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ASSIMILATION

ture is put in a fire-clay dish, called the scorifier, and heated to redness in a furnace having a compartment or muffle open to the air, called a muffle furnace, until the substances are thoroughly melted. The surface of the molten le^d now shows in a circular space in the center of the scorifier, while the earthy materials form a slag which forms a ring around this circle. The heating is continued until a considerable part of the lead has been oxidized to lead oxide. This goes into the slag and increases its amount so that the slag finally covers the diminishing metallic lead. Then the melted mixture is poured into a mould, and, on cooling, a lead button is seen which can be detached from the slag. The lead has taken up the silver as well as any gold that may be present. The next process is called cupellation. The cupel is a small cup made of burnt bone and is porous. The lead button is put in this vessel, after the latter has been heated to redness in a muffle furnace. The lead and other base metals that may be present are burned or oxidized, and the oxides are absorbed by the porous mass of the cupel, or sent off in the shape of vapor. Silver and gold are not oxidized, hence they remain in the metallic state. Just before the assay is finished, rainbow colors come and go over the button, and a brilliant flashing up of color marks the end of the operation. The silver button left in the cupel is finally weighed. This is one of the simplest methods, but not the only method of assaying. A crucible is sometimes used instead of a scorifier. H. L. WELLS.

As'simila'tion (in plants). A term often applied to the manufacture by green plants of starch, sugar and similar substances (carbohydrates). This process is better called photosynthesis (which see), leaving assimilation to be applied to the transformation of foods (carbohydrates, proteids, fats, etc.) into the living substance, protoplasm. Of the details of this very little is known.

Assiniboia (as'sin-t-boVa}, one of the northwest territories of Canada until 1905, when one part of it was merged in the new province of Alberta and the remainder in the new province of Saskatchewan. The city of Regina was formerly in Assiniboia.

Assin'iboine, an important river in northwestern Canada. The city of Brandon (Manitoba), is on its banks. Runs easterly to the Red River., The Souris and Qu'Appelle Rivers are its tributaries. Runs through a rich agricultural country. Length 450 miles.

Assisi (d-se'se), St. Francis of, a devout Italian monk, born at Assisi in the province of Perugia, in 1182, and the founder of the Franciscan order. To his tomb, in the Church of San Francesco, Assisi, many thousands from, all parts of Europe make annual pilgrimages. The church is enriched by the possession of many remarkable frescoes and paintings by Cimabue and Giotto, which depict stories from the Old and New Testaments and incidents in the life of St. Francis of Assisi.

Associated Press, the largest organization of its kind, is a mutual organization of persons representing newspapers, having for its purpose the collection and distribution of the important news of the world. There are about eight hundred and sixty members. For its more important service The Associated Press has its own leased wires, which form a network across the continent from Bangor, Me., to Seattle, Wash., and San Diego, Cal., and from Duluth, Minn., to New Orleans, Galveston and Tampa, Fla. The total mileage of this leased wire system is approximately: Day wires 22,000 miles; night wires 28,000. From various points along the trunk lines the report is sent to interior cities. Each of its members engages to contribute the news of his immediate vicinage to The Associated Press. The annual revenues, which are derived from assessments levied upon its members, approximate $3,000,000 while the number of words daily received and transmitted at each of the more important offices is over 50,000, or the equivalent of thirty-five columns of the average newspaper. The headquarters are in New York with bureaus at thirty-five other cities in this country and at the important capitals of other nations. It has correspondents all over the world and coSperative relations with the largest similar organizations in foreign lands. It is governed by a Board of Directors, fifteen in number, chosen for three-year terms by the members in annual meetings. It has no stock, no dividends and no profits of any character, its revenue being derived from assessments of its members.

The present organization operates tinder a New York charter, secured in 1900, and is the outgrowth of several earlier and competing associations.

FREDERICK R. MARTIN, Assistant General Managert Associated Press.

Association of Ideas. By the association of ideas is meant such relations among them as will cause one to suggest others. Through the so-called laws of association psychologists have attempted to explain why a certain perception or thought is followed by certain images, sensations or ideas. Association is supposed to explain those trains of thought in which the mind pursues its own course unguided by the senses, except in so far as the original suggestion may have been a perception.

Early psychologists have many interesting allusions to the mental phenomena that are classed under the head of association of ideas, but before the time of Locke (1632-1704), it was generally assumed