EDITORIAL NOTE.

This same theory has been suggested many times by our most advanced American bee-keepers.  It has been hinted that this same formic acid was what made honey a poison to many people, and that the sharp sting of some honey, notably that from bass wood or linden, originated in this acid from the poison sac.  If this is the correct explanation, it seems strange that the same kind of honey is always peculiar for greater or less acidity as the case may be.  We often see bees with sting extended and tipped with a tiny drop of poison; but how do we know that this poison is certainly mingled with the honey?  Is this any more than a guess?—­A.J.  Cook, in Psyche.

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CHLORIDES IN RAINFALL OF 1884.

We are apt to regard the rain solely as a product of distillation, and, as such, very pure.  A little reflection and a very slight amount of experimental examination will quickly disabuse those who have this mistaken and popular impression of their error.  A great number of bodies which arise from industrial processes, domestic combustion of coal, natural changes in vegetable and animal matter, terrestrial disturbances as tornadoes and volcanic eruptions, vital exhalations, etc., are discharged into the atmosphere, and, whether by solution or mechanical contact, descend to the surface of the earth in the rain, leaving upon its evaporation in many instances the most incontestable evidences of their presence.  The acid precipitation around alkali and sulphuric acid works is well known; the acid character of rains collected near and in cities, and the remarkable ammoniacal strength of some local rainfalls, have been fully discussed.  The exhaustive experiments of Dr. Angus Smith in Scotland, and the interesting reports of French examiners, have made the scientific world familiar, not only qualitatively but quantitatively, with the chemical nature of some rains, as well as with their solid sedimentary contents.

Some years ago my attention was unpleasantly drawn to the fact that the rain water in our use reacted for chlorine; and on finding this due solely to the washing out from the atmosphere of suspended particles of chloride of sodium or other chlorides or free chlorine, it appeared interesting to determine the average amount of these salts in the rain water of the sea coast.  The results given in this paper refer to a district on Staten Island, New York harbor, at a point four miles from the ocean, slightly sheltered from the ocean’s immediate influence by the intervention of low ranges of hills.  They were communicated to the Natural Science Association of Staten Island, but the details of the observations may prove of interest to the readers of the Quarterly, and may there serve as a record more widely accessible.