Speaking at the Royal Institute, London, recently, on " Fungi, " Prof. Ward said that the mould on wall paper was rather on the paste than on the paper. With cheese, it was the water in it that gave rise to mouldiness, while that on boots was an outcome of the blacking, not of the leather. Ninety to ninety-five per cent of the fungi was water, and this was so in the case of mushrooms. There was a popular mistaken notion that these fungi were nutritious, but there was very little nutriment even in a hundredweight. The other 5 per cent, or 10 per cent, was made up of nitrogen and oxygen. Jellies, in particular, were the choice food of moulds. Some fungi were so luminous that photographs had been taken of them by their own light. These fungi were very destructive. They simply ate up whatever they fastened on, mostly wood. There was also a mould which the professor called " lurking fungi ". This generally attacked grain, and in a way went to sleep between the seed and its husk. They were poisonous and had caused epidemics in the past. It was his belief that beri-beri was caused solely by a" lurking fungi " in the rice. This was a very serious thing to Eastern nations, especially to an army in the field, like that of the Japanese.

To avoid the shortening of machine belts, one firm cuts them too short, when they are first applied to the machine, by a length of 1 ft. or several inches. When the belt grows slack this piece is removed, and a shorter piece is inserted instead. A variety of widths and lengths is kept for this purpose, and when a machine operator wishes to shorten a belt, he determines about how much slack needs taking up, 8nd gets a piece that much shorter than the one already in the belt. The piece is returned to be used again as occasion requires. This system prevents the actual belt from being wasted and obviates the necessity of squaring ends and punching new holes each time the belt is shortened.

Oil for cylinder lubrication cannot be too good. A new cylinder costs more than a great deal of good oil.

The "gold from sea water " craze appears to be having a lively run in England at the present time, and it is asserted that no less a person that Sir William Ramsey has endorsed a process for extracting the gold. Unless such approval appears over the signature of this eminent scientist, the statement should be viewed with suspicion. Many investors in a similar enterprise in this country would have little faith in it, if all the scientists in the world gave approval.

A method of distingushing iron from steel is to wash the piece of metal to be tested and then plunge it into a solution of bichromate of potash, with the addition of a considerable quantity of sulphuric acid. In from thirty to sixty seconds the metal can be taken out, washed and wiped. Soft steels and cast-iron will have assumed a regular ash-gray tint; tempered steels will have become almost black, without any metallic reflection; puddled and refined irons will remain nearly white with metallic reflections on the part of their surface previously filed, the remainder of the surface presenting irregular blackish spots.