* * * * * A peculiar kind of glassy bodies, known as moldavite or bouteillenstein, is attracting the attention of Austrian and Bohemian geologists. These glasses are ovals from an inch to an inch and a half long, and are characterized by various markings, some of which suggest finger impressions, while others form a network of furrows, which may have in part a rough radial arrangement. They have been regarded by some authors as relics of prehistoric glass manufacture, but this view does not appear to have been sustained. Dr. F. E. Suess, the famous Austrian geologist, finds resemblances between them and meteorites, and the most general disposition of students of the subject is now to consider them of extra-terrestrial origin. Resemblances have further been pointed out between them and some peculiar obsidian bombs found in Australia. The moldavites in Bohemia occur in sandy deposits which are assigned to the late Tertiary or early Diluvial period. * * * * * At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, besides studies bearing directly on science and the arts, courses are given in modern languages, as an important means of access to foreign works in the student’s professional department: English, for the purpose of training pupils to express themselves readily, accurately, and adequately, and of aiding them in the understanding and appreciation of good literature; history and political and social science, the instruction in which is arranged to connect with that in biology, so that the two departments shall present “an unbroken sequence of related studies extending through three successive years, and resting upon the fundamental knowledge of living forms and of prehistoric man that is presented in general biology, zoölogy, and anthropology,” followed by comparative politics and international law; and economics. * * * * * A witness recently admitted to the British Government’s Committee now making inquiry into the use of coloring matters and preservatives in food, that yellow coloring substances were largely purchased without any discrimination for the purpose of giving a rich appearance to milk and milk products. As a rule, no question was asked as to the injurious or non-injurious character of the dye so used. One of the best coloring matters was known as Martius’s yellow, naphthol yellow, naphthalene yellow, Manchester yellow, saffron yellow, or golden yellow, and is chemically the same as the dinitro-alpha-naphthol prepared from the naphthalene that crystallizes in gas mains, which is an important constituent in the making of lyddite. It is slightly explosive when heated, is injurious when it comes in contact with an abrasion of the skin, and has been shown by physiological experiments to be a highly improper substance to mix with food. * * * * *