Our breeders, in aiming to increase the weight of their fleece, have developed the length of the staple, and have unconsciously created a merino combing wool—a wool in special demand through modern improvements in machinery and changes in the fashion of goods. Mr. Ferneau, an eminent Belgian wool manufacturer, who has thoroughly studied our wool resources and manufactures, says that three quarters of the American wool is "combing wool," and will be ultimately employed for this purpose. The bulk of American merino wools is of strong, sound, and healthy staple, having few weak spots in them. Those from the other States of the West are free from burrs. Those from California have this defect in a high degree. They are admirably fitted for blankets, flannels, and fancy cassimeres, and the great bulk of our card wool manufactures. They are so excellent, as a whole, that M. Ferneau says they are too valuable to be used for clothing purposes. They supply nine tenths of all the card or clothing wool consumed in American mills.
THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE IN MEXICO.
Mexico, the land of so many and such frequent revolutions, and the scene of such intestinal commotions and bitter strife through the whole period of her existence, from the Spanish conquest up to within a few years, is at present happily in a state of comparative peace and quiet; the laws are less disregarded, brigandage is gradually disappearing, more attention is being paid to the protection of life and property, and public education is in a prosperous condition. No greater evidence of this felicitous state of affairs could be afforded than that shown in the display of energy and zeal with which the present administration, aided by the foremost Mexican scientists, is carrying out an extended system of scientific explorations, investigations, and internal improvements; and the progress of which is being recorded in a valuable series of government publications; one of these—the Annals of the Minister of Public Works—being now before us. This volume, the third of the series, begins with an article by the able director of the National Meteorological Observatory, Sr. Mariano Barcena, calling attention, in the first place, to the great national importance, as well as necessity, of a well organized system of meteorological observations; (2) giving a description of the Mexican Observatory, its equipment, the questions it proposes to investigate, and the hours of observation; (3) an explanation, accompanied by charts, of the daily system of registration pursued at the observatory; and, finally, observations on the periodic phenomena of vegetation, and notes on the orography and geology of the valley of Mexico. Sr. A. Anquiano follows with a communication on the "Geographical Position of Chalco," prefacing the results of his labors by an able essay on the "Mexican Method" of determining the latitude of places, a "method" founded on an observation of the stars. It would be interesting to quote from this, but our limited space will not permit. The "Citlaltepetl Commission," consisting of the engineers, Srs. Plowes, Rodriguez, and Vigil, whose patriotic ardor induced the minister to commission them to explore "and be the first to plant the flag of Mexican science on the snow clad peak of Citlaltepetl," render their report of operations during the year 1877 in the form of an exceedingly interesting memoir. They ascertained the peak of the volcano Citlaltepetl (or Orizaba) to be 17,651 feet above the level of the sea, which is 292 feet more than Humboldt made it. After a somewhat exhaustive treatise on the "Telescope and its Amplifying Power," by Sr. Jimenez, we have a long and extremely interesting account of the Ancient Aqueduct of Zempoala, one of the most notable of existing monuments of the old Spanish rule. These aqueducts (for there were three) were projected and carried to a successful termination by an humble and ignorant Franciscan monk—the Friar Tembleque. The construction of these remarkable works, begun in 1554 and occupying a period of 17 years, was undertaken for the purpose of carrying water from Zempoala to Otumba (a distance of 27 miles), and was the occasion of a curious contract between the inhabitants of these two cities. It seems that Otumba, situated at a high elevation, needed water; Zempoala was blessed with water, but was sadly in need of spiritual advisers; the people of the former city, therefore, agreed to furnish a certain proportion of friars to minister to the religious wants of the parties of the second part, and the latter in return bound themselves to furnish water, and the labor and materials for the building of an aqueduct to lead it, to the parties of the first part. No tradition remains to state when these structures ceased to be used. The longest of the three extends across the valley of the Papelote, a distance of 2,960 feet, and consists of 68 arches, the highest of which has an altitude of 106 feet. Señor Salazar urges on the Minister of Public Works the importance of having these monuments of a past age repaired and restored, not alone for archaeological reasons, but because Otumba to-day is as greatly in need of running water as it was in that remote period when these viaducts were constructed. Señor Barcena follows with a description and colored plate of a plant (Gaudichaudia Enrico-Martinezii) new to the Mexican flora, and Sr. Federico Weidner with some "General Reflections on the Iron Industry of the Country." Succeeding the latter paper, an exhaustive article by the same writer gives us, from a geological point of view, the structure, as far as can be ascertained, of the "Cerro de Mercado" of Durango, which is said to be one vast mass of iron. The author after a thorough examination of this hill, last year, concludes that it is of eruptive or volcanic origin. This is contrary to the statements made in most published works, the authors of which probably derived their notions from the views expressed by Humboldt, who was of the opinion that this mass of iron was an immense aerolite. Sr. Weidner, however, concludes that the great traveler never visited the locality in person, but obtained his information from heresay. He shows that the hill is deficient in the chemical constituents of aerolites, namely, iron, nickel, and cobalt, in a native or malleable state; but, on the contrary, is made up in a great measure of crystalline magnetic iron, and various useful oxides of the same metal. By a careful estimate of the quantity of iron contained in that portion only of the Cerro which appears above the surface of the soil, the author obtains as a result the enormous sum of 507,000,000 pounds, and this reduced to a metallic state would yield 250,000,000 pounds of pure iron. The structure of this remarkable hill is made apparent to the reader by means of an excellent geological section, in colors, accompanying the text.
The volume closes with some notes by Sr. Barcena on the "Hydrographic System of the Hacienda of Cienega de Mata, and its application to one of the theories that explain Natural Fountains."
In taking leave of this subject we have to congratulate the Mexican Government not only for the valuable matter contained in its scientific publications, but also for the very excellent style in which the latter are being issued. The general make up of the volume before us leaves little to be desired; the arrangement of the types is extremely tasty, the imprint is clean, sharp, and clear, the paper good, the margins of the pages broad, and the illustrations exceedingly well executed. It is to be sincerely hoped that the present state of peace, which our sister republic is enjoying, will endure for numerous years to come; and that the scientific work begun under such happy auspices may go on uninterruptedly until the whole country shall have been thoroughly explored. For as yet, we know but comparatively little about the geology of Mexico, and a great deal is yet to be learned, too, about her natural productions.
