Summary A graphical method is proposed for recording in a qualitative analysis: 1. 2. 3. 4.
The reagents added, The results produced, The separation of solid from liquid, and The color of the solutions, precipitates, and filtrates.
UNITED STATES CIVfL-SERVICE EXAMINATION The United States Civil-Service Commission announces an open competitive examination for Associate Sanitary Engineer. Applications for associate sanitary engineer must be on file a t Washmgton, D. C., not later than February 21st. The examination is to fill a vacancy in the United States Veterans' Bureau, and vacancies occurring in positions requiring similar quali6cations. The entrance salary for this position in Washington, D. C., is $3000 a year. A prabatianarv period of six months is required: advancement after that denends upon .. individual efficiency, increased usefulness, and the occurrence of vacancies in higher positions. If appointment is made outside the District of Columbia, the salary will be .. approximately the same. The duties are to investigate water and sewage problems a t the various Veterans' Hospitals; t o advise in regard to water supplies and the design of water and sewer systems; t o carry on bacteriological and.chemica1 investigations of water. The work will include travel, as required, to the various field activities of the Bureau. Competitors will not be required t o report for examination a t any place, but will be rated on their education, training, and experience. Full information and application blanks may be obtained from the United States Civil-Service Commission, Washington, D. C., or the secretary of the board of U. S. civil-service examiners a t the post-office or customhouse in any city.
X-Ray Overdoses Hurtful to Plants. X-rays can have harmful effects on plants as easily as they can on animals, and the result of an apparently mild dose given to a plant in its youth may show up in distortions and freak growths much later, when maturity has been reached. A series of experiments with X-rays on plants, conducted by Edna Louise Johnson of the University of Colorado, is to be reported in the forthcoming issue of the Botanical Gaeette. Miss Johnson used sunflowers for her material, raying them while they were young seedlings and even unplanted seeds. Then she let them grow up and watched for results. Most of the plants developed doubled, or "fasciated," stems, a phenomenon occasionally observed in nature, caused by injury to the growing tip. The doubling tendency extended to leaves and flowers as well, for many leaves had two blades and some of the flower heads appeared in distorted and unnatural shapes. The stem The e5ects of the X-r& were evident internally as well as &-ally. was made coarser and woodier, its water-conducting vessels were dislocated from their usual positions, and abnormal amounts of corky material appeared in the skin. Measurements of physiological effects showed that the rate of life-processes in general was depressed.-Science Sem'ce
