seum, laboratories, etc.; 8. Publications—number and class—number of volumes published since foundation how these publications may be obtained; 9. Any other useful information. M. Rauïs's address is "Académie Royale des Sciences, Place du Musée, No. 1, à Bruxelles."
The World's Production and Consumption of Paper.—The following statistics of paper-making are given on the authority of Rudel, of Vienna, Austria: It appears that there are 3,960 paper-manufacturers in the world, employing 80,000 men and 180,000 women, besides the 100,000 employed in the rag-trade; 1,809,000,000 pounds of paper are produced annually. One-half is used in printing, a sixth for writing, and the remainder for packing and for other purposes. The United States averages 17 pounds per head; an Englishman consumes 11½ pounds; a German, 8 pounds; a Frenchman, 7 pounds; an Italian, 3½ pounds; a Spaniard, 1½ pound; and a Russian only 1 pound annually, on an average.
According to Worsæ, the civilization of the Age of Bronze originated in Asia Minor, and was first adopted in Greece. From Greece and Hungary it spread over the rest of Europe. From Greece it spread into Italy, Gaul, and Britain; from Hungary, into Northern Germany and Scandinavia.
E. Monsen, C. E., has written a pamphlet entitled "The Sewage Difficulty exploded." "The author," says Iron, "cuts the knot of sewage utilization, by regarding sewage as practically useless for agricultural purposes, thus restricting the question to the easiest and most economical method of rendering it innocuous. He puts his opinion in epigrammatic form when he observes that sludge and sewage require a deal of leaving alone. Having removed the insoluble matter or sludge by deposition, and brought the liquid portion into a condition sufficiently innocuous, he proposes to pass it into the rivers; the sludge he would bury or store in trenches. It will thus, he says, be put out of the way, and cease to be a nuisance."
It is proposed to make the tidal movements in the British Channel available for compressing air to drive the engines used in excavating the Anglo-French Tunnel under the Straits of Dover.
Experiments made by Fleck, of Dresden, on the disinfecting power of chloride of lime, caustic lime, alum, sulphate of iron, and chloralum, show that the last is by far less efficacious than the others. Alum and sulphate of iron are quite as inoffensive and innocuous as chloralum, while at the same time they are more powerful and considerably cheaper.
A new tonic medicine, stimulant to digestion, and having a marked action on the liver, is mentioned in the Medical Press. It is called boldo, and is obtained from the boldu, a tree which grows in Chili. One gramme of the tincture excites appetite, increases the circulation, and acts on the urine, which gives out the peculiar odor of boldo.
The mode of fertilization of the closed gentian, the flowers of which never open, has long puzzled botanists. The corolla is twisted up so as to leave no opening at the top. The flowers are all nearly erect, with two stigmas considerably above the five anthers. An English observer has seen humble-bees entering these flowers; they pry or untwist the opening with their mouth-organs and legs, and then pop into the barrel-shaped cavity, which they just fill.
Sir Charles Lyell, author of "Principles of Geology," died February 23d. Deceased was born in 1797. At Oxford University he attended Buckland's lectures on geology. The first volume of his "Principles" was published in 1830. The work has reached its twelfth edition in England, and is the principal text-book of geology in that country. Lyell's "Elements" was originally a part of the "Principles." He also wrote "Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man." We gave a portrait of Lyell and a sketch of his life in No. II. of the Monthly.
Died, December 31, 1874, Francis Kiernan, F. R. S., author of "Anatomical Researches on the Structure of the Liver." He was a native of Ireland, but had lived in England from boyhood. His researches earned for him his Fellowship in the Royal Society, and also the Copley Medal. He took an active part in promoting the establishment of the London University.
It is in contemplation to send out from Germany during the present year an expedition to explore the north-polar region. The expedition is to consist of two steamships, one to explore the east coast of Greenland, the other to advance to the pole. The funds are to be raised by private subscription.
The Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland lately resolved to memorialize the Government in behalf of agricultural education for the working -classes, that the grants of the department shall be declared to cover instruction in chemistry, mechanics, physiology, botany, morphology, and other scientific subjects, when taught in the abstract, in so far as necessary for agriculture; and also to cover instruction given in the principles of agriculture as an applied science, and to place it in the same position as machine-construction, applied mechanics,
