must have been as correct in purpose as it appears daring in subject. * * * * * Some seeds will germinate when placed between pieces of ice and kept at a freezing temperature; and it is thought that, this method will afford an easy means of selecting varieties of seed which will bear a cold climate. * * * * * The explosion in the coal mines at Jabin, Belgium, last February, was due to the ignition of fine coal powder suspended in the air. * * * * * A Vienna lady, who had been maid of honor to the Empress Maria Theresa, lately died in that city at the age of one hundred and nineteen years. That is certainly a well established case of longevity extending beyond a century. * * * * * The rare metal vanadium is worth 13,000 francs ($2,600) per pound; about eight times as much as gold. And yet vanadium is, as Dr. Hayes has shown, a very widely diffused metal. It forms, however, only a mere trace in most rocks. * * * * * W. Siemens has lately determined velocity of propagation of electricity in suspended iron telegraph wires, and finds it to be between 30,000 and 35,000 miles per second. Kirchhoff had determined it at 21,000 miles and Wheatstone at 61,900 miles. * * * * * Prof. Forel of Switzerland has proved that the water of lakes oscillates almost constantly from one bank to another, and this not only from end to end, but also from side to side. Thus the Swiss lakes have two _Seiches_, as they are called, in opposite directions. * * * * * The sewage schemes have had a good many indignant critics and fervent defenders. Of the former is Mr. Louis Thompson, who says that the sewage discharged into seacoast harbors floats on the surface, being lighter than salt water. Its solid portions are cast up on the shore and in shoal places, there to become the food of animals, among which are shell fish, that serve for man's food. * * * * * Boys' kites can be kept from plunging by making both the wood cross pieces in the form of a bow, instead of flat. The string is placed a little above the centre of the upright bow, and a very light tail attached. These kites are very steady, and if a string attached to one side of the centre is pulled after the kite has risen, it can be made to fly as much as thirty degrees from the wind. For this reason it is proposed to use kites for bringing a vessel to windward. CURRENT LITERATURE.