defined nearly driftless with storm and wet for ten consecutive days. The proportion of satiné or satin-like cocoons was extraordinary-fifty to two hundred and ninety-four in all. A somewhat similar trial made in India some years ago was successful experimentally but not financially. In this case the worms, under calico screens, ate along the hedge at their will, new relays raine illustrate an interesting feature of gla- taking the place of the old ones as the parts of the hedge over which they had eaten recovered their leaves. areas north and west of the terminal mo ciation. NOTES. PROF. D. S. MARTIN'S Geological Map of New York City and its Environs is the only map giving in detail the geology of the entire region (fifty-five by sixty-eight miles) surrounding the metropolis; it is compiled with great care from separate sources, some of which are not easily accessible, and some are unpublished; it exhibits the relations of many geological systems and series east of the Alleghanies; and shows striking features connected with the Glacial age, the terminal moraine, and the ancient (now submerged) channel of the Hudson River. A pamphlet of explanations accompanies every copy. A few copies of the second edition of the map still reman for disposal at ten dollars each. No more are likely to be published. Address Prof. Martin, at Rutgers Female College, West Fifty-fifth Street, New York. MR. C. R. ORCUTT remarks, in the West American Scientist, on the prominence of the great variety in rock-lichens in producing a pleasing effect in the scenery of Lower California. Red, yellow, gray, and white are the prevailing colors, and the whole side of a cliff is often covered by lichens of the same tint. Quartz, however, is not a favorite rock with the lichens, and consequently is seldom concealed. The lichens frequently imitate, in coloring, the natural hue of the rocks on which they are found. A BOOK by Mr. George F. Kunz, the distinguished mineralogical expert of the house of Tiffany & Co., on the Gems and Precious Stones of North America, is announced for publication by the Scientific Publishing Company, New York. It will be a popular description of the occurrence, value, history, and archæology of precious stones in America, and of the collections in which they exist, with a chapter on pearls. The several species and varieties are described systematically. The work will be sold at ten dollars a copy. MR. JOHN GRIFFITT, of Smyrna, has reported favorably on the results of a season's experiments in rearing silk-worms on mulberry-trees, under muslin screens, in the open air, using the regenerated Bournabat graine. They show that the regeneration was thorough and complete, enabling the worms RIVER water was substituted for spring water in one of the quarters of Paris several times last summer. In every instance, according to the "Semaine Médicale," an increase of typhoid fever was observed. The quantity of spring water brought to Paris being insufficient for the demand, the Council of Public Hygiene and Health has deter mined to expedite the labors for the new supply from springs recently bought by the city, and to insist that the use of the present spring waters be limited to food purposes. HENRY HOLT & Co. will publish soon, Introduction to Systematic Botany. By Charles E. Bessey, professor in the University of Nebraska, and author of Bessey's Botanies in the American Science Series. M. DE MALARCE recently informed the French Academy of Sciences that the use of the metric system had in 1887 become compulsory in countries having an aggregate population of 302,000,000, being an increase of 53,000,000 persons obliged to use it in ten years; use was optional in countries having nearly 97,000,000 inhabitants; and was legally admitted and partially applied in countries having an aggregate population of 395,000,000. The systems of Japan, China, and Mexico are decimal but not metric. Hence the metric system is legally recognized by 794,000,000 people and decimal systems by about 474,000,000 others. By the Hungarian trade law of 1884, every commune in which there are fifty or more apprentices must provide for their ed. ucation, and afford special courses of instruction. The apprentice schools in BudaPesth contain a preparatory class, provide a course of three years, and are chiefly designed to educate apprentices for the higher trade schools. Each district of the town must have at least one apprentice school. No class is to have more than fifty or at most sixty pupils. Deserving pupils are pro. moted at the end of each year. In the other towns and counties of the kingdom there are 229 apprentice schools, with 1,237 teachers and 38,081 pupils. THE Swedish Oyster-culture Society is try. ing to acclimatize American oysters from Connecticut on the coast of the province of Bahus. The young oysters seem to thrive well. A SCHEME of the French Government to | lieving that there exists between him and encourage the intermarriage of life-convicts in New Caledonia with life-convicts imported from the prisons at home is pronounced mischievous by the "Lancet." The purpose is to build up family relations in the interest of morality; but British experience is to the effect that such alliances lead to the multiplication of criminals, and that the real check to crime lies in breaking up and isolating the criminal class. Testimony gleaned by M. Louis Barron from the journals of New Caledonia points in the same direction, and forms an instructive commentary on the law of heredity as deduced by Darwin. THE French fishermen are troubled by the depredations of porpoises, for which they have not succeeded in finding a remedy. An attempt was made to catch them in seine nets, but they jumped out of the snares. They were scared away by guns and torpedoes, but the fish were frightened and disappeared with them. They are too numerous to be shot one by one in an effective manner. The only thing to be done seems to be for the fishermen to unite and drive them away in crowds; but this will have to be often repeated. Insurance and payment of damages by the Government are the last measures of relief suggested; but they, too, are expensive to somebody. VANILLA is produced from a species of orchid that attaches itself to walls, trees, and other suitable objects. The plant has a long, fleshy stem, and the leaves are alternate, oval, and lanceolate. The flower is of a greenish-white color, and forms axillary spikes. The fruit is a pod, measuring when full grown some ten or twelve inches in length and about half an inch in diameter. The quality of the pod can be determined by the presence or non-presence of a crystalline efflorescence called givre, and by its dark chocolate-brown color. The fragrant givre is vanillin, C8H8O3. The pods also contain vanillic acid, oily matter, soft resin, sugar, gum, and oxalate of lime. A STRIKING example of degeneration in growth is exhibited by the scale that attacks greenhouse and other plants. According to Mr. Bernard Thomas, in "Science Gossip," it is a degenerated female which lives upon the sap of the plant, continuing to increase in size and reproduce its young. These may be found underneath it as minute red bod ies, just visible to the naked eye, and at this every member of the class an intimate and OBITUARY NOTES. PROF. VAN QUENSTEDT, of Tübingen, one of the most famous of German paleontologists, died December 21st, at an advanced age. He was the author of a work on the Jura, and of a Handbook of Petrefactenkunde, or the science of petrifactions. He had an especially profound knowledge of the Lias of Würtemberg and its fossils. M. CH. FIEVEZ, assistant in the spectroscopic department of the Royal Observatory of Brussels, died February 2d, aged forty-five years. He studied first for the military profession, but was invited to the observatory by M. Houzeau, and entered it after studying under Janssen at Meudon. His most impor tant work was the construction of a chart of the solar spectrum on a larger scale than that of Angström. He made a detailed study of the spectrum of carbon, and experiments on the behavior of spectral lines under the influence of magnetism and of changes of temperature. DR. C. C. PARRY, a distinguished Ameri. can botanist, recently died at Davenport, Iowa, aged sixty-seven years. He made valuable collections of plants, and was an authority in the classification of the North American flora. He was for several years a botanist in the Agricultural Department in Washington. Mount Parry, near Denver, was named after him. PROF. RICHARD OWEN, geologist, died from accidental poisoning at his home in New Harmony, Ind., March 24th. He was a son of the Scotch philanthropist, Robert Owen, and was born in Scotland, January 6, 1810. Having been schooled in Europe and come to the United States, he studied civil engineering in Kentucky, was a Professor of Geology there, served in the United States Survey, was a captain in the Mexican War, was State Geologist for Indiana, professor in Indiana State University, and lieutenant-colonel and TOTEMS are defined by Mr. J. G. Fraser as "a class of material objects which a savage regards with superstitious respect, be- | colonel in Indiana volunteer regiments SEN'S Three Standard Books. REMSEN'S (IRA) INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. xxii + 827 pp., 8vo. (American Science Series, Advanced Course.) Mailing price to teachers, $3.08. A comprehensive treatise, meant for study, for use in the laboratory, and for reference. It is not a dictionary; it is a text-book. The grouping of the elements is based upon the periodic law, and throughout the relations between phenomena are emphasized. BESSEY'S (C. E.) ESSENTIALS OF BOTANY. xlii + 292 pp., 12mo. Mailing price to teachers, $1.19. The first chapter is an introduction to the gross anatomy of flowering plants, which, together with a "Manual," is sufficient for the identification of most common phanerogams. The bulk of the book is devoted to the more fruitful and detailed study of representations of a wider range of genera, including the lowest forms. The book is a school text-book. PACKARD'S (A. S.) FIRST LESSONS IN ZOÖLOGY. viii + 290 pp., 12mo. Mailing price to teachers, 90 cents. At once a laboratory manual and a class text-book, with an unequaled series of illustra tions for an elementary class-book. A new descriptive catalogue sent free to any applicant. HENRY HOLT & CO., New York. Royal Baking ABSOLUTELY PURE Light Sweet Wholesome Bread Delicious Pastry A Cream of Tartar Powder. Found Superior to all others in Strength and Leavening Power.-U. S. Government Report, August 17, 1889. A SCHEME of the French Government to | lieving that there exists between him and encourage the intermarriage of life-convicts in New Caledonia with life-convicts imported from the prisons at home is pronounced mischievous by the "Lancet." The purpose is to build up family relations in the interest of morality; but British experience is to the effect that such alliances lead to the multiplication of criminals, and that the real check to crime lies in breaking up and isolating the criminal class. Testimony gleaned by M. Louis Barron from the journals of New Caledonia points in the same direction, and forms an instructive commentary on the law of heredity as deduced by Darwin. THE French fishermen are troubled by the depredations of porpoises, for which they have not succeeded in finding a remedy. An attempt was made to catch them in seine nets, but they jumped out of the snares. They were scared away by guns and torpedoes, but the fish were frightened and disappeared with them. They are too numerous to be shot one by one in an effective manner. The only thing to be done seems to be for the fishermen to unite and drive them away in crowds; but this will have to be often repeated. Insurance and payment of damages by the Government are the last measures of relief suggested; but they, too, are expensive to somebody. VANILLA is produced from a species of orchid that attaches itself to walls, trees, and other suitable objects. The plant has a long, fleshy stem, and the leaves are alternate, oval, and lanceolate. The flower is of a greenish-white color, and forms axillary spikes. The fruit is a pod, measuring when full grown some ten or twelve inches in length and about half an inch in diameter. The quality of the pod can be determined by the presence or non-presence of a crystalline efflorescence called givre, and by its dark chocolate-brown color. The fragrant givre is vanillin, C8H8O3. The pods also contain vanillic acid, oily matter, soft resin, sugar, gum, and oxalate of lime. every member of the class an intimate and altogether special relation." They are tribal emblems, family symbols, signals of nationality, expressions of religion, bonds of union, and regulators of marriage-laws and of the social institutions. The system of totems exists among most primitive peoples, and in similar forms with the North American Indians, Australians, South Africans, Arabs, hill tribes of India, Polynesians, and many other peoples. Among a tribe in Colombia, where descent is in the female line, it goes so far that if a man happens to cut himself with his own knife, to fall off from his own horse, or to hurt himself in any way, his mother's clan demand blood-money from him for injuring one of their totems. OBITUARY NOTES. PROF. VAN QUENSTEDT, of Tübingen, one of the most famous of German paleontologists, died December 21st, at an advanced age. He was the author of a work on the Jura, and of a Handbook of Petrefactenkunde, or the science of petrifactions. He had an especially profound knowledge of the Lias of Würtemberg and its fossils. M. CH. FIEVEZ, assistant in the spectroscopic department of the Royal Observatory of Brussels, died February 2d, aged forty-five years. He studied first for the military profession, but was invited to the observatory by M. Houzeau, and entered it after studying under Janssen at Meudon. His most impor tant work was the construction of a chart of the solar spectrum on a larger scale than that of Angström. He made a detailed study of the spectrum of carbon, and experiments on the behavior of spectral lines under the influence of magnetism and of changes of temperature. A STRIKING example of degeneration in growth is exhibited by the scale that attacks greenhouse and other plants. According to Mr. Bernard Thomas, in "Science Gossip," it is a degenerated female which lives upon the sap of the plant, continuing to increase in size and reproduce its young. These may be found underneath it as minute red bod ies, just visible to the naked eye, and at this time of their life comparatively active creatures; but they soon settle down and begin to degenerate. Their eyes become indistinct, and finally, with their antennæ and legs, shrivel away, the body loses its thick. ness, and they appear as if without life. DR. C. C. PARRY, a distinguished American botanist, recently died at Davenport, Iowa, aged sixty-seven years. He made valuable collections of plants, and was an authority in the classification of the North American flora. He was for several years a botanist in the Agricultural Department in Washington. Mount Parry, near Denver, was named after him. PROF. RICHARD OWEN, geologist, died from accidental poisoning at his home in New Harmony, Ind., March 24th. He was a son of the Scotch philanthropist, Robert Owen, and was born in Scotland, January 6, 1810. Having been schooled in Europe and come to the United States, he studied civil engineering in Kentucky, was a Professor of Geology there, served in the United States Survey, was a captain in the Mexican War, was State Geologist for Indiana, professor in Indiana State University, and lieutenant-colonel and TOTEMS are defined by Mr. J. G. Fraser as "a class of material objects which a savage regards with superstitious respect, be- | colonel in Indiana volunteer regiments. |