aan nyeontot Cent TEM ERY Serene be ener a Ty Sone ke Tne eaersmativessts retbetic Hiei aT STANT eters eiercarete Pers ewes £ se Rie seaming gre Tara Fe Te NNER ow te Saas ceil Maik atts eles eal DOSE NT teat agate eI EY ae Rpsacinnts Botte oe Pag OMT R OP AO TT onuth eh Paar eo ae a 7 ee PCIE NCE AC Wiley S@WMERIN AT: DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. EDITORIAL CoMMITTEE: S. NEwcoms, Mathematics; R. S. WooDWARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, Astronomy; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics; R. H. THURSTON, Engineering; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry; J. LE ContE, Geology; W. M. DAvis, Physiography; O. C. MARSH, Paleontology; W. K. BRooks, C. HART MERRIAM, Zoology; 8. H. SCUDDER, Entomology; N. L. BRITTON, Botany; HENRY F. OsBoRN, General Biology; H. P. BowpDiTcH, Physiology ; J. S. BILLiInes, Hygiene ; J. MCKEEN CATTELL, Psychology ; DANIEL G. BRINTON, J. W. POWELL, Anthropology. NEW SERIES. VOLUME IV. JULY -DECEMBER, 1896. NEW YORK, THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 1896 THE NEW ERA PRINTING H¢ _ 41 NoRTH QUEEN STREET, -LANcasTER, Pa. CONTENTS AND INDEX. N.S. VOL. 1V—JULY TO DECEMBER, 189u. The Names of Contributors are Printed in Small Capitals. A., J. A., Preliminary Synopsis of the American Bears, C. Hart Merriam, 145 Academic Freedom in Russia, 752 Acetylene, 719 Achemenidean Inscription, The Second Column of the, 165 ADAMs, FRANK D., A Handbook of Rocks for Use without the Microscope, J. F. Kemp, 764 Adaptations in Cave-dwelling Animals, C. L. F., 192 Address, by the President before the British Associa- tion, JOSEPH LisTER, 409; by the President be- fore the Zoological Section of the British Asso- ciation, E. B. POULTON, 625, 668; of the Vice- President before Section B.—Physics, A. A. A.S., C. L. MEEs, 507 Aéronautics, International Cooperation in, W. DE FONVIELLE, 762 After-Image, An Uncommon, Hiram M. STANLEY, 52 Age of the Island Series, LESTER F. WARD, 757 Agricultural Science, Society for the Promotion of, C. S. PLUMB, 392 Agriculture and Horticulture, Notes on, ByRon D. HALSTED, 17, 137 AITKEN, R. G., The Position of the Companion of Sirius, 877 Alai and Pamir, 612 Alberger, on a Self-cooling Condenser, 15 Allen, Harrison, Tarsius fuscomanus, 804 ALLEN, J. A., A Reprehensible Method of Determin- ing Priority of Publication, 691; The Date of Pub- lication; 838 Alphabets, Origin of the Ancient Indian, 526 American, Journal of Science, 55; Association for the Advancement of Science, Forty-fifth Meeting, Buffalo, Aug. 24-29, 1896, CHARLES R. BARNES, 280; Association for the Advancement of Science, The Buffalo Meeting of, 222, 226, 241, 277, 280, 284, 321, 328, 344, 346, 355, 382, 388, 429, 461, 470, 475,507, 548, 558, 581, 601; Museum of Nat- ural History, Opening of the East Wing of, 849 Americanists, International Congress of, 264 Anatomy, The Teaching of, 46; THomas DWIGHT, 142 Anderson, A. P., Abnormal Resin Ducts in Conifers, 431 Anthropological, Journal, A New, 192; Society, Ger- man, 750; Society of Washington, J. H. Mc- . CORMICK, 847, 925 Anthropology, Current Notes on, D. G. BRINTON, 16, 45, 76, 108, 185, 165, 191, 263, 304, 351, 402, 450, 488, 526, 561, 613, 649, 684, 717, 750, 789, 831, 912, 936; at the A. A. A. 8., G. H. PER- KINS, 388; at the British Association, A. C. HADpDON, 63; of .French Polynesia, 685; Psy- chology and Philology, Section of the N. Y. Academy, LIVINGSTON FARRAND, 696; Paris, School of, 789 ; The Limitation of the Compara- tive Method in, FRANZ Boas, 901 Antiquities of Costa Rica, 613 Apple Tree, Curious Freak in an, T. H. LENNOX, L. H. BAILEY, 317 Apples, New, E. LEWIS STURTEVANT, 572 Araucanian Studies, 831 Archeological, Map of Ohio, 789; Artefacts, Distribu- tion of, in America, 937 Archeology of Switzerland, 561 Argon and Helium, 492, 831 Armadillo, A Nine-handed, A. B. BAKER, 52 Astronomical, Notes, H. J., 18, 109,526, 564, 614, 652, 720, 751, 790, 832, 871; Society, British, 75; Cipher Code, 106; and Physical Section of the N. Y. Academy of Sciences, WM. HALLOCK, 622 Astrophysical Journal, 503, 799 Atkinson E., What is True Money? 559 ATKINSON, GEO. F., A Compendium of General Bot- any, Max Westermaier, 54; Botany at the A. A. A.§., 429; Albert Nelson Prentiss, 523 Atkinson, Geo. F., Sporophyll-transformation in Di- morphic Ferns, 434 Atlas of the Pacific Ocean, 45 Atmospheric, Dust Observations, 489; Electricity and Telephones, 650; Air, Impurities i in, 913 Atomic Theory, A Completed Chapter in the History of the, EDWARD W. MoRLEY, 241 Auk, The, 176 Automobile Carriages, 570 Ayres, Brown, Mechanical Models of the Cireuit, 349 BABB, CyRuUS C., Recent Hydrographic Examinations in the Appalachian Area, 103 Bacteriological Research, Organization of, 654 BAILey, L. H., Curious Freak in an Apple Tree, 318 Bailey, L. H., Nursery Book, 495; Morphology of the Canna Flower, 440 BAKER, A. B., A Nine-banded Armadillo, 52 BALDWIN, J. MARK, Criticisms of Organic Selection 724; An Optical Illusion, 794 Bancroft, W. D., Distillation with Vapour, 471 BARBOUR, ERWIN HINcKLEY, A Two-headed Tor- toise, 159 BARNES, "CHARLES R., American Association for the Advancement of Science ; ; Forty-fifth Meeting, Buffalo, August 24-29, 1896, 280; Proceedings of the Botanical’ Society "of ‘America, 366; Prantl’s Lehrbuch der Botanik, 765 Barnes, C. R., Terminology of Reproduction and of Reproductive Organs, 437; What is the Bark? 437 Barus, C., A Curve-tracing Top, 444, 572 Barus, ‘Carl, on Carbon Dioxide, 55 1V Basalt Plateaus, Dissected, of Northwestern Europe, 107 Baselevel, A Central Wisconsin, C. R. VAN HISE, 957; A Northern Michigan, C. R. VAN HIss, 217 Bash, V., Method in Asthetics, 644 Basques, A Study of the, 108 : BAvER, L. A., On the Notation of Terrestrial Mag- netic Quantities, 272 Beard, John, On Certain Problems of Vertebrate De- velopment, C. 8. M., 763 f Beaunis, H.,and A. Binet, L’Année psychologique, E. B. DELABARRE, 576 Becker, G. F., Schistosity and Slaty Cleavage, 119; Rock Differentiation, 927 Bedell, F., Admittance and Impedance Loci, 580 _ Beman, W. W., and D. E. Smith, Plane and Solid Geometry, THOMAS S. FISKE, 202 Bendire, Charles, Life Histories of North American Birds, from the Parrots to the Grackles, C. H. M., 657 BENJAMIN, MARcuS, Pioneers of Science in America, William Jay Youmans, 956 Berenson, Bernhard, The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance, with an Index to their Works, W. JAMES, 318 BESSEY, CHARLES E., Science and Culture, 121 Bessey, Charles E., Significance of the Compound Ovary, 434; Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons, 438 Bibbins, Arthur, Paleontologic Folk-lore of Maryland, 926 BIGELOW, FRANK H., Remarks on Prof. W. 8. Franklin’s Review aud the Note Signed M., 76 Biological, Survey of Washington, 19; Laboratories, The Hull, 226; Section of N. Y. Academy of Sciences, CHARLES L. BRISTOL, 659, 961; Society of Washington, F. A. Lucas, 731, 882, 928 Biology, Zoology and Botany, Y., 51 Bison Herd, Fate’of a European, GERRIT S. MILLER, JR., 744 Black Raze of Susa, 649 Blake, EK. M., Methods of Defining Monogenic Func- tions, 442 Blyth’s ‘ Poisons,’ 720 Boas, FRANZ, The Form of the Head as Influenced by Growth, 50; The Decorative Art of the In- dians of the North Pacific Coast, 101; Naual, A. Eichhorn, 695 ; The Limitation of the Compara- tive Method in Anthropology, 901 Bonney, J. G., Ice Work, Present and Past, T. C. CHAMBERLIN, 406 Botanical, Gardens, N. L. Brirron, 284; Opportu- nity, WILLIAM TRELEASE, 367; Society of Amer- ica, Proceedings of, CHARLES R. BARNES, 366; Club, Torrey, H. H. Ruspy, 623; Garden, A Tropical, 872, 943; Seminar of the University of Nebraska, 822, 964 Botany at the A. A. A. S., Guo. F. ATKINSON, 429 Boot, J. C., Specific Gravity Bottle, 767 Boston Society of Natural History, SAMUEL HEN- SHAW, 963 Bourke, John Gregory, In Memoriam, WASHINGTON MATHEWs, 820 Bownpitcn, H. P., The Advancement of Medicine by Research, 85 Brain Weight of Mammals, 833 Bramwell, J. M., Somnambulism, 646 BRINTON, D. G., Current Notes on Authropology, 16, 45, 108, 165, 191, 263, 304, 351, 402, 450, 488, i SCIENCE. CONTENTS AND: INDEX. 526, 561, 613, 647, 684, 717, 750, 789, 831, 912, 936; Die Maya-Sprachen der Pokom-Gruppe, Otto Stoll, 363; Langue Tarasque, Raoul de la Grasserie et Nicholas Leon, 363; The History of Mankind, Friedrich Ratzel, 621; Demon Posses- sion and allied Themes, John L. Nevius, 694 Brinton, D. G., The Psychic Source of Myths, 390; The Myths of the New World, ALICE C. FLETCH- ER, 798 BRISTOL, CHARLES L., Biological Section of the N. Y. Academy of Sciences, 659, 961 British Association for the Advancement of Science, 392, 403, 409, 492, 606, 610, 625, 637, 668, 687, 690: Britton, N. L., Botanical Gardens, 284 Britton, N. L., Crateegus, Amelanchier, Cyperacez, Cardamines, 431; and Addison Brown, An I1lus- trated Flora of the Northern United States, Can- ada and the British Possessions, CONWAY MAc- MILLAN, 574. ‘Brooklyn,’ The U. S. S., R. H. THURSTON, 451 Brown, Addison, and N. L. Britton, An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions, CONWAY MACMILLAN, 574 Browne, Montagu, Artistic and Scientific Taxidermy and Modelling, F. A. LUCAS, 239 Brush, George J., Determinative Mineralogy and Blowpipe Analysis, revised by Samuel L. Pen- field, J. H. PRATT, 924 BUCHANAN, GEO. CHAS., The Instincts of Birds, 728 Buckingham, Edgar, Note on the Theorem of Clau- sius, 147 Bumpus, H. C., Instinct and Education in Birds, 213; The American Lobster, A Study of its Habits. and Development, Francis H. Herrick, 536 Bumpus, H. C., Meristic and Homeotice Variation in the Vertebral Axis of Necturus, 960 C., EK. W., Sir Joseph Prestwich, 190 Caldwell, G. C., Aim of Qualitative Analysis, 474 Calkins, on Protozoa of Puget Sound, 962 Calvin, Samuel, Iowa Geological Survey, CHARLES. R. Keyes, 408 Campbell, E. D., Diffusion of Sulphides through Steel, 766, and 8. C. Babcock, Solubility of Phos- pore in Steel, 766; A Pure Carbide of Iron, 5) CAMPBELL, W. W.; Mars, Percival Lowell, 231 ; Mr. Lowell’s Book on ‘ Mars,’ 455 CARHAkT, HENRY §., The Humanistic Element in Science, 124 Carnation-rust, Combatting, 18 Carpenter, H. V., A Steam Calorimeter, 15 ; Capacity of Condensers for Short-charge Periods, 845 Cataracts, Guayra, of the Parana, 419 CATTELL, J. MCKEEN, Psychological Notes, 307, 938 ; The Limits of Science, 573 ; Criticisms of Organic Selection, 727 ; Professor Wilson’s Address at the Princeton Sesquicentennial Celebration, 922 Cattell, J. McK., Physical and Mental Measurements. of Students of Columbia University, 696 Cell, Some Recent Researches on the Chemistry of the, ALBERT MATTHEWS, 341 Chalmot, G. de, Crystalline Silicon, 174 CHAMBERLIN, T. C., Ice Work, Present and Past,. T. G. Bonney, 406 Chandler, J. R., Ruins of Tzac Pokoma, 389 veneae SETH C., Life and Work of Dr. Gould,. NEW iv | VOL. IV. \ Chandler’s Third Catalogue of Variable Stars, 109 CHANEY, JR., L. W., Geology in the Colleges of the United States, 656; Glaciers in the Montana Rockies, 761 CHAPMAN, FRANK M., A Concise Hand-book of British Birds, H. Kirke Swann, 204; Meteor or Bird ? 316 Chemical, Journal, The American, J. ELLIOTT GILPIN, 27, 174, 623, 766, 958; Society, N. C. Section of the American, 148; Thirteenth General Session of the American, 302; of London, Jubilee of, 528; N. Y. Section of the American, DURAND WoopD- MAN, 660, 767; of Washington, A. C. PEALE, 884; Literature, Fourteenth Annual Report of the Committee on Indexing, 825 ‘Chemische Rundschau, 686 Chemistry, The Teaching of Beginning, PAUL C. FREER, 130; Membership of the International Congress of Applied, 264; Physical, Achievements of, W. A. Noyes, 461; Notes on Inorganic, J. L. H., 452, 492, 527, 651, 685, 719, 790, 831, 870, 913, 939; at the A. A. A. S., F. P. VENABLE and CHARLES H. HeErty, 470; at the British Association, J. L. H., 610; Physical, The Aim of, Harry W. JONES, 931 Chester, A. H., A Dictionary of the Names of Min- erals, L. P. GRATACAP, 117 Chestnut, V. K., Andromedotoxin, 475; Poisonous Honey, 884 CHILD, C. M., Lehrbuch der vergleichenden Mikro- scopischen Anatomie der Wirbelthiere, Albert Oppel, 729 Cinnabar and Rutile in Montana, 171 Clark, T. E.. Comparative Anatomy of the Insula, 83 Clarke, F. W., Mineral Water, 472 CLARKE, JOHN M., Professor James Hall and the Geological Survey of the Fourth District of New York, 706 Classification, The Dewey Decimal and Scientific, AKSEL G. 8. JOSEPHSON, 315; A Question of, Rost. T. HILL, 918 Claypole, A. M., Appendages of an Insect Embryo, 603 Claypole, E. W., Ancient and Modern Sharks, 386; Human Relics in the Drift of Ohio, 801 Clayton H. H., A Seven-day Weather Period, 55 Clerk, Dugald, The Gas and Oil Engine, R. H. THURSTON, 578 Climate and Man, 749. Climatic Control of Civilization in Africa, 829 Cloud, Atlas, International, 136; Heights, Early Measurements of, 830; Observations in Tropical Plants, 937 COCKERELL, T. D. A., Gall-making Coccid in Amer- ica, 299 COLBURN RICHARD T., Social and Economic Science at the A. A. A. S., 558 Cole, A. D., Refractive Index and Reflecting Power of Water and Alcohol for Electric Waves, 148 Cole, A. S., and E. L. Durgan, Thermometry, 845 CoE, F. N., Mathematical Papers read at the Inter- national Mathematical Congress held in connec- tion with the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893, 200 Colleges and Universities, American, The Future of, 141 Colon Bacillus Group, A Study of, ADELAIDE WARD PECKHAM, 773 Colonization by Europeans in the Tropics, 562 Color, Photography, 193; The Physiology of, in Plants, D. T. MACDOUGAL, 350; Aisthetics of, 941. SCIENCE. V Comey, A. M., Dictionary of Chemical Solubilities, Inorganic, L. B. HALL, 27 Coe or Plagiarism, GEORGE BRUCE HALSTED, 77 Comstock’s Investigation of the Constants of Aberra- tion and Refraction, 564 Comstock, W. J., Antimony Trichloride, 174 ConkKLIN, E. G., The Whence and Whither of Man, John M. Tyler, 502 Consumption, The Diminution of, 166 Copan, The Ruins of, 304 Copz, E. D., On the Penial Structures of the Sauria, 561; The Date of Publication, 760; The Date of Publication Again, 878 Cope, E. D., Port Kennedy Bone Fissure, 83; The Primary Factors of Organic Evolution, H. S. WILLIAMS, 456 Copeland, Edwin B., Relation between Growth and Turgor, 432 Coral Reef-boring Expedition, 531 Cosmic Conceptions, Primitive, 17 COULTER, JOHN M., Nature Study and Intellectual Culture, 740 Coulter, J. M., Structures of the Embryo-sac, 431; Remarks on Chalazogamy, 437 Coville, Frederick V., Hzematococcus, 731 Crania from Florida, 717 Craniological Studies, 402 Craniology, American, 45 Crocq, T., Hypnotism, 646 Crook, A. R., Northwestern University Science Club, 732, 928 Cross, Whitman, Landslides in Colorado, 962 Crowd as an Anthropic Unit, 402 Currents, Pacific Ocean, 828 Curve-tracing Top, C. Barus, 444, 572; Jas. E. TALMAGE, 656 ; and a Curious Optical Illusion, C. B. WARRING, 533 Curved Line, The Length of a, THomAs S. FISKE, 724 Cushing on Shell Mound Explorations, 847 Cyanide Process of Gold Extraction, 720 D., W. M., Grundriss einer exacten Schopfungs- geschichte, Hermann Habenicht, 840 DALL, WM. H., Recent Advances in Malacology, 770 Davis, E. W., Continuity of Chance, 442 Davis, W. M., Current Notes on Physiography, 42, 107, 163, 221, 305, 448, 524, 611, 682, 747, 828, 910 Davis, W. M., Large Scale Maps as Geographical II- lustrations, 120 Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory, 110 DAwsoNn, GEORGE M., Honors to James Hall at Buf- falo, 714 Day, David, Parthenogenesis in Thalictrum fendleri, 438 Day, R. N., Forces Determining the Position of Leaves, 430 DEAN, BASHFORD, Catalogue of Fossil Fishes of the British Museum, Arthur Smith Woodward, 24 ; The Cyprinodonts, S. Garman, 25 Dean, Bashford, Chordates and Photo-chordates of Puget Sound, 962 Deaths: Richard Avenarius, 355; Eugen Baumann, 793; E. Beyrich, 170; C. J. Boone, 616; C. E. Brown-Sequard, 653; M. Carriére, 404; G. Car- ton, 874; Gabriel Colin, 113; E. Czerkawski, 721; Mrs. Darwin, 568; Arthur Dowsett, 874; - SCIENCE. J. L. Delboeuf, 355; J. J. Egli, 404; Ernst Engel, 941; John Eric Ericksen, 493; H. F. von Foullon-Norbeeck, 652; Henry C. Ford, 268; B. A. Gould, 834; A. H. Green, 267; Sir William Grove, 194; J. A. H. Gyldén, 753; George Harley, 687; Ferdinand von Herder, 404, John Houston, 355; George M. Humphrey, 568; August Kanitz, 224. August Kekulé, 111; R. E. Kerry, 721; Gustav Kieseritski, 616; Saul Kowner, 721; Cajétan de Kraszewski, 404; Hermann Krutzsch, 267; J. P. E. Liesgang, 616; Lord Lilford, 73; Otto Lillienthal, 223; Theodore Marbe, 652; G. F. H. Marcoe, 493; H. C. Martin, 721; Dr. Minnegerode, 404; Dr. MOller, 793; F. von Mul- ler, 652; Max Miller, 653; H. A. Newton, 222; Alfred Nobel, 941; Luigi Palmieri, 404; H. B. Pollard, 74; A, N. Prentiss, 267; Sir Joseph Prestwich, 20; Emile Renbaugh, 493; H. Resal, 454; G. H. Richards, 793; B. W. Richardson, 793; David Robertson, 874; G. W. Samson, 22; Moritz Schiff, 652; Eugen Sell, 721; P. L. R. von Seidel, 404; Jules Simon, 20; F. R. Simony, 224; A. G. Stoletow, 140; Dr. Strauss, 941; F. F. Tisserand, 652; J. M. Toner, 194; A. L. Trécul, 721; Henry Trimen, 687; Henry D. Van Nostrand, 568; Ernst Wenzel, 793; L. C. Wiener, 267; J. D. Whitney, 267; W. C. Win- lock, 454; Fritz Westhoff, 941; Emil Wolff, 915; J. T. Wolff, 721 Decimal, Numeration in the United States, E. E. -SLOSSON, 59; Division of Time and Angles, 871 Declinations by Meridian Circle, Comparison between the Use of Fixed and Movable Circles in the De- termination of, R. H. TucKER, 618 Decoration of Oedam of Buitenzorg Botanic Gardens, D. G. F., '756 Decorative Art of the Indians of the North Pacific Coast, FRANZ Boas, 101 DELABARRE, E. B., L’Année psychologique, H. Beaunis and A. Binet, 576 Dentition of Lemurs and Systematic Position of Tar- sius, H. F. O., 745 De Schweinitz, A Lamp for generating Formaldehyde Gas and Acetic Aldehyde, 884 DEWEY, JOHN, Studies of Childhood, James Sully, 500 Discussion and Correspondence, 50, 76, 115, 142, 170, 199, 228, 270, 315, 358, 455, 497, 533, 571, 618, 656, 691, 724, '757, 794, 838, 875, 917, 945 Distribution of the Red-backed Mouse, 756 Dixon, G. S8., Tubercle Bacillus, 622 Donapson, H. H., Atlas of Nerve Cells, M. Allen Starr, 318 Dove.ass, A. E., The Lick Review of ‘ Mars,’ 358 Drumlins in Switzerland, 448 Duff, A.W., The Viscosity of Polarized Dielectrics, 147 Dugear, B. M., Bacterial Disease of the Squash-bug, Durand, E. J., The Order Pesizinez, 432 Durker, F. W., Oxidation of Sodium Sulphide and Hydro-sulphide to the Sulphate by Electrolysis, 174; Action of Water of the Hubbe Coal Mine upon Cast Iron, 959 Dust and Sand Storms, 525 Dwieut, THomas, The Teaching of Anatomy, 142 EARLE, CHARLES, Instruction in Natural History in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, 65; Tapirs, Past and Present, 934 CONTENTS AND INDEX. Earthquake Wave in Japan, 748 pe Reseman, C. R., The Dinichthyids, 56; Dorsal Shields of the Dinichthyids, 386 : Eastman, J. R., Weights of Observations, 346 Ebbinghaus, H., A New Method of Testing Mental Ability, 642 Eclipse, Total, Solar, 356, 871; Changes of Tempera- ture during the recent, 563; Observations, 830 Edentates, North American Origin of the, J. L. WORTMAN, 865 ; ; Eddy, Henry T., Alternating Currents in Branching Circuits, 349 ; Edinger, L., Psychology and Brain Anatomy, 644 Edwards, George C., Elements of Geometry, THOMAS S. FISKE, 201 Eichhorn, A., Naual, FRANZ BOoAs, 695 Electrical Conduction at Low Temperatures, 165 Electrified Bodies, the Influence of Light upon the Discharge of, ERNEST MERRITT, 853, 890 Embryos of the Smooth Dogfish (Galeus Canis), JAMES E. PEABODY, 535 EMERSON, B. K., Geological Myths, 328; Honors to James Hall at Buffalo, 697, 716 ; Emerson, B. K., Tuff Beds, 385 Emmons, S. F., Gold Deposits of the Northern End of the Black Hills of S. Dak., 801 Endo-Cannibalism, 68 Engine Trials of 1896, Reports on, 353 Engineering, Education, Past and Present Tendencies in, MANSFIELD MERRIMAN, 255; Education, Society for the Promotion of, 300 ; The Artistic Element in, FRANK O. MARVIN, 321 ; Civil, The Definition of, F. O. MARvIN, 500 Engineers, Convention of the American Society of, 13 English ‘Round Barrow’ Stock, 836 Entomological Society of Washington, L. O. How- ARD, 732, 802, 925 Entomologists, Economic, Eighth Annual Meeting of the Association of, Buffalo, N. Y., C. L. MAR- LATT, 547 Entomology, Economic, The Evolution of, C. H. FERNALD, 541 Ethnographical Research, Questionnaires for, 450 Ethnology, and History, 17 ; Teaching of, 450 Eucken, R., Terminology, 120 Evolution, A New Factor in, 139 Expedition, to Greenland, 74 Expeditions, Arctic, 113 Exploration, Australian, 449 Explorations in Yucatan, 526 Eyesight of English School Children, 193 F., C. L., Adaptations in Cave Dwelling Animals, 192 F., D. G., Decoration of Oedam of Buitenzorg Bo- tanic Garden, 756 Fairbanks, H. W., California Coast Ranges, 800 Farman, D., Auto Cars, R. H. THURSTON, 957 FARRAND, LIvINGstTon, Section of Anthropology, Psychology and Philology of the New York Academy, 696 FARRINGTON, OLIVER C., Impossible Volcanoes, 271 Faucett, E. D., Berkeley to Hegel, 504 Fear, A Study of, 939 ; FERNALD, C. H., The Evolution of Economic En- tomology, 541 Fernow, E. B., Shrubby and Arborescent Plants from Arizona, 731 NEW | VoL. IV. Ferrari, G. C., Musical Memory of Idiots, 645 FIskE, THomAs S., Elements of Geometry, George C. Edwards, 201 ; Planeand Solid Geometry, C. A. Van Velzer, 201 ; Plane and Solid Geometry, W. W. Beman and D. E. Smith, 202 ; The Sum- mer Meeting of the American Mathematical Society, 441 ; The Straight Line asa Minimum Length, 533 ; The Length of a Curved Line, 724 ; A Reply to Professor Halsted, 917 Flechsig, P., Association Centers, 642 FLETCHER, ALICE C., Emblematic use of the Tree in Dakotan Groups, 475 ; The Myths of the New World, Daniel G. Brinton, 798 Floating of Metals and Glass on Water and other Liquids, ALFRED M. MAYER, 298 Flournoy, The Association of Figures, 644 Fonvielle, W. de, International Cooperation in Aéronautics, 762 Foreign Students in the French Universities, 169 Forest Lands of Sweden, 875 Form of the Head as influenced by Growth, FRANZ Boas, 50 Foul Air Indicator, 141 Franklin Institute, 836 FRANKLIN, W.S., Physics at the A. A. A. S., 346 Franklin, W. S., Counter Electromotive Force of the Electric Are, 347 ; Mechanical Conception of the Electromagnetic field, 349; and L. B. Spinney, Galvanic Polarization, 350 FRANZ, SHEPHERD Ivory, The International Psy- chological Congress, 640 Franz, 8. I., and H. Griffing, Conditions of Fatigue in Reading, 647 FREER, PAuL C., The Teaching of Beginning Chem- istry, 130 Freer, P. C., Action of Sodium on Aldehyde, 175; and P. L. Sherman, Jr., Derivatives of Formic Acid, 175 FRost, EDwIn B., Mathematics and Astronomy at the A. A. A. S., 344 Frost, E. B., On the Level of Sun-spots, 345, 800 Frost, Protection from, 164 Fruits in Florida, Diseases of Citrous, 17 Fulton, John, Memoirs of Frederick A. P. Barnard, W. HALLOCK, 273 Futon, R. L., The Appearance of the Moon, 840 GAGE, S. H., Physiology in the Schools, 29; Zoology as a Factor in Mental Culture, 207 Gage, 8. P., Modification of the Brain during Growth, , 602 Garman, 8., Cyprinodonts, BASHFORD DEAN, 25 Geodetic Survey of South Africa, 526 Geographic Society, National, 74 Geographical, Society, The Royal, 69; Congress, Re- port of the London, 164; Explorations, Recent, 491; Section of the British Association, ROBERT HuGH MILL, 606; Bibliography, 748 Geography, of Silesia, 108; from Nature, 525; in the English Universities, 220 Geologic Folios, Recent United States, 910 Geological, Atlas of the United States, 40; Survey, for Fiscal Year, 1896-97, Work of the, W. F. MOoRSELL, 40; Bulletins of, 114, Field Work of, 565, 615; of Pennsylvania, Final Summary Re- port, EK. V. D’ INVILLIERS, 728 ; Conference, In- ternational, '72 ; Society of London, 198; Myths, B. K. EMERSON, 328; Society of Washington, W. F. MORSELL, 801, 926, 962; Field Work of the SCIENCE. Vil University of Wyoming, 833; Conference of Harvard University, T. A. JAGGER, JR., 847 Geologist, American, 660, 800 Geology, Journal of, D. P. N., 118; and Scenery of Sutherland, 220 ; and Geography at the A. A. A. S., WILLIAM NortH RICE, 382 ; in the Colleges and Universities in the United States, FREpD- ERIC W. SimonpDs, 497; of Block Island, AR- THUR HOLLICK, 373; in the Colleges of the United States, L. W. CHANEY, JR., 656; and Mineralogy, Section of N. Y. Academy, J. F. KeEmp, 695, 846 Geomorphology of Norway, 43 Gilbert, B. D., New Gymnogramme from Venezuela, 768 GILBERT, G. K., Elements of Geology, Joseph Le Conte, 620; Age of the Potomac Formation, 875; Le Conte’s Elements of Geology, 877 Gilbert, G. K., Niagara Falls, 384 ioe GILL, THEO., Note on the Devonian Paleeospondylus, 10; Some Questions in Nomenclature, 581; and S. P. LANGLEY, George Brown Goode, 661 Gill, Theo. Relationships of N. A. Fauna, 606 GILPIN, J. ELuLiortT, The American Chemical Jour- nal, 27, 174, 623, 766, 958 Gizzi, G. G., Feeling and its Laws, 645 Glacial, Action and Shifting Divides in the Schwarz- wald, 684 ; Sand Plains about Narragansett Bay, 682 Glaciers in the Montana Rockies, L. W. CHANEY, JR., 761 Gold and Silver in Sea Water, 685 Goldsmith on the ‘ Ringing Rocks,’ 623 Gomme, G. L., On the Method of Determining the Value of Folklore as Ethnological Data, 639 Goodale, G. L., Reclamation of Deserts, 963 GOoDE, G. BRowNn, The Lacoe Collection in the National Museum, 8 ; Philip Lutley Sclater, 293 Goode, George Brown, 365 ; THEO. GILL and §. P. LANGLEY, 661 Goopr, J. PAun, An Inherited Blunder, 116 Goodwin, H. M., Hydrolysis of Ferric Chloride, 472 ; Voltaic Cell, 846 Gorge of the Aar, 612 Gould, Dr., Lifeand Work of, SETH C. CHANDLER, 885 Grabau, A. W., Fossil Faunas in Hamilton Group, N. Y., 386 : Grape Belt of Western New York, 611 Grasserie, Raoul de la, and Nicholas Leon, Langue Tarasque, D. G. BRINTON, 363 GRaTacaP, L. P., A Dictionary of the Names of Minerals, A. H. Chester, 117 GREEN, BERNARD R., Philosophical Society of Wash- ington, 883 Green, Isabella M., Peritoneal Epithelium in Am- phibia, 604 Greenland, Cornell Expedition to, RALPH S. TARR, 520 Greenleaf, James L., Hydrology of the Mississippi, 56 Gulf Stream and Labrador Current, 305 Guns, Large, On Certain Physical Difficulties in the Construction of, W. LE CoNTE STEVENS, 732 Guttmann, Oscar, The Manufacture of Explosives, CHARLES E. MonRoOE, 459 H., J. L., Notes on Inorganic Chemistry, 452, 492, 527, 651, 685, 719, 790, 831, 870, 913, 939 ; Chemistry at the British Association, 610 viii SCIENCS. CONTNDEX. H., L. O., Report of the Government Entomologist for the year 1895, Cape of Good Hope, Department of Agriculture, C. P. Lounsbury, 172; Tenth Annual Report of the N. Y. State Entomologist, J. A. Lintner, 172 c: Habenicht, Hermann, Grundriss einer exacten Schop- fungsgeschichte, W. M. D., 840 ee Happon, A. C., Anthropology at the British Asso- ciation, 637 Hale, Horatio, Indian Wampum Records, 390 : HALIBURTON, R. G., Pygmy Villages discovered in the Interior of Surinam, Guiana, 171 HALL, C. W., Le Conte’s Elements of Geology, 796 Hatt, L. B., A Dictionary of Chemical Solubilities, Inorganic, A. M Comey, 27 Hall, Honors to, at Buffalo, 697; W J McGee, 700 ; John M. CLARKE, 706; B. K. EMERSON, 697, 716; JosEPH LE ContTE, 698; T. GUILFORD SmitH, 712; GEorGE M. Dawson, 714; J. J. STEVENSON, 714 HAtwock, W., Memoirs of, Frederick A. P. Barnard, John Fulton, 273; Astronomical Section N. Y. Academy of Sciences, 622 HALSTED, Byron D, Notes on Agriculture and Hor- ticulture, 17, 137 HALSTED, GEORGE BRUCE, The Culture given by Science, 12 ; Halsted on the Straight, 656 ; Com- pliment or Plagiarism, 877; Number and its Algebra, Arthur Lefevre, 954 Halsted, G. B., Subconscious Pangeometry, 504 ; Pro- fessor, A Reply to, THomASS. FISKE, 917 Hargitt, C. W., Notes upon Cordylophora, 602 ; Some Abnormal Chick Embryos, 605; Regeneration and Heteromorphosis, 605 Harrington, N. R., Expedition to Puget Sound, 961 HARSHBERGER, JOHN W., Some Recent Mexican Publications, 539 Hartland, Edward Sidney, The Legend of Perseus, GEO. St. CLAIR, 275 Hatschek, B., and C. J. Cori, Elementarcurs der Zootomie in fiinfzehn Vorlesungen, HENRY F. NACHTRIEB, 146 Haworth, Erasmus, University Geological Survey of Kansas, CHARLES S. PROSSER, 81 Hay, O. P., Structure and Mode of Development of the Vertebrate Column, 959 Helium, 686; Attempts to Liquefy, 492 HENSHAW, SAMUEL, Boston Society of Natural His- tory, 963 pate E., Centripetal Nerves and Voluntary Action, Herrick, Francis H., The American Lobster, A Study uh hg Habits and Development, H. C. Bumpus, HERSHEY, Oscar H., An Ozark Soil, 261 Hertwig, Richard, General Principles of Zoology, D. 8. KELLIcortT, 729 HeERtTy, CHARLEs H., and F. P. VENABLE, Chem- istry at the A. A. A. S., 470 Herty, C. H., and H. V. Black, The Alkali Tri- Halides, 472 aed B. Seen Nitrile, 766 EWITT, J. N. B., American Fonostenogra; il- liam McDevitt, 203 ane Hit, Rosr. T., A Question of Classification, 918 Hill on Central America and Antilles, 44 : Hills and Plains of Southeast Louisiana, 163 HoLpEN, EpWwArp S., Gifts to Lick Observatory, 228 HOLuick, ARTHUR, The Geology of Block Island, 571 Hollick, A., Cretaceous Clay Marl at Clifford, N. J., 386; Long Island and Block Island, 695 Holzel’s Geographische Charakterbilder, 911 Hopkins, Grant S., Heart of the Lungless Salam- ander, 604 Horticultural School for Women, 142 Horticulture and Health, WILLIAM R. LAZENBY, 548 Hottentot Lyrical Poetry, 562 Hough, G. W., The Planet Jupiter, 345 Hovey, E. O., Artesian Boring at Key West, Fla., 385; Deep Well-boring at Key West, 846 Hovey, H. C., Mamoth Cave and the Colossal Cavern, 385; Symbolic Rocks of Byfield and Newbury, Mass., 389 HowaArp, L. O., Economic Entomology for the Farmer and Fruit Grower, John B. Smith, 658; Entomological Society of Washington, 732, 802, 925 Howard, L. O., On the Entomological Results of the Exploration of the British West India Islands, 601; A Case of Excessive Parasitism, 602 Howe, J. L., Water and Deposits from Lake in Yucatan, 472 Hubbard, A new Coccid, 732 Humanistic Element in Science, HENRY S. CAR- HART, 124 Humidity, Relative of New England, 164 Hutton on Decimal Classification, 13 Hyde, E. W., An Analog to De Moivre’s Theorem in a Plane Point System, 344; Loci of Certain Equations, 443 Hydrazin-hydrate, 791 Hydrographic Examination, Recent, in the Appa- lachian Area, CyRUS C. BABB, 103 Hydrology and Climatology, International Congress of, 44 Hygrometer, Use of the Hair, C. C. TROWBRIDGE, 62 Ice Work, Past and Present, 107, 406 Iddings, J. P., Petrology as related to other branches ot Natural Science, 928 Illustrations, Text-book, Absurdities in, 308 Indian Question, 684 Indians of the Northwest Coast, 912 Indies, East and West, 829 Inherited Blunder, J. PAUL GoopE, 115 Instinct and Education in Birds, H. C. Bumpus, 213 Instincts of Birds, Gro. CHAs. BUCHANAN, 728 D’INVILLIERS, E. V., Final Summary Report of the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, 728 Tron Age in America, 67 J., H., Astronomical Notes, 18, 109, 526, 564, 614, 652, 720, 751, 790, 871, 832 Jackson, C. L., and 8. Calvert, Metaphenylene Dia- mine, 28; and W. R. Lamar, Derivatives of Trichlordinitrobenzol, 624 Jacoby, H., Astro-photographie Star Charts, 622 JAGGAR, Jr., T. A., Geological Conference of Harvard University, 847 JAMES, W., The Florentine Painters of the Renais- sance, with an Index to their Works, Bernhard Berenson, 318 J ae ae Hypnotism, 642; Diseases of the Attention, Jardin des Plantes, Paris, Instruction in Natural His- tory in the, CHARLES EARLE, 65 Job, Herbert K., Ducks of Plymouth Co., Mass., 176 ‘New SERIES. Vou. IV Jodl, Fr., Causality, 120 J ohnson, W. G:., Morelos Orange Fruit-worm, 802 JONES, HARRY on The Aim of Physical Chemistry, 931 Jones, H. C., Water Solutions of some of the Alums, 471 JORDAN, DAVID STARR, Nature Study and Moral Culture, 149 Jorissen on Active Oxygen, 870 JOSEPHSON, AKSEL G. 8., The Dewey Decimal Classi- fication and Scientific Classification, 315 Jura in the United States, JULES MARcoU, 945 Jurassic Formation on the Atlantic Coast, O. C. MARSH, 805 Ke EL Experiments in General Chemistry, C. R. Sanger, 118 ‘Kansan’ Glacial Border, EDWARD H. WILLIAMS, JR., 229 Karr, Seton, Paleolithic Implements in Somaliland, 637 Kastle, J. H., B. C. Keiser and E. Bradley, the Sol- phonamides, 28; Hydrolysis of the Sulphoric Ethers, 471 Keith, Arthur, Geological Structure of the Cranberry District, 926 KELLIcOTTI, D. S., Zoology at the A. A. A. S., 601; General Principles of Zoology, Richard Hertwig, 729 Kellicott, D. S., North American Odonata, 601; The Occurrence of Dragon-flies in Ohio, 602 Kellerman, W. A., Ceres-pulver, 438 KELLOGG, VERNON L., Monograph of the Bombycine Moths of North America, Alpheus 8. Packard, 923 Kelvin, Lord, Jubilee of, 46, 68, 72, 313, 356 Kemp, J. F., Geological Survey of New Jersey, John C. Smock, 693; Section of Geology and Miner- alogy, N. Y. ‘Academy, 695, 846 Kemp, J. F., Glacial or Post-glacial Diversion of the Bronx River, 696; A Hand-book of Rocks for Use without the Microscope, FRANK D. ADAmMs, 764 Kent on Steam-boiler ‘ Efficiency,’ 15 Kew Gardens, 225 KEYES, CHARLES R., Iowa Geological Survey, Samuel Calvin, 408 Keyes, Charles R., Method of Geologic Correlation, 801 Kingsbury, B. F., Membraneous Roof of the Prosen- cephal and Diencephal of Ganoids, 603; Oblon- gata of Fishes, 603 Kirby, W. F., A Hand-book to the Order Lepidop- tera, SAMUEL H. SCUDDER, 81 Kite, Flying at Blue Hill Observatory, 489; Ascent, The Highest, 718; Meteorology, 750; Meteor- ology and Weather Forecasts, 938 Kororp, C. A., On the Occurrence of Trochospheera Solstitialis in the Illinois River, 935 Korschelt, E., and K. Heider, Text-book of the Em- bryology of Invertebrates, JACOB REIGHARD, 238 Kulpe, O., The Influence of Attention on the Inten- sity of Sensation, 643 Lachman, A., Acid Amides, 175 Lacoe Collection in the National Museum, G. BROWN GOODE, 8 LANGLEY, ‘1 P., and THEO. GILL, George Brown Goode, 661 Language, Science of, 16 SCIENCE. ix Latitude, Variation of, 833 Latitudes, Terrestrial, 110 Laurentian River System, Origin of the, 747 ee WILLIAM R., Horticulture and Health, 5 LEA, M. CAREY, X-rays, 917 LE Conse, J OSEPH, Honors to James Hall at Buffalo, 9 Le Conte, Joseph, Elements of Geology, G. K. Gi1- BERT, 620; C. W. HALL, 796 Lefevre, Arthur, Number and its Algebra, GEORGE BRUCE HALSTED, 954 Lens Primates and Ungulates, The Relations of, LENNOX, J. H., Curious Freak in an Apple Tree, 317 Nene WILLIAM, Die Insel Tenerife, Hans Meyer, 319 Libraries, University, of Europe, 494 Lichty, D. M., Acetic Acids, 175 Lick Observatory, Gifts to. EDWARD 8. HOLDEN, 228 Lilienthal, the Aviator, R. H. THuRsToN, 303 Lindgren, Waldemar, Surveys of Nevada City and Grass Valley, Cal., 963 Linebarger, C. E., Specific Gravities, 27; Isomorphous Mixtures, 472 Linguistics, American, 488 Lintner, J. A., Tenth Annual Report of the New York State Entomologist, L. O. H. Lipps, Th., Idea of the Unconscious in Psychology, 643 LISTER, SIR JOSEPH, Address by the President before the British Association, 409 Littledale in Thibet, 43 LITTLEHALES, G. W., Navigation and Nautical As- tronomy, F. C. Stebbing, 881 LLOYD, FRANCIS E., On Pholadidea Penita and its Method of Boring, 188 Lobster, A Large, F. C. WAITE, 230 Lounsbury, C. P., Report of the Government Ento- mologist for the Year 1895, L. O. H., 172 Lowell, Percival, ‘ Mars,? W. W. CAMPBELL, 231, 455 Lubbock’s Scenery of Switzerland, 163 Lucas, F. A., Artistic and Scientific Taxidermy and Modelling, Montagu Browne, 239; Biological So- ciety of Washington, 731, 882, 928 Lucium, 651, 780, 939 Liideling, G., Die Magnetische Stérungen der Jahre 1890-5, 276 Lydekker, Richard, The Royal Natural History, C. ys ey pe oy M., C. H., The Royal Natural History, Richard ” Lydekker, 116; Meeting of the Mazamas at Crater Lake, Ore, 446 ; ‘Life Histories of North American Birds, from the Parrots to the Grackles, Charles Bendire, 657 Mi CS:5) On! Certain Problems of Vertebrate Devel- opment, John Beard, 763 McBride, T. H., Sigillarids and Conifers from the Carboniferous of Iowa, 386 McCook, H. C., California Trap-door Spider, 83 McCormick, J tek , Anthropological Society of Wash- ington, 847, 925 McCormick, J. Ee Primitive Village Site in Mary- land, 847 McDevitt, William, American Fonostenography, J. N. B. HEWITT, 203 MacDoucat, D. cm The Physiology of Color in Plants, 350 a) SCIENCE. MacDougal, D. T., Influence of Rainfall on Leaves, 435; Curvature of Tendrils, 435; Relation of Growth of Leaves to Carbon Dioxide of the Air, 435 Macfarlane, Alexander, Simultaneous and Successive Vectors, 346 ; Dynamo and Motor, 349 McGrxr, W J, Honors to James Hall at Buffalo, 697 McGee, W J, Sheet-flood Erosion, 385; Seri Stone Art, 926; The Formation of Arkose, 962 Mach’s Popular Scientific Lectures, 689 McMahon, James, A Proposed Fundamental Integral- transcendent, 345; Successive Transmission of Gravity, 443 MAcMILLAN, Conway, An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions, N. L. Britton, and Addison Brown, 574; Die Morphologie und Physiologie des pflanzliche Zellkernes, A. Zimmermann, 797 MacMillan, Conway, Distribution of Plants on Fresh- water Islands, 441 McPherson, William, Hydrazones of Quinonies, 473 Malacology, Recent Advances in, WM. H. DAL, 770 Malthusianism, in Anthropology, 717 Man in the Moon, 650 MARCOU, JULES, Jura in the United States, 945 Marine Biological Association, English, 198 MARLATT, C. L., Eighth Annual Meeting of the As- sociation of Economic Entomologists, 547 ‘Mars,’ Mr. Lowell’s Book on, W. W. CAMPBELL, 231,455; The Lick Review of, A. E. DoUGLASS, 358 Marsu, O. C., The Jurassic Formation on the At- lantic Coast, 805 MARSHALL, WM.S., Science Club at the University of Wisconsin, 964 Marsupials, Two New, 199 Martin, Artemus, Bessel Equations, 443; Rational Sealene Triangles, 344 Martin, H. Newell, The Human Body, 570 Martius, G., Color Sensation, 643 MARVIN, FRANK O., The Artistic Element in Engi- neering, 321; The Definition of Civil Engineer- ing, 500 Mason, O. T., Rochefort on the Caribbeans, 52; On Lifting Monoliths, 229 Mason, W. P., Well Water, 474 Mathematical and Physical Section of the British As- sociation, Address by the President, J. J. THom- SON, 39; Papers read at the International Mathematical Congress held in connection with the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893, F. N. CoLE, 200; Society, American, The Summer Meeting of the, THomaAs S. FISKE, 441 Mathematics and Astronomy, Section A., A. A. A. 8. E. B. Frost, 344 MATTHEWS, ALBERT, Some Recent Researches on the Chemistry of the Cell, 841 MATTHEWS, WASHINGTON, In Memoriam—John Gregory Bourke, 820 Matthews, Washington, Capt. John Bourke, 389 Mature and Immature Geography, 683 Max Miuller’s Translation of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, 689 MAYER, ALFRED M., On the Floating of Metals and Glass on Water and other Liquids, 298 ae Meeting of the, at Crater Lake, Ore., C. H. 7 Medicine, The Advancement of, by Research, H. P Bowvircu, 85 ' Mediterranean Culture, Early, 750 CONTENTS AND INDEX. Mzzs, ©. L., Address of the Vice-President before Section B.—Physies, A. A. A. S., 507 : Megalonyx, Man and the, 45 MENDENHALL, T. C., Legislation relating to Stand- ards, 1 S Mercer, H. C., Caves of Tennessee, 84 Mercuric Salts, 939 , Merriam, ©. Hart, Preliminary Synopsis of the American Bears, J. A. A., 145 Merriam, Florence A., A-Birding on a Bronco, OLIVE THORNE MILLER, 881 MERRILL, Ernest, The Influence of Light upon the Discharge of Electrified Bodies, 853, 890 MERRIMAN, MANSFIELD, Past and Present Tenden- cies in Engineering Education, 255 Metallic Carbides, 651 Meteor or Bird? FRANK M. CHAPMAN, 316 Meteorological, Work at Batavia, 136; Publications, Indian, 563; Work in Southwestern Russia, 938; Conference, Report of the Chicago, 938 Meteorology, Current Notes on, R. DEC. WARD, 44, 136, 164, 306, 488, 562, 650, 718, 749, 829, 937; Australian, 136; at the British Association, 690 Metopic Suture, 221 Metric System? Js not this Country ripe enough to adopt the, F. H. StorER, 143; R. D. D. Smrra, 200 Mexican Publications, Some Recent, JoHN W. HARSHBERGER, 539 Mexico, Researches in, 191 Meyer, Hans, Die Insel Tenerife, WILLIAM LIBBEY, 319 Mica, Commercial, in North Carolina; The Story of its Discovery, FREDERIC W. SIMONDS, 359 MILL, RopERT HuGH, Geographical Section of the British Association, 606 MILLER, JR., GERRIT §., The Fate of a European Bison Herd, 744 MILLER, OLIVE THORNE, A-Birding on a Bronco, Florence A. Merriam, 881 Millis, F. E., Charging and Discharging of Conden- sers, 348; Induction Phenomena, in Alternating Current Circuits, 579 MINoT, CHARLES §., Life and Letters of George John Romanes, 762 Mixer, F. K., Fossil Fishes in Hamilton and Portage Formations, N. Y., 386 Modification and Variation, C. LLoyD MORGAN, 733 Mohler, J. F., The Effect of Pressure on Wave- length, 729 Monazite Sand, 870 Monist, 120, 504 Monoliths, On Lifting, Oris T. MAson, 229 Moon, The Appearance of, R. L. FuLtTon, 840 Moore, B. E., The Galvanic Cell, 347; Lead Storage Cell, 347; Visible Electric Waves, 580 MorGAN, C. Luoyb, Modification and Variation, 733 Morgan, C. Lloyd, Animal Automatism and Con- sciousness, 504 MoRLEY, Epwarp W., A Completed Chapter in the History of the Atomic Theory, 241 Morley, E. W., Atomic Weights of Oxygen and Hy- drogen, W. A. NoYEs, 26;and Wm. A. Rogers, Expansion of Metals, 147; Measurement of the poeion of Metals by the Interferential Method, Morris, Charles, The Primeval Ocean, 803 MORSELL, W. F., Work of the Geological Survey for the Fiscal Year 1896-97, 40; Geological Society of Washington, 801, 926, 962 Nrw SERIES. VoL. IV. Mortuary Ceremonies, 351 Moseley, E. L., Flora of Erie Co., O., and Erie Co., N. Y., 434 Moses, A. J., Mineralogical Instruments, 846 MunRox, CHARLES E., The Manufacture of Explo- Sives, 459 Murray on Structural Steel Fly Wheels, 14 Museum of Royal College of Surgeons, 197 Myths of the Northwest Coasts, 135 N., D. P., Journal of Geology, 118 NACHTRIEB, HENRY F., Hlementarcurs der Zoot- omie in funfzehn Vorlesungen, B. Hatschek and C. J. Cori, 146 Names Epiphysis, Conarium and Corpus pineale; Correction of an Error, BURT G. WILDER, 199 Nardroff, von, Ernest-R. Diffraction, 347; Compact- ness of a Beam of Light, 348 National Academy of Sciences, 769 Natural History, Popular Instruction in, 566 Nature Study, and Moral Culture, DAVID STARR JORDAN, 149; and Intellectual Culture, JoHN M. Counter, 740 Nervous Diseases and Modern Life, 111 Neural and Descriptive Terms, BURT G. WILDER, 947 Neurologic Nomenclature, 70 Neurology, Journal of Comparative, 83 Nevius, John L., Demon Possession and Allied Themes, 694 New Books, 84, 120, 148, 176, 364, 408, 460, 540, 580, 624, 696, 768, 804, 848, 884, 964 Newcombe, F. C., Rheotropism, 433 New York Academy of Sciences, C. L. BRISTOL, 659, 961; J. F. Kemp, 695, 846; W. HALLOCK, 622 Nichols, Ernest L., Anomalous Dispersion of Quartz for Infra Rays of Great Wave-length, 348; and J. A. Clark, Surface Tension of Water, 350 Nichols, Mary A., Studies in Nuclear Phenomena, 430 Nitrogeniodid, 939 NoLan, E. J., Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, 83, 622, 803, 927 Nomenclature, Some Questions in, THEODORE GILL, 581 Norris, J. F., and H. Fay, Selenious and Selenic Acids, 624 Northwestern University Science Club, R. Crooks, 732, 928 Norton, J. B. S., The Kansas Ustilagineze, 36 Norton, T. M., Teaching Technical Chemistry, 473 Notation of Terrestrial Magnetic Quantities, L. A. BAUER, 272 Noyes, A. A., and G. C. Abbott, Determination of Osmotic Pressure from Vapor Pressure Measure- ments, 471; and H. M. Goodwin, Viscosity of Mercury Vapor, 472; Dicthyl Hexamethylene Ether, 473, 845; Teaching of Organic and Phys- ical Chemistry, 473 Noyes, W. A., Atomic Weights of Oxygen and Hy- drogen, E. W. Morley, 26; Achievements of Physical Chemistry, 461 Noyes, W. A., Camphoric Acid, 624, 473 Number Nip, the Story of, 135 O., H. F., Dentition of Lemurs and Systematic Posi- tion of Tarsius, '745 Observatory, Greenwich, 18 ; Annals of the Strasburg University, 721 ; of Yale University, 193 Onondaga Academy of Sciences, PHILLIP F. SCHNEI- DER, 848 SCIENCE. XI Oppel, Albert, Lehrbuch der vergleichenden Micro- scopischen Anatomie der Wirbelthiere, C. M. CHILD, 729 Optical Illusion, J. MARK BALDWIN, 794 yea The U. S. Coast-line Battleship, R. H. T., Organic Selection, Criticisms of, J. MARK BALDWIN, 724 ; J. MCKEEN CATTELL, 727 Orndorff, W. B., and C. L. Bliss, Dianthranol, 28 nee Union, American 868; JNo H. Saar, 6 : OSBORN, HENRY F., Ontogenic and Phylogenie Varia- tion, 786 Osborn, H. F., Prehistoric Quadrupeds of the Rockies, 357 Osgood, W. F., Uniform Convergence, 442 Oxidation of Hydrogen and Carbon Monoxid by Potassium Permanganate, 870 Oxyacid of Nitrogen, Salts of a New, 492 Ozark Soil, OScAR H. HERSHEY, 261 PACKARD, A. 8., Handbuch der palaarktischen Gross- Schmetterlinge, Max Standfuss, 52; Carl Vogt.. 947 Packard, A. S., Monograph of the Bombycine Moths of North America, VERNON L. KELLOGG, 923 Paleospondylus, Note on the Devonian, THEO. GILL, 10 Paleontology as a Morphological Discipline, W. B. Scort, 177 Pamirs, 221 Pammel, L. H., Grass Flora of Iowa, 432 Parkhurst, Henry M., Photometric Observations of Colored Stars, 344 Pasteur, Filter, 226; Memorial, 403 Pathology in Anthropology, 402 Patten, H. E., Chromic Hydroxide in Precipitation, 175 PEABODY, JAMES E., Embryos of the Smooth Dog- fish (Galeus Canis), 535 PEALE, A. C., Chemical Society of Washington, 884 Peck, J. L., Vitality of the Spermatozoon, 839 PECKHAM, ADELAIDE WARD, A Study of the Colon Bacillus Group, and especially of its Variability in Fermenting Power under Different Conditions, 773 Penfield, S. L., A Sulpharsenite of Silver, 55 Periodic Law, Some Difiiculties in the Presentation of the, F. P. VENABLE, 160 PERKINS, G. H., Anthropology at the A. A. A. 8., 388 Personal Equation, T. H. SAFFORD, 170 Petrology in America, 312 Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, E. J. NOLAN, 83, 622, 803, 927 Phillippe, J., Mental Imagery, 645 Philosophical Society of Washington, BERNARD R. GREEN, 883 Pholadidea Penita and its Method of Boring, FRAN- cis E. Luoyp, 188 Physical, Review, 147, 579, 844; Development to In- tellectual Ability, Observations on the Relation of, made on the School Children of Toronto, Canada, G. M. WEstT, 156; Laboratory, British National, 490; Geography of New York State, 525; Educa- tion, American Association for the Advancement of, 531; Chemistry, Achievements of, W. A. Noyes, 461; The Aim of, HARRY C. JONES, 931 Physics at the A. A. A. S., W. S. FRANKLIN, 346 Physiography, Current Notes on, W. M. Davis, 42, xii 107, 163, 220, 305, 448, 524, 611, 682, 747, 828, 910 Physiology in the Schools, S. H. GAGE, 29 ; Discus- sion of Prof. Gage’s paper on, Burt G. WIL- DER, 33 Piedmont Plateau of Virginia, 305 Pierce, C. S., Regenerated Logic, 504 Pilsbry, H.A., Mollusks Collected in Florida, 1894, 928 PLumB, C. S., Society for the Promotion of Agricul- tural Science, 392 Polarized Light in Crystals, Rotation of, 790 | Pollard, C. L., Undescribed Cassia from Mississipp1, 432 Pollen, Ona Supposed Immediate Effect of, HERBERT J. WEBBER, 498 Post, Dr. A. H., The Late, 685 Potato, Diseases on Long Island, 18 ; Culture, 137 Potomac Formation, Age of the, G. K. GILBERT, 875 Poutton, E. B., Address by the President before the Zoological Section of the British Association, 625, 668 Prairies, Pimpled, of Louisiana, 163 Prantl’s Lehrbuch der Botanik, CHARLES R. BARNES, 765 PRATT, J. H., Determinative Mineralogy and Blow- pipe Analysis, George J. Brush, Revised by Samuel L. Penfield, 924 Preglacial Erosion Cycles in Illinois, 305 Prentiss, Albert Nelson, GEO. F. ATKINSON, 523 Prestwich, Sir Joseph, 138; E. W. C., 190 Primitive Implements, Classification of, 304 Princeton, Sesquicentennial, 568, 647; in the Na- tion’s Service, WooDROW WILSON, 908 Printing Offices, Government Control of, in Germany, 71 Pritchett, H. S., Double Stars, 963 Procyon, Visible Companion of, 790 PROSSER, CHARLES §., University Geological Survey of Kansas, Erasmus Haworth, 81 Protective Sounds and Colors, 70 Psyche, 56, 204, 364 Psychological, Notes, J. MCKEEN CATTELL, 307, 938 ; Congress, The International, SHEPHERD Ivory FRANZ, 640; Laboratory, The New, at Leipzig, GEORGE M. STRATTON, 867 Psychology, of Primitive Man, 352 ; Primitive, 488 Publication, A Reprehensible Method of Determin- ing Priority of, J. A. ALLEN, 691; The Date of, E. D. CopE, 760, J. A. ALLEN, 838; Date of Again, E. D. CoPE, 878 Pygmy Villages Discovered in the Interior of Suri- nam, Guiana, R. G. HALIBURTON, 171 Quadrinomialism, A Protest Against, WITMER STONE, 270 Race Degeneration in the Southern States, 831 Ramaley, Francis, Stem Anatomy of Onagraceze, 431 Rand, Theodore, Mica Schists, 623 Ratzel, Friedrich, The History of Mankind, D. G. BRINTON, 621 Reading, Conditions of Fatigue in, 308 Rees, J. K., Variation of Latitude, 622 REIGHARD, JAcoB, Text-book of the Embryology of mee E. Korschelt and Dr. K. Heider, Relics, Earliest, of Man in France, 649 Remarks on Prof. W. S. Franklin’s Review and the Note Signed ‘M,’ FRANK H. BIGELow, 76 SCIENCE. ~ CONTENTS AND INDEX. Remsen, Ira, Orthosulphobenzoic Acid, 958 Repsold, J., A New Micrometer, 527 Reuter, Enzio, The Palpi of Butterflies, 116 Rhythmic Movement, The Law of, E. W. SCRIPTURE, 535 Ribot, Th., La psychologie des sentiments, HIRAM M. STANLEY, 173 Rice, WILLIAM NortTH, Geology and Geography at the A. A. A. S., 382 Rice, Edward L., Sceyllarus and Anemonia, 602 ; Gill-filaments in certain Lamellibranchs, 605 Richet, Ch., Pain, 642 Richtmann, W. O., and Edward Kremer, Menthene Nitrosochloride, 766 Ridgeway, W., Mykenzean Civilization, 638; The Tron Age, 638 - River Htsch, 829 Rivers of Central Iowa, 42; Work of the Weather Bureau in Connection with our, 306 Roberts, Alex. W., The Accuracy of Eye Estimates of Magnitudes by the Method of Sequences, 800 Rochefort on the Caribbeans, O. T. MASON, 52 Roemer, E., Sleep and Mental Ability, 646 Roever, W. H., Geometrical Properties of Lines of Force proceeding from Electric Systems, 963 Romanes, George John, Life and Letters of, CHARLES S. Minot, 762 Réntgen Rays, Diffuse Reflection of, 495; Chemical Activity of, 528 Rosa, Edw. B., Alternating Current Curve Tracer, 349 Rowlee, W. W., Pollen and Stigma of Ariscema, 430; The Indian Corn, 437 Royal Society, 791, 917 Ricker, A. W., Magnetic Survey of Great Britain and Ireland, 276 Ruins in South Africa, 613 Russy, H. H., Torrey Botanical Club, 623, 768 Russell, H. L., and John Weinzirl, Bacterial Flora of Cheddar Cheese, 430 Rutgers College, Museum, W. S. VALIANT, 573 Rydberg, J. R., Cléveite Gas, 503 : Sr. CLAIR, GEO., The Legend of Perseus, Edward Sidney Hartland, 275 St. Louis Academy of Sciences, WM. TRELEASE, 660, 768, 804, 963 SAFFORD, T. H., The Personal Equation, 170 Safford, James M., Phosphate Rock in Tennessee, 660 SAGE, JNO. H., American Ornithologists’ Union, 868 SALISBURY, ROLLIN D., Volcanic Ash in Southwest- ern Nebraska, 816 San Francisco Peninsula, 220 Sanger, C. R., Experiments in General Chemistry, Ee Kes sas Saunders, C. A., Velocity of Electric Waves, 579 etait the Penial Structures of the, E. D. CopE, (9) Science, Culture given by, GEORGE BRUCE HALSTED, 12; and Culture, CHARLES E. BESSEY, 121; Posi- tion of, at Oxford, 142; in America, 205; at Ox- ford, 227; Instruction in the Kindergarten, 307; The Limits of, J. MCKEEN CATTELL, 573; An International Association for the Advancement of, 505; Club, Northwestern University, A. R. CROOK, 732, 928; at University of Wisconsin, WM. S. MARSHALL, 964; Democracy and the University, 751; in College Entrance Examina- tions, 929 NEW cee Vo.. IV. ‘Science,’ The American Association and, 309 Scientific, Notes and News, 18, 46, 68, 109, 138, 165, 192, 222, 264, 309, 352, 403, 451, 490, 528, 565, 614, 652, 686, 721, 751, 791, 833, 871, 914, 941; Journals, 27, 55, 83, 118, 147, 174, 204, 276, 364, 503, 579, 623, 660, 766, 799, 844, 958; Literature, 23, 52, 81, 116, 145, 171, 200, 231, 273, 318, 361, 406, 456, 500, 536, 574, 620, 657, 693,729, 762, 797, 840, 879, 923, 947; Research and Commer- cial Success, 352; ‘Expert, 451; Societies of New York, A Building for the, 686 Schiff, Moritz, 689 SCHNEIDER, P. F., Onondaga Academy of Science, 848 Schrenk, Hermann von, Adaptations of Shore Plants to Respiration, 433 SCHURMAN, J. G., A History of the Warfare of Sci- ence with Theology, Andrew Dickson White, 879 Schwarz on a New Cave Butte, 802; on ‘ Lerp Insects,’ 925 Schweinitz, E. A. de, Formaldehyde as a Disinfectant, 475 Sclater, Philip Lutley, G.BRowN GOODE, 293 Scott, W. B., Paleontology as a Morphological Dis- cipline, 177 SCRIPTURE, E. W., The Law of Rhythmic Move- ment, 535 SCUDDER, SAMUEL H., A Hand-book to the Order Lepidoptera, W. F. Kirby, 81 Seals, 529 See on Orbits of Forty Binary Stars, 109 Sergi, G., The Seat of the Emotions, 642 Shand, A. T., The Relation of Mind and Brain, 644 Sharp, Clayton H., A Proposed New Standard of Light, 347 Shaw, J. B., Ternary Algebras, 442 Shober, W. B., Action of Sulphuric Acid on Anisol, 959 Sidgwick, Prof., Hallucinations, 646 SIMONDS, FREDERIC F., Commercial Mica in North Carolina: The Story of its Discovery, 359; Geol- ogy in the Colleges and Universities of the United States, 498 Sirius, Discovery of the Companion to, 614, 751, 790; the Position of the Companion of, R. G. AITKEN, 877 Skilton, James S., A Sociological Institution, 560 Sleep, Loss of, 308 Small, John K., Thysanella and Polygonella, 433; Species of Prunus from Conn., 433; Flora of King’s and Crowder’s Mts.,N. C., 433 Smith, A. A., Development of the Cystocarp of Griffithsia Bornetiana, 440 Smith, Edgar F., Atomic weight of Tungsten, 791 Smith, Erwin F., Leuconostoc Mesenteroides, 731; Bacterial Disease of Potatoes, Tomatoes and Egeplants, 732 Smith, John B., Economic Entomology for the Farmer and the Fruit Grower, L. O. HowARD, 658 Smith, J. P., Classification of Marine Trias, 118; Physiography of California, 386 SmitH, R. D. D., The Metric System, 200 Smitu, T. GUILFORD, Honors to James Hall at Buf- falo, 712 Smock, John C., Geological Survey of New Jersey, J. F. Kemp, 693 Smoke, Nuisance in London, 531 Snyder, V., Dupin’s Cyclides, 443 SCIENCE. Xxill Social Organization of the Incan Government, 263; and Economic Science at the A. A. A. S., RIcH- ARD T. COLBURN, 558 Societies and Academies, 83, 148, 622, 659, 695, 731, 767, 801, 846, 882, 925, 959 Spermatozoon, Vitality of the, J. I. Peck, 839 Springer, Alfred, Segmental Vibrations in Aluminum Violins, 347 Spurr, J. E., Gold Resources of the Yukon Region of Alaska, 801 Squibb on Volumetric Determination of Aceton, 767 Squirting, Iron and Steel and Other Metals, 265 Standards, Legislation relating to, T. C. MENDEN- HALL, 1 Standfuss, Max, Handbuch der Paliaarkitischen Gross Schmetterlinge, A. S. PACKARD, 52 STANLEY, HIRAM M., An Uncommon After-image, oe) La psychologie des sentiments, Th. Ribot, 73 Star Catalogue of the Astronomische Gesellschaft, 565 Starr, M. Allen, Atlas of Nerve Cells, H. H. DoNALD- Son, 318 Steam, Superheated, in Steam Engines, R. H. THurs- TON, 778 Stebbing, F. C., Navigation and Nautical Astronomy, G. W. LITTLEHALES, 881 STEVENS, W. LE CONTE, On Certain Physical Diffi- culties in the Construction of Large Guns, 782 STEVENSON, J. J., Honors to James Hall at Buffalo, 714 Stewart, A. H., Rattlesnake Poison, 803 Stieglitz, J., ‘ Beckmann Rearrangement,’ 766 STILES, CH. WARDELL, Sporozoenkunde, van Wasie- lewski, 171 Stokes, H. N., Trimetaphosphimiec Acid, 623 Stoll, Otto, Die Maya-Sprachen der Pokom-Gruppe, D. G. BRINTON, 363 STONE, WITMER, A Protest Against Quadrinomialism, 270 Stoneman, B., Anthracnose, 436 STORER, F. H., Is not This Country Ripe Enough to adopt the Metric System ? 143 Straight Line as a Minimum Length, THoMAs S. FISKE, 533 STRATTON, GEORGE M., The New Psychological Laboratory at Leipzig, 867 Stratton, G. M., Vision without Inversion of Retinal] Image, 643 STURTEVANT, E. LEwIs, New Apples, 572 Sully, James, Studies of Childhood, JoHN DEWEY, 500 Sunlight, Sanitary Value of, 266 Supply and Demand, The Modern Version of the Law of, R. H. THuRSTON, 817 Svastika, and Triskeles, 221; Symbol, 562 Swann, H. Kirke, A Concise Handbook of British Birds, FRANK M. CHAPMAN, 204 T., R. H., University Scientific Magazine, 491; The U. S. Coast-line Battleship Oregon, 566 TALMAGE, JAS. E., The Curve-tracing Top, 656 Tapirs, Past and Present, CHAS. EARLE, 934 TARR, RALPH S., Cornell Expedition to Greenland, 520 Taverni, R., States in the other Senses Analogous to Daltonism, 643 Taylor, C. F., An Inheritance for the Waifs, 559 Telescope, Photographic Zenith, 720, 832 Telegony, 836 X1V Telegraphic Language, 940 Tepoztlan, The Temple of, 912 Terrestrial Magnetism, 276 Texas Academy of Science, 768 Textile Art, Native American, 165 Thomas, Benjamin F., X-rays, 347 Tyomson, J. J., Address by the President to the Mathematical and Physical Section of the British Association, 392 r Thunderstorms, Danger from, in Arabia, 44 ; Period- icity, Seven Day, 719 Thurston, G. P., Flint Implements from Tennessee, 390 Tuurston, R. H., Lilienthal. the Aviator, 303; The U. 8.8. ‘Brooklyn,’ 451; The Gas and Oil En- gine, Dugald Clerk, 578 ; Superheated Steam in Steam Engines, 778 ; The Modern Version of the Law of Supply and Demand, 817; Auto Cars, D. Farman, 957 Thurston, R. H., Superheated Steam, 15 Tidal Waves in the Pacific, '70 Tides of the Bay of Fundy, 911 Tissues, New Process for Preserving, 570 Todd, J. E., Moraines of Minnesota, 385 ; Artesian Wells, 385 Toltecs, in Fable and History, 109, 304 Topina rd, P., Science and Faith, 120 Topographic Terms of Spanish America, 682 Topography of Southern Tunis, 448 Tornado, Weather Map of the St. Louis, 137 ; Argen- tina, 488; of September 10th in Paris, 830 Tornadoes in Texas, 164 Torrey Botanical Club, H. H. Ruspy, 768 Tortoise, A Two-headed, ERWIN HINCKLEY BAR- BOUR, 159 Tree, Emblematic Use of the, in the Dakotan Group, ALICE C. FLETCHER, 475 TRELEASE, WILLIAM, Botanical Opportunity, 366 ; St. Louis Academy of Sciences, 660, 768, 804, 963 Trochosphera Solstitialis, On the Occurrence of, in the Illinois River, C. A. Kororp, 935 TROWBRIDGE, C. C., The Use of the Hair Hygrom- eter, 62 TucKER, R. H., Comparison between the Use of Fixed and Movable Circles in the Determination of Declinations by Meridian Circle, 618 Turkey Lake, Ind., 220 Twin Elements, 832 Tyler, John M., The Whence and Whither of Man, E. G. CONKLIN, 502 Umbrian Skulls, Ancient and Modern, 912 Underwood, L. M., Habitats of the Rarer Ferns of Alabama, 436; Allies of the Sessile Trillium, 436; and 8. F. Earle, Species of Gymnosporangium, 437; Pine Inhabiting Species of Peridernum, 437 University, and Educational News, 22, 49, 76, 115, 141, 169, 199, 226, 269, 314, 357, 405, 455, 496, 532, 571, 617, 655, 691, 723, 757, 794, 837, 875, 917, 944; Scientific Magazine, R. H. T., 491 Upham, Warren, St. Croix River, 384 Vaccination, Royal Commission of, 944 VALIANT, W.S., Rutgers College Museum, 573 VAN Hiss, C. R., A Central Wisconsin Baselevel, 57 ; A Northern Michigan Baselevel, 217 Van Hise, C. R., Deformation of Rocks, 119 age ae L. L., Work of Agricultural Chemists, SCIENCE. CONTENTS AND INDEX. Van Velzer, Cc. A., Plane and solid Geometry, THomAS §. FISKE, 201 Variation, Ontogenic and Phylogenic, HENRY F. OSBORN, 786 5 Vaschide, M., and G. S. Ferrari, Memory for Lines, 647 VENABLE, F. P., Some Difficulties in the Presenta- tion of the Periodic Law, 160, and CHARLES H. Herry, Chemistry at the A. A. A.S., 470 . Venable, F. P., Periodic Law, 473 Veterinary College, New York State, 41 Villard, P., Crystallized Hydrate of Argon with Water, 527 Vision, Tests for, 198; without Inversion of the Retinal Image, 312 Vogt, Carl, A. S. PACKARD, 947 Volcanic Ash in Southwestern Nebraska, RoLLIN D. SALISBURY, 816 Volcanoes, Impossible, OLIVER C. FARRINGTON, 271 Vold, J. M., Visual Images in Dreams, 646 WaADSswoRrtTH, M. E., Cinnabar and Rutile in Mon- tana, 171; Manual of Lithology, Edward H. Williams, jr., 361 ‘ Wadsworth, W. S., Defective Color Vision, 643 WAITE, F. C., A Large Lobster, 230 Wandering of Lake Nor, 912 WARD, LESTER F., Age of the Island Series, 757 Ward, Lester F., Expedition to Oklahoma and South- western Kansas, 883 WARD, R. DEC., Current notes on Meteorology, 44, 136, 164, 306, 488, 562, 650, 718, 749, 829, 937 Warder, Robert B., Direct Application of a Rational Differential Equation to a Series of Points whose Coordinates represent Observed Physical Prop- erties, 345 ; Speed of Hsterification, 472 WARRING, C. B., A Curve-Tracing Top and a Curi- ous Optical Illusion, 533 Wasielewski, van, Sporozoenkunde, CH. WARDELL STILES, 171 Waterman, F. A., Specific Heats of the Metals, 845 Waterspout Photographs, 718 Waterways of English Lakeland, 524 Weather, Australian, 564; Forecasts, Several Days in Advance, 650; Map, The First Daily, 651; Re- view, Monthly, 937 WEBBER, HERBERT J., On a Supposed Immediate Effect of Pollen, 498 Webber, H. J., Use of Coal for Colors in Food, 474 Webster, F. M., Protective Mimicry, 601 Wedensky, W., Cortical Centers of the Brain, 644 Weed, W. H., and Pirsson, L. V., Geology of the Little Rocky Mountains, 119; Fort Union For- mation, 660 Welby Prize, 655 West, G. M., Observations on the Relation of Physi- cal Development to Intellectual Ability made on the School Children of Toronto, Can., 156 Westermaier, Max, A Compendium of General Botany, Gro. F. ATKINSON, 54 Wheeler, H. L. and B. W. McFarland, Mercury Salts of the Anilides, 174; Diaeid Anilides, 624 White, Andrew Dickson, A History of the Warfare of Science and Theology in Christendom, J. G. SCHURMAN, 879 White, H. S., Numerically Regular Reticulations upon Surfaces of Deficiency higher than 1, 443 White, I. C., High Terrace Deposits of the Monon- gahela River, 385 NEW ee] VoL. IV. White’s Natural History of Selbourne, 113 Widmann, O., Peninsula of Missouri as a Winter Home for Birds, 176 Wilczynski, E. J., Theory of Spiral and Planetary Nebula, 503 ; Solar Rotation, 504 WILDER, Burt G., Discussion of Professor Gage’s Paper on Physiology in the Schools, 33; The Names Epiphysis, Conarium and Corpus Pineale; Correction of an Error, 199; Some Neural and Descriptive Terms, 947 WILLIAMS, JR., EDWARD H., The Kansan Glacial Border, 229 — Williams, jr., Edward H., Manual of Lithology, M. E. WADSWORTH, 361 WILuLiAms, H. S., The Primary Factors of Organic Evolution, E. D. Cope, 456 Willoughby, C. C., Pottery from the Mississippi Valley, 389 WILson, WoopRow, Princeton in the Nation’s Ser- vice, 908 Wilson, Professor, Address at the Sesquicentennial Celebration, J. MCKEEN CATTELL, 922 Winchell, N. H., Volcanic Deposits, 386; and U.S. Grant,‘ Voleanic Ash from the Shore of Lake Superior, 660 Winds of the South Atlantic off the Coast of Brazil, 307 Winston, A. P., Tin-plate Experiment, 559 SCIENCE. XV Witham on Mechanical Stokers, 14 Wood, R. W., Temperature in Geissler Tubes, 844 WooDMAN, DURAND, N. Y. Section, American Chemical Society, 660, 767 Word-coupling Language, 264 WortTMAN, J. L., North American Origin of the Edentates, 865 X-rays, 114; M. CAREY LEA, 917 Y., Biology, Zoology and Botany, 51 Bs of the Scientific Societies of Great Britain, Sz Youmans, William Jay, Pioneers of Science in America, MARCUS BENJAMIN, 956 Young, Sydney, The Thermal Properties of Isopen- tene, 537 Zimmermann, A., Die Morphologie und Physiologie des pflanzlichen Zellkernes. CoNwAy MaAc- MILLAN, 797 Zoological, Society, German, 353; Bibliography and Publication, 495; Park in New York, Plans for the, 681; Club of the University of Chicago, 959 Zoology, as a Factor in Mental Culture, S. H. GAGE, 207; at the A. A. A.S., D. S. KELLIcort, 601; Systematic, 752 Zurich, Origin of Lake, 525 + oe Ser eINCE NEW SERIES. f SINGLE Coprss, 15 cts. VoL. IV. No. 79. Fripay, JULY 3, 1896. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, $5.00. The Macmillan Company’s New Books. 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ENGLISH & CO., Mineralogists, 64 East I2th St., New York. SCIENCE EDITORIAL CoMMITTEE: S. NEwcomsB, Mathematics; R. S. WooDWARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, Astronomy; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics; R. H. THURSTON, Engineering; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry; J. LE ContE, Geology; W. M. Davis, Physiography; O. C. MARsH, Paleontology; W. K. Brooks, C. HART MERRIAM, Zoology; S. H. SCUDDER, Entomology; N. L. BRITTON, Botany; HENRY F. OsBoRN, General Biology; H. P. Bownpitcu, Physiology ; J. S. BILLINGS, Hygiene ; J. MCKEEN CATTELL, Psychology ; DANIEL G. BRINTON, J. W. POWELL, Anthropology ; G. BROWN GOODE, Scientific Organization. FRIDAY, JULY 3, 1896. CONTENTS : Legislation Relating to Standards: T.C. MENDEN- TE UNITE) sco san000d soganeqcHonncaodseoubousooDoBSDsoEDoRECOnC—E0000 1 The Lacoe Collection in the National Museum: G. TRIRONNVAIN (EXOXO) DI Sshocudoodoncodounudusesoqobecoobbanconenedoso 8 Note on the Devonian Palxospondylus : THEO. GILL...10 The Culture given by Science: GEORGE BRUCE JEUNTERHITSID) gcaqsaq0unoncodsdoadansLcDencdc50seobegnScaRSaNEECeDS 12 Convention of the American Society of Mechanical DEVTUQUNICET Store cteele eae ctscta sare) selselaleeleis«)acleteate eels te(elatais\sesle)atelse 13 Current Notes on Anthropology :— The Science of Language ; Ethnology and History ; Primitive Cosmic Conceptions: D. G. BRINTON....16 Notes upon Agriculture and Horticulture :-— Diseases of Citrous Fruits in Florida ; Combatting Carnation Rust ; Potato Diseases upon Long Island : EYEE ON) UD) SAE ATES DE DY ereneeitisceeesessncsisioeiss siecioraciasess 17 Scientific Notes and News :— Astronomy: H. J. The Greenwich Observatory ; GENER se niorasen sesiceice (ce speisleactisaaisileieeescecticstelsisevdess 18 University and Educational News. .........+s.sceseessesees 22 Scientific Literature :-— Palmer on the Jack Rabbits of the United States: J. A. A. Woodward’s Catalogue of Fossil Fishes of the British Museum; Garman on the Cyprinodonts: BASHFORD DEAN. The Relative Densities of Oxygen and Hydrogen: W. A. NOYES. Comey’s Dictionary of Chemical Solubilities, Inor- GOO E |) Wi Vy IBUNI mea cohen otetoocas sao ssonriccnoceDouoece 23 Scientific Journals :-— American Chemical Journal: J. ELLIOTT GILPIN...27 MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Prof. J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. LEGISLATION RELATING TO STANDARDS.* One of the first official acts of the Na- tional Academy of Sciences, in the capacity of scientific adviser of the government, was the appointment, at the request of the Sec- retary of the Treasury, in 1863, the year in which the Academy received its charter, of a Committee on Coinage, Weights and Measures, which has continued to be a standing committee of the Academy. The report of this committee in 1866 was one of the effective forces in securing the pas- sage of the most important, and, until re- cently, the only act of Congress constitu- ting general legislation on the subject of weights and measures. In view of these facts, and on account of the remarkable pro- gress towards unification of standards which has been made during the past few years, affecting in one way or another the whole civilized world, and especially in view of very recent activity and interest in this country, it seems proper to invite the at- tention of the Academy to a brief resumé of National legislation relating to weights and measures, from the founding of the National Government to the present moment. The task is rendered comparatively easy from the fact, for which metrologists can hardly be too thankful, that such legislation is ex- tremely meager. It is a cause for sincere congratulation that in this respect, at least, * Presented to the National Academy of Sciences at its April meeting. 2 SCIENCE. the powers conferred upon Congress by the Constitution of the United States have not hitherto been exercised in full, The im- portance of investing the sole power of re- gulating standards of weight and measure in the National government was recognized in theArticles of Confederation and expressed in the Constitution of the United States. The importance of a judicious exercise of that power was emphasized by Washington in his first message to Congress. By direc- tion of Congress, the Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, made a report on July 15, 1790, in which he proposed an ex- tremely interesting scheme founded on the length of a uniform rod which would make a single vibration per second when swing- ing from one extremity. Jefferson fully appreciated the advantage ofadecimal system of weights and measures, and the scheme proposed by him was as purely decimal as that of the Metric System, and in passing from the unit of length to that of volume and mass resembled it greatly, It may be truly said that full credit has never been accorded this, the most accom- plished of the fathers of the Republic, for his nearly complete anticipation of the results of the labor of the most brilliant men of the most brilliant period of French science. Jefferson’s report was referred toa commit- tee in the Senate which, having learned of _ the movement toward uniformity in France and other European countries, reported that, in view of that movement, they considered it inexpedient to make any changes in the existing systems. Thus a little more than a hundred years ago the policy of ‘ waiting for the Metric System’ was inaugurated and has practically continued to be the pol- icy up to the present time. Occasional fur- ther references to the matter were made in reports, messages, bills offered, etc., during the last years of the last century, but no legislation resulted other than the inspec- tion law of 1799, noted below. At least one [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 79. important consequence followed a reference to the desirability of action in the message of President Madison, sent to Congress on December 3, 1816. The paragraph relating to weights and measures was referred by the Senate to the Secretary of State, who was re- quested to prepare a report in full upon the subject, including such measures ‘as may be proper to be adopted in the Unitee States.’ Four years later the Secretary, John Quincy ~ Adams, transmitted to the Senate his famous report, which must always be regarded as a classic. For exhaustiveness, elaboration of detail and thoroughness of treatment no other document in any language relating to this subject is comparable with it. While it has been a storehouse of information and argument for all metrologists of later date, it did not result in any very decided action on the part of Congress. ‘‘Let them take the one or the other, according to the degree of their courage,’”’ Jefferson had said when, in 1792, he proposed two schemes, the one being a patching up of existing systems and the other a sweeping reform through the adop- tion of a decimal ratio throughout. While no one has appreciated the merits of the Metric System more completely than did Adams, and no one has ventured to praise it more highly, at the end of his splendid contribution to metrological science he reached the rather impotent conclusion that Congress ought to fix the existing systems with the partial uniformity of which they may be susceptible, excluding all innoya- tions for the present, and that consultation with foreign nations should be begun, look- ing to the future establishment of universal and permanent uniformity. It is difficult to estimate what the lack of courage on the part of a great and far-seeing statesman has cost the people of the United States. The population of the whole country at that time did not exceed ten millions, and a change in standards of measure would have been comparatively easy. JULY 3, 1896.] The first act of Congress relating to the establishment of standards of weight and measure was that of May 19, 1828, in which a certain brass troy-pound weight which had been procured in London for the use of the mint at Philadelphia was de- clared to be the standard troy pound. This standard is well known to all metrologists. It was made by Capt. Kater in 1827, being a copy of the imperial troy pound taken from the House of Commons for that pur- pose. It is of brass, approximately pear- shaped, and its adjustment was accom- plished by the addition of fine wires placed in a cavity in the upper part of the weight. Owing to this peculiarity of con- struction, it is impossible to know its den- sity, and it has only historical value as a standard. The next legislations by Congress was in the form of a resolution adopted in June, 1836, directing the Secretary of the Treas- ury to cause a complete set of all standards adopted by the Treasury Department for use in the custom houses and for other pur- poses, to be delivered to the Governor of each State of the Union. This was a use- ful measure, calculated and intended to give effect to the recommendation of Adams fifteen years earlier. It resulted in a toler- ably complete unformity of standards of length and mass throughout the Union. A quarter of a century now passed with- out further National legislation on the sub- ject. In the meantime,and especially towards the latter part of this period, the attention of many intelligent people in different parts of the country had been drawn to the great superiority of the Metric System of weights ‘and measures, which had gone into exten- sive use in Europe, Mexico, Central and South America, and the enormous burden borne by English-speaking people in main- taining the customary standards had begun to make itself evident. As early as 1859, the legislature of New Hampshire urged SCIENCE. 3 upon Congress the necessity for reform and the adoption of a decimal system. Maine followed in 1860 and Connecticut in 1861. In his first annual report as Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Chase, in December, 1861, again brought the subject to the at- tention of Congress, and, as already stated, at his request the National Academy ap- pointed its Committee for the consideration of the subject in 1863. Although matters of greater moment oc- cupied the time of Congress’and filled the public mind during the five years following | that of 1860, much progress was made to- wards a rational system of metrology, es- pecially through the active interest of a few individuals and societies. For the final culmination of this agitation in the passage of the Metric Law of 1866, we are unquestionably indebted to Mr. John A. Kasson more than to any other one man. In 1861 Mr. Kasson was appointed First Assistant Postmaster-General by President Lincoln. In this office he became aware of the great embarrassment in the administra- tion of international postal laws arising out of a lack of uniformity of units of weight and currency. Seeking relief therefrom, he originated and represented the United States in the International Postal Conference held in Paris in 1868, on the invitation of Mr. Seward, Secretary of State, which was, in fact, the forerunner of the International Postal Union, organized a little more than . ten years later. One of the recommenda- tions of the conference of 1863 was that the Metric System of weights be adopted for postal purposes. Mr. Kasson resigned the office which he held in the Postoffice Depart- ment in order to take his seat in Congress in December, 1863. Here his opportunities for advancing the interests of metrological reform were greatly enlarged. Having been appointed to serve on the Committee of Ways and Means and finding that that committee had within its jurisdiction the 4 SCIENCE. subjects of ‘Coinage, Weights and Meas- ures,’ he sought the ereation of a separate committee, which should be exclusively charged with the consideration of these subjects and obtained from the House an order to that effect. Of this important committee, Mr. Kasson was made Chair- man, and, beginning as it did, it has, dur- ing the thirty years of its existence as a standing committee of Congress, generally been favorable to metrological progress. During the next two or three years Mr. Kasson made an exhaustive study of the subject and did much to concentrate the growing interest in the Metric System and to guide the activity of various scientific bodies, commercial organizations, ete. In a private letter referring to this very im- portant period in the history of legislation relating to standards, he speaks in highest praise of the invaluable assistance rendered by our Associate, Professor H. A. Newton, of Yale University, to whom was committed the task of preparing the tables of relation and conversion which accompanied the re- port of the committee and which form a part of the statute. In January, 1866, the Committee of the Academy on Coinage Weights and Measures made its report, and on May 17th Mr. Kasson submitted to Con- gress the report of the committee of the House of Representatives, unanimously rec- ommending accompanying bills and resolu- tions, which, with a single exception, after- ward were enacted into laws, and on July 28, 1866, the use of the Metric System was legalized by Act of Congress for the whole United States, being then and for many years the only system of weights and meas- ures having the authority of National leg- islation. In the passage of this bill through the House, Mr. Kasson feared opposition, due, as he says, ‘ to the love of talk,’ and to avoid furnishing a text for debate he tact- fully declined to make a speech in favor of the passage of the bills and resolutions, [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 79. simply offering to answer any questions which might be asked. His policy was sue- cessful, and the proposed Act being only permissive and not obligatory in character, the whole matter was disposed of favorably in an hour or two. In the Senate the bill was referred to a special committee, of which Charles Sumner, who took a lively interest in the matter, was chairman. Sumner was generally eager to lead in re- forms of this kind, and after mastering the material which was put into his hand he prepared an elaborate and scholarly speech in favor of the measure, which, however, he refrained from delivering, it is believed, on the advice and suggestion of Mr. Kas- son. In this speech, which was afterwards printed, in a manner which was somewhat characteristic of the great champion of hu- man liberty and the rights of man, he ig- nored in a great measure the work of the House Committee on Weights and Meas- ures, if not, indeed, the action of the. House, and was lauded by a portion of the public press as the successful first cham- pion of this very important step towards a more advanced civilization. I have gone into these details concerning the Act of 1866 because of the real moment and significance of that Act. Although it produced little if any immediate effect in the way of a begin- ning in the actual use of the system, the at- tention of the general public was at once turned to it. Nearly all text-books on arithmetic published since that date have included a treatment of the Metric System, © and instruction in its use has been given in thousands of schools throughout the coun- try, thus, in a measure, preparing the way for its final exclusive use. In science quite universally, and in many arts, trades and professions, it has come into general use, to the end that at this moment most intelli- | gent people know something of it. For this there is little doubt that we are largely in- debted to the Act of 1866 and the agitation JULY 3, 1896. ] which followed its passage The general introduction of the system in the postoffices of the country was contemplated and pro- vided for in Mr. Kasson’s Act, and he had ready for future introduction a resolution providing for its compulsory use in the eustom houses, thus greatly facilitating its general adoption in trade. His removal from Congress to the Diplomatic Corps of the United States prevented realization of his designs, but metrologists and the public at large should not fail to recognize the splendid services which he rendered in di- recting the legislation of thirty years ago. The statutes are silent in the matter of weights and measures for more than a quar- ter of a century following the Act of 1866. The general trend of public sentiment dur- ing this period and the leaning of govern- ment authorities towards the final adoption of the Metric System is unmistakably . shown, however, in the annual appropria- tions for the support of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, to which we were committed as a nation by the In- ternational Convention of 1875. The next legislation relating to standards was an Act, approved March 38, 1893, es- tablishing a standard gauge for sheet and plate iron and steel. This measure is by no means an advance in practical metrol- ogy, its enactment being in response to the urgent demands of those actually engaged in the rolling of sheet metal. The influence of the Office of Weights and Measures pre- vented it from involving certain unscientific and physically impossible conditions, be- sides securing the use of metric units as well as the pound, foot and inch. It also secured the addition of a ‘limit of error’ or tolerance, a very important part of prac- tical legislation in metrology, which has hitherto been almost, if not quite, abso- lutely neglected in this country. Although not an Act of National legisla- _ tion, a step of great importance was taken _ SCIENCE. 5 on April 5, 1893, in the approval by the Secretary of the Treasury of a Bulletin is- sued by the Superintendent of Weights and Measures announcing the definitive adop- tion of the International Prototype Metre and Kilogramme as fundamental standards of length and mass and declaring that in the future the customary units, the yard and the pound, would be derived from them, in accordance with the Act of 1866. This put the government of the United States, as far as relates to the operations of all the Departments (with the single exception of the mint, for which the oid troy pound re- mains a standard as explained above), on an international metric basis, all measures in ordinary use being derivatives of the metre and kilogramme. The next step in metrological legislation was the Act of July 12, 1894, establishing a series of units for electrical measurement. This Act grew out of the recommendation of the International Electrical Congress held in Chicago in 1898. The units which it establishes are all founded on the centi- metre, the gramme and the second, and it is distinctly a‘ Metric’ Act. For the success- ful management of this important Act, from the time of its introduction in the House, through its reference to the com- mittees in both House and Senate and up to the time of its approval by the President, we are very largely indebted to Hon. Charles W.Stone, member of Congress from Pennsyl- vania, then a member and now Chairman of the House Committee on Coinage, Weights and Measures, who, by reason of his tastes and training, had an intelligent comprehension of the importance of a measure which was so technical in its char- acter as to be nearly unintelligible to the ordinary legislator. Mr. Stone pressed the bill through its various stages with tact and influence to its final enactment as a law, at a time and under conditions when very little legislation of any kind was possible, 6 SCIENCE. and the obligations under which he has placed metrologists is a matter worthy of record. Up to the present date this Act completes the list of statutes relating to weights and measures, and it will be seen that in a hundred years only four laws fixing stand- ards have been made. In 1828 the stand- ard of the mint was fixed by law; in 1866 the Metric System was legalized ; in 1893 a gauge for measuring sheet iron was es- tablished, and in 1894 the units for electrical measurement were defined. . This seems entirely inadequate to the needs of a great nation, and such a con- dition of things could never have continued had not the several States long ago exer- cised that authority which by the Consti- tution belongs to Congress, but which Con- gress has thus far practically ignored. For reasons already given, this condition is not one to cause regret. It leaves our National law makers to-day practically free from the influence of past legislation, which might be a serious obstacle in the way of following that course which a century of experience has now shown conclusively to be the only wise one. History shows that marked advances of the character here referred to are usually brought about through the active, personal interest and enthusiasm of a very few men, often not more than one or two. It is true that they must be supported and reénforced by outside influence, but in a matter of this kind it will usually happen that not many members of either House or Senate will have the time or the interest to thoroughly in- form themselves of the merits of a measure which does not immediately appeal to them. They depend largely on the few who are well informed, who have made a special study of the subject, and who by reason of their personal character and influence are accepted as authority. A general Act, however, changing either now or at some [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 79. fixed future time the whole system of met- rology in daily and constant use is some- thing which is likely to challenge opposition and to secure which it will be necessary to give the widest possible range to discussion and criticism. Such an act is now under consideration by Congress. On December 26, 1895, Hon. D. M. Hurley, of New York, introduced a bill looking to the compulsory adoption of the Metric System within the next few years. It was considered with much care by the Committee on Coinage, Weights and Meas- ures, to which it was referred, and on March 16th the Chairman of that Com- mittee, Hon. Chas. Stone, made, by the unanimous direction of the Committee, an elaborate, interesting and valuable report, recommending the passage of a substitute for Mr. Hurley’s bill, involving essentially the same principles, but differing from it somewhat as to details. Mr. Stone, as Chairman of the Committee, has cham- pioned the bill on the floor of the House with the same interest and skill that char- acterised his previous efforts in behalf of a scientific metrology. He has been effici- ently seconded by Mr. Hurley and others, to the end that the friends of the measure have much confidence in its final success in the next session of Congress. No more important measure has been considered by Congress for many years and no opportunity to pass a law which will be for the great and lasting benefit of the whole of the peo- ple in so great a degree as this is likely to present itself for many years to come. T. C. MENDENHALL. Norr.—The following are the Acts re- ferred to above, except that of 1894, defin- ing electric units, which has already been published in this journal : Act of Congress of 1799, directing a semi-yearly comparison of weights and measures used in custom houses: is Juxy 3, 1896.] SCIENCE. a = Teal Hppioat EEL ORE i es Weight Sy Beat Weight Weight | Weight per xima quar Number FniCeHess thickness in BE eras ¥ Peo one aoe uanare Lanne mene fn of in frac- decimal ban ounces pounds foot meter pounds SSS: tions of parts of an millimeters. avoirdu- avoirdu- in in ayoirdu- an inch. inch. pois. pois. kilograms. | kilograms. pois. 0000000 1-2 A) 12.7 320 20.00 9.072 97.65 215.28 000000 15-3 46875 11.90625 300 18.75 8.505 91.55 201.82 00000 7-16 4375 11.1125 280 17.50 7.983 85.44 188.37 0000 13-32 -40625 10.31875 260 16.25 7.301 79.33 174.91 000 3-8 .31D 9.525 240 15. 6.804 73.24 161.46 00 | 11-32 .34375 8.73125 220 13.75 6.237 67.13 148.00 0 5-16 -3125 7.9375 200 12.50 5.67 61.03 134.55 1 9-32 .28125 7.14375 180 11.25 5.103 54.93 121.09 2 17-64 . 265625 6.746875 170 10.625 4.819 51.88 114.37 3 1-4 20 6.35 160 ON 4.536 48.82 107.64 4 | 15-64 234375 5.953125 150 9.375 4.252 45.77 100.91 5 7-32 21875 5.59625 140 8.75 3.969 42.72 94.18 6 13-64 203125 5.159375 130 8.125 3.685 39.67 87.45 7 3-16 1875 4.7625 120 7.5 3.402 36.62 80.72 8 | 11-64 171875 4.365625 110 6.875 3.118 33.57 74.00 9 5-32 . 15625 3.96875 100 6.25 2.835 30.52 67.27 10 9-64 140625 3.571875 ~ 90 5.625 2.552 27.46 60.55 11 1-8 125 3.175 80 5. 2.268 24.41 53.82 12 7-64 -109375 2.778125 70 4.375 1.984 21.36 47.09 13 3-32 -09375 2.38125 60 3.75 1.701 18.31 40.36 14 5-64 078125 1.984375 50 3.125 1.417 15.26 33.64 15 9-128 | .0703125 1.7859375 45 2.8125 1.276 13.73 30.27 16 1-16 .0625 1.5875 40 2.5 1.134 12.21 26.91 17 9-160 | .05625 1.42875 36 2.25 1.021 10.99 24.22 18 1-20 05 1.27 32 2. .9072 9.765 21.53 19 7-160 | .04375 1.11125 28 1.75 7938 8.544 18.84 20 3-80 0375 -9525 24 1.50 .6804 7.324 16.15 21 | 11-320 034375 .873125 22 1.375 .6237 6.713 14.80 22 1-32 03125 .7937350 20 1.25 .067 6 103 13.46 23 9-320 | .028125 -714375 18 1.125 .0103 5.493 12.11 24 1-40 025 -635 16 Us -4536 4.882 10.76 25 7-320 021875 .559625 14 875 .3969 4.272 9.42 26 3-160 | .01875 47625 12 “15 3402 3.662 8.07 27 | 11-640 | .0171875 -4365625 11 6875 3119 3.007 7.40 28 1-64 -015625 .396875 10 625 2835 3.052 6.73 29 9-640 .0140625 .3071875 9 .0625 2551 2.746 6.05 30 1-80 0125 3175 8 .O 2268 2.441 5.38 31 7-640 | .0109375 .2778125 7 4375 1984 2.136 4.71 32 | 13-1280 | .01015625 -25796875 63 -40625 1843 1.983 4.37 33 3-320 | .009375 -238125 6 .310 1701 1.831 4.04 34 | 11-1280 | .00859375 -21828125 53 34375 1559 1.678 3.70 30 5-640 | .0078125 .1984375 5 3125 1417 1.526 3.36 36 9-1280 | .00703125 17859375 4} 28125 1276 1.373 3.03 37 | 17-2560 | .006640625 .168671875 4} -265625| =. 1205 1.297 2.87 38 1-160 | .00625 15875 4 25 1134 1.221 2.69 By a law of Congress, passed in 1799, 5th Congress, oS ee 2d Session, it was ordered that ‘‘ the surveyor (of each port of the United States) shall, from time to time, and particularly on the first Monday in January and July in each year, examine and try the weights, measures and other instruments used in ascertaining the duties on imports, with standards to be provided by each collector, at the public expense, for that pur- pose ; and when disagreements and errors are dis- covered, he shall report the same to the collector, and obey and execute such directions as he may receive for the correction thereof, agreeably to the standards aforesaid.’’—(Statutes at Large, Vol. 1, page 643. ) Revised Statutes of the United States, May 19, 1828: “See: 3548. For the purpose of securing a due conformity in the weight of coins of the United States to the provision of this title, the brass troy pound weight procured by the Minister of the United States at London, in the year eighteen hundred and twenty- seven, for the use of the Mint and now in the cus- tody of the Mint at Philadelphia, shall be the stand- 8 SCIENCE. ard troy pound of the Mint of the United States, conformably to which the coinage thereof shall be regulated.’’ Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the United States of America in Congress as- sembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he hereby is, directed to cause a complete set of all the weights and measures adopted as standards, and now either made, or in progress of manufacture, for the use of the several custom-houses, and for other purposes, to be delivered to the Governor of ‘each State in the Union, or such person as he may appoint, for the use of the States respectively, to the end that a uniform standard of weights and measures may be established throughout the United States. Approved June 14, 1836. An Act to authorize the use of the Metric System of Weights and Measures, July 28, 1866: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives of the United States in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this Act it shall be lawful throughout the United States of America to employ the weights and measures of the Metric Sys- tem, and no contract or dealing, or pleading in any court shall be deemed invalid or liable to objection because the weights or measures expressed. or referred to therein are weights and measures of the Metric System. Sec. 2: And be it further enacted, That the tables in the schedule hereto annexed shall be recognized in the construction of contracts and in all legal proceed- ings, as establishing, in terms of the weights and measures now in use in the United States, the equivalents of the weights and measures expressed therein in terms of the Metric System; and said tables may be lawfully used for computing, determining and expressing in customary weights and measures the weights of the Metric System,’’ 1866. An Act establishing a standard gauge for sheet and plate iron and steel: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives of the United States of America in Con- gress assembled, That for the purpose of securing uniformity the following is established as the only standard gauge for sheet and plate iron and steel in the United States of America, namely: [See table previous page. ] And on and after July first, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, the same and no other shall be used in determining duties and taxes levied by the United States of America on sheet and plate iron and steel, But this act shall not be construed to increase duties upon any articles which may be imported. [N.S. Von. IV. No. 79. Sec, 2. That the Secretary of the Treasury is author- ized and required to prepare suitable standards im accordance herewith. Sec. 3. That in the practical use and application of the standard gauge hereby established a variation of two and one-half per cent., either way may be al- lowed. Approved, March 3, 1893. THE LACOE COLLECTION IN THE NATIONAL. MUSEUM. TuxE Lacoe Collection of Fossil Plants, the: removal of which from Pittston, Pennsylva- nia, to Washington, has now been accom- plished, is by far the largest and most. valuable of its kind in America, and com- pares favorably with the richest paleobo- tanical collections in Huropean museums. Mr. R. D. Lacoe, who has so generously presented this magnificent collection to the Museum, is a leading business man of Pitts- ton, who for twenty-five years has found. diversion and outdoor occupation in collect- ing fossils, and whose enthusiasm in con- nection with his scientific and practical knowledge of mining has enabled him to. bring together a most unique and valuable: series of the Paleozoic plants of America. His interest in the subject is a natural outgrowth of his taste for science, and has. doubtless been stimulated by his environ- ment, for he lives in the very heart of the northern Anthracite coal region. To this fact is also in large measure due his interest in paleontological research in general. The collection contains nearly 100,000: Specimens and was shipped in 315 eases, and is constantly being increased through the collecting agencies established by Mr. Lacoe in all the principal coal regions in the United States. The series illustrating the morphology of species and their geographical and geological distribution alone comprises. over 17,000 specimens. It represents more thoroughly than any other collection the fossil flora of the Anthracite region of Penn- sylvania. There are also especially good. JULY 3,. 1896.] series from the coal fields of Illinois, Ten- nessee and Missouri, and from other States, besides. important collections from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Brazil. The collection has been arranged in the following categories: (1) types and speci- mens intended for study, (2) exposed slabs suitable for exhibition, and (3) unstudied and duplicate material. Some idea of its bulk may be formed from the fact that it is estimated that 1,000 museum drawers, in addition to six large exhibition wall cases, will be required to accommodate it. In addition to gathering specimens in the field and labeling them with his own hands, Mr. Lacoe long since engaged the services of collectors in a number of States and the Canadian Provinces, and with their assist- ance and the purchase of private collections has, by the expenditure of perhaps $50,000 of his private fortune, succeeded in accumu- lating this enormous mass of material. Mr. David White, Assistant Paleontologist of the United States Geological Survey, has devoted many months to the labeling and packing of the collection at Pittston, and since its arrival at the Museum has been _ almost constantly employed in the work of arranging and cataloguing. Progress has been slow because of the pains taken to au- thenticate each specimen. Mr. Lacoe began the formation of the great collection which bears his name, early in the seventies, and upon the organization of the Second Geological Survey of Penn- sylvania, in 1878, it had already assumed such proportions that Prof. Leo Lesquereux, the foremost of American paleobotanists, was detailed by the Director of the Survey to study the collection on behalf of the State. The results of his studies, together with de- scriptions of the larger number of species in the collection, were incorporated by him in his famous work on the ‘ Coal Flora of the Carboniferous Formation in Pennsylva- nia and throughout the United States,’ pub- SCIENCE. 9 lished as Report P of the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania. It is safe to say that nearly one-third of the specimens illus- trated in the atlas accompanying the first and second volumes, and the greater part —in fact, nearly all—of those in the third, are in the Lacoe collection. Owing to the hurried publication of the third and final volume, in compliance with the time-limit for the work specified in the Legislative act, there were many new forms in the collection upon which Lesquereux had not completed his studies. To this number many more have since been added, and a number of drawings have been pre- pared. Most of these unpublished forms are accompanied by manuscripts in various stages of completion, and in some instances by notes and sketches. The manuscripts have been placed by Mr. Lacoe in the hands of Mr. White, who will assist in revising, verifying and completing lLesquereux’s posthumous work for publication. The manuscripts contain descriptions of ap- proximately 125 species or varieties, of which perhaps 80 are new. The Collection, as far as described, em- braces about 750 published types, and in- cludes perhaps nearly half of the originals of the American Carboniferous flora. The few others which are still in existence are for the most part in the custody of the uni- versity and State geological museums. A: number of these new forms were de- scribed by Lesquereux in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, the Catalogue of the Pottsville Scientific As- sociation, and the Reports of the Geological Surveys of Arkansas, Illinois and Indiana, by Prof. D. P. Penhallow in the Proceedings of the National Museum, and by Sir William Dawson in the Canadian Record of Science and in his work on the Fossil Plants of the Devonian and Upper Silurian formations of Canada. When he gave the plants from the Paleo- 10 zoic formations, Mr. Lacoe also sent to the Museum examples of the Cretaceous and Tertiary flora of Colorado, studied and partially published by Lesquereux, and an interesting lot of specimens of Triassic and Paleozoic fishes and crustacea, studied by Cope, Hall, Whitfield and others; also a collection of 800 Dakota Group plants, about 125 of which are described by Les- quereux in Monograph XVII. of the United States Geological Survey, on the “ Flora of the Dakota Group.”’ A portion of the Collection will be placed on exhibition, as soon as it can be labeled and installed. Mr. Lacoe formally offered the collection to the Museum in December, 1891, in a letter to Prof. Lester F. Ward, an old friend and correspondent, expressing his belief that this disposition of it would best insure the fulfillment of his purpose in its formation, which was primarily to bring to- gether in one place as complete a collection as possible of the older fossil flora, for use in scientific research, the conditions im- posed being merely that the Collection should be kept entire, with such additions as may hereafter be made to it by exchange of duplicates or subsequent contributions by the donor ; that it be known as‘ The Lacoe Collection,’ and that it be accessible to sci- entists and students without distinction, pro- - vision being made for the proper preserva- tion of the specimens from loss or injury. The acquisition of this wealth of material makes the National Museum an important reference center for all future comprehen- sive work in this field. The Lacoe Collec- tion is anoble monument to the public spirit and generous enthusiasm of its founder. G. Brown GoopeE. NOTE ON THE DEVONIAN PALZOSPONDYLUS. In my review of Dr. Dean’s ‘ Fishes, liv- ing and fossil,’ I have ventured to suggest an ordinal name for the remarkable Pal«o- SCIENCE. [N. S. Vou. IV. No. 79. spondylus Gunni, discovered by Dr. Traquair in the Caithness Flagstones. I now give reasons for so doing. The “Paleospondylus Gunni isa very small organism, usually under one inch in length, though exceptionally large specimens oc- casionally measure one inch and a-half Tt has a head and vertebral column, but no trace of jaws or limbs ; and, strange to say, all the specimens are seen only from the ventral aspect, as is shown by the relation of the neural arches to the vertebral centra. ‘The head is in most cases much eroded * % + Ttis divided by a notch * * * intotwo parts * * *. The anterior part shows a groove the edges of which are ele- vated, while the surface on each side shows two depressions like fenestre, though perhaps they are not completely perfor- ated, and also a groove partially divid- ing off, posteriorly and externally, a small lobe. In front there is a ring-like opening * :k °%* surrounded by small pointed cirri, four ventrally, at least five dorsally, and two long lateral ones which seem to arise inside the margin of the ring instead of from its rim like the others. The posterior . part of the cranium is flattened, but the median groove is still observable. Con- nected with the posterior or occipital aspect of the skull are two small narrow plates which lie closely alongside the first half dozen vertebree.”’ ‘‘ The bodies of the vertebrze are hollow or ring-like, and those immediately in front are separated from each other by percepti- ble intervals; their surfaces are marked with a few little longitudinal grooves, of which one is median. They are provided with neural arches, which are at first short and quadrate, but towards the caudal ex- tremity lengthen out into slender neural spines, which form the dorsal expansion of a caudal fin, while shorter heemal ones are also developed on the ventral aspect.” * Kk OK misao. 11896.) Such are the essential features of Palwo- spondylus as. recorded by Dr. Traquair in ‘The Annals of Scottish Natural History ’ (III., p. 94-98, pl. 3, 1894). He main- tained that ‘‘there seems no escape from the conclusion that the little creature must be classed as a Marsipobranch”’ and that, “if Paleospondylus is not a Marsipobranch, it is quite impossible to refer it to any other existing group of vertebrates.” Dr. Dean in a recent note ‘on the sup- posed kinship of the Paleeospondylus’ (Scr- ENCE, N.S., I1I., p. 214) claims to have dis- covered ‘a series of transversely directed rays, arising from the region of the post- occipital plates of Traquair’ which, in his opinion, ‘ warrant the belief that this lam- prey-like form was possessed of paired fins, a character decidedly adverse to the now widely accepted view of Marsipobranchian affinities.’ In the case of the little animal in ques- tion, we have to deal with matters of obser- vation first and then of interpretation. The latter, however, largely preponderate for even what is represented as being seen must be the result of interpretation of traces or filling-up of outlines; of course, then, taxonomic deductions must stand or fall in the ratio of the correctness or failure of the interpretation as well as observation. Assuming the correctness of Dr. Tra- quair’s description and figures, we certainly have a remarkable combination of charac- ters. On the one hand, if the ‘median Opening or rim’ is indeed nasal, the ani- mal certainly cannot be referred to the class of Selachians or of Teleostomes. On the other hand, the cranium and the seg- mented vertebral column indicate a more advanced stage of development of the '-/~ vertebrate line than that from the living _ Marsipobranchs must have originated. We may, therefore, with propriety isolate it as the representative not only of a peculiar family (Paleospondylide), but of an order SCIENCE. att or even subclass (Cycliz) of vertebrates which may provisionally (and only pro- visionally) be retained in the class of Marsipobranchs. The group may be defined as Monorrhines with a continuous (?) cranium, a median nasal (?) ring, and a segmented vertebral column. The name Cycliz has been constructed on the model of the classical names Acanthias, Anthias, Xiphias, ete., and is de- rived from xizios circle, and the termina- tion -cas, 7. e., eyclias in the plural number. The word is descriptive and will fit, what- ever interpretation may be put on the ring- like structure. The differences between the Hyperoartia and Hyperotreta are very great, and Prof. Lankester did not go much too far when he elevated those groups to class rank. Among the numerous distinctive characters are the great differences in the auditory organs. Perhaps the organs of Palwospon- dylus might be worked out in some specimen and throw light on the subject of affinities. At present even the region of the auditory organs is not exactly known and we are now at a loss to orient the several parts of the cranium. In fact, the question of the relations of Palcospondylus is a very open one. THEO. GILL. [Just after this note had been sent to Scrence, and when the review of Dr. Dean’s ‘ Fishes ’? was in page form, I had the pleas- ure of receiving from Dr. Dean an extract from the ‘Transactions of the New York Academy Sciences, Vol. XV., pp. 101-104, plate V.,’ entitled ‘Is Palzeospondylus a Cyclostome?’ Dr. Dean concludes that ‘‘ the position of the fossil * * * is certainly un- definable,’’ but suggests that ‘ perhaps one might most reasonably place it with the Ostracoderms among the curiously special- ized off-shoots of the early chordates. ’’] 12. THE CULTURE GIVEN BY SCIENCE. To be a man of broadest culture is a high ideal. Fortunately, the idea and the as- sociations conveyed by this word ‘culture’ are still of the finest, the noblest. But when scanned in the new light of the present, has not the flower of culture, like everything else of the best, gained a living heart of science, taken on the pure, high, unfading colors of science, the benign em- press of our modern world? And with this change has not culture developed a firmer moral fiber from the inexorable, inevitable insistence of science on a moral courage in her votaries which would sacrifice all un- flinchingly in the pure cult of truth ? Before the age of science the man of the then culture was, as his fellows, in fear of being known to have been wrong. Said Lowell: “‘ There are three short and simple words, the hardest of all to pro- nounce in any language (and I suspect they were no easier before the confusion of tongues), but which no man or nation that cannot utter can claim to have arrived at manhood. These words are, J was wrong.” Even Goethe, the very highest type of culture not based on a core of science, even Goethe, with his calm and coldness as of the immortals, with his magnificent appe- tite and digestion, even Goethe mouths and sulks and rants like a stupidly obstinate boy when even his friends declare that in the explanation of colors he is wrong and the man of science, Newton, is right. He snarls and spits to the very last, and, like his countryman, Hegel, makes himself dis- gusting by blaspheming Newton. Says J. H. Stirling, Hegel’s devoted apol- ogist: ‘‘One thing, however, he will not think excusable even in a Hegel: this let- ter’s unsparing bitterness of tone to him— Newton—whom as a productive thinker mankind have so much reason sincerely to thank and supremely to honor.” Says Helmholtz: ‘‘To give some idea of SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. 1V. No. 79. the passionate way in which Goethe, usu- ally so temperate and even courtier-like, attacks Newton, I quote from a few pages of the controversial part of his work the following expressions, which he applies to the propositions of this consummate thinker in physical and astronomical science— in- credibly impudent ;’ ‘mere twaddle ;’ * lu- dicrous explanation ;’ ‘but I see nothing will do but lying, and plenty of it.’ ” Nothing could more exactly illustrate the change of heart which culture has un- dergone. Could any one imagine Justus von Liebig berating Pasteur for overthrow- ing utterly Liebig’s theory of fermentation ? The friends of Darwin bemoaned the in- estimably valuable time which he habitually gave to considering the weakest objections of the feeblest objectors, and even to set- ting forth and clothing all objections with his own strength. The culture given by science is strikingly characterized by equipoise of mind, impar- tiality of view, freedom from obscurations due to selfishness, a taking of self objec- tively. This comes in part from the fact that high scientific instruction or attainment cannot be divorced from scientific investigation. Thus, in Germany, the leader of modern culture, ‘‘a university professor is both a teacher and a scientific investigator, and the latter is considered the more important.” ‘Again, when a professor is mentioned the question is asked: What has he written? What are his scientific achievements ? ”’ The culture given by science relegates to the moribund institutions of tradition the old hypothesis that truth is given and fixed, and needs only to be transmitted unchanged, We have seen in our own generation changes accepted and made part of regular university instruction which are so deep- reaching as to under-cut the knowledge thought fixed for twenty centuries. Wit- ness the non-Euclidean geometry and evo- is at first one, two, many. JULY 3, 1896. ] lution. The watchword of modern scienti- fic culture is independence of thought and investigation, ‘‘ Whatsoever is, may be wrong!’ Its most cherished palladium is freedom to think, freedom of research, free- dom in teaching. To break a bond restricting liberty to search and say the truth may be more im- portant than killing a definite positive error. The culture given by science can tolerate no distinct dogmatic brand. A pertinent illustration is found in the attitude of the highest culture now toward language and language teaching. It is found that language, like the expression of numbers by symbols, has attained a higher state by taking aid from space concepts, by making definitely fixed use of position as significant. The inflectional languages, such as Latin and Greek, correspond to their writing of numbers. There is a hint at some use of position. Witness IV. and VI., or the dif- ference of emphasis given by position in the Latin sentence. But this is like confining the use of steam to the blowing of whistles. Compare 10 and .01, or a few English sen- tences with their Latin translations. Like the Hindoo discovery of the zero and con- sequent modern arithmetic is the organic use of position in language as typified by English. Again, the number system of every child The third num- ber, the indefinite, takes different forms, ‘some,’ ‘a few,’ ‘a lot,’ etc. But the men- tal step from knowing two up to knowing three, recognizing a class or aggregate as just exactly possessing the distinctive qual- ity three, as being triple or a triplet, is a slow and long and difficult step. In the high-bred, smart American child this step represents roughly a whole year’s develop- ment, which cannot be much hastened. Now, just this child stage, with the enor- mously undue importance which it attaches SCIENCE. 13 to the number two, is represented by the whole Greek language and grammar. This speech has a whole system of gram- matical forms, called duals, whose creation rests wholly on the baby mistake, the child misconception of two. To babies and to Greek grammar two is still a god in a trinity. A modern writer speaks slightingly of ‘the aping and prolonged caw called gram- mar, the cackling of the human hen over the egg of language,’ but may not the labo- rious puerilities which have so long passed current as Latin and Greek grammar be of interest to the scientist in comparative child study? ‘A single scientific idea may germinate into a hundred arts.”’ , GEORGE Bruce HAtstep. AUSTIN, TEXAS. CONVENTION OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS. Tue American Society of Mechanical En- gineers held its annual spring convention at St. Louis recently, discussed a number of valuable papers, visited many points of in- terest and enjoyed informal meetings for social purposes. The papers were less num- erous than usual and included fewer very striking or novel communications than or- dinarily.* The convention was fairly well attended and very greatly enjoyed by all who took part. The Secretary of the Society, Prof. Hut- ton, presented a discussion of the catalogue system proposed for engineering libraries. Dewey’s ‘ Decimal Classification ’ was con- sidered a model difficult to excel for general purposes. For an engineering collection, however, further classification is required, and the writer of the paper proposed a special scheme including twenty-two heads, each covering a division of engineering sci- ence or art. To these were appended about * The papers will appear in the Transactions of the A.S. M. E., Vol. XVII, 1896. 47 a dozen other heads to cover accessions in the fields of general literature, more or less of which is found in every technical col- lection. The schedule is very complete and was thought a most satisfactory one. Mr. Murray offered a paper on ‘ Structu- ral Steel Fly Wheels.’ The rapid increase in the employment of ‘ high-speed ’ engines, especially in electric light and power sta- tions, where great irregularity of load is usual, has made the ‘running away’ of en- gines a comparatively frequent occurrence, and accidents of great importance are not unusual, involving loss of life and great de- struction of property. The weakness of the older type of fly wheel, due partly to the fact that it is constructed of cast iron, partly to its inefficient connection of parts, makes it liable to go to pieces at a comparatively low speed, and gives but small margin above the ordinary working speed. Where, as is probably not very uncommon, an engine, when suddenly deprived of load, jumps up to double speed before the governor can act, or at a time, as is also not unusual, when the governor is not acting, the old cast-iron wheel is very sure to go to pieces and to produce the effect of an exploding giant bomb-shell. Various constructions of wrought-iron and steel wheels have been introduced, and Mr. Murray described a steel wheel made of open-hearth structural steel of about 60,000 pounds tenacity, and built up of a series of discs forming the hub, of a pair of dished disks constituting the main portion of the wheel in place of the ordinary arms, and a rim composed of heavy steel boiler plate; all rivetted to- gether in such manner as to give a factor- of-safety, as computed by the writer of the paper, of twenty-six. All details are given and the construction fully described. Prof. Goss exhibited the effect of long connections upon the action of steam in the steam-engine indicator and on the diagram, as experimentally determined by SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 79. him. He found that even short pipe con- nections were likely to invalidate conclu- sions drawn from the diagram regarding the character of the expansion and com- pression line or the quality of the steam. For usual lengths of connection the area of the diagram will be greater than that of a true diagram, though that area may vary in either direction from the proper dimen- sions. To secure reliable results the in- dicator must be attached to the steam cylinder by very short and perfectly straight pipes. Mr. Whitham described the recent ‘ me- chanical stokers.’ Of late years the supply of fuel to the furnace of the steam-boiler and the management of the fire has been effected by the employment of these ma- chines, which, very various in form, all have the common function above described. Their advantages, when successful, are their adaptability to the cheap fuels ; their reduc- tion, in large ‘plants,’ of the cost of labor, by about forty per cent.; their economy of use of fuel, and the constancy or uniformity of conditions of combustion which lies be- hind the last-named advantage. They are, however, costly, both in manufacture and in repairs, are dependent upon the action of a steam-engine and a steam-blast, and are necessarily dependent, also, upon special skill on the part of the attendants. Any- thing going wrong, the whole establishment may come to a standstill. Several forms of stoker are described and their performance, as ascertained by trials, tabulated. A number are found to be effi- cient for special cases, each in its own province. The engines use a fraction of one per cent. of the steam made; the fans demand three to five per cent., and the steam blasts from five to eleven per cent. in the cases described. The ‘stoker’ is less adaptable to a fluctuating demand for steam than is hand-firing; but it is constant in maintenance of a fire in good order, and JuLY 3, 1896. ] saves handsomely when operated under favorable conditions on a large scale. Prof. Carpenter described a new form of steam ‘calorimeter’ employed at Sibley College, Cornell University, in the de- termination of the ‘quality’ of steam. It consists simply of a small chamber, jacketed with steam, a water-glass gauge and a specially graduated pressure gauge. Dis- charge takes place through a ‘ standard ori- fice,” and the gauge indicates the flow in the unit of time. The separated moisture is collected in the reservoir, and its weight is compared with that of the indicated volume of dry steam discharged, to give a measure of the original quality of the vapor. The instrument had been in use about a year, in the form described, and found very accurate and satisfactory after prolonged comparison with the familiar forms of apparatus employed for the same purpose. Mr. Alberger presented an account of a ‘self-cooling condenser’ for use where con- densing water for the steam engine is diffi- cult to obtain or costly. These systems of cooling the water of condensation for re- peated use in a circulation comprehending the condenser and a cooling tower or other device for the removal of the heat taken up from the steam, are coming rapidly into use in many localities. That described consists of a tower in which is installed a large _ mnass of tiling, over which the water circu- lates and in the midst of which large volumes of air are circulated by the action of a fan blast. A steam-pump circulates the water from condenser to the top of the tower and back in a continually moving stream flooding the tiling ; drawing water from a well or tank at the foot of the tower, and passing it through the condenser and then through the masses of tile in the cool- ing tower, the water finally falling into the well after its temperature has again been reduced tothe minimum. The fan requires SCIENCE. 15 less than two per cent. of the power of the main engine; it may not exceed one per cent. The heat is carried away mainly by evaporation into the rising current of air from the fan. The cost is stated at about that of one pound of water per horse power per hour as used in the engines, including all expenses of steam-making. Mr. Kent discussed the definition of steam-boiler ‘efficiency,’ as that term is now applied in connection with the boiler-trials made under the now usual forms of stand- ard tests. The paper indicated the nature and extent of the difficulties arising in the endeavor to obtain the unit of measure- ment, and in its application to the numeri- eal rating of boiler efficiencies; showing that the uncertainties introduced through the inaccuracy of existing methods of meas- uring the total heating power of a fuel, and in thus obtaining a basis of comparison, might be so great as to preclude any pos- sible uniformity or accuracy of measure- ment of the true efficiency of the boiler. Two illustrative cases were presented in the paper. The heating power of a coal was reported by two different systems of calorimetric measurement, as respectively, 13, 302 and 14, 620 from different calori- meters, and, in the other case, 13,799 and 16,212 B. T. U. per pound. The boiler thus received credits for efficiency, ranging from 56.66 to 66.37 in the one case, and from 73.12 to 85.83 in the other, accordingly as one or another calorimeter was employed to do the work of measuring the ‘actual’ heating power of the fuel. Prof. Thurston presented a paper on ‘ Su- perheated Steam; Facts, Data and Princi- ples Relating to the Problem of its Use.’ The nature of superheated steam, its ther- mal and thermodynamic properties and its value in the steam-engine were studied. Its only use to-day is that of reducing in- ternal wastes by ‘cylinder condensation,’ through the process of supplying sufficient 16 heat to the cylinder wall to check that ini- tial loss. It has no thermodynamic value, in a proper sense, as it does not increase the range of adiabatic expansion. The economi- cal value of superheating and of ‘reheat- ing’ between the cylinders of the multiple- cylinder engine was discussed, and illus- trations were given from the reported results of engine trials, showing that superheating ismore effective than other expedients for the prevention of internal waste. By refer- ence to experiments reported in large num- bers on the value of heat transferred to the steam by steam-jackets for the same pur- pose, the conclusion was drawn that for each unit of heat expended in the prevention of this waste several could usually be saved in the engine. For simple engines this ratio of saving to expense amounted to an average of six and seven; for compound engines, to between three and four, the gain being the less as the engine is the more economical originally. Experience in Europe, far more than in the United States, affords fact and datum for the conclusions reached. The Schmidt superheating engine, reported upon by Schroeter, of Munich, gives the horse power on but 10.2 pounds of steam per hour; the pressure being about 125 pounds and the engine one of moderate size. The little twenty-horse-power engine of Sibley College, operated with 300 to 500 pounds of steam, as elsewhere described, is here stated to give the horse-power, the steam being saturated at the high-pressure cylinder and reheated between cylinders with ‘less than ten pounds, 11,000 B. T. U., per horse power per hour.’ The conclusion is reached that “This is, to-day, the greatest of all the prob- lems presented to the designing and con- structing engineer, with the possible excep- tion of that of finding a system of effectually rendering the interior of the working cylin- der non-conducting in such manner as to en- tirely prevent the occurrence of initial con- densation ; thus conforming the ‘ideal case? SCIENCE. | [N.S. Von. IV. No. 79. to the real, and making the steam engine a purely thermodynamic machine.”’ A number of papers were read describing details of practical engineering work and a set of ‘topical questions’ was propounded; both papers and questions eliciting much interesting discussion bearing upon practi- eal, rather than scientific, points in engi- neering. CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. THE SCIENCE OF LANGUAGE. Wiruin the compass of about 300 duo- decimo pages, Prof. Giacomo de Gregorio, of the University of Palermo, has com- pressed an admirable survey of the ele- ments of the science of language, a task by no means easy. (‘Glottologia.’ Ulric Hoepli, Milan, 1896.) He divides the subject into three parts, glottology, language in general, and par- ticular languages. In the first he discusses the place of the study of language among the sciences, and rapidly sketches its his- toric development, naming the most prom- inent students and their works. The sec- ond part enters fully into the phonetics and the physiology of articulate sounds, and in a second chapter reviews the theories of linguistic radicals and the origin of speech. The third part preseuts an able chapter on the various proposed classifications of lan- guages, and a summary of the principal linguistic stocks of the globe. An excellent bibliography of linguistic writings precedes the text. The author is much more than a com- piler. He is an independent and acute critic, and threads his way with clear vision through the dust and fog of conflicting hy- potheses and averments. He is not a sup- porter of any ‘school,’ but claims for lin- guistic science the high and right place that it deserves among the natural sciences relating to man, and his method is that of those sciences. Jury 3, 1896.] ETHNOLOGY AND HISTORY. WHEN the science of ethnology shall be properly understood, the application of its methods to the sociologic development of the human race will lead to an entirely novel plan of writing history, and to a dif- ferent appreciation both of its motives and its aims. That which has long been sought for under the attractive name of ‘The Philos- ophy of History’ will be found to be noth- ing more than a series of ethnologic deduc- tions; and ‘ The Mission of the Historian ’ in its largest sense will be nothing more than the application of the natural science of man to the welfare of man; nothing more but that will be: the greatest achieve- ment which the human species will have witnessed, far transcending any mere mate- rial gains or discoveries which it has made or can make. At the last annual meeting of the New Jersey Historical Society I delivered by re- quest an address upon this subject, which has since been published. A limited num- ber of copies remain by me, which I shall be glad to send to such readers of ScrENCE as may apply for them. (Address, Media, Penna. ) PRIMITIVE COSMIC CONCEPTIONS. SLowLy but surely the theory that simi- larities of mythical concepts betokened ancient intercommunication is giving way to the true explanation that such similarities are owing to the unity of the human mind and the sameness of its processes. No one has taught this profound truth more positively than Prof. Bastian, the eminent director of the Ethnographic Mu- ~seum of Berlin. Very lately he has pub- lished a most instructive work of about 200 pages entitled, ‘The Thought Creation of the Surrounding World out of Cosmogonic Conceptions.’ (Dimmler, Berlin.) It treats of the various so-called ‘ elements’ which make up the myths of religions, the beliefs SCIENCE. by and notions of his surroundings, real and imagined, which every man forms uncon- sciously to himself, and which deeply in- fluence his life and works. Such are his views about the divine, the soul, death, spirits, creation, magic, etc. These anda hundred others develop similarly in similar stages of culture, and the parallel schemes drawn from culture-horizons far asunder which the author lays before the reader are striking and convincing. It would be very desirable if Dr. Bastian’s remarkable studies on this and allied sub- jects could be brought in a compact shape before the English reading public. D. G. Brinton. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. NOTES UPON AGRICULTURE AND HORTI- CULTURE. DISEASES: OF CITROUS FRUITS IN FLORIDA. THE orange industry is a large one in the warmer portions of our country and the citrous fruits have several diseases which cause annual losses of not less than a half million dollars. In order to obtain good control of these diseases and check their ravages the government has had a station of research in Florida for the past three years, and Bulletin 8 of the division of Vegetable Physiology and Pathology just issued is a report of progress by Messrs. Swingle and Webber at the Subtropical Laboratory. The bulletin commends itself at sight, being attractive in plates, three of which are colored, and the text is carefully prepared. Six diseases are considered, namely: (1) Blight, (2) Die-back or Exan- thema, (3) Scab or Verrucosis, (4) Sooty Mould, (5) Foot-rot and (6) Melanose. The blight, probably contagious, the cause of which is yet unknown, seems to be incurable; therefore affected trees should be burned. Die-back is due to malnutri- tion and improper drainage and culture. Brown eruptions appear upon the twigs 18 which afterwards die, and the fruits split and drop before maturing. It is an advan- tage to withhold organic nitrogenous ma- nures. The scab attacks lemons and sour oranges and disfigures the foliage and fruit by producing warts. It can be prevented by spraying with fungicides. Sooty mouldisa fungus following the attacks of insects and fumigations to kill the insect prevents it. Foot-rot is the most destructive malady and is recognized by gum exudation at the base of the tree. The cause is probably some mi- nute organism and prevention is found by cutting away the diseased parts and wash- ing with fungicides. Melanose is a new disease of all citrous fruits, not yet very destructive, the cause of which is unknown, but Bordeaux mixture is a satisfactory remedy. COMBATTING CARNATION RUST. THE growing of carnations is a large in- dustry in this country, but is beset with many vicissitudes not among the least of which is the carnation rust. This trouble has been under investigation at some of the experiment stations, and before us lies bulletin No. 100, of the New York Experi- ment Station, with the title as given above. Mr. Stewart, the author, has tested the germination of the spores of the rust fun- gus in various substances, and finds, for example, that a 1-100 solution of copper sul- phate is much too weak to prevent germina- tion. When common salt is used 1-45 is the strongest solution in which the spores can grow. The spores, on the other hand, are remarkably susceptible to the action of potassium sulphide, a 1-3,000 solution en- tirely preventing germination. A similar series of results was obtained by soaking cuttings in the above solutions, those in potassium sulphide being unharmed. At- tempts to cure rusty plants by spraying with fungicides failed, but good results were obtained in preventing its appearance SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 79. upon healthy plants. Rust, it has been shown, will spread among mature plants. It is important that carnation plants be held up from the ground by inverted V’s of wire netting. For unknown reasons, some varieties are much more susceptible than others to the rust. POTATO DISEASES UPON LONG ISLAND. In addition to his carnation investi- gations Mr. Stewart has made a study of potato diseases, the results of which appear in Bulletin No. 101, of the New York Station. In addition to the good results following from spraying with the Bordeaux mixture for the blights, notes are given upon an internal browning of potatoes, the cause of which is not determined. The brown spots are entirely surrounded by healthy tissue, and cultures made from the discolored portions produced no growth. Under the microscope the brown spots give no clue as to the cause of the trouble, and it would seem to be physiological and not. mycological in its origin. Field experi- ments indicate that the browning is not transmitted from seed to product, but the discolored tubers are not the best to use for planting. There are several stem blights of potatoes, but Mr. Stewart finds another which seems to strangle the plant and working internally will be a difficult. one to check. A new fusarium (#. acum- matum EK. & E.) is reported. Byron D. HALSTED. RUTGERS COLLEGE. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. ASTRONOMY. A MEETING was held at Paris last month which will be of the greatest importance to the prog- ress of astronomical science. Each of the four nations whose governments publish elaborate astronomical ephemerides were represented at this meeting. The object of the conference was the discussion of the best system of astronomi- cal constants, with a view to the introduction. ’ As buat g Pid ‘lk i AS ? JULY 3, 1896.] of uniformity in the various astronomical ephemerides. The French ephemeris was represented by MM. Fayeand Loewy ; the British by Dr. Down- ing and Dr. Gill; the German by Prof. Bausch- inger, and the American by Prof. Newcomb and Dr. Backlund, director of the Russian Na- tional observatory. Dr. Bakhuyzen and M. Trépied acted as Secretaries. The delegates succeeded in deciding upon definitive constants of nutation, aberration and the solar paraliax. The values adopted for these constants are those deduced by Dr. Gill from heliometer observation of the minor planets Victoria, Sappho and Iris. The determination of the constant of preces- sion and the formation of a catalogue of standard stars was left to Prof. Newcomb. There can be no doubt that the introduction of uniformity in the four great national astro- nomical ephemerides will bring about a great improvement in the reduction of astronomical observations in general, and will do away with a great deal of confusion which now exists. ie THE GREENWICH OBSERVATORY. WE learn from the London Times that the Astronomer Royal, Mr. H. M. Christie, has pre- sented his annual report to the Board of Visi- tors. The most important event of the year has been the completion of the north wing and central octagon tower of the new Physical Ob- servatory and the reerection upon this tower of the Lassell dome. When finished it will consist of a central octagon tower surmounted by a dome, from which will radiate four wings run- ning due north, south, east and west, built of red brick faced with terra cotta. The comple- tion of the east and west wings has now been _ sanctioned, and provision has been made in the estimates for commencing the work during the present year. Within the dome upon this handsome new building will eventually be placed _the 26-inch photographic telescope presented to the Royal Observatory by Sir Henry Thompson, and now nearly finished and ready for inspec- tion at Sir Howard Grubb’s works in Dublin. As a guiding telescope the old Merz 123-inch telescope, which used to be called the Great SCIENCE. 19 Equatorial, and that not many years ago, will be remounted, and in place of a counterpoise on the other side of the declination axis will be mounted a Cassegrain reflecting telescope of 30-inch aperture, also the gift of Sir Henry Thompson, for which Dr. Common has under- taken to figure the mirrors and to supervise the construction. Another handsome new building also built of red brick and terra cotta, with its dome, was completed early in January, and houses the altazimuth, or universal transit circle, which will very shortly be ready for use. The lighting of this dome, as well as that of the old Lassell dome, by a series of port hole windows clearly points to the Argus-eyed char- acter of the instruments within. The report contains important details regard- ing the management and scientific work of the observatory. In concluding his report the Astronomer Royal says: ‘‘The reorganization of the staff of the Observatory which has been referred to in the two last reports, and which has now been approved, will provide the much needed increase in the permanent staff of trained observers and in the supervising power by the appointment of an additional chief as- sistant. The benefit of this increase of perma- nent staff will, it is hoped, be felt in the future, but during the past year the work of the Ob- servatory has had to be carried on by a reduced staff, there being three vacancies in the staff of five second-class assistants which could not be filled up, as under the scheme now sanctioned six established computers are to be appointed in lieu of three second-class assistants. Under these difficult circumstances (aggravated by the inconvenience arising from the building opera- tions in progress) it is highly creditable to the assistants and computers that the record of work for the past year compares so well with that of any previous year, and I take this opportunity of acknowledging the zeal and energy with which the whole staff has worked to maintain the credit of the Observatory.”’ ; GENERAL. Prof. W. L. ELKIN, of Yale University, has been elected by the Yale Corporation director of the observatory. THE division of ornithology and mammalogy 20 of the department of agriculture will after the first of July be entitled the Biological Survey, at the head of which Dr. C. Hart Merriam will remain. An important part of the work of the Survey will be the determination of zoolog- ical and botanical zones, which have already proyed so important economically and scien- tifically. THE United States Fish Commission steamer Albatross, with the Bering Sea Commission, created to make an exhaustive study of the life and condition of the fur seals in Bering Sea, sailed from Seattle, Wash., for the north, on June 24th. Accorpine to the plans of the Geological Survey for the field work of the present season, five parties will work throughout the sum- mer in the New England States and-eastern New York, five in the Appalachian region, two in the coastal plain from the mouth of the Hudson to the Gulf of Mexico, five in the interior or Mississippi region, four inthe Rocky Mountain region, and eight in the Pacific region. THE new library of Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, ‘was dedicated on the afternoon of May 26th with addresses by Mrs. Margaret Deland, Truman J. Backus and Melvil Dewey. Charles M. Pratt, President of the Trustees, made an interesting statement of the work of the library. The cost of the building was $190,000. It is finely ap- pointed in every respect and admirably adapted to its purpose. The new iron stack has been pronounced by many the most attractive and satisfactory of any yet built. WE regret to record the death of Sir Joseph Prestwich, professor of geology at Oxford Uni- versity. He was born near London on March 12, 1812, and was educated at University Col- lege, London. He was President of the Geolo- gical Society, 1870-72; Vice-President of the Royal Society, 1870-71; President of the In- ternational Geological Congress, 1888; Cor- responding Member of the Paris Academy of Sciences; D. C. L., of Oxford University, ete. He was eminent for his researches in geology and related subjects such as the ‘ Antiquity of Man,’ ‘Sub-marine Temperatures,’ ‘The Water Supply of Cities,’ ete. WE have not hitherto noticed the death of SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 79. M. Jules Simon, as he did not himself make con- tributions to science. His philosophical pub- lications are, however, of value, and he ac- complished much for the advancement of science in France. In view of the conditions of politi- eal life in America, France may be congratu- lated that it could have for Premier and for one of its most prominent statesman a man such as. Jules Simon. AccoRDING to the annual custom, the second of the receptions of the Royal Society, which was held at Burlington House on June 11th, was a ladies’ Conversatzione. The exhibits were in large measure the same as at the preceding conversatzione, which we have already noticed, and there will further be a public exhibition of a number of these, lasting about two weeks, at the Science Museum at South Kensington. ACCORDING to the announcement of the pub- lishers, a new scheme for arctic exploration will be described in Appletons’ Popular Science Monthly for July, by Robert Stein, of the United States. Geological Survey. The chief features of the plan, which has been commended by many ex- perienced explorers, are that the work shall be continuous and that it shall have a base of sup- plies reached every year by the whalers. Mr. Stein accompanies his statement with an inter- esting map of the arctic regions, showing what. has been done by recent expeditions and how much remains unexplored. It is proposed to. initiate the new undertaking in 1897. Dr. PAuL M. Jonss, instructor in natural history and geology in Vanderbilt University, is spending the summer on the southern coast. of Florida, studying the marine life of that coast and of the Bahama Islands, and collecting spe- cimens for the biological museum and labora- tory of the University. ADVICES received at London from Berbera, Kast Africa, under date of May 25th, show that Prof. Daniel Elliot, who left London in March last for Somaliland, has returned to- Berbera from the Eolas Mountains. He intends. to start at once for the interior with a large caravan. All his party are well. He has thus. far met with much success in his search for specimens of the fauna of the country for the Field Museum at Chicago. Some of the ani- ___ his compositions. _ rate at which a composer or performer plays a ii a copper sulphate. JULY 3, 1896. ] mals obtained by him and prepared by the taxi- dermist of the party are very rare. THE periodical comet discovered by Mr. W. RB. Brooks on July 6, 1889, whose orbit has been computed by Dr. 8. E. Chandler, Prof. Chas. Lane Poor and others, has been detected by M. Javal, one of the assistants of the Obser- vatory of Nice. THE Josselin Botanical Society of Maine will hold its second annual meeting at Farmington on July 7th to 10th, 1896. The first two days will be devoted to the reading of papers and discussions and the last two to field expeditions in the surrounding country. Further details re- garding the meeting may be obtained from the Secretary, Mr. M. L. Fernald, Cambridge, Mass. In an article contributed to the Naturwissen- schafiliche Rundschau Dr. L. Fomm, of Munich, states that he has secured interference effects with the X-rays and has found their length to be about 0.000014 mm. Dr. CHARLES MARGOT has recently investi- gated (Arch. des Sciences phys. et nat.) the curious colors of the alloys of aluminium. White metals usually give white alloys, but 78 parts of gold and 22 parts of aluminium give an alloy of a brilliant purple color, and 72 parts of plat- inum and 28 parts of aluminium give a bright yellow alloy. The author holds that these al- loys are true chemical combinations. They might prove useful for coins, except that the structure is crystalline and the alloy turns to powder when struck by a blow. M. A. RrvyoireE has recently described before the Paris Academy an instrument that automati- cally transeribes a composition played on the piano. The record is said to be as legible as the ordinary musical notation, and it might be an advantage to a composer to directly record It would also show the exact given piece, our ordinary musical notation being deficient in this respect. AN English magistrate has recently decided that it is illegal to sell green peas colored with It is said that about twenty SCIENCE. of million tins containing these peas are consumed annually in Great Britain. They arealso sold extensively in America, and the makers should be required at least to state the amount of cop- per sulphate that they contain. AN expedition for the purpose of boring to a considerable depth into the atoll of Funafuti in the Ellice group (lat. 9° S., long. 179° W.) left Sydney on May Ist, on board H. M. S. Penguin, a surveying vessel, under command of Captain Field, R. N. Prof. W. J. Sollas, of Trinity College, Dublin, and the Geological Survey of Ireland, is in chief charge as geolo- gist, and with him are Mr. Stanley Gardner, of Cambridge, and Mr. Hedley, of the Australian Museum, who will be doing biological work and collecting. The department of mines of the New South Wales government is lending dia- mond drill plant and giving some monetary aid as well, while Prof. Anderson Stuart, Mr. Slee and Prof. David have given much time and thought to the expedition. The main funds. are provided by the British Government Grant Committee and by the Royal Society, while the Admiralty are providing a ship to carry men and apparatus from Sydney to the island and back to Fiji, where the expedition will disperse. Although the work is surrounded by many dif- ficulties, and possibly by unforeseen ones which may prevent the carrying out of the complete program, it is hoped that a section through a considerable part of an atoll at sea level may be obtained sufficient to show the constituent rocks, the foundation on which they rest, and possibly the exact method according to which the atoll has been built up. It is hoped that the work may be completed before October. A REUTER despatch to the London Times states that the steam yacht Windward left St. Katharine Docks yesterday afternoon for Franz Josef Land. The Windward, which is now under the command of Captain James Brown, an Arctic explorer of over 36 years’ experience, is taking out as ice master Mr. John Crowther, who has already made the return journey to Franz Josef Land on three occasions. All told, her crew consists of 22 officers and men. Since her return from Franz Josef Land the Windward has been strengthened throughout, 22 ‘has been practically reéngined, and, in order that additional warmth may be secured, has been lined with three thicknesses of felt. She is taking out a very large supply of provisions, a number of sledges, and two additional mem- bers to the Franz Josef Land party. The Wind- ward does not go out on this occasion for the purpose of bringing Mr. Jackson home. She will call at Vard6, when, after embarking sheep, coal and live reindeer, she will sail direct for Franz Josef Land. Four or five days after leaving Vard6 she will get into the ice belt, which will probably be of 300 miles width. It is hoped she will get through this in about a fortnight, and it is anticipated that she will communicate with the explorers at Cape Flora, Franz Josef Land, on or about July 20th. As soon as the Windward has discharged her cargo she will leave Franz Josef Land with news of the doings of the explorers, and as she is bound, owing to the ice conditions, to sail before August 20th, she may be expected in England by the end of September. About this time next year, if all has gone well, she will leave London again to bring the explorers home. Pror. WM. H. BREWER contributes to the Yale Scientific Monthly an account of the ob- servations he has made during the past 45 years on earth tremors at Niagara Falls The heaviest vibrations were on either side and near the Horseshoe Fall. They disappeared in places in the soft shales below the limestone, although they were evident in the harder beds of limestone and sandstones interstrated with the shales. Passing down the river along the brink of the gorge, the vibrations rapidly de- creased in intensity, becoming too faint to be preceived between the two suspension bridges, increasing again on nearing the rapids. Itis a popular belief of persons living near the Falls that crystals are more common in the rocks there than elsewhere in the same formation. But mac- roscopic examination of limestones taken near the Falls and those gathered a few miles away did not show that the crystallization or the texture of the rocks had been affected by the jar of the cataract. As Prof. Brewer remarks, it would be interesting to make the investi- gation microscopically, and to study the jar of the cataract with proper instruments. SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. IV. No. 79. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. THE Oxford University Gazette for June 9th contains the eighth annual report of the dele- gates of the University museum (1895). It will be remembered that two important changes were made during that year, Mr. Francis Gotch having succeeded Dr. J. S. Burdon-San- derson as professor of physiology, and Mr. Henry A. Miers having succeeded Prof. H. M. Storey Maskelyne as professor of mineralogy. The principal improvement in the museum building during the year was the alteration and fitting up of two rooms in the department of medicine for a pathological laboratory, the cost of the scientific installation of which has been defrayed out of a sum of £500 presented by a benefactor who does not wish his name to be made public. Prof. Sanderson, the Regius pro- fessor of medicine, on his resignation of the physiological chair presented to the laboratory instruments to the value of £105, made under his direction during his tenure of the chair, and paid for by him in excess of the departmental income. The fine portrait of Prof. Burdon- Sanderson, painted in 1893 by the Hon. John Collier, has been presented to the department by Mrs. Burdon-Sanderson. THE June examination under charge of the University of the State of New York was the largest in the history of the department. About 400,000 question papers were required, all of which were printed in the department by its own employees. The preliminary examina- tions for. professional and technical students, and those for license to practice were so large that the accommodations heretofore in use proved insufficient. Besides the 69th regiment armory in New York City it became neccessary to use two large assembly rooms in the New York University building in Washington Square. IN response to an appeal by the Chancellor at the annual banquet of the alumni of Vander- bilt University, twenty-six of those present made subscriptions of one hundred dollars each to endow a chair in the University. An endeavor will be made to increase the amount to $50,000 within the next year. The annual address before the University body was delivered by Postmaster-General William L. Wilson. © JULY 3, 1896.] WittiAM T. MaGcruper, M. E., adjunct professor of mechanical engineering in Vander- - bilt University has resigned and has _ been elected professor of mechanical engineering in the Ohio State University. SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. The Jack Rabbits of the United States. By T.8. PALMER, M. D., Assistant Chief of Division. Bulletin No. 8, U. S. Department of Agricul- ture, Division of Ornithology and Mammal- ogy, Washington. Government Printing Of- fice. 1896. 8vo., pp. 84, 6 pll. and frontis- piece and 2 text figures. No jack rabbits are found in the United States east of about the 95th meridian ; west of this line they are of almost universal distribu- tion, sometimes several species occurring over the same area. They extend northward over the plains of the Saskatchewan, and southward into Mexico far beyond our southern border. The extent of their abundance and the amount of injury they are capable of doing to growing crops is little known to the general public, out- side of the jack rabbit area. In Bulletin No. 8, of the Division of Ornithology and Mammal- ogy of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, a vast amount of information is given on both these points, both statistically and pictorially, Dr. Palmer having treated his subject with great thoroughness, and in a way at once inter- esting to the naturalist and the general reader. The matter is non-technical and relates to the habits and distribution of the five or six species (no attempt is made to discriminate the sub- species) found in the United States, including their abundance and rapidity of increase; their injury to crops and the means of protection against them, and the methods of destruction employed to reduce their numbers. There is also a chapter on ‘Rabbit Drives and Hunts,’ and -another on the value of jack rabbits as game. In respect to the abundance of these animals over certain areas, Dr. Palmer gives some strik- ing statistics. For instance, he states that in Modoe county, California, ‘nearly 25,000 jack rabbits were said to have been killed in three months on a tract of land only six by eight miles in extent.’ ‘‘A still more remarkable case has been recorded in the San Joaquin Val- SCIENCE. 23 ley. Some of the early drives near Bakersfield took place on a ranch less than one square mile in extent. In the first drive, on the afternoon of January 2, 1888, 1,126 rabbits were killed; as soon as the animals were dispatched, the same field was passed over again and 796 more killed. A week later, on January 10th, there were two drives on the same ground, the first resulting in the destruction of 2,000 rabbits, the second in more than 3,000; in the latter an adjoining field was also driven over. It was estimated that altogether about 8,000 rabbits were killed on this ranch in nine days. The ‘Kern County Echo’ of March (8 ?) 1888, stated that a total of about 40,000 rabbits had been killed in the drives about Bakersfield from Jan- uary 1, 1888, up to that date, and referred to an estimate that two-thirds of the rabbits killed in the drives were females and the aver- age number of young of each of these was 3}. On this basis it was computed that had these 40,000 rabbits lived two months they would have increased to 135,000. When it is con- sidered how much injury a single rabbit can do, the damage which such an army of rabbits is capable of inflicting would hardly be less than that caused by a grasshopper plague.’’ In an- other place Dr. Palmer states that ‘‘it has been estimated that five jack rabbits consume as much as one sheep.’’ As means of protection rabbit-proof wire fences are sometimes resorted to, and poisons are occa- sionally used to reduce the number of rabbits ; many are also shot, but the chief dependence is wholesale destruction by drives. These are de- scribed at length, and illustrated by cuts and some striking reproductions of photographs of some of the remarkably effective drives made about Fresno, in California, where in one in- . stance 20,000 rabbits were killed in a single drive. In the larger drives hundreds of men and boys participate, some on foot but many on horses. It is said that in one drive near Fresno, resulting in the death of 15,000 rabbits, 2,000 horsemen took part. A list of 155 rabbit drives in California is given, with a map showing their location. These drives resulted in the destruc- tion of nearly 400,000 rabbits duriug a period of about eight years. - Lists of drives made in Ore- gon, Utah, Idaho and Colorado are also given. 24 The jack rabbits have at present little com- . mercial value ; their skins are used to some ex- tent for furs, and many of the animals are sent to the markets of the larger cities and sold as food. It is estimated that some 600,000 are an- nually consumed in the United States, the greater part being sent to the larger Eastern cities. It is believed that ‘‘ commercial utiliza- tion is the most promising and least expensive method of keeping these pests in check in lo- calities where they are unusually abundant ; but returns from this source will only partially offset the losses sustained on account of injuries to crops.”’ ‘‘Tn America,’’ says Dr. Palmer, ‘‘the rab- bit question never has, and probably never will assume the proportions it has assumed in Australia. The jack rabbits of the United States are all indigenous species and ordinarily are held in check by natural enemies and by disease. Although local conditions may some- times favor their temporary increase, yet natural agencies aided by the persistent and constantly increasing war of extermination are gradually, but none the less surely, diminish- ing their numbers.”’ Incidentally some account is given of the rab- bit pest in Australia, New Zealand and Tas- mania, due to the introduction of the common rabbit of Europe (Lepis cuniculus), about thirty years ago, for purposes of sport. As is well known, they multiplied so rapidly as to become soon a very serious pest. Dr. Palmer cites statistics showing that about $5,500,000 had been expended prior to 1888 for their destruc- tion, and in building several thousand miles of rabbit-proof fences for the protection of crops. JoeA. A Catalogue of Fossil Fishes of the British Museum. Vol. UI. By ArtHur SMITH Woopwarp, BoC Sol. Ze. Since the publication of the first volume of this series the student of vertebrate morphol- ogy, not less than the specialist, has felt that he was to be indebted to Mr. Arthur Smith Woodward for an admirable text-book on the entire subject of Fishes. Critics have univer- sally commended the catalogue, from its general plan down to the details of its text figures and SCIENCE [N. S. Von. 1V. No. 79. plates, a work which only could have been written by one who has had the long exper- ience, the broad judgment, to say nothing of the industry, of its author. The volume which has recently appeared deals with those groups of fishes popularly known as Mesozoic Ganoids, and reviews this subject in such a way that the fourth volume of the series, beginning with the ‘ Teleosts,’ may complete the catalogue. It is understood that a supplememtary volume will thereafter be pub- lished to supply omissions and to bring the en- tire subject up to date. Those only who know the confusion which has existed in our know- ledge of extinct Ganoids—confusion due to a large and scattered literature, faulty nomen- clature, imperfect and partial study—can ap- preciate the degree of order which has been infused into the entire subject by the present work. Indeed, one may well believe that this volume could not be possible had its author not felt it necessary to visit every noteworthy col- lection, at home and abroad, for the purpose of making comparison of his material. The present volume begins with a review of the structural relations of the following groups: the Paleoniscoids of the Trias, Catopterus and — Dictyopyge ; the Protospondyli, Semionotids, Ma- crosemiids, Pycnodonts, Eugnathids, Amiids, Pachy- cormids ; the Aetheospondyli, Aspidorhynchids, Lepidosteids ; the Isospondyli, Pholidophorids, Leptolepids. Then follows the catalogue proper, a careful review of the systematic side of the sub- ject, with complete reference lists and deserip- tions, illustrated by numerous text figures. Among these are a number of new and ad- mirable restorations, including those of Dape- dius, Cleithrolepis, Eugnathus, Caturus, Hypso- cormus, Aspidorhynchus and Leptolepis. There are also eighteen plates illustrating those speci- mens in the Museum which prove of especial in- terest. A careful review of the book brings out clearly that the treatment of the subject isa purely morphological one, and that the most recent studies on the modes of evolution have been brought into good use. General conclu- sions have, in the majority of cases, been drawn from the study of progressive series, as, for ex- ample, where the author shows that ‘‘ the most advanced stage of the endoskeleton (of Neor- aa already a goodly one. JULY 3, 1896. ] hombolepis and Otomitla) is attained in the latest members of the race with the least modified exoskeleton or when he notes that at the time the jaw elements become more simplified among the Teleostomes, a ‘new vigor’ is apparently infused into their race, marked by the outcrop of a varied series of families. By this means parallelisms have been largely evaded, but of these many interesting examples are cited, as the structures arising in the Semionotids and Macrosemiids, which are clearly interpretable as the result of similar physiological needs. And it was only after the closest scrutiny that the author was inclined to follow the lead of Prof. Cope in selecting fin structures as the most con- stantelementsin comparison. The old tenets of classification, the characters of scales and even of vertebral axis, were found to be of decidedly minor importance, in the. case of scales, as in Eugnathus and Caturus of not more than generic value. Throughout the volume phylogenetic views are seldom expressed definitely, for even the splendid series of forms which the author has been able to study has not convinced him, in the majority of cases, of more than probable kinships ; thus we learn that the ‘‘ origin of the Chondrostei is still entirely obscure,’’ or that ‘it seems most reasonable in the present state of knowledge to place the Oligopleuride with the (Pholidophoridz) near the base of the Iso- spondylic Series,’’ or, again, that, ‘‘ if specula- tion were permitted in seeking the direct ances_ tors of the Pycnodonts, it might be most profit- able to turn toward the earliest Mesozoic fishes of the Colobodus type.’’ Mr. Smith Woodward regards his allan as acceptable ‘merely as a convenient basis for further research, full of imperfections which each specialist will readily discover for him- self.’ But when one is familiar with the re- searches of its author, and knows, moreover, that the present volume embodies four years’ _ diligent work, we may naturally expect that its sins, either of omission or commission, will not prove formidable. If criticism must be found 4 one might be inclined to regret that the number of text figures, especially restorations, were not larger, although be it understood that from the obvious nature of the catalogue this number is BASHFORD DEAN. SCIENCE. 25 The Cyprinodonts. By S. GARMAN. Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy at Harvard College. Vol. XIX., No. 1, pp. 179, pls. XII. 1895. The present monograph on the ‘top min- nows’ has been based upon Mr. Garman’s stud- ies of the remarkable—possibly the most com- plete—collection of these forms, that of the , Agassiz Museum at Harvard ; and it is certainly one of the most valuable of recent contributions to the study of Fishes. It is important to the systematist, because there is scarcely a group of recent Teleostomes which has stood in greater need of critical revision, for the Cyprinodonts are not merely a large and scattered group, pro- fusely and often very imperfectly described, but one whose species present a most confusing range in coloration, dentition and sexual char- acters. One cannot help feeling that in the systematic portion of the work Mr. Garman’s studies of the variation among members of each species have enabled him to interpret ‘specific’ differ- ences with modern broadness, and that the or- der which has been drawn out of the tangle of synonymy (where a single form had, for exam- ple, been placed by various authors in as many as a half dozen ‘genera’) is one which will prove of permanent value. The monograph is one which, like that on the Discoboli, does fitting justice to its author’s careful work ; it might well be taken as a model of thoughtful preparation. The plates are admirable exam- ples of the work of the artist and of the lithog- rapher, and especially interesting are Pls. [X.— XII., which were drawn by Sonrel for the elder Agear The wide range in structural characters which the Cyprinodonts have evolved has been brought out clearly in the introductory portion of the monograph, but perhaps not as fully as many morphologists would desire. But the arrangement of the material with a view of sketching broadly the evolutional problems sug- gested by this group is certainly satisfactory. And there can be no doubt that many well- trained morphologists will here learn, for the first time, that sexual dimorphism—where the males or females of the same species will be either: sinistral or dextral—may occur among 26 vertebrates. And on the evidence of cyprino- donts it must be admitted that several of the characters which have been almost universally regarded as stable landmarks in morphological studies should be given comparatively little definite importance. For in this group, rank- ing only as a family, oviparous and ovovivi- parous forms have been evolved, together with a broad range in intromittent organs and in ~ ‘ and of the weight of hydrogen evolved by its embryonic nutriment. So that, for example, we must admit that structures like the ‘claspers’ of sharks are of but little moment in separating the phylum of the elasmobranchs from that of the Dipnoan or of the Teleostome. In the morphological portion of his work Mr. Garman has directed especial attention to varietal ' changes, notably in the case of Fundulus hetero- clitus, and to structural variation as shown principally in teeth, digestive tract, urinogenital system and vertebral column. Under the latter head he attributes the decrease in the number of vertebree of fishes in general, in and toward the torrid zone, to the ‘lessening of the com- parative activity of the species,’ due to an enlarged food supply and to a decreased need of nutriment, the decreased number is not, there- fore, attributable to the direct action of tem- perature, as several writers appear to have inferred. ’ BASHFORD DEAN. A NEW DETERMINATION OF THE RELATIVE DENSITIES OF OXYGEN AND HYDROGEN AND OF THE RATIO OF THEIR ATOMIC WEIGHTS. To one familiar with the work of Prof. Morley on this subject it would seem that any one who wishes to add anything to our knowledge of the matter must be an experimenter of unusual ability, and must be willing to expend a very large amount of labor on his determinations. That Julius Thomsen, who has recently pub- lished the results of his experiments in this field,* is an experimenter of unusual ability every one will admit. That the results ob- tained can carry with them any considerable weight in comparison with those of Prof. Morley is very doubtful. It is, however, of very con- siderable interest to find that, by the use of * Zeit. fiir Anorg. Chem. 11, 14; and 12, 1. SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. 1V. No. 79. comparatively simple apparatus and by methods differing in almost every detail, he has ob- tained results which are in fairly close agree- ment with those of Prof. Morley’s elaborate re- searches. The method employed for the determination of the ratio of the atomic weights consisted in the determination, first, of the ratio between the weight of a certain amount of aluminium solution in a strong solution of caustic potash, and, second, of the weight of oxygen required to burn the hydrogen evolved by the solution of a known weight of aluminium. The density of hydrogen was determined by measuring over water saturated with hydrogen, the gasevolved by the solution ofa known weight of aluminium. The density of oxygen was determined in a similar manner, the gas being evolved by the decomposition of potassium chlorate. The volume of gas measured was approximately one and one-half liters, while Prof. Morley measured a volume of hydrogen amounting to forty-two liters. The results ob- tained were : Ratio of Atomic Weights Density of hydrogen at 0°, 760 mm. and 45° Lat. 0:089947,--0.000012 Density of oxygen ‘“ 1.42906 Prof. Morley’s values were: Ratio of Atomic Weights 1:15.879 0.00032 Density of hydrogen at 0°, j 760 mm. and 45° Lat. Density of oxygen ‘ 1:15.8690+0.0022 0.089873 +-0.0000027 1.42900 +0.000034 In discussing the result of his determination of the ratio of the atomic weights, Prof. Thomsen remarks that, as he has avoided the weighing and measuring of large volumes of gases, it is probable that his result is nearer the. truth than that obtained by others, and that. the uncertainty does not extend beyond the fourth decimal. He seems to have overlooked. the fact that, in his syntheses of water, Prof. Morley weighed his hydrogen absorbed in pala- dium, and also weighed the water formed by its combination, and that, while he weighed the oxygen in gaseous form, the sum of the weights of oxygen and hydrogen agreed almost exactly with the weight of the water. cally in the longer articles. JuLy 3, 1896.] It is noticeable that Prof. Thomsen’s density of hydrogen is higher than that of Prof. Morley, while his ratio for the atomic weights is lower. This seems to indicate that the hydrogen ob- tained by Prof. Thomsen was contaminated with a trifling amount of some impurity. From the experiments of Prof. Morley it seems probable that hydrogen evolved by the solution of alu- minium in potassium hydroxide containing a small amount of the carbonate would contain carbon. As no account is given in the paper of any attempt to exclude the presence of potas- sium carbonate, or if any experiments to prove the absence of compounds of carbon or of other impurities in the hydrogen used, it is, at least, possible that the difference in the results of the two workers is due to this cause. To one familiar with the character of such work it is rather a matter of suprise that the difference is not greater. W. A. NOYES. A Dictionary of Chemical Solubilities, Inorganic. By ARTHUR MESSINGER CoMEY, PH. D. 8mo. Pp. 515. London and New York, Maemillan & Co., 1896. The attempt is made in this book to give re- liable data concerning the solubility of all in- organic substances that had been analyzed be- fore March, 1894. ‘The solubility of the substance in water is first given, the data being arranged chronologi- Then follow the specific gravities of the aqueous solutions, and also any data obtainable regarding their boiling points; other physical data concerning solutions are not included. Following this is the solubility of the substance in other solvents —first, the inorganic acids ; then alkali and salt solutions, and finally organic substances.”’ The theories of solution are not discussed, the term ‘soluble’ being used to indicate that ‘‘a solution of some sort has been formed.”’ The plan of the book is admirable and, so far as our examination has extended, there are no Serious omissions. The arrangement of the compounds and the nomenclature adopted are Satisfactory and, probably, as good as any that could be employed. A synchronistic table of periodicals is added SCIENCE. 27 in an appendix as well as some formulas and tables for the conversion of various hydrometer seales into specific gravity. The work is a worthy successor to the earlier volume of Prof. Storer, and the author de- serves the thanks of his colleagues for the time and labor he has put upon it. Li. B. HALL. SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. AMERICAN CHEMICAL JOURNAL, JUNE. On the Specific Gravities of Mixtures of Nor- mal Liquids: By C. E. LINEBARGER. The methods used to determine the molecular masses of liquids, which consist either in con- verting the liquid into the state of vapor and determining its specific gravity in this condi- tion, or in determining the change in freezing- or boiling-point of a solvent upon the addition of the liquid, do not throw much light on the molecular complexity of the substance in the liquid state. From work in other lines it is probable that in some cases the molecular ag- gregate is the same in the liquid as in the gase- ous condition ; but in other cases the complex- ity increases as the substance passes from the gaseous to the liquid condition. The present paper is a study of the changes in specific grav- ity which take place when liquids which suffer | no change in passage from one state of aggre- gation to another are mixed. In cases where association or dissociation takes place the num- ber of factors which enter into play is so great that no general conclusions can be drawn. In the determinations pycnometers of a special form were used, and in most cases great precau- tions were taken to secure pure substances. If two liquids of different chemical composition are mixed, the volume of the resulting liquid will not. be equal to the sum of the volumes be- fore they were mixed, but will be greater or less. This is explained by the fact that dilu- tion diminishes the molecular attraction and the internal pressure. The number of mole- cules in the unit of surface decreases and the volume increases. In this paper the observed and calculated results for a large number of mixtures are given; but the data at command at present is not sufficient to enable one to draw any general conclusions. 28 Dianthranol—A Dyhydroxyl Derivative of Dian- thracene: By W. R. ORNDORFF and C. L. BLIss. When anthranol in benzene solution is ex- posed to the sunlight crystals, having the same percentage composition as the anthranol, but differing in other ways, separate out. The substance can also be obtained by boiling the anthranol for a long time in xylene, and by shaking a solution of anthranol in caustic pot- ash, in contact with the air. The determinations of the molecular weight show that it has twice that of anthranol. A crystallographic study of the crystals shows also that this substance is dif- ferent from anthranol. Some derivatives were also made and studied. The formation of a diacetyl derivative shows the presence of two hydroxyl! groups, and the authors consider that it is made up of two molecules of anthranol, in which the two hydroxyl groups are intact. They think that the union takes place by the breaking of the para bond between the two y-carbon atoms and the joining of the groups. Bromine Derivatives of Metaphenylene Diamine : By C. Lone JACKSON and §. CALVERT. In the course of an investigation of the behavior of tribromdinitrobenzol, the authors tried the action of tin and hydrochloric acid in hopes of either replacing some or all of the bromine. The number of cases on record, in which the bromine has been replaced by hydrogen when treated with this reducing agent,is small. As the result of work contemporary with this, Schlie- per concludes that the bromine which stands in the ortho position to two negative groups is replaced in this manner; but the authors of this paper find this not to be strictly true, for they succeeded in replacing all three bromine atoms in tribromdinitrobenzol, a result not in accord with the above mentioned theory. They conclude that the ortho position, while not absolutely necessary, is yet very favorable for the replacement. The cause of the easy replacement is probably due to the fact that there are other radicals attached to the benzene ring, but their nature does not affect the re- sult. They made several bromine derivations of phenylene diamine and also salts of these products. On the Halogen Derivatives of the Solphonamides: By J. H. KAstix, B. C. Keiser and E. BRap- SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. IV. No. 79. LEY. The authors find that chlorine and bromine derivatives of the sulphonamides can be pre- pared; but up to the present they have not been able to obtain similar ones containing iodine. These substances are somewhat similar to the acid chlorides and are also unstable, ex- ploding when heated rapidly. Their composi- tion can be explained in two ways, as they can be regarded either as addition—or substitution— products of the sulphonamides. The authors consider the evidence to be in favor of the latter, for not only do they show an analogy to nitro- gen trichloride in their instability, but they are good oxidizing agents and are easily decom- posed by acids. The easy evolution of chlorine is explained more readily by the substitution theory. If itis an addition product we should expect the chlorine to come off in combination with hydrogen, which it does not do. Just as nitrogen trichloride reacts with hydrochloric acid to form ammonium chloride and chlorine, so these products react to form the amide and the halogen. . The Reduction of Copper Sulphide: By DELIA StickNEY. The author finds that copper sul- phide can be readily reduced by allowing it to come in contact with the Bunsen flame. If the substance is heated in a crucible the reduction isalwaysincomplete. The addition of some sul- phur to cupric and cuprous oxides facilitates the reduction to metallic copper. This number contains a review of the work done in the field of carbohydrates during the last year, and a physical-chemical study of the Gas Battery. Brief reviews of the following books are also given in this number of the Journal. Elektro Metallurgie, Dr. W. Borschers; Lehrbuch der Elektrochemie, Dr. M. Le Blanc; Laboratory Experiments in General Chemistry, Chas. R. Sanger; A Short Course of Experiments in General Chemistry with Notes on Qualita- tive Analysis, Chas. R. Sanger; The Scientific Foundations of Analytical Chemistry, treated inan Elementary Manner, W. Ostwald; A text- book of Gas Manufacture for Students, J. Hornby; The Elements of Chemistry, P. C. Freer; Repertoire des Réactifs Spéciaux, Gén- éralement Désignés sous leurs Noms d’ Anteurs, Jean et Mercier. J. ELLIOTT GILPIN. — SCIENCE la em uA FRID AY, JULY 10, 1896. SINGLE COPrEs, 15 cts. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, $5.00 The Macmillan Company’s New Books. NOW READY. THE SCENERY OF SWITZERLAND, And the Causes to which it was Due. By the Right Hon. Sir JouN Lussock, Bart, M.P., F.R.S.,D.C.L., LL.D. With Numerous Plans and Illustrations. Crown 8yvo, $1.50. (Uniform with ‘‘The Beauties of Nature.’’) #*,* “Sir John Lubbock’s volume on the Scenery of Switzerland will come out appropriately at a time when some English and American travellers are already beginning to think of seeking the invigorating air of the high Alps. It will no doubt become a favorite companion to thousands of travellers during the season, and be hardly less welcome at other times of the year as a reminder of past pleasures, or to those who have not yet visited Switzerland—as a delightful foretaste of what istocome. The book is largely scientific in character, but the subjects are handled in the popular style which so many readers have learned to associate with Sir John Lubbock’s name. The titles of a few chapters will give an idea of the con- tents: The Geology of Switzerland, The Origin of Mountains, Snow and Ice Glaciers, Valleys, Lakes, Action of Rivers, Influence of Strata upon Scenery, The Valais, Jura, Bernese Oberland, etce.’’ BY THE SAME AUTHOR. THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE And the Wonders of the World We Live In. With Illustrations. Third Edition. Cloth, gilt top, $1.50. The Rural Science Series. The Garden Craft Series. 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Van Nostrand Company, Publishers and Importers of Scientific Books, 23 Murray St. and 27 Warren St., New York. WORKSHOP RECEIPTS. A REFERENCE BOOK FOR SCIENTIFIC AMATEURS. Send for Descriptive Circulars. SPON & CHAMBERLAIN, Publishers, 12 CORTLANDT ST., NEW YORK. “MINERALS AND HOW TO STUDY THEM.” Prof. E. S. DANA’S new book for beginners in Mineralogy simplifies the science and makes it a fascinating study. To quickly introduce the work we offer it at 20 per cent. discount to. readers mentioning this journal, viz., $1.20, postage roc. extra. For COLLECTIONS OF MINERALS to illustrate the book send for our special circular. 124-page Illustrated Catalogue, 25c. in paper, 50c. in cloth. 44-page Illustrated Price-Lists, 4c.; Bulletins and Circulars Free. GEO. L. ENGLISH & CO., Mineralogists, 64 East 12th St., New York. SCIENCE EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: S. NEwcoms, Mathematics; R. §S. WooDWARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, Astronomy; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics; R. H. THuRston, Engineering; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry; J. Le Conts, Geology; W. M. DAvis, Physiography; O. C. MARsH, Paleontology; W. K. Brooks, C. HART MERRIAM, Zoology; S. H. SCUDDER, Entomology; N. L. Britton, Botany; Henry F. OsBorn, General Biology; H. P. Bowprrcu, Physiology; J. S. BILLINGS, Hygiene ; J. MCKEEN CATTELL, Psychology ; DANIEL G. BRINTON, J. W. POWELL, Anthropology ; G. BROWN GOODE, Scientific Organization. Fripay, Jury 10, 1896. CONTENTS : Physiology in the Schools: S. H. GAGE................ 29 Discussion of Professor Gage’s Paper on Physiology in the Schools: BURT G. WILDER.............-.40- 33 Geological Atlas of the United States.............0.0c0++ 34 Work of the United States Geological Survey for Fiscal Year 1896-97: W. EF. MORSELL............ 40 The New York State Veterinary College.............0++++ 41 Current Notes on Physiography :— Rivers of Central Iowa: Geomorphology of Nor- way; Littledale in Thibet ; Danger from Thunder- storms in Arabia: W. M. DAVIS..........eceseeees 42 Current Notes on Meteorology :— International Congress of Hydrology and Climatol- ology: Atlas of the Pacific Ocean: R. DEC. “IN CRIRID'S code header ces Bae a Aare aie eat eae 44 Current Notes on Anthropology :-— American Craniology; Man and the Megalonyzx : ; BOP EVEN TRON ric. cic nets tiny ic sees sae vascdeesssvcte'ees 45 fs Scientific Notes and News :— fe Lord Kelvin; The Teaching of Anatomy; Gen- " Tree erin tee alse sacs selcied ote sie alaesa eae civasleldwaeuta ses 46 University and Educational News...........cc0scceeseeeee 49 Discussion and Correspondence :— The Form of the Head as influenced by Growth: FRANZ Boas. Biology, Zoology and Botany: Y. An Uncommon After-Image: HIRAM M. STAn- LEY. The Ninebanded Armadillo: A. B. BAKER. fochefort on the Caribbeans: O.T. MASON....... 50 Scientific Literature :— Standfuss on Paldarktischen Gross-Schmetterlinge : A.S. PACKARD. Westermaier’s Compendium of _—- General Botany: G0. F. ATKINSON .........000++ 52 Scientific Journals -— American Journal of Science: Pysche.......+00000+. 55 MSS. intended for publication and books, ete., intended es for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Prof. J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. PHYSIOLOGY IN THE SCHOOLS.* THAT some knowledge of physiology and hygiene should form a part of the educa- tion of every human being will, I think, be granted by every one who believes that wisdom is safer than ignorance, that igno- rance is not innocence, and that health and manly and womanly vigor are better than nerveless helplessness, and lastly that a knowledge of what the Creator pronounced ‘very good’ is worthy the contemplation and thought of man. It is not necessary, however, to enter into an extended defense or advocacy of physiology and hygiene in the schools ; they are there already by the sanction of the people and their representa- tives in the State Legislature, and hence the real question upon which thought and dis- cussion should be directed is: How ean this study be made to yield the best results of which it is capable? ‘The question is appa- rently easily answered by saying: Put good text-books in the pupils’ hands, and supply capable teachers and ample time and facili- ties. While such an answer may seem suffi- cient, it is in the present state of educa- tional progress only hollow sound. What is really needed is a discussion of what makes a good text-book, how earnest men and wo- men may become capable teachers, and how facilities, often inadequate, and time mostly too limited, may be best utilized. * A paper presented at the Thirty-fourth University Convocation of the State of New York, June 24, 1896. 30 As to the text-books—and there are many of them of various grades of excellence— none seem to me to come up to the standard which should bestriven after. The defects are due either to an author’s imperfect knowledge of modern physiology or to un- familiarity with the actual needs of the school room. I believe no truly great text- book for school, college or university can be created out of hand. It must be an evolu- tion, a growth in its natural environment, the school room or laboratory where the pupils can help the teacher by their ques- tions and difficulties. The atmosphere must be one of freedom for learner and teacher. Books written by so-called ‘ ex- perts,’ under the supervision of the scientific department of a temperance organization, may, it is admitted, make the subject ‘ very exciting and entertaining;’ that is not what is here advocated, however, but a book by a teacher who, on the one hand, is truly an expert in the grade of schools where the book is to be used, andon the other, the possessor of a knowledge of phys- iology at first hand; that is, he must have a knowledge that is recognized as expert by the physiologists of the world, then he must ‘write under the supervision of his own con- science, not that of an organization. It is a truism which cannot be repeated too often or too emphatically that one can- not teach what he himself does not know. Therefore, for the teacher of physiology the first requisite is knowledge. Knowledge from books and of books and monographs, but greater than all book learning is knowl- edge at first hand from nature herself. Such knowledge has the precious quality of being alive, of being the leaven to vitalize the whole lump of knowledge obtained from books, and it makes teaching an in- spiration to both teacher and pupil. Such information can only be acquired by the expenditure of considerable time and money. A six weeks’ course will hardly accomplish SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. IV. No. 80. it, although I hasten to add that a term at a university summer school or at a sea-side laboratory where the instruction is given by original investigators will give an uplift and inspiration to an earnest teacher that will be of inestimable value. But, given the suitable text-book and the capable teacher, what shall be taught and how shall it be taught? The question of instruction upon the effects of alcohol and other narcotics need take but a sentence, for the subject has been most ably treated by President Jordan and discussed by our Superintendent of Public Instruction, Charles R. Skinner, and others. If I rightly understand them, my view corresponds with theirs and with those of my honored teacher, Prof. Burt G. Wilder, who is to discuss this paper. It is, in a word, to tell the truth, to present fairly both sides of the question, so that when the pupils use their own eyes and put the statements to the test of experience, as most of them surely will, they may feel, as well as know theoretically, that the statements made are true, and the teacher’s earnest counsel is reasonable and not merely lurid sentiment. ; Another problem will confront the teacher, prepared as indicated above; that is the ex- perimentation upon living animals for the purpose of instruction in the schools. If he has the knowledge requisite he will know that, excepting a few facts, all which is known of physiology and hygiene has been acquired by experimenting upon living ani- mals or living human beings. If one stops for a moment to reflect, physiology deals with the functions or activities of living or- — ganisms; it has to do with the living, not with the dead. For example, how shall one know whether a plant is good for food, whether it is medical or poisonous? Of two white crystalline substances, like chlorid of sodium (common salt) and chlorid of mer- cury (corrosive sublimate), how is one to know that oné is almost indispensable for tained ? ; > - o ao. ee al os ee ee ae floes Poe sate JuLy 10, 1896.] health and well being in both man and ani- mals, while the other is deadly to both and also to plants? Certainly the desired in- formation cannot be gained by the chemist’s test tube or by application to a dead ani- mal. How are the splendid results of. the modern physiological psychology being at- Not by dissecting the dead, but by experimentation upon the living. Shall our schools then become the ‘ cham- bers of horrors’ described Sy the anti- vivisectionists? Heaven forbid! The fundamental facts of physiology, those most intelligible and useful for the pupils in the schools, can be demonstrated for them and by them without the infliction of pain or even discomfort ; and most of them can best be performed by the pupil upon him- self. Let us take a few examples: Every child knows that there is feeling, as he calls it, in the skin; he also knows the sensation of cold. But he, and indeed most grown people, do not know that the tactile sense does not reside in every part of the skin, and so of the temperature sense. If some object like the rounded end of a lead pencil or a bit of steel be drawn carefully over the skin, say upon the back of the hand, it will be felt simply as an object over the tactile areas, while over the temperature areas there will be a sensation of cold. Then how easy it is to give the real physiology of muscle by having each pupil perform some definite movements of the arms. If the muscles are felt during these move- ments, especially if some force is exerted, as in lifting a weight, the changes in the _ form and consistency of the muscles can be easily determined. It will also probably be 4 revelation to the pupil to find that in raising the arm, for example, the muscles around the shoulder and at the elbow, which by themselves would tend to lower the arm or draw it outward or inward, also contract. After such an experiment it will | q ‘not be difficult for the pupil to understand SCIENCE. ol that, for the steady and definite movements of parts where the joints give considerable freedom, it is necessary that there should also be a moderate contraction of antagon- istic or opposing muscles which by them- selves would cause movements in other direc- tions; that is, he will gain, by such a simple experiment, the ground idea of coordination. Perhaps none of the experiments that can be performed are of more practical util- ity than some simple ones in digestion. It is now very easy to obtain from the phar- macies the ferment of the stomach or of the panereas. With these ferments and a glass vessel the pupils can see for themselves the solvent action on various forms of food. They can see that finely divided food is more quickly dissolved than large masses, and hence one of the principal advantages of thorough mastication. So if the ferment of the saliva or pancreas were mixed with raw starch and with cooked starch it could be seen, with a distinctness never to be forgot- ten, that fire is a powerful ally of the hu- man digestive organs. These experiments are also instructive because the processes are practically identical with those going on in the living body, and thus -illustrate the side of physiology that may be demon- strated without experimenting on a living organism. The circulation of the blood is a fact of such fundamental importance and so inter- esting in itself that every student ought to have the privilege of viewing it under a. microscope. ‘This can be very easily shown in the web of a frog’s foot or in the external gills of a water salamander like the Nec- turus. If a little ether is put in the water containing the animal it will soon become anesthetized without interfering with the circulation. The ether will render the per- fectly painless observation successful with- out even arousing the apprehensions of the animal, which soon revives when placed again in fresh water, and appears as happy 32 SCIENCE. as if nothing had occurred. The experi- ment will also illustrate in a striking man- ner the effect of anesthetics on all living beings. A very far-reaching lesson may be given by having each pupil perform some of the simpler experiments showing the il- lusions of the senses; these are so graphic that the dullest cannot fail to appreciate the fact that the only safe way is to look on all sides, to verify appearances by applying as many tests as possible—in short, to ap- preciate the scientific method which is so tersely expressed in the words of Scripture, “‘ Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”’ So far nothing has been said about anat- omy. What place shall it have in a course upon Physiology? Undoubtedly it is a very great help in the study of function to have a good knowledge of the structures performing the various functions; but it seems to me that in many books, and in some courses in physiology, anatomy is so preponderant that the physiology is too much lost sight of—that is, the mechanism is exalted above its achievements. Only the grossest functions of the organs, like the supportive action of the bones, can be deduced from the anatomy alone; yet it is certainly the fact that, after the physiology has been once determined by experiments upon living beings, one can often see how admirably the structure of an organ is cor- related with the performance of its func- tion. For example, the small intestine with its millions of villi projecting like so many rootlets into the digested food seems from its very structure destined for ab- sorption. On the other hand, if one studied never so profoundly the structure of the salivary glands and the pancreas he would never know that they produce digestive liquids without experiment, and much less would he know that the one is so limited in its power (saliva) and the other so un- [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 80. limited and powerful as a digester. So I think the microscopic structure or histology is liable to be made too much of in elemen- tary books and teaching. But, for a few points, the microscope is truly a revealer ; e. g., the mystery of the current by which the air passages are swept clean of dust and other particles is simplified by microscopic observation which shows the tireless multi- tude of cilia with their ceaseless waving. The fact is fot to be forgotton, however, that even in this case only the minute agents and their method of work have been found. Why they work is as great a mys- tery as ever. So also in the study of the circulation of the blood under the micro- scope one can see how closely every living element is surrounded by the blood capil- laries, and how ceaselessly the blood cor- puscles and the plasma move along, to be followed by a never-ending fresh supply. The purpose of this paper has not been unduly to criticise, but to throw out what I hope will prove to be a few helpful sug- gestions. That the efforts of the teachers of this State are earnest and devoted is thoroughly believed. That the pupils they instruct are not all acquainted with suffi- cient anatomy and the fundamental prin- ciples of physiology is also known by the examinations for entrance in the University in which I have the honor to teach. From carefully compiled statistics obtained dur- ing the last few years it is found, however, that the pupils who have studied physiology something in the way indicated above have been far more successful than those who have merely studied the books.* -* Facts concerning entrance examinations in physi- ology at Cornell University : The great majority of students enter in physiology with the other studies, from Regents’ diplomas or from graduation at ac- credited schools. From the reports of the President and Dean it was seen that about one in sixteen so entering could not re- main in the University on account of defective schol- arship, while of those taking entrance examinations JuLyY 10, 1896. ] If in closing I may briefly epitomize, it seems to me, that the best results may be obtained in physiologic instruction in the schools as follows : 1. Text-books written by able teachers who know the subject at first hand should be provided. 2. The fact should be emphasized that physiology is very real, and that every one may demonstrate upon himself many of the most striking and fundamental phenomena; for example, how quickly will the pupil see that it is not necessary to go tothe teacher or to the book to find out the number of heart- beats and respirations per minute, and that both are greatly accelerated by exercise or excitement. 3. Anatomy should not overshadow physiology, but nice structural adaptations whereby specific functions are performed may be pointed out and worked upon with great advantage ; for example, the valves in the heart, the veins and lymphatics, the forms of the joints, etc. Such knowledge is interesting and would aid all. Perhaps also it might arouse some slumbering genius whose future efforts would reveal adapta- tions now hidden. 4. The teacher should inspire his pupils with respect for the human body and its powers, and with due sympathy for all liv- ing things. Lastly, he should impress upon them with solemn earnestness the fact that at the University one in eight was dropped, showing that the more poorly prepared were those who came for examinations including physiology. Physiology papers of 195 of the latter class have been looked over with reference to determining the quality and kind of preparation made, as taken from answers to ques- tions. ; The average standing of the 195 was.............+++- 53% The average standing of those having dissection The average standing of those self-prepared........ 59% The average standing of those having previous COMERS RTA Gr ccc cer cones tcinsedcvbebsdseud cpeevece 66% SCIENCE. 39 their physical and moral health is largely in their own hands, and that the physical and moral laws of their being are inexor- able. Stmon Henry Gace. CORNELL UNIVERSITY. DISCUSSION OF PROF. GAGE’S PAPER ON PHYSIOLOGY IN THE SCHOOLS. Ir is fitting that the address on physio- logic instruction should be given by a Cor- nell professor. For, in 1868, at the sugges- tion of the first president of that institution (the Hon. Andrew D. White) the entire Freshman class attended a course on physiology and hygiene during the first term ; the examination questions were such as were asked in medical schools at that time, and diagrams were required of both macro- scopic and microscopic structures. The choice of the speaker was equally happy ; for the year of his graduation, 1877, was memorable in the annals of Cornell, in that then first physiology became a requirement for admission. Furthermore, Prof. Gage is a master in the elucidation of the fine ana- tomy of animal tissues which aids so mate- rially the comprehension of function, and his address last summer as President of the American Microscopical Society, ‘A Plea for Physiologic Histology,’* well merits mention in this connection. If I commence with an emphatic corrobor- ation of his complaint as to the inadequacy of existing text-books, it is because no other want has been more constantly and keenly felt by me during the twenty-eight years in which I have delivered 40 courses of lec- tures upon physiology (one-fourth of them in medical schools), and have addressed upon the subject more than 4,000 individ- uals. From the nature of the case a text-book can never be complete. But the other four of what I call the five C’s may surely be ‘SCIENCE, August 23, 1895. 34 attained, viz., it should be correct so far as it goes and so far as existing knowledge permits; it should be concise, consistent and, above all things, CLEAR. For use in systematic instruction the textual form of a scientific manual should be neither that of a treatise to be perused nor that of a lecture to be spoken. The paragraphs should be short, categoric and visibly, as well as logically, coordinated and subordinated. It is probable indeed that one of the grounds for the success of mathematics and linguistics as disciplinary studies is the rel- ative perfection of their pedagogic methods, - and especially the way in which the general rules and exceptions thereto are set forth. As to the writer of a teat-book, if the book fulfills the requirements perhaps its source is of little moment. But even ifthis be not conceded I fear the limitation indicated by Prof. Gage is practically unattainable. With the absolute convictions natural to comparative youth, he is perhaps sosure that ‘Ca little knowledge is a dangerous thing ”’ as to forget that, if that pithy saying be strictly true, no one of us can regard him- self as altogether safe. Indeed, it is now many years since any one person could ob- tain all physiologic information at first hand. I trust, therefore, that Prof. Gage may assent to this less stringent statement: The writer of a text-book should have made some real contribution to physiologic method, fact or idea. Like the teacher, the writer of a text- book needs to guard against the temptation to subordinate the needs and capacities of the learner to the supposed necessity for exhibiting his own erudition. The wisest of teachers is he who knows just what to omit. In general method there is too often a direct inversion of the natural order. Chil- dren should be led to sing before they talk; they should be taught to draw before they SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 80. write ; and they should be encouraged to observe before they are compelled to think. In observing and reflecting they should be neither pushed nor pulled, but guided. As applied to physiologic instruction, in- stead of ‘verba et preterea nihil,’ or even many words illustrated by a few random demonstrations, there should be numerous and well devised experiments upon which the pupils should reflect and comment. In short, in the place of what may be called inducation there should be sought a true education. Contrary to the Scripture phrase, the kingdom of science cometh with obser- vation. Burt G. WILDER. CORNELL UNIVERSITY. , GEOLOGICAL ATLAS OF THE UNITED STATES. FOLIO 16, KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE-NORTH CAROLINA, 1895. Tus folio, by Arthur Keith, consists of six pages of text, a topographic sheet, a sheet showing the areal geology, another showing the economic geology, a third giv- ing structure sections, and a fourth giving columnar sections. The folio describes that portion of the Appalachian province which lies between parallels 35° 30’ and 36° and meridians 83° 30’ and 84°. This district contains about 968 square miles, divided between Knox, Sevier, Bland and Jefferson counties, in Tennessee, and Swain county, in North Carolina. The text begins with a general descrip- tion of the province, and shows the relation of this part to the whole. The local fea- tures of the drainage by the Holston, Ten- nessee and Little Tennessee Rivers and their tributaries, such as the Little Pigeon and Little Rivers, follow next in descrip- tion. The various forms of the surface are pointed out, such as East Tennessee Val- ley, Smoky Mountains and Chilhowee Moun- tain, and their relations to the underlying rocks are emphasized. : Under the heading ‘Stratigraphy’ the JULY 10, 1896.] geologic history of the Appalachian province is presented in outline, and the local rock groups are fully described in regard to com- position, thickness, location, variety and mode of deposition. The formations range in age from Algonkian (?) to Silurian, the greater portion being Algonkian (?). The Silurian rocks appear in the East Tennessee Valley, the Cambrian in Chilhowee Moun- tain and in various narrow belts in the val- ley, and the Algonkian southeast of Chil- howee Mountain. The Algonkian rocks are chiefly slates, sandstones, conglomerates and graywackes; the Cambrian rocks consist of sandstones and shales in the Chilhowee belt and of sandstones, shales and lime- stones in the valley; the Silurian rocks comprise sandstones, limestones and shales. The details of the series of strata are shown in the columnar section. The process of decay in each kind of rock is discussed, and the manner in which the residual soils and forms of surface depend on the nature of the underlying rock. In the discussion of ‘Structure,’ after a general statement of the broader structural features of the province, two methods are shown in which the rocks have been de- formed. Of these the extreme Appalachian folding is the chief, and less in importance are the broad vertical uplifts. Three de- grees of deformation appear in the Paleo- zoic rocks—folding, faulting and metamor- _ phism—each being best developed in certain kinds of strata. The region northwest of Chilhowee Mountain is broadly anticlinal, while the Smoky Mountain district is syn- clinal, and two lines of minor uplift appear in each of these districts. Faults are found chiefly on the west side of these minor up- lifts, especially in the Cambrian sandstones, -and metamorphism increases southeast from Chilhowee Mountain. In the East Tennes- see Valley the rocks are folded to an ex- treme degree and the strata are frequently perpendicular or overturned. In the sheet SCIENCE. 30 of sections the details of the folds and faults appear. | Economic products of this region com- prise gold and iron ore, ornamental stone, such as marble, such building stone as sand- stone, limestone and slate, and other mate- rials, like lime, cement and brick clay. The localities of each of these materials are noted, and quarries are located on the eco- nomic sheet, and the nature and availability of the deposits are discussed. The resources of the region which inhere in timber and water power are also described. FOLIO 19, STEVENSON, ALABAMA-GEORGIA- TENNESSEH, 1895. This folio, by Charles Willard Hayes, is bounded by parallels 34° 30’ and 35° and meridians 85° 30’ and 86°. It contains 980 square miles, embracing portions of Frank- lin and Marion counties in Tennessee ; Dade, Walker and Chattooga in Georgia ; and Jackson, Dekalb and Cherokee in Ala- bama. The folio contains four pages of text, including a generalized columnar sec- tion and four coal sections; one sheet show- . ing topography, another showing areal ge- ology, a third economic geology and a fourth giving five structure sections in- serted in the map. The Stevenson quarter degree is occupied chiefly by the Cumberland plateau and its outliers, Sand and Lookout Mountains. It includes also a portion of Brown’s Valley, which is the southward continuation of Se- quatchie Valley and is located upon the westernmost of the sharp anticlines which characterize the folded belt of the Appa- lachians. Extending diagonally across the center of the area is a broad, level plateau, forming Sand Mountain. It is bounded by straight and steep escarpments. To the east are Lookout and Wills valleys, also located upon sharp anticlines. Finally, the south- eastern portion of the area is occupied by Lookout Mountain, also a broad, level pla- 36 SCIENCE. teau. Thus there is seen to be a close re- lation in this region between structure and topography. ‘The valleys are located upon the anticlines and the plateaus coincide with the synclines. This relation depends upon the relation of hard and soft rocks in this region. Of the strata exposed, the up- per formations are hard sandstones and the lower generally limestones. After the anti- clinal folds had been produced by lateral pressure the region was for a long time sub- jected to subaéreal erosion. The wholesur- face was reduced to a nearly uniform plain, now represented by the summits of the plateaus, but then near sea level. Thus the hard sandstone was removed from the tops of the arches, and when the region was elevated the softer limestones there exposed were easily reduced to the lower level, while the surface within the synclines was protected from erosion by the hard sand- stones. The oldest formation of the region is the Knox dolomite, which is brought to light along the axes of the anticlines. Above this is the Chickamauga limestone, from 1,100 to 1,400 feet in thickness, and the Rockwood, which is herea calcareous shale. The Devonian is represented by black, car- bonaceous shale from 20 to 40 feet in thick- ness, and the Carboniferous by Fort Payne chert and Bangor limestone, representa- tives of the Mississippian series, and the Lookout and Walden sandstones, forming the coal measures. In all about 5,000 feet of strata are exposed, and the formations generally thicken toward the southeast. The structure of the region is quite sim- ple, and has already been indicated. In addition to the anticlines which were mentioned, there is a fault along the west- ern side of the Sequatchie anticline which brings the Knox dolomite in contact with the Bangor limestone for several miles. The principal mineral resources of the region are coal and iron ore, while lime- [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 80. stone, building and roadstone and brick and tile clay are subordinate but important. The coal-bearing formations are the Look- out and Walden. They occupy the surface of the plateaus, forming 544 square miles, the larger portion of which probably con- tains workable coal. The only important _ development of the coal is in Dade county, Georgia, where five beds occur below the conglomerate, at least four of which are workable locally. The chief iron ore of the region is red hematite or fossil ore of the Rockwood formation. This ore is very similar in appearance to that occurring at the same horizon in such widely separated localities as Wisconsin, New York and central Alabama. It has been extensively worked in the vicinity of Rising Fawn, near the Georgia-Alabama line. It is not always of workable thickness, but the economic map shows the areas within which it may be found. FOLIO 20, CLEVELAND, TENNESSEH, 1895. This folio, by Charles Willard Hayes, embraces 4 pages of text, a sheet showing topography, another areal geology, and a third economic geology, also a sheet con- taining five structure sections, and, finally, a sheet giving two generalized stratigraphic sections. The Cleveland quarter- degree is bounded by the parallels 35° and 35° 30’ and the meridians 84° 30’ and 85°. It contains 975 square miles, including portions of Meigs, McMinn, James, Bradley and Polk counties. The country represented on the Cleveland sheet lies largely in the Appa- lachian valley. Its northern corner reaches within two miles of the Cumberland esearp- ment, which forms the western limit of the valley district, while its southeastern cor- ner reaches beyond the limit of the valley, and includes a small portion of the Unaka Mountains, which form the western chain of the Appalachians. When the valley JULY 10, 1€96.] district is seen from an altitude of 1,000 feet or over, it appears as a broad undula- ting plain, nearly all the ridges and hills rising to a uniform level a little less than 1,000 feet in altitude. Above this level a few ridges rise some hundreds of feet; be- _low it the Tennessee and Hiwassee Rivers flow in valleys 250 feet in depth. In other words, this portion of the Appalachian Val- ley may be regarded as a plain on which the higher ridges remain in relief and in which the stream channels have been sunk. A similar plain, having an altitude of about 1,700 feet, stretches along the western base of the Unaka chain. This is much more deeply dissected by narrow stream channels than the lower plain in the valley. These are portions of the two principal peneplains of the southern Appalachian province, formed respectively in Tertiary and Creta- ceous time. The greater part of the area is drained by tributaries of the Hiwassee River, which crosses it in a direct course and joins the Tennessee River near the western border. A small part is drained by the Conasauga River, whose waters flow south to the Coosa and thence directly to the Gulf. The divide between the drain- age systems is broad and indistinct, and a little below the lower of the two peneplains of the region. From a study of this and adjacent areas it appears probable that dur- ing the formation of that peneplain the drainage was very different from that at the present time. Previous to the uplift which caused the streams to cut their pres- ent channels in the peneplain, the Tennes- . see River did not turn westward, as it now does, but continued southward in the val- _ ley, across the present divide, directly to the Gulf. The rocks of the Cleveland quarter-degree fall into three groups: The Ocoee series, the Chilhowee series, and the fossiliferous Paleozoic formations of the Appalachian Valley. Probably the oldest. rocks in the SCIENCE. oT region occur in its southeastern corner, forming Big Frog Mountain and the plateau along its western base. No fossils have yet been found in these rocks, and they are separated by a great fault from rocks of known age, so that their position in the stratigraphic column has not been fixed with certainty. However, since they bear all the marks of extreme age, and, so far as known, contain no organic remains, they will be considered Algonkian until satisfac- tory evidence to the contrary is found. They consist chiefly of graywacke slates, containing many beds of coarse conglomer- ate and some siliceous limestones. The Chilhowee series consists of quartz- ites, sandstones, conglomerates and shales, which form Beans and Starrs Mountains at the southeastern border of the valley. The area of these rocks is separated by faults both from the Ocoee on the east and the fossiliferous valley formations on the west. No fossils have yet been found by which their age can be determined, but they cor- respond so closely with a series of forma- tions in the Chilhowee Mountains, in which Cambrian fossils have been found, that there can be little doubt that they occupy the same stratigraphic position. | The fossiliferous Paleozoic rocks.of the valley embrace three Cambrian formations, made up largely of argillaceous and sandy material. The Knox dolomite, which is from 3,800 to 4,100 feet in thickness, is in part Cambrian and in part Silurian. Above this is the Chickamauga limestone, 1,000 feet in thickness in the western part of the area, and 300 or 400 feet thick in the eastern part, where the upper portion of the lime- stone is replaced by shales and sandstones, forming the Athens, Tellico and Sevier formations. Finally, above these, is the Rockwood formation, which also shows considerable increase in thickness and in the proportion of coarse material toward the southeast. The Devonian is repre- 38 sented by 15 to 30 feet of black shale, and the Carboniferous by about 350 feet of very siliceous limestone. The peculiar structures which character- ize the intensely folded belt of the Appa- lachian Valley are highly developed in this region. The sections show five well-marked synclines west of the Ocoee rocks, with a large number which are less distinct. They are all nearly parallel, crossing the tract: in a northeast-southwest direction with slightly curved axes. These synclines us- ually have gentle dips on their western sides and steep or overturned dips on their eastern. In most cases adjacent synclines are separated by thrust faults. Thus the strata are broken into a large number of narrow blocks which overlap each other, the fault plains all dipping southeastward. The principal mineral resources of the region consist of iron ore, lead ore, lime- stone, building and road stone, and brick and tile clay. A small amount of hematite or red fossil ore occurs associated with the shales of the Rockwood formation. Also considerable bodies of limonite occur, chiefly along the great thrust faults which sepa- rate the Chilhowee series from the valley rocks. The lead ore is found in limestones at the base of the Knox dolomite, and is mined to some extent a few miles south of Cleveland. FOLIO 21, PIKEVILLE, TENNESSEE, 1895, This folio, by Charles Willard Hayes, con- sists of 34 pages of text, a topographic sheet (seale 1:125,000), a sheet of areal geology, one of economic geology, another of struc- ture sections, and a final sheet giving a gen- eralized columnar section of the district and vertical sections showing the position and thickness of coal beds. ; The quarter-degree covered by this folio has an area of 980 square miles. Its south- eastern corner is just within the great Ap- palachian Valley, and its northwestern SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. IV. No. 80. — corner occupies a portion of the highland rim of Middle Tennessee. It therefore ex- tends entirely across the Cumberland Pla- teau, whose level surface has here an ele- vation of about 1,700 to 2,000 feet above tide. The plateau is intersected by Se- quatchie Valley, a narrow depression be- tween wall-like escarpments which are par- allel with the eastern escarpment of the plateau. This remarkable valley is located upon the westernmost of the sharp anticlinal folds which characterize the great Appa- lachian Valley belt. The western escarp- ment of the Cumberland Plateau is ex- tremely irregular, being deeply notched by the streams flowing from its surface. The two most important peneplains of the southern Appalachians are well developed in this region; the higher and older ap- pears in the surface of the plateaus, and the younger, about 1,000 feet below, forms the hilltops of the Sequatchie Valley and the surface of the highland rim. The larger part of the surface of the Pike- ville quarter-degree is occupied by Carbon- iferous rocks, the coal measures (Walden and Lookout sandstones) forming the sur- face of the plateaus, while the Bangor lime- stone and Fort Payne chert occupy the lower slopes of the escarpments and high- land rim to the west. The underlying De- vonian and Silurian formations are brought to light by the steep folds of the Sequatchie and Tennessee Valleys. The Devonian is represented by fifteen feet of carbonaceous — shale which appears to be entirely conform- able with the formations above and below. Three Silurian formations are represented on the map. The Rockwood, at the top, is composed of sandstone and sandy shale in the Tennessee Valley, but becomes more calcareous toward the west, so that in the Se- quatchie Valley it is a shaly limestone, and on the next quarter-degree is indistinguish- able from the massive Chickamauga lime- stone below. JULY 10, 1896. ] Compared with the Appalachian Valley belt to the east, the structure of this region is simple. Its most striking features are the Sequatchie anticline and fault. On either side the strata are nearly horizontal, forming a broad, shallow syncline on the east, and passing westward with a few low undulations into the great expanse of hori- zontal strata of the Mississippi Basin. The most important economic interest in the region is coal. Workable beds occur both in the Lookout and in the Walden formations. The lower beds, those in the Lookout, are variable in position and thick- ness, so that, while they afford much excel- lent fuel in places, they are not generally suitable for working upon a large scale. Their character at Bon Air, where they are extensively developed, is exceptional. The most important coal seam in the region, by reason of its greater thickness and uni- formity, is the Sewanee, which occurs in the Walden sandstone a short distance above the Lookout conglomerates. Its area, within the limits of the Pikeville quarter- ‘degree, is about 500 square miles, of which the greater portion is workable. FOLIO 22, MCMINNVILLE, TENNESSEE, 1895. This folio, by Charles Willard Hayes, consists of 3 pages of text, a topographic sheet (scale 1:125,000), a sheet of areal geology, another showing the economic geology and another giving structure sec- tions. Following the text is a generalized columnar section for the district, accom- panied by vertical sections showing the position and thickness of coal beds. The quarter-degree covered by the Mc- Minnville folio has an area of 980 square miles. It joins the Pikeville and Sewanee quarter-degrees on the east and south. The greater part of its surface is within the highland rim. Its northwestern corner in- cludes a small portion of the central basin of Middle Tennessee, and its southeastern SCIENCE. 39 corner is occupied by the Cumberland Pla- teau. From northwest to southeast, then, the surface rises by steps from the central basin, with an altitude of 700 feet, to the highland rim, at 1,000 feet, and again to the Cumberland Plateau at 1,800 feet. Each step or terrace is part of a more or less perfectly preserved peneplain produced by long-continued erosion, when the land’ stood relatively lower than now. The pla- teau, which is the highest and consequently the oldest of these plains, formerly ex- tended far to the westward, but has been worn away by the action of streams during and since the formation of the next lower plain. In the same manner the streams are wearing down the second to the level of the third plain, and the escarpment which separates the two is slowly working back- ward toward the southeast, following the retreat of the higher plateau escarpment. The McMinnville quarter-degree lies en- tirely beyond the westernmost of the sharp folds which characterize the Appalachian Valley belt. Its strata are nearly horizon- tal, having a very gentle and uniform dip toward the southeast of about 30 feet to the mile. The strata exposed measure only 1,700 feet in thickness, which is but a small fraction of the thickness exposed in regions containing folds. Of these 1,700 feet of strata, about 1,500 are Carboniferous, consisting of coal-measure sandstones and shales, forming the upper portion of the plateau, and limestones forming the lower portions of the plateau escarpments and the surface of the highland rim. Beneath the Carboniferous formations are from 10 to 30 feet of black shale, which appears to repre- sent the whole of the Devonian deposition in this region. The streams in the north- western corner of the quarter-degree have cut down through the Carboniferous and Devonian, and as much as 200 feet into the underlying Silurian limestone. The upper division of the Silurian on the 40 eastwardly adjacent Pikeville quarter- degree, the Rockwood shale, becomes so caleareous toward the west that it can- not be distinguished from the under- lying Chickamauga limestone. The Mc- Minnville quarter-degree is essentially an agricultural region, the Carboniferous lime- stones forming a belt of exceptionally fer- tile soil along the inner portion of the high- land rim. It includes a small area of coal- bearing rocks in its southeastern corner, where the subconglomerate beds, probably corresponding to those at Bon Air, have been opened and worked for. local con- sumption. WORK OF THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY FOR FISCAL YEAR, 1896-97. Tue Director of the U. S. Geological Survey recently formulated the plan of operations for the bureau under his charge for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1897, and it received the approval of the Secre- tary of the Interior. As soon as the plans were approved the surveying parties were made up and ordered to the field. The plan covers all the work of the year, administrative and scientific, and begins with a financial statement. The total ap- propriation for topographic surveys for 1896-97 is $184,200, an increase of $25,000 over the appropriation for the year just closed. For geologic surveys and re- searches there is $118,700, which includes an item of $5,000, specifically appropriated for an investigation of the gold resources of Alaska, and for paleontologic work there is $14,000. For chemical researches the ap- propriation is the same as that for last year, $10,000. For hydrographic work there is an appropriatiou of $50,000, as against $20- 000 for 1895-96. For the preparation of illustrations and of the report on mineral re- sources, the engraving of maps, etc., there is an aggregate appropriation of about $100,000. SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 80. In accordance with the plan 30 parties | have taken the field or will soon take the field for geologic work, 5in the New England region, including New York; 5 in the Ap- palachian region ; 2 in the Atlantic Coastal Plain region; 5 in the Interior or Missis- sippi region; 4 in the Rocky Mountain reg- ion, and 8 in the Pacific region. The min- ing districts of the Appalachian and Rocky Mountain regions will receive special at- tention, though areal mapping and other work will go on in all directions, as hereto- fore. | The paleontologists will engage in the determination of faunas and floras, espe- cially those of the coal regions of the Ap- palachians and Rocky Mountains, and a study will be made of the Cretaceous fauna of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, with reference to areal and vertical distribution, for the purpose of aiding the geologists in the solution of problems in areal geology. For this work several of the paleontologists take the field. The appropriation for hydrographic work has been subdivided, so that $25,000 will be devoted to the gauging of streams and the determination of the water supply of all parts of the country, a second sum of $10,- 000 to the investigation of the subject of artesian wells and underground currents in arid and semi-arid regions, and the remain- der to the preparation of reports upon the methods of utilizing the water resources. ‘Work will be done in nearly every trans- Mississippi State and Territory, as well as in New England, Pennsylvania and most of the Southern States. Topographic work this year will be under the immediate charge of the Director, and will thus be placed on the same footing in that respect with the geologic work. A highly important change will be in the method of making the topographic surveys, a change which will, it is expected, materi- ally enhance the value and extend the field ee 4 ; i JULY 10, 1896.] of usefulness of the topographic maps. It was provided in the Sundry Civil Act, under authority of which the work will proceed, that levels be established above sea level in every area under survey and that these levels be marked on the ground by iron or stone posts or bench marks. Thus accurate levels will be run everywhere in the course of the surveys and monuments established at short intervals. The work done in this way will progress somewhat less rapidly than it has progressed under the old method. The $25,000 which has been added to the appropriation is expected to meet the cost of doing the work in this way. There are 30 or 35 triangulation and topographic parties in the field, or about 75 men, all told. In New York the topographic surveys will be continued on the cooperative basis, the State government having appropriated $15,000, the Federal Survey to allot a simi- lar sum to the work. There will also be cooperation in Maryland. The joint topographic and land subdivi- sion survey of the Indian Territory, which ‘has been going on without interruption in _ the field since May, 1895, will be continued _ to completion. W. F. Morsetu. THE NEW YORK STATE VETERINARY COL- LEGE. By the Legislative acts of 1894, 1895 and 1896 for the establishment and mainte- nance of a State Veterinary College, New York has taken a notable step in advance. The animal industry of the State is so im- portant and extensive, and the relations of animal diseases so intimately interwoven with human health and well-being that every undertaking whereby the financial and sanitary interests of the State will have the benefit of the knowledge and continued investigations of a body of experts must command the approval of every one. Itis believed, too, that the establishment of the SCIENCE, — 41 College upon the campus of a great univer- sity with the full advantages of its libraries and laboratories and surrounded by the university atmosphere will be of inestima- ble advantage toit. On the other hand, it will aid the university to have in its midst a group of investigators and students deal- ing with the great practical problems in- volved in the live stock interests of the State and the relations of this industry to public health. In a word, it is believed that the atmosphere of a university will in- spire and liberalize the College, and the ef- forts of the College for the information and betterment of the condition of society will have a like beneficial effect on the univer- sity, by bringing clearly before it practical problems and the real efficiency of our present knowledge in dealing with great sanitary and financial interests. The standard for the veterinarians of New York State is very high, and the State school ought naturally to prepare men well for their profession; it has therefore the duties of a professional school. On the other hand, its purpose being to study and if possible eradicate or show the means of avoiding animal diseases and epidemics, it must also be a center of investigation. For this double purpose of teaching and inves- tigation, it has six special buildings in addi- tion to those of the University ; and it is believed that under the wise guidance of its Director, Dr. James Law, who has served the State and the Nation so well and effici- ently in the past, that its opening in the coming autumn will mark another mile- stone of progress in the State. The follow- ing have been already appointed upon the staff of the College : 1. For director of the State Veterinary College and professor of veterinary medi- cine, principles and practice, zymotic dis- eases and State medicine: James Law, F. R. 8S. V. S. of Great Britain ; professor of veterinary science in Cornell University ; 42 formerly professor of materia medica and anatomy in the Edinburgh new Veterinary College and the Albert Veterinary College ; chairman of the United States treasury cattle commission; State veterinarian of New York; consulting veterinarian to the New York State Agricultural Society ; chief director of the United States Bureau of Animal Industry for the suppression of lung plague in the Mississippi valley and in New York ; member of the tuberculosis commis- sion of the State of New York ; chairman of the regents’ board of veterinary examiners: for New York and author of a ‘ General and Descriptive Anatomy of the Domestic Ani- mals,’ the ‘The Farmers’ Veterinary Ad- viser ’ and numerous monographs on veteri- nary subjects. 2. For professor of veterinary surgery, obstetrics, zootechny and jurisprudence : (Appointment not yet made.) 3. For professor of veterinary and com- parative pathology and bacteriology: Ver- anus Alva Moore, B.S., M.D.; chief of the pathological division of the United States bureau of Animal Industry, Washington, D. C., professor in the National Veterinary College and of histology in the medical de- partment of the Columbian University, Washington, D. C.; author of numerous bulletins on the pathology and bacteriology of animal diseases, published by the Bu- reau of Animal Industry. 4. For assistant professor of veterinary and comparative physiology, materia med- ica and pharmacy : Pierre Augustine Fish, BS., D.Se., D.V.S.; assistant in the patho- logical division of the United States Bu- reau of Animal Industry, Washington, D. C.; formerly instructor in physiology and vertebrate zoology in Cornell Univer- sity, and in zoloogy in the Marine Biologi- cal Laboratory at Wood’s Holl; author of several papers on the structure and func- ' tion of the nervous system and on pharma- cological subjects. SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 80. 5. For assistant professor of veterinary anatomy and anatomical methods: Grant Sherman Hopkins, B. 8., D. Sc., instructor in comparative anatomy and embryology in Cornell University, author of mono- graphs on topics in comparative anatomy and histology and on methods of anatomical and physiological demonstration. 6. For professor of microscopical tech- nology, histology and embryology : Simon Henry Gage, B.S., professor of anatomy, histology and embryology in Cornell Uni- sity; former chairman of the section of biology of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and president of the American Microscopical Society ; author of notes upon Histological Methods, the Microscope and Microscopical Methods ; joint author of Anatomical Technology ; contributor to Wood’s Reference Hand- Book of the Medical Sciences, to Foster’s Medical Dictionary and to various scientific periodicals and transactions. 7. For instructor in microscopy, histology andembryology : Benjamin Freeman Kings- bury, A.B. Ph. D., formerly graduate scholar and fellow in Cornell University ; author of monographs on histology and upon the structure and morphology of the. nervous system and organs of sense. 8. For assistant in veterinary bacteri- ology: Raymond Clinton Reed, Ph.D. CURRENT NOTES ON PHYSIOGRAPHY. RIVERS OF CENTRAL IOWA. THE annual report of the lowa Geological Survey for 1895 contains an essay by J. L. Tilton, of Indianola, on Warren county, in the south-central part of the State, in which particular attention is given to the origin of the river courses. Thesmall ravines are post-glacial, consequent on the slope of the surface. The larger streams follow pre- glacial valleys, though they have not yet cut down to the bottom of the drift that clogged their former courses. It is believed JULY 10, 1896.] that in Cretaceous times the chief drainage was down the faint dip of the strata to the southwest, with longitudinal subsequent branches along the strike of the weaker shales; but post-Cretaceous elevation being greatest to the northwest, the southeast- flowing subsequent streams gradually gained possession of the drainage and became the : chief rivers of the region; the Des Moines being an example of this kind. Diverted consequent streams enter these masters from the northeast; headward-growing ob- sequent streams enter from the southwest, perhaps marking the reversed paths of for- mer beheaded consequents ; the streams of Warren county being chiefly of the latter class. Faint escarpments facing northeast are formed along the outcrops of the harder strata. The larger streams have broad flood-plained trenches below even uplands of adolescent dissection; but to cite these trenches as examples of the ‘immensity of erosion ’ leaves no fitting term for the much greater erosion by which the generally even surface of the uplands was fashioned. GEOMORPHOLOGY OF NORWAY. Pror. EpuARD RicHTER gives further ac- count of his work last summer (See SCIENCE, June 26), in his ‘Geomorphologische Beobach- iB tungen aus Norwegen,’ contributed to the ih Vienna Academy (Sitzungsber., Feb., 1896), from which a very clear picture of fjeld and fjord may be gained. Much importance is attached to the increased rate of weathering in the belt above the limit of vegetation and below the snow line. The plateau-like up- lands are ascribed chiefly to this process, and not to peneplanation during a lower stand of the land, as advocated by some authors. -_—s regarded as unconsumed remnants of a once much greater mass, now far advanced in reduction to the upland level. Well formed cirques (Botner) characterize the later stages of this reduction, and many ex- SCIENCE. The mountains of Jotunheim are’ 43 amples are mentioned in various stages of development. These forms are explained as the result of retreat-by weathering back from a reentrant on which a protective covering of névé or ice lies ; and thus ex- plained, they are regarded as trustworthy witnesses of former glacial action in various mountains of middle Europe. As a special feature of the Norwegian fiords, Richter emphasizes not only their U-shaped cross section, but also the discordance of their floor level with that of many side valleys ; the steep side-wall of the deeper fiord cut- ting square across the floor of the shallower side valley. ‘This is ingeniously explained as a modification of a preglacial valley sys- tem by a glaciation of just such severity as would fill some valleys with long ice streams, while certain confluent valleys of less and lower catchment area would be oc- cupied by relatively inactive ice or only by névé. The latter valleys would then be little modified, while the former would be rapidly deepened and changed from V to U form. This essay is of particular interest in giv- ing a clear analysis of the relation of form to process, and in attributing much in- fluence to the climatic control of denuda- tion, both as determined by altitude above sea level and as affected by glacial or inter- glacial conditions ; but the sufficiency of the process suggested for the production of the uplands needs further demonstration. LITTLEDALE IN THIBET. LitTLEDALE’s adventurous effort to reach Lhasa is described in an entertaining narra- tive with incidental mention of notable physiographic features. A number of vol- canoes were seen in Thibet south of Cher- chen (mid-southern border of the desert of Gobi). Thereabouts, the drainage from the mountains enters salt lakes in flat inter- montane depressions of great altitude. Fur- ther southeast, rivers escape to the sea in at deep valleys and entirely change the aspect of the country. The lakes all stand lower than their ancient shore lines ; many small basins of to-day having formerly united in large confluent water bodies. This narra- tive, like many of its class, indicates great courage and endurance on the part of the explorers, but abounds with personal inci- dents rather than with geographical matter. (London Geogr. Journal, May.) DANGER FROM THUNDERSTORMS IN ARABIA. Aw excursion of twelve years ago in Oman, southeast Arabia, lately described by S. B. Miles, gives once again an impres- sive picture of the immediate independence of desert tribes on the wadies or water courses, which determine the place of all the villages and of nearly all the roads. A canyon, six miles long and 1,000 to 1,500 deep, between neighboring valleys, was luckily passed through a day before a heavy thunder storm ; less fortunate travellers are not unfrequently overwhelmed in it by the sudden rise of the stream, from which there is no escape. ‘The huge walls of rock give the appearance as if the mountain range had been suddenly split in twain from the base to the summit by some con- vulsion of nature.” Ifa real, convulsively split canyon is some day found, what an agreeable change it willbe toread: ‘The huge walls of the fissure formed by this con- vulsion of nature look just like the walls of ordinary gorges that have been slowly cut down by streams.”’ (London Geogr. Journ., May.) HILL ON CENTRAL AMERICA AND ANTILLES. - Tur May number of the National Geo- graphic Magazine has an article by R. T. Hill on the geographic relation of the three Americas, North, Central and South, con- tending that the North American cordil- leras terminate with the line of Mexican volcanoes west of Vera Cruz, that the Andes SCIENCE. (N.S. Von. IV. No. 80. terminate south of the Isthmus of Panama, and that Central America is to be asso- ciated with the transverse deformations of the Antilles; the latter lying on lines of east-west corrugations “‘ which have per- sisted without continental connection or union with each other since their origin.” Thus interpreted, these islands belong to a class that should be welcomed by the phys- iographer as desiderata, long ago deduced as possibilities, and prepared for in his scheme of classification, but of rare occur- rence on this small earth during the brief epoch in which we know it. W. M. Davis. . HARVARD UNIVERSITY. CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF HYDROLOGY AND CLIMATOLOGY. Tue Fourth Session of the International Congress of Hydrology, Climatology and Geology will be held at Clermont-Ferrand from September 28 to October 4 of this year. Scientific societies in all parts of the world are invited to take part in this Congress. The French railroad companies have re- duced their fares 50% for those who attend the meeting, and the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique has given a reduction of 80% to those who travel by its steamers. Among the meteorologists who have charge of the meeting are Angot, Teisserenc de Bort and Plumandon. The list of questions to be considered in the section on climatology is the following : Meteorological observations, their part in the study of climates; What is meant by mountain climate?; Investiga- tion on the proper means of determining the degree of clearness of the sky, of its color, and of these influences in hygiene; The prevalence of winds in certain regions, and their influence on sanitary conditions. Membership in the Congress costs 20 frances, and subscriptions may be sent to M. Doin, 8 Rue de l’Odeon, Paris. JULY 10, 1896.] ATLAS OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. _A PUBLICATION of more than usual inter- est and importance is the large Atlas of the Pacific Ocean, recently issued by the Deutsche Seewarte, at Hamburg, under the direction of Dr. Neumayer. The previous volumes in the same series are an Atlas anda Hand- _ book of Sailing Directions for the Atlantic and for the Indian Oceans. Although primarily intended for the use of ship cap- tains, these publications should be studied by all meteorologists. The data on which the charts are based are the most complete and most authentic obtainable. The charts include among others the following: depths; ocean currents from January to March and from July to September; water surface temperatures for February, May, August and September; isotherms and isobars for the same months; winds for winter and summer; wind districts ; relative frequency of winds for January, April, July and Oc- tober ; rainfall by districts; magnetic varia- tion ; sailing routes. For the minute study of the general meteorological conditions of the Pacific Oceans there is nothing that can approach these new German charts. The Sailing Directions, to accompany the Atlas, are now in press. R. DEC. Warp. HARVARD UNIVERSITY. CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. AMERICAN CRANIOLOGY. Pror. Hamy, the distinguished successor to de Quatrefages, has an article in L’An- thropologie, for April on the Malayan and the American races. Following older au- thorities, he treats both as offshoots from ___ the Mongolian variety or subspecies. When he comes to the difficult task of classifying the refractory red men he relies wholly on craniology and his results are, to say the least, sweeping. He groups as one all the mound builders, cliff dwellers and Pueblo Indians. The same group ‘extends from SCIENCE. .tocene. 45 the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Great Lakes to the Isthmus of Tehuante- pec.’ They are all brachycephalic, short in stature, with narrow noses and promi- nent cheek bones. It is needless to say that the researches of Boas, Virchow, Matthews and others lend no support to this statement, and indeed contradict it. Nor is Prof. Hamy’s discussion of the South American skull-forms in accordance with the measurements adduced by Ehren- reich and others. The skull is as variable among the Amer- ican aborigines as it is among the Aryan nations to-day, and no classification of stocks can be founded upon it. The lin- guistic classification is the closest to an ex- act one that we can have for the race of the new world, and has been accepted by all modern American authorities. MAN AND THE MEGALONYX. THE Megalonyx was a hugh sloth who lived about these parts for some time af- ter the Champlain depression of the pleis- His remains abound in what are are called the ‘ Megalonyx layers,’ a hori- zon Which Gilbert has offered evidence to place post-glacial. In these layers no trace of man has yet been found; but in April last Mr. Henry C. Mercer, exploring for the University of Pennsylvania, found in a cave in Tennessee bones of this sloth, fresh in appearance, and with remains of attached tissue and ligaments, mingled with fragments of reeds used as torches by the Indians. Along with these were other bones of living fauna, cave rats, por- cupines, etc. Mr. Mercer has issued a brief announcement of this discovery, with an il- lustration of the bones. Copies can be had by addressing him (University of Pennsyl- vania, Philadelphia). This does not necessarily remove man to remote antiquity. The sloth might have survived to comparatively recent centuries 46 in the mild valleys of Tennessee; but it does seem to make the red man and the animal contemporaries. D. G. BRINTON. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. SCIENTIFIC No TES AND NEWS. LORD KELYIN. THE jubilee of Lord Kelvin’s professorship was celebrated by the University of Glasgow, and the corporation of the city on June 15th, 16th and 17th. More than two hundred dele- gates were present, representing British and foreign universities and learned societies, and congratulatory messages and telegrams were sent from all parts of the globe. Ata conver- satzione in the University on the evening of June 15th Lord Kelvin’s numerous inventions and the diplomas, medals, addresses, etc., pre- sented to him by various scientific and other learned societies, were exhibited, and more than two thousand guests offered their congratula- tions to Lord and Lady Kelvin. A cablegram from the University was sent by way of San Francisco and traversed the circuit of 20,000 miles in 74 minutes. On the morning of June 16th numerous addresses were presented to Lord Kelvin and the degree of LL.D. was con- ferred upon him and on several of the distin- guished guests, including Prof. Simon New- comb and Prof. Cleveland Abbe. . A banquet Was given by the corporation in the evening, and on June 17th there was an excursion on the Firth of Clyde. Prof. A. Gray writes to Nature: ‘‘ As these words are being printed, the Jubilee of Lord Kelvin’s professorship is being celebrated in the most enthusiastic and magnificent manner at Glasgow. Delegates from all parts of the world are present, and among them are many of the most eminent representatives of science at home and abroad. From Paris to Moscow, Canada to Mexico, India to Australia, the whole civil- ized world unites in congratulating Lord Kelvin on the great work for science and the good of his fellow men which he has achieved, and in offering good wishes that he may have health and strength for the continuance of his glorious career. Though for fifty years he has been SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 80. professor of natural philosophy at Glasgow, has seen pass through his classes several gener- ations of students, has been one of the greatest leaders in what has been preéminently a cen- tury of scientific discovery and advancement, has worked as few men can work, and withal has taken the keenest interest in all that ought to interest the true citizen of a great country, yet is his eye not dim nor his natural force abated. Itis the hope of all his friends and of all the great army of scientific workers who now are unanimous in doing him honor that he may have before him many long years of happy and successful work.’’ All American men of science will join in offering their most sincere congratulations, for there is no one liv- ing when they honor more highly than Lord Kelvin. THE TEACHING OF ANATOMY. THE last number of the Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins University (May—June, 1896) contains interesting accounts of the anatomical courses and laboratories of the University, including the work on normal histology and microscopic anatomy and the photographie room and appa- ratus. The articles are illustrated by ground plans and photo-engravings and deserve careful study by those engaged in teaching anatomy or indeed any natural science. Prof. Mall holds that anatomy should be taught in the dissecting room and not by lectures. He writes: ‘“‘T have asked many professors, even of anatomy, where they had learned their anatomy, and in nearly all cases the reply was ‘in the dissecting room.’ They all admitted that, in addition to demonstrations, lectures were of little use to students, and some believed them worse than useless. The zoologists and botan- ists have long ago learned the absurdity of the lecture method of teaching, but the anatomist patiently keeps up this slow and stupid method of instruction. It is stupid because no anato- mist would use this same method if he were to learn instead of to teach. ‘We know very well that the burden of re- sponsibility is removed, to a great extent, if the instructor goes over the whole subject care-- fully once a year. He then can tell his student. to go to the dissecting room to see for himself. JULY 10, 1896. ] If the student does not attend the lectures, the professor carries no responsibility, no matter how uninteresting or how uninstructive they maybe. Yet the beauty of the courses of lec- tures is that the professor carries no responsibil- ity if the student does not know his anatomy. ‘¢T believe that there is but one way to learn any subject, and that is through study. The very name student tells what the person so named should be doing; and with a natural science, dealing with a most complex object, extending through the three dimensions of oe space, any other method besides studying the _ object itself is practically useless. -‘Tectures with demonstrations are certainly valuable—more valuable than the lectures with text-books alone. Yet analyzing the object it- self is infinitely more valuable than to watch the results exposed by another. Wrestling with the part which is being studied, handling it and viewing it from all sides, and tabulating and classifying the parts worked out, give us the greatest reward. All this may be accom- plished by practical laboratory work. If we can make the student work thoughtfully and carefully a great result is achieved. It makes of him an artist, an actor, an expert, not a di- lettant. He is upon the stage, not in the audi- ence.”’ GENERAL. THE degree of LL. D. has been conferred by Harvard University on Prof. Alexander Graham Bell, of Washington; on Prof. William R. Ware, of Columbia University, and on Prof. William G. Farlow, of Harvard University ; by the Uni- _ versity of Michigan on Prof. E. L. Mark, of a Harvard University, and by Amherst College on Prof. ©. H. Hitchcock, of Dartmouth Col- lege. THE discovery of Rayleigh and Ramsay is be- ing extended into unexpected fields of research. Wm. Schleesing (fils) and Jules Richard have recently read before the French Academy a pa- per in regard to researches upon Argon in the gas within the swim-bladders of fishes. THE national collection of plants placed _ many years ago by the Smithsonian Institution } in the custody of the Department of Agricul- _ ture has been returned to the Institution by SCIENCE. 47 Secretary Morton, who is unwilling longer either to be responsible for work in botany, ex- cept as related directly to agriculture, or to keep so valuable a collection in a building which is not fire proof. It is now arranged in the east balcony of the National Museum build- ing. The following members of the museum staff are assigned to the Department of Plants: Curator of Plants, (Honorary) Mr. F. V. Coville, Botanist of the Department of Agri- culture. Assistant Curators, Dr. J. N. Rose, Mr. O. F. Cook, Mr. Charles Louis Pollard. Aid, Mrs. Carrie Harrison. Clerk, Miss Flora N. Vasey. Mounters, Mrs. Anna T. Moore, Miss Louise Zimmerman, Miss Frederica Wern- heimer, Miss L. V. Schaeffer. Messenger, Felix Moore. AN International Congress of Maritime Fish- eries, Oyster culture and Marine Agriculture will be held September 8d to 7th at Sables d’Olonne, in Vendée, under the auspices of the Society L’ Enseignement Professionnel et Technique des Péches Maritimes. M. E. Perrier, of the In- stitute, professor in the Museum of Natural History in Paris, will preside. Observations sur les prestidigitateurs by Joseph Jastrow, an article translated from SCIENCE, appears in the Revue Scientifique for June 20th. Pror. 8. P. LANGLEY sailed for Europe on July 8th, for a two months’ stay. Dr. C. A. DoREMUus, of New York City, has been appointed, by the Secretary of State, dele- gate from the United States to the International Congress of Applied Chemistry in Paris. Garden and Forest states that the old home of the naturlist Audubon, in Pennsylvania, is on the south bank of the little River Perkiomen, about three miles to the eastward of Phcenix- ville. .The house, which is locally famous as the Mill Grove House, was built nearly a cen- tury and a-half ago, and stands on a knoll which affords a fine prospect. Itis of stone, solid and substantial, thickly overgrown with ivy and shadowed by a number of tall pines, under the branches of which Audubon produced some of his best work. In spite of certain interior changes, the chimney-corner where his study- ing was done still remains as he knew it. 48 THE New YorK Evening Post states that some changes in the competitive system of appoint- ment as related to the scientific bureaus of the Department of Agriculture are now under consideration, and may be announced in a few days. The system of special examina- tions for scientific positions has not proved satis- factory. It is said that besides being trouble- some and expensive these examinations put a premium upon the narrowly educated specialist and do not sufficiently recognize experience and intellectual breadth. The reforms. proposed are a permanent list of eligibles, based on lines of broader scientific training and a longer period of apprenticeship for those who are taken into the scientific bureaus, so that the higher positions need never be filled directly from the special ex- amination, but by promotion on basis of exami- nation of tried assistants. D. VAN NosTRAND & Co. announce for pub- lication in August a work on Rontgen Rays and Phenomena of the Anode and Cathode, by Edward P. Thompson, assisted by Louis M. Pignolet, N. D. C. Hodges and Ludwig Gutmann, with a chapter on Generalizations, Arguments, Theories, Kindred Radiations and Phenomena, by Prof. Wm. A. Anthony. THE next meeting of the American Micro- scopical Society will be held at Pittsburg, Pa., August 18, 19, 20, 1896, under the presidency of Prof. A. Clifford Mercer, of Syracuse, N. Y. The meeting, which promises to be of special interest, will be held in the Carnegie Library Building. It is hoped that there will be a full attendance of members, as the question of hay- ing a permanent home in which the accumu- lated property of the Society is to be considered. Membership blanks and general information re- garding the Society may be obtained from the Secretary, Prof. W. C. Krauss, 382 Virginia street, Buffalo, N. Y. THE United States Civil Service Commission will hold an examination in Washington and ~ other cities where there are applicants, on July 30th, to fill a vacancy in the position of assis- tant in the division of chemistry, Department of Agriculture, at a salary of $1,200 per annum ; also an examination on August 13th and 14th to fill a vacancy in the position of botanical SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. 1V. No. 80. artist, Department of Agriculture, at a salary of $1,000 per annum. Mr. FLINDERS PETRIE has been appointed executor-in-chief of the Egypt Exploration Fund, and the work will doubtless be prose- cuted with vigor under his administration. WILLIAM T. BRiGHAM, of Honolulu, left for Washington June 26th, to visit the Smithsonian Institution. He is director of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum of Polynesian Ethnology and ‘Natural History at Honolulu, left the latter place last Janurry, and has been making a tour around the world for the purpose of studying the chief ethnological exhibits in various coun- tries. He has been especially interested in studying the marine zoological stations at Naples, Berlin, Amsterdam and Portsmouth, as he expects to organize a marine zoological station near Honolulu for the Hon. Charles R. Bishop, Vice-President of the Bank of California. The proposed new station, he says, will cost three-quarters of a million dollars. WE learn from the Revista de la Instrucion Publica Mexicana that a law is being considered by the Mexican Chamber of Deputies making all the archeological monuments and remains in the country the property of the nation and forbidding their exploration, restoration and removal without express authorization of the executive. The archeological map of the re- public is to be revised, the monuments are to be examined, and as much of the material as _possible is to be preserved in the National Museum. It is to be a penal offence to injure the remains or to export them from the country without legal authorization. Sir JOHN Evans has presented to the London Geological Society an oil portrait of Huxley. THE steam yacht Ohio sailed for Norway on June 27th, with two hundred passengers, in- — cluding a number of men of science, to observe the total eclipse of the sun at Bado. In order to encourage kite-designing and kite- flying, the Boston Aéronautical Society offers for the best kites, cash prizes amounting to one hundred and fifty dollars. The competition is to take place between September 15 and Octo- ~ber 15, 1896. Octave Chanute, Esq., offers, through this Society, a special prize of one hun- JuLy 10, 1896.] dred dollars for the best Monograph on the Kite, giving a full theory of its mechanics and sta- bility, with quantitative: computations ap- pended. Further information may be obtained from the Secretary, Mr. A. A. ae Je (Oe Box 1197, Boston, Mass. Mr. Ropert M. Pirs, 320 HE. 14th street, New York, will, peginnine with July, edit aad publish a Ananterly journal entitled Journal of Communication, devoted to linguistic, metric and numeric progress. THE Atlantic Monthly for July contains an in- teresting article by Mr. John Fiske, entitled _ ‘The Century’s Progress in Science.’ Masor J. W. POWELL will be engaged dur- ing the summer on ascientific expedition to the coast of Maine, for the purpose of studying the shell mounds. WE learn from Nature that a preliminary meeting has been held in Liverpool for the pur- pose of taking steps for the establishment in that city of a Zoological Garden on a scientific basis, and on the model of that in Regent’s Park, London. On the motion of Prof. Herd- man, seconded by Dr. Forbes, the following resolution was unanimously adopted: ‘‘ That in the opinion of this meeting it is desirable, in the interests of science and education in this city, to establish Zoological Gardens, containing a collection of living animals, and that those present form a committee, with power to add to their number, for the purpose of advancing this object.’’ The question of asite was consid- ered, and it appeared that there was just now a favorable opportunity of securing land in a central position very suitable for the purpose. It was resolved that the following gentlemen be asked to form a sub-committee to inquire fully into the matter and prepare a report: Prof. Herdman, Dr. Forbes, Messrs. A. L. meeones, A. A. Paton, A. S. Hannay, W. H. Picton, W. E. Willink, F. J. Leslie and F. Radcliffe, THE Macmillan Co. will issue shortly an lementary Solid Geometry by Prof. Henry D. Thompson, of Princeton University. _ ‘THE Council from the London Mathematical _ Society has awarded the De Morgan Medal to ir. Samuel Roberts. SCIENCE. 49 IN a paper presented before the London Physical Society on June 12th Prof, 8, P. ‘Thompson stated that he had been unable to obtain true reflection of the Réntgen rays, though most bodies, including air, gave diffuse reflection. LorpD KELVIN calls our attention to the fact that in a letter to the London Times, subsequent to the one quoted in our issue of May 22d, he added the sentences: ‘‘ The weight of a cubic: métre of water is a French ton. The cubic decimétre of waters weighs a kilogramme, the cubic centimétre, a gramme.’’ These sentences may be added at the middle of the second line at the top of the second column of page 166 of ‘the last volume of this JOURNAL. THE International Medical Magazine for June contains articles on X-ray photography in its. application to medicine by Prof. Arthur W. Goodspeed, Prof. W. W. Keane and Dr. Thomas G. Morton. The articles are illus- trated by ten full-page plates showing the de- tails of the skeleton in health and disease with remarkable clearness. In the photographs of the trunk and pelvis taken by Prof. Goodspeed, the cervical vertebre, the articulations of the shoulder joint, etc., are shown with as great clearness as the bones of the hand in the earlier experiments. THE bill permitting the use of horseless car- riages on highways in Great Britain has passed the House of Lords, but it is feared that the pressure of business before the House of Com- mons will prevent the bill from becoming a law before the vacation. In the meanwhile several companies have been incorporated for the manufacture of horseless carriages, one with a capital of $5,000,000. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. THE University of Vermont dedicated, on June 23d, two new buildings, Converse Hall, a. dormitory presented to the University by John H. Converse at a cost of $125,000, and a. science building presented by Dr. Edward H. Williams which, with its equipment, will cost about $200,000. The dormitory was formally presented to the University by Mr. Converse,. 50 and the science building, in the absence of Dr. Williams, by his son, Prof. Edward H. Williams, jr., of Lehigh University. The latter build- ing, designed by Messrs. Wilson Brothers, of Philadelphia, has a front of 175 ft. anda depth of 53 ft., with a wing in the rear 51 x 49 ft., and is built of brick and terra cotta on a basement of granite. On the front are three medal- lions with the heads of Agassiz, Henry and Prof. Marsh. The building contains ample ac- commodations for the departments of physics, chemistry, biology, electrical engineering and metallurgy. THE Butterfield Museum of Dartmouth Col- lege has been completed, and the departments of geology, zoology and botany have been re- moved to the new building. THE New York University is about to erect a building to be used as a geological museum and library. It is to be one story in height, of rubble stone and brick, and is expected to cost about $50,000. THE Johns Hopkins University conferred this year the degree of Bachelor of Arts on 37 candidates and the degree of Doctor of Philos- ophy on 31 candidates. The following candi- dates presented theses in the sciences coming more especially within the scope of this JouR- NAL: A. D. Chambers, An Investigation of the Composition of Certain Oxides of Magan- ese; F.S. Hollis, On the two Clorides of Nitro- orthosulphobenzoic acid; E. Mackay, A Con- tribution to the Study of Double Salts in Water Solution; R. M. McKenzie, Some Double Clo- rides of Ferric and of Ferris Iron with some Aromatic Bases; M. D. Sohon, An Investiga- tion of Some Derivatives of Orthosulphobenzoic Acid; E. F. Gallaudet, Relations between Length, Elasticity and Magnetization of Iron and Nickel Wires; B. M. Roszel, The Action of the Asteroids on Mars; H. A. Sayre, On the Generation of Surfaces by the Motion of Plane Curves; T. H. Taliaferro, The Congruensis formed by the Tangents to the Lines of Curva- ture of a Given Surface; G. O. Smith, The Ge- ology of the Fox Islands, Me., A. C. Spencer, The Geology of Massanutten Mountain, Va.; H. M. Nower, The Embryology of the Termite; G. Lefevre, Budding in Perophora. SCIEN CH. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 80. Or the twenty-one fellowships this year awarded at the Johns Hopkins University, we note the following: Physics, N. E. Dorsey, W. T. Mather, J. F. Mohler; Chemistry, W. EH. Henderson, C. D. Ragland; Biology, H. L. Clark, D. S. Johnson; Mathematics, A. Pell; Pathology, E. P. Carter; Geology, G. B. Shat- tuch. Pror. C. D. Woops has been elected Director of the Maine State College, at ‘Orono, in the place of Prof. W. H. Jordan, who has been elected Director of the New York Experiment Station, at Geneva. THE following public lectures will be given in connection with the Harvard University summer school from July 3d to August 14th: July 7, ‘University Study of Education and Teaching,’ Prof. Paul H. Hanus. July 9, ‘ The Fine Arts in Elementary Education,’ Prof. C. E. Norton. July 14, ‘The Teaching of the Modern Languages: Aims, Means and Methods,’ Prof. Hugo K. Schilling. July 16, ‘ Rational vs. Empirical Geography,’ Prof. Wm. M. Davis. July 21, ‘Certain Peculiarities of Australasian Vegetation; Illustrated by Stereoptican Views,’ Prof. Geo. L. Goodale. July 23, ‘The Teach- ing of Physical Science: Aims, Means and Methods,’ Mr. Joseph Y. Bergen. July 28, ‘Military Drill in the Public Schools,’ Dr. D. A. Sargent. July 31, ‘Psychology and Relaxation,’ Prof. Wm. James. August 4, ‘The Teaching of English: Aims, Means and Methods,’ Mr. Byron S. Hurlbut. DISCUSSION. AND CORRESPONDENCE. THE FORM OF THE HEAD AS GROWTH. To THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: I was much interested in Dr. W. Z. Ripley’s contribution on the question of the growth of the head which appeared in the issue of June 19th, of ScIENCE. The author’s observation that the cephalic index of Americans decreases with in- creasing age is certainly correct, but I think the contrary observations of European investiga- tors admit of an interpretation different from the one given by Dr. Ripley, who is inclined to believe that in long-headed races the index de- creases with increasing age, while in short- headed races it increases with increasing age. The European material seems to me hardly ade- quate to form a far-reaching conclusion of this kind. | INFLUENCED BY Jviy 10, 1896. ] Zuckerkandl based his conclusions that children have more elongated heads than adults on measurements of 156 children and 197 adults from the interior parts of Austria. But in selecting these individuals he excluded what he calls the Slavic type, including only the elon- gated heads which he ascribes to the Teutonic type. This arbitrary selection makes the results of his comparison of doubtful value for a treatment of the question of growth; Zucker- kandl discusses this point at length and points out that his statistics must not be considered final. (Mitt. der Anthrop. Ges. in Wien XIV. 1884, p. 127.) Holl has based his statement on the measure- ment of only 16 skulls of children, and conse- quently no weight can be attached to it. Mies to whom Dr. Ripley refers does not make—so far as I can make out—any statement in regard to the question at issue in the pas- sage quoted (ibid. XX. 1890, p. 39 ff.). The statistics of Dr. Livi which were pub- lished in the Archivio per lV’ antropologia e la etnol- ogia, 1886, p. 235, are based on observations by Calori, Brennsohn, Waldhauer, Weber and Broca; but they are classified in two groups: of more and of less than 33 years of age, and can therefore not be utilized for treating the question of the influence of growth upon the form of the head, as they are rather directed to detecting retrogressive changes which be- gin after the 35th year of life. While these European data are open to serious objections, we find in America that with few ex- ceptions long-headed tribes as well as short- headed ones, show a decrease in the value of the cephalic index with increasing age. I have compiled the following table in order to make this point clear : CEPHALIC INDEX OF Tribe. Adults. Children. Difference. See vicmac..... 79.0 (136) 80.9 ( 84) +1.9 Se hastern Ojibwa... 81.8 (396) 81.6 (309) — 0.2 Cherokee... 82.0 (140) 81.0 ( 75) —= 10 British Co- lumbia... 83.6 (284) 85.3 (138) -+1.7 Moqui ...... 84.0 (116) 86.4 (77) + 2.4 Navajo...... 84.2 (77) 86.8 (76) + 2.6 The cause for this decrease is not far to seek. With maturity the frontal sinuses and the occip- SCIENCE. 51 ital protuberance begin to grow, particularly in males, while there is no corresponding local growth on the parietal or temporal bones. This has the effect that the length grows more rapidly than the breadth and that the index begins to decrease. The lesser development of the frontal sinuses and of the occipital protuberance in women is also a sufficient explanation for their greater brachycephalism. Nevertheless, I believe that the breadth of the head increases as long as the length, al- though at a slower rate, and that Dr. Ripley would have obtained this result if his series had been more extensive. I cannot find that Schaaf- hausen, who held this opinion, has substanti- ated it by any extensive series of observations. The best series that is available is that of Dr. Venn (Jour. Anthrop. Institute. XVIII., p. 152, ff.) which when arranged from this point of view gives the following results : Year. Length of Head. Breadth of Head. Index. Individuals. Inches. Inches. 19 7.54 5.87 Wed) 139 20 7.57 5.93 78.3 305 21 7.58 5.93 78.2 248 22 7.63 5.98 78.4 189 23 7.54 5.97 79.2 83 24 endl 6.03 78.2 52 +25 7.62 6.00 78.7 79 But the growth of the head does not close with the twenty-fifth year. The following table shows that among the Indians it con- tinues to grow until near the thirtieth year, and the period will certainly not be found shorter among people of European descent, while it may be shorter among the negroes : Years. Length of Head. DSO on ined ecaieseseaemeaaeeee 193.0 mm. DIED RM ae Ot r. No Se Au gIoe aleiaicieieinisers ieee Gey oS LASS. «sano c OHS EEROBDSe pa A SUdEsoneenoboabacdcad 193°8)9 << DAP O7/ 5 an cu Se BON Soe TOOL BBOOCHobeosodDCagoodseE OARS DOSS OME ar eaten tnercoeeccen ca csigccinaceeele(te 194.8 “ ZOMAMOMTOLE te nssacc:ecesee em essscoeeoseleniecs 194.8 ‘“‘ FRANZ Boas. NEw YORK. BIOLOGY, ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY. To THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: Prof. Conway MacMillan, who claims (ScrENcE, III., p. 634) to have single-handed banished a ‘sham D2 biology’ from two of our leading univer- sities, still has work to do. As Prof. Brooks tells us (ScrENCE III., p. 708), the Johns Hop- kins University had not in the twenty years of its history examined a candidate for the doctor- ate in ‘biology.’ Yet this year, perhaps as a declaration of independence from the influence of Prof. MacMillan, it has conferred the degree of Doctor of Philosophy on a candidate who chose ‘biology’ as one of his subjects. Questions of nomenclature seem to be more in- teresting to the botanist than to the zoologist, and it is not the present writer’s intention to discuss this one. But the occasion seems favorable for asking Prof. MacMillan why it is that zoology has become to such a large extent synonymous with biology. Is it not, perhaps, because the zoologist is usually a_ biologist, whereas the botanist is usually only a botanist ? ‘The great advances which, during the past forty years, have transformed biology, have come al- most exclusively from the side of the zoological sciences. Zoologists have not hesitated to use botany when they could, but in the advance- ment of biology, botany, even as a silent partner, does not seem to have contributed its share of capital. Vis AN UNCOMMON AFTER-IMAGE. SOME days since, while traveling by boat, I awoke in the early morning, and, thrusting my head out of the window, was almost over- powered by the yellow glare. Ithen raised the blind with its yellow horizontal slats, and for a moment noticed the glare pouring through them. Then, shutting my eyes, I had for a few seconds an after-image of some half-dozen vertical green lines gradually fading away into vertical violet lines. Hiram M. STANLEY. MAcKINAC ISLAND, June 20. THE NINE-BANDED ARMADILLO. To THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: In his recent paper, in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, on mammals collected in Bexar County and vicinity, Texas, Prof. Allen re- fers to the capture of specimens of the nine- banded armadillo at several places north and west of Bexar County, but mentions none from SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. IV. No. 80. that county. It may be of interest, therefore, to note that five specimens were taken in the county in May, 1895, about four miles from San Antonio. There were two adults and three young, all captured immediately after a heavy rain which had driven them from their burrow. This family of armadillos was pre- sented by Mr. F. Hardman, of San Antonio, to the National Zoological Park in this city, where two of its members may still be seen, appar- ently in excellent health. A. B. BAKER. WASHINGTON, D. C., June 22, 1896. ROCHEFORT ON THE CARIBBEANS. To THE EpITOR OF SCIENCE: Appropos of the wonderful explorations of Mr. Frank Ham- ilton Cushing and his party in San Marco, Florida, last winter, under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania, I would call atten- tion to the following sentence in Rochefort (Caribby Islands, London, 1666, p. 291). Speak- ing of the Caribbeans he says: ‘‘ Their Habita- tions are somewhat near one to another, and disposed at certain distances after the manner of a Village; and for the most part they plant themselves upon some little ascent, that so they may have better air and secure themselves against those pestilent flies which we have else- where called Mosquitos and Maringoins, which are extreamly troublesome, and whereof the stinging is dangerous in those parts where there is but little wind stirring. The same reason it is that obliges the Floridians, beyond the bay of Carlos and Tortugues, to lodge themselves for the most part at the entrance of the Sea in Huts built on Piles or Pillars.’’ O. T. MAson. U.S. NATIONAL Museum, July 2, 1896. SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. Handbuch der paliarktischen Gross-Schmetterlinge fiir Forscher und Sammler. Zweite gdnzlich umgearbeitete und durch Studien zur Descen- denztheorie erweitete Auflage, etc. VON DR. MAx STANDFUsS, mit 8 lithographischen Tafeln und 8 Textfiguren. Jena, Gustav Fischer, 1896. 8°. Pp. 392. This is much more than an ordinary hand- book for the lepidopterist, since it comprises a JuLy 10, 1896. ] great deal of new matter relative to the hybridi- zation and seasonal dimorphism of Lepidoptera, the result of some twenty-five years of work. It is therefore a most important contribution to biology, and is another in the series of notable works called out by the epoch-making essays of Weismann contained in his ‘Studies in the Theory of Descent,’ published over fifteen years ago, when the author was an orthodox La- marckian. The practical topics discussed relate to the mode of collecting, the breeding of larvee, in- cluding pairing of the sexes of the same and of different species. This portion is succeeded by lengthy accounts of certain special cases of hybridization and of hybrids between different European species of Saturnia, with details re- garding the biological, anatomical and physio- logical peculiarities of the hybrids, including a very neat and obviously correct phylogeny of the genus as concerns the European species. This part is followed by generalities on hybridi- zation and hybrids, and on pairing both in con- finement and in nature. The egg-state, larva and pupa, their care, arti- ficial hibernation, diseases, etc., are fully treated from the point of view of one who has reared thousands of specimens in the most successful, careful and scientific manner. Next to the subject of hybridization that of seasonal dimorphism as discussed by Stand- fuss is of special value, since he brings forward many new facts. It is treated under the follow- ing heads: Albinism, melanism, change of color, exchange of colors, local races, local forms, local varieties, seasonal dimorphism, based on experiments on butterflies (species of Papilio, Rhodocera, Vanessa, Argynnis, and on a moth, Dasychira abietis. The paper succeeding, devoted to thoughts relative to the question of species-formation, contains the author’s general views, and the book ends with the directions for collecting the imagines. It would have been better, we think, if Dr. Standfuss had divided the work into two parts, separating the practical directions from the scientific part, but the result will be that the amateur and collector will be perhaps, in Some cases at least, insensibly led to become a SCIENCE. 53 scientific observer, and thus great good will re- sult in placing the study of insects on a higher plane. The results of the experiments in keeping the pupa of Papilio Machaon at a temperature of 98-99° F. produced not only changes in mark- ings and hue, but also in form, such as the length- ening of the ‘tail,’ while the specimens were lighter in color, some bearing a perfect resem- blance to those that fly in August, near Anti- och and Jerusalem. On the other hand, the pupa subjected to cold gave out butterflies which resembled the Swiss and German forms emerging from hybernated chrysalids. The ex- periments were numerous and confirm the earlier results obtained by Weismann, W. H. Edwards, Merrifield and others. Dr. Standfuss is a neo-Lamarckian, believing that, as the result of his experiments, seasonal and local varieties or species are the result of direct changes in the environment—a logical conclusion from the facts. And if this is the case in the laboratory it logically follows that it must be so in nature, especially where isolation occurs. His observations afford him proof of the inheritance of acquired characters. He states that the results of his experiments on the effects of change of temperature render it im- possible to bring them into harmony with the views of Weismann, and he is in accord with the conclusions of Eimer as to the direct influence of the environment and of the inheritance of acquired characters in species-building. He thinks that natural selection is limited in its operation, many species having originated and become established without its aid. Finally, he gives us the following definition of the idea of a species: ‘Species are groups of individuals which, through the direct influence of certain factors of the external world, have diverged so far from the nearest allied types that they can no more cross with these in their sexually developed forms; that the completely de- veloped offspring resulting from this crossing, should it occur, are absolutely incapable of breeding with one another.’’ It is to be hoped that an English translation of this important work may be published, so as to infuse a more seientific spirit into the minds of the many who are interested in the collection 54 and rearing of Lepidoptera. The plates are most excellent and add greatly to the interest and value of the book. A. S. PACKARD. A Compendium of General Botany. By MAx WESTERMAIER. Translated from the Ger- man, by Albert Schneider. New York, John Wiley & Sons. In the preparation of the English edition of. this book the translator has endeavored, as stated in his preface, to ‘adhere as closely as possible to the author’s form, style and con- cept of the science of botany,’ and ‘to make it a translation in the true sense of the word.’ The title of the German edition, ‘Kompendium der allgemeinen Botanik fir Hochschulen,’ in- dicates that the work was intended for the higher grade of institutions in Germany, 7. @., for the universities ; and so, in the translation of the author’s preface, the literal rendering of the word ‘ Hochschulen’ as ‘ high school’ in this country is misleading as to the place which the book was intended to occupy. That the book was not intended for the high school, as that term is used in this country, can be seen from even a hasty examination of the text, and the preface states that ‘‘it is assumed that the pupil has a general knowledge of chemistry, of phy- sics, of the proper use of scientific terminology, and has the ability to estimate the value of hy- potheses and undecided problems.’’ A similar notion of the Hochschule caused ad- verse criticism to be made of the German edi- tion, as being too technical and advanced for the ‘high school.’ The work is divided into five parts which treat of the following topics: The cell, tissues and simple organs, organs and systems of or- gans, reproduction, the general chemistry and physics of plant life, classification of plants, tax- onomy. In Part I., the cell, the author treats of the primordial utricle and cell wall in their mutual relationship, turgor, plasmolysis, both the liv- ing and dead inclusions of the cytoplasm, as well as the cell sap, ete., the internal structure and method of growth of the cell wall, its che- mical composition, subsequent changes, and the products of growth in thickness and surface SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. 1V. No. 80. of the cell walls. The chemical and physical | aspects of the cell and its contents are treated more fully than the phenomena of the active cell, indirect division of the nucleus being passed by with a few illustrations and very brief descriptions of the stages represented. Part II., tissues and simple organs, has re- ceived greater consideration than any other part of the subject, 107 pages being covered in the discussion, which with the 37 pages devoted to the Cell make 144, or more than one-half of the entire work. This part is divided into eleven chapters as follows: 1st, the function of formative tissues (meristum and cambium); 2d, structure and function of the epidermal tissue system; 3d, function of mechanical tissues ; 4th, the function of the conducting system ; 5th, protection of the meristematic areas of the plant body; 6th, food substances derived from the atmosphere ; 7th, the function of aera- tion ; 8th, the function of roots; 9th, the ap- propriation of assimilated food substances ; 10th, the storing and function of reserve ma- terial ; 11th, secretion. Under the function of ‘the conducting system a full discussion is given of the various cell forms of the system, the stem structure of mosses, vascular cryptogams, monocotyledons, dicotyledons and gymnosperms, the structure of roots, and the special physiology of the move- ments of food substances and water in plants. Part III., organs and systems of organs, treats of the morphological and physiological relations of organs, their principal forms and modifications, metamorphosis, correlation, phyl- lotaxy, and the various kinds of inflorescence. Part IV., reproduction, receives very brief mention, being merely an outline, with illustra- tions, of the development and reproduction of representative plants in the larger groups, the morphology and physiology of the seed and fruit of phanerogams, the general physiology of reproduction, pollination, hybridization, he- redity, special creation and the ‘so-called theory of natural descent.’ Part V., the general chemistry and physics of plant life, includes chemical physiology, the physiology of growth, the relation of light, gravity and other factors to plant life, gale the physiology of plant movements. JULY 10, 1896, ] It will be observed that the book differs greatly from most books on general botany in the great emphasis laid on the chemistry, phy- sics and physiology of plants, less stress being put on the morphology and development. This is in accordance with what we should judge to be the taste of the author, who was long a pupil of Schwendener. In the general treat- ment of the subject-matter the author makes frequent use of and reference to the works of Naegeli, Sachs, Pfeffer, de Bary, Frank, Goebel and Warming, but more especially to those of Schwendener, Haberlandt and others of Schwendener’s pupils. For this reason the book will be a welcome addition as a con- densed reference book of the work of these investigators. The author is a fervent disciple of the ideal- istic school of special creation, and accepts only those processes to be governed by natural law which have been revealed by scientific investi- gation as facts. Relationship and relative po- sition of groups of plants is, in the mind of the author, only ‘‘a process of thought which the comparative study of the plant series creates in our minds; that such a series is genetic is an unverified postulate of the dogmatic teaching of descent, which allows fantasy to supplant that which empirical investigations leave un- answered.’’ Hypnotized by the fathomless depth of life, he accepts the miraculous creation, under the influence of which the mind is closed to the philosophical consideration of funda- mental relationships and modes of progress as suggested by phylogenetic evolution, and it does not appear to be realized that God work- ing through natural law, and by processes of evolution through time, has developed the uni- verse in accordance with the same plan which is wonderfully shown in the ontogeny of the present. GEO. F. ATKINSON. SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. THE July number opens with an article by Carl Barus, describing the lecture-room experi- ment with carbon dioxide, showing the passage of the liquid through the critical temperature. Suggestions are given in regard to the arrange- ment of the tube with respect to the sunlight SCIENCE. 55 used for illumination and the projecting lens, in order to give the best results. The experi- ments performed by the author seem to prove that there is no ‘‘ real continuity between CO, gas and CO, liquid at the critical temperature. There is continuity between the liquid and a gas which preserves the same molecule, the same molecular structure as the liquid from which it issues. Doubtless at still higher temperature ' the gas with the liquid molecule will break up into the true gas with the gaseous molecule.’’ H. H. Clayton discusses in detail the ques- tion of a seven-day weather period. The in- vestigation, the results of which are here de- tailed, was carried on under the auspices of the Elizabeth Thompson fund, and is a continua- tion of an earlier work by the same author, published in the Jowrnal for March, 1894. In all, twenty-one stations were selected for the discussion; three in the Arctic regions, four in the United States, five in Europe, two in Asia, two in Oceanica near the Equator, three in middle South America, one in Mauritius, and one in Australia. The results of the investiga- tion show that in general there are two maxima and two minima frequencies during the seven days, and at some stations there appear to be three. Charts are introduced showing the pro- gression of these periods around the world. The author regards this department of investi- gation as a promising and important one in connection with weather forecasting, since ‘‘it is possible to say that in all parts of the world barometric minima will be from 10 to 20 per cent. more frequent on certain days than on certain other days, provided the interval taken is sufficiently long. It is also possible to say that certain days will average colder than other days.’’ S. L. Penfield describes a sulpharsenite of silver, Ag ,AsS, or 9Ag.S, As.S,, analogous to polybasite Ag,SbS,, to which the name pearceite is given. He calls attention to the fact that ar- senical varieties of the species polybasite have long been recognized, but regards it as advisa- ble that they should be grouped together as an independent species, in accordance with the general method of distinguishing between the antimonial and arsenical members of this series of minerals. The pearceite here described was 56 SCIENCE. from a mine at Marysville, Montana, which has not only yielded material admitting of excel- lent analyses, conforming to the theoretical composition, but also beautiful crystals. These erystals are shown to belong to the monoclinic system, with an angle of inclination differing but little from 90°, and a rhombohedral sym- metry in the distribution of the faces. In con- nection with this investigation the crystalline form of polybasite was also studied, particu- larly on specimens from Colorado; and it is shown that they also are monoclinic with the same habit as that which characterizes the pear- ceite. An interesting summary of a number of metallic species among the sulphides, which have a prismatic angle of nearly 60°, is given. James L. Greenleaf describes in considerable detail the hydrology of the Mississippi. The special points considered are the volume, flow, the annual rainfall and its distribution, and the relation of flow or run-off to the rainfall, as de- pending upon the special conditions present in a particular case. The discussion is based upon a report by the writer upon certain water powers prepared for the tenth census. The data there given have been amplified to cover the flood and low water as well as the average discharge of the Mississippi and its tributaries, and have been brought up to date by a study of the sub- sequent gaugings conducted by the corps of en- gineers. A series of diagrams present the data graphically and give basis for further discus- sion. The first gives the average discharge for the different tributaries with their branch areas. Another diagram shows the average flow and rainfall, and still another connects the high average and low discharge and rainfall for the upper and lower Mississippi and for the prin- cipal branches. C. R. Eastman describes the relations of cer- tain body plates of the Dinichthyids. The sub- ject of Tertiary floras of the Yellowstone Na- tional Park is enlarged upon by F. H. Knowlton. His paper belongs with that on The Age of the Igneous Rocks of the Yellowstone by Arnold Hague, published in the June number. The region is shown to be remarkably rich in species, and three distinct flora are distinguished. The first is referred to the Fort Union or Lower Eo- cene; a second is regarded as Miocene, but older [N. 8. Von. 1V. No. 80. than the auriferous. gravels, and the third is regarded as Upper Miocene. The entire flora embraces 147 forms, distributed among 33 natu- ral orders. The remarkable contrast between the richness and variety of the vegetation at that time with the comparative paucity at pres- ent, and the bearings of this upon the change in climate, are brought out. ‘The whole subject will be developed in detail in a monograph to be published under the auspices of the United States Geological Survey. O. C. Marsh de- scribes a remarkable specimen of a Belodont reptile found in the red sandstone of the New Haven region. His paper is accompanied by a plate showing the portion of the back of the reptile which is preserved. an article on a new cephalopod of the genus Opisthoteuthis, illustrated by a number of fig- ures. Remarks are added on the general sub- ject of molluscan morphology. The subject of separation or isolation in its bearings on geology and zoography is discussed by A. E. Ortmann. He finds in it an explanation of the distribution © of animals as well as of the origin of species. T. L. Walker gives observations on percussion figures in mica, and shows that, contrary to what has been hitherto held, the angles between the lines developed are not 60°, but vary some- what widely from this. I. K. Phelps describes an iodometric method for the determination of carbon dioxide. PSYCHE, JULY. R. A. COOLEY describes and figures on a plate a new structural character in insects, consisting of a ‘spiny area,’ a small patch of short sharp spines on the under side of the fore wing near the base posteriorly, related to a corresponding patch on the thorax, at the point which the spines touch when the wings are in repose. He has demonstrated its presence in nearly five hundred moths, all of which fold their wings over the abdomen, and also in some insects of other orders. W. 8. Blatchley continues his notes on the winter Coleoptera (sixty species) of Vigo Co., Ind., and A. P. Morse his notes the Tryxalinz of New England, the new genus Clinocephalus being considered. Brief notes on butterflies are given by Miss Soule and Messrs. Folsom and Symthe. A. E. Verrill gives _ nS, ae’ NrEw SERIES. Vou. lV. No. 81. FripAy, JuLy 17, 1896. SINGLE COPIES, 15 cTs. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, $5.0). New and Forthcoming Books. Principles of Physics. A Text-Book for Iligh Schools and Colleges. By ALFRED P. GAGE, Instructor in Physics in Eng- lish High School, Boston. 12mo. Half leather. 634 pages. Illustrated. For introduction, $1.30. Physical Experiments. Laboratory Manual and Note-Book. By ALFRED P. GAGE, Instructor in Physics in the English High School, Boston, and IRA W. Hout, Prin- cipal of High School, Arlington, Mass. (Jn Press.) First Principles of Natural Philosophy. By A. E. DoLBEAR, Professor of Physics and Astronomy in Tufts College. (Jn Press.) Experimental Physics. By WixLLtAM A. STONE, Instructor in Physics in Phillips Academy, Exeter, N. H. (Jn Press.) Elements of Botany. By JOSEPH Y. 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ENGLISH & CO., Mineralogists, 64 East 12th St., New York.. $1.20, postage roc. extra. For COLLECTIONS OF 2 Oe Sas EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: S. NEwcomsB, Mathematics; R. 8S. WooDWARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, Astronomy; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics; R. H. THURSTON, Engineering; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry; J. LE Conte, Geology; W. M. DAvis, Physiography; O. C. MARSH, Paleontology; W. K. BROOKS, C. HART MERRIAM, Zoology; S. H. SCUDDER, Entomology; N. L. BRITTON, Botany; HENRY F. OsBoRN, General Biology; H. P. Bowpitcu, Physiology; J.S. BILLINGS, Hygiene ; J. MCKEEN CATTELL, Psychology ; DANIEL G. BRINTON, J. W. POWELL, Anthropology ; G. BROWN GOODE, Scientific Organization. FRIDAY, JuLy 17, 1896. CONTENTS : C. R. VAN HISE... 57 Decimal Numeration in the United States: E. E. SEO SSONG URNA U ama maue deceal stcmome ctu ca ats ces shwlncons Galsatects 59 The Use of the Hair Hygrometer: C. C. TRow- EES) CGH Ferwolaletolelalotelelnaletsicleisielataieiaieiele sielsivieieieistelatareielels(elalsislelsielsi=i=tel='= 62 A Central Wisconsin Baselevel : Instruction in Natural History in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris: CHARLES EARLE.............0.000+ 65 Current Notes on Anthropology :-— The Iron Age in America ; On Endo-Cannibalism - De CE RUN LONG sceeeneeiecceensessisasseeeciescciecsersacees 67 Scientific Notes and News :— Lord Kelvin; The Royal Geographical Society ; Tidal Waves in the Pacific; Protective Sounds and Colors; Neurologic Nomenclature; Government Control of Printing Offices in Germany; Gen- RH. copcoooanncocesesnoonnjcHboabSanejosONgCOabaSONASOgOganobaC 68 University and Educational News...........+.+..cee-+s+ 76 Discussion and Correspondence :— Remarks on Prof. W.S. Franklin’s Review and the Note Signed ‘M.:) FRANK H. BIGELOW........... 76 Scientific Literature :— A General Handbook of Butterflies: SAMUEL H. SCUDDER. The University Geological Survey of Kansas: CHARLES S. PROSSER ..........ceseceesere 81 Scientific Journals :— The Journal of Comparative Newrology.............. 83 Societies and Academies :— The Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences: SOAP NOIAIN ie ecasee hd sacnatcptes eae aldtetssvnene 83 VEINS OO Suiatanciaitnns se iucek/hatecunciosnscccucsceeuoee ee anaese 84 MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Prof. J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. A CENTRAL WISCONSIN BASELEVEL. Tue crystalline rocks of central Wiscon- sin north of the Potsdam sandstone, in the district including Grand Rapids, Stevens Point, Mosinee, Wausau, Marshfield, Mer- rill, and other towns, are of a very complex character.* In the southern part of the district is found a large area of the typical rocks of the Archean. North of this is an area composed of sedimentary and igneous rocks belonging to the Huronian. The igneous rocks have the greatest variety, in- cluding plutonic and volcanic varieties, as well as basic, acid, and intermediate facies. The whole region is one of intense folding and metamorphism. The schistosity of the rocks is at most places nearly vertical, and the beds of quartzite on Big Rib and Mosinee hills are on end. Notwithstanding the complicated folding and great variety of rocks, resulting in dif- ferent resisting powers, there is in this dis- trict as nearly perfect a baseleveled plain as it has been my good fortune to see. One of the most convenient localities in which to see this plain is near Mosinee. Follow- ing the wagon road which is east of the Wisconsin river a short distance south, so as to get above the valley of the Wiscon sin, an almost perfect plain is seen to the northwest, west, south and east, large areas of which are but little dissected by any of * See Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. IV., pp. 623-714 ; also Pl. I., Geol. Atlas of Wis. 58 the tributary streams of the Wisconsin. South and west of Mosinee the streams wander about in an area which is largely swamp, and as yet has not been fully divi- ded between them. This swampy plain is crossed between Knowlton and Centralia by the Wisconsin Valley Division of the St. Paul Railroad. This baseleveled plain is easily recognized because over it is spread only the very thin mantle of drift of one of the earlier glacial epochs, the ice of the later Wisconsin epoch not having reached it.* From the plain south of Mosinee the eye sweeps to the north over the Wausau area, where the plain is much dissected by the Wisconsin and a number of its larger tribu- tary streams, on the west side the Little Eau Pleine, the Big Eau Pleine, and the Big Rib rivers, and on the east side the Eau Claire river. Rising from this low- land, about 1,850 feet above sea level, is Big Rib Hill, one of the highest points in the State of Wisconsin. As determined by aneroid measurements by E. R. Buckley and Samuel Weidman, the summit is about 450 feet above the ancient baseleveled plain. Another hill, some 12 or 15 miles to the west, of unknown character, rises to a lesser elevation above the plain. The exceed- ingly resistant character of the Big Rib Hill quartzite sufficiently explains the existence of this monadnock. From the top of Big Rib Hill itself, about 5 miles southwest of Wausau, the im- mediately surrounding country is seen to be dissected by the large tributary rivers of the Wisconsin already referred to. How- ever, to the northward, 12 or 15 miles away, is again seen the horizontal line marking the extension of the baseleveled plain in that direction, and to the southward at an almost equal distance may be seen the *The Driftless Area of the Upper Mississippi Val- ley, by T. C. Chamberlin and R. D. Salisbury. Sixth Ann. Rept. U. 8. Geol. Surv., 1885, Pl. X XVII. SCIENCH#. [N.S. Von. IV. No. 81. almost perfect plain already described which extends southward from Mosinee. - Along the Wisconsin river from Wausau to Mosinee, and adjacent to the larger tributary streams, is seen a beautiful system of terraces. The higher glacial flood plain of the Wisconsin and its tributaries is here very extensive. Descending a steep em- bankment 20 or 25 feet high, one reaches a lower terrace, which has very considerable width in proportion to the size of the streams, both in the case of the Wisconsin and in the tributary streams. The present channels and flood plains of the rivers are cut in this intermediate terrace. The sub- ordinate streams are but a few feet. below its surface, and as the material is soft sand and gravel they have taken different courses at different times. One may see old channels of these subordinate streams so recently abandoned, that as yet, no forests have sprung up. Older channels have forest growths in different stages of development. On account of not having any topographic map of the area and lack ° of time, no attempt was made to work out in detail the drainage history of the dis- trict. South of Stevens Point and Grand Rapids is the plain of Potsdam sandstone which extends to the Baraboo bluffs, upon the south, and west to the Mississippi river. This is part of the driftless area of Wiscon- sin. At numerous points in its eastern part may be seen various sandstone buttes with flat tops. It has often occurred to me that these all rise to approximately the same elevation, and at various times I have sug- gested to my students that their tops prob- ably represent an ancient baseleveled plain. While not demonstrated by a comparison of levels, I have little doubt that the tops ofthe Potsdam buttes are a continuation of the plain in the crystalline area to the north. The advanced stage of denudation of the Potsdam is due to its softness. Above the JULY 17, 1896. ] Potsdam, as a consequence of differential erosion, rise the ranges of the Baraboo bluffs, which also are probably monadnocks reaching a considerable height above the baseleveled plain of central Wisconsin. As to the extent of territory over which this central Wisconsin plain may be traced, I can say nothing, but I anticipate that the area will be found to be large. While accurate measurements were not made, the plain in the crystalline rocks apparently has a southern slope. From numerous aneroid measurements from the railroad, near Wausau, by Messrs. Buckley and Weidman, the dissected plateau both east and west of the Wisconsin River rises at many places to a uniform elevation of about 1,400 feet. At the Wausau bridge the river is about 1,180 feet above the level of the sea. In order to reach the baseleveled plain, one must therefore climb to a height of about 320 feet above the river. At Mosinee the river is about 1,100 feet above the level of the sea, and here the plain is estimated to be 200 feet above the river level. This gives a southern slope to this plain between Wau- sau and Mosinee, a distance north and south of about 12 miles, amounting to at least 100 feet. On the geological map of Wisconsin* it will be seen that the Paleozoic formations about the pre-Cambrian core of central Wis- consin constitute a very gently southward plunging anticline. How far erosion had gone toward a baselevel in the crystalline area before Cambrian time is undetermined, but the uniform fashion in which the streams cut the Potsdam and strike the crystallines at about the same level for considerable dis- tances away from the main Archean area indicates that if not baseleveled at the time of the Cambrian transgression, the area ap- proached a peneplain. As to the age of the central Wisconsin baseleveling no more than conjectures can at *L.c., PL I. SCIENCE. og present be given. One naturally connects it with the Cretaceous transgression, which extended very far over the Upper Missis- sippi valley, and perhaps over all of it. As to the agent or agents which accom- plished the baseleveling, no evidence was obtained, but because calculations show that running water is far more potent as a denuding agent than the ocean, I incline to the belief that the major part of the work was done by rivers, although it is possible that as a result of the transgression of the ocean some of the final work may have been that of marine denudation. Observations upon which the above arti- cle is based were made by me while on a trip with some of the advanced students of the University of Wisconsin, the primary purpose of the trip being to study the crys- talline formations of central Wisconsin. It is hoped at a future time to take accurate measurements of the heights of the river terraces and of the baselevel at various points, in order to give a more exact ac- count of them. C. R. Van Hise. DECIMAL NUMERATION IN THE UNITED STATES. Mr. HERBERT SPENCER’S arguments against the adoption of the metric system, republished in the June number of Ap- pleton’s Popular Science Monthly, are chiefly based upon the idea that the division of measures into tenths is so inconvenient that men ‘under the pressure of business needs ’ tend to abandon the decimal system in favor of the duodecimal. Whatever may be the case in England, it is evident that in the United States the tendency is quite the op- posite, and that we are gradually bringing the divisions of our weights and measures into accord with our notation. This evo- lution is not being accomplished by ‘ Bu- reaucratic Coercion,’ but by the free action of natural forces, the beneficient results of 60 SCIENCE. which process we have learned from Mr. Spencer to expect with such confidence. We may first note the prevailing tend- ency in the division of units of length. In land surveying, where a change of the mode of measurement causes more inconvenience than elsewhere, the advantages of the deci- mal division are so strongly felt that hun- dreds of feet and tenths of a mile and a foot are being used to a considerable extent instead of rods and inches. This is true, I think, to a greater degree in the West than in the Hast. Even in common speech it is more usual to esti- mate a distance as, say, sixty feet or two hundred feet, than in yards or rods. The division of the foot into tenths has come into use in spite of the inconvenience of a unit so nearly like the inch, yet so difficult to reduce to it. The subdivision of the inch into twelfths originally in vogue is almost un- used, while tenths of an inch are supersed- ing not only the line, but also the fractions, of quarter, eighth and sixteenth. Fine measurements are more often expressed in hundredths of an inch, and even where the old terms are used in speech they are often written .50 or .125. This change has been made not by scientists, but by machinists and practical men, who have most occasion to use such measurements. In weights the same evolution toward the decimal system is noticeable. The ton of 2000 pounds, because it is capable of decimal division, has almost entirely driven out the ton of 2240 pounds. A Western man does not know of the existence of the ‘long ton’ except from hisarithmetic. The bushel has become in common practice a unit of weight and, being a useless incum- brance, is being displaced by the hundred weight. Measurements of grain and vegeta- bles are taken in pounds and hundreds of pounds, and then, if necessary, reduced to bushels. Units of volume apparently have not been subjected to decimal division, but it is more customary to speak of ten, one hundred or five hundred quarts or gallons than it is to use other multiples, and receptacles are ‘made to correspond with this custom. In the measurement of area the same is true. Our city streets, blocks and lots are meas- ured in multiples of ten more often than of any other number. In the measurement of time, where the laws, not of Nature, but of the Chaldeans, have prevented the use of decimal division, the existing duodecimal division is almost ignored. The division of the hour into halves, quarters and thirds, which appears to Mr. Spencer such a great advantage, is entirely disregarded by railroad men and o a large extent by everybody. ‘Ten thirty’ and ‘nine forty-five’ are rapidly superseding the expressions ‘ half past ten’ and ‘a quarter before ten.’ We even write 5:25 and 9:41.5 as though it were in decimal notation. As for the third of an hour I never heard of its use either in speech or practice. Days are coming to be used in multiples of ten both in business and in ordinary life. We go for a ten-days’ trip or give our notes for one hundred days in- stead of using weeks or months. In arithmetical operations decimals are being used more and more in the place of vulgar fractions. This is a commercial age and country, and ‘ the business man’ thinks in per cents. He says his health is fifty per cent. better than the day before and he discounts the newspaper twenty-five per cent. Notwithstanding the statement of Sir Frederick Bramwell that the decimal system is absolutely incompatible with mental arithmetic, the ordinary man per- sists in using it, and if vulgar fractions are given him to add or subtract he will change them over to decimals before performing the operation and the result back again rather than use them. In some of our best schools children are taught the use of deci- [N. 8. Von. IV. No. 81. a ee tL ae, oe JuLY 17, 1896.] mals before common fractions, as they are virtually familiar with decimals when they have learned their notation, and the transi- tion to fractions of other denominations than ten is more easy than the reverse. In common life we are discarding vulgar fractions, except the simplest, and using decimals. . The increasing use of multiples of ten in place of the dozen and gross is another in- dication of the Same disposition to gravitate toward a decimal system. Vegetables are now often sold in bunches of tens and fives, and many small articles of dry goods are put up in the same way. As this makes the pricing of the articles so much simpler it seems likely to prevail. Judging from present progress in the United States, ‘the pressure of business’ and the necessity of simplification is forc- ing the American people to a decimal divi- sion of weights and measures. People will use tenths in practice whether the govern- ment favors it or not. The only question is whether the units will be those of all the world except England or a separate system. If the metric system is not adopted it will not be long before we shall be using mostly tenths and hundreds of pounds, feet and inches. While this would be better than the present chaos, it would not be so good as the metric system in which all the units are _ in simple relations to one another. As for the objections raised against the _ Inetric system on the ground of inconven- lence, we know by experience with our deci- mal coinage how groundless they are. The most ignorant among us have no practical difficulty with those divisions which appear so unnatural to the English. Mr. Spencer objects to the metric system on the ground that ten is not divisible by three, and thinks the present customs preferable on account of ‘the widow’s thirds and in Parliamen- _ tary Acts the two-thirds majority.’ The il- _ lustrations are unhappily chosen ; since the SCIENCE. 61 English pound is no better divisible by three into shillings than the American dol- lar into cents, and it is hard to see how the adoption of a duodecimal system would in- sure the division into thirds of a Parlia- ment consisting of a varying number of men. The question is often asked what is a shopkeeper to do when a customer wants a third of a kilogram. If such a case should occur the shopkeeper need only pile 2’s and 1’s of each denomination on his sealepan until the weight was reached within the limits of delicacy of his scales. But what is he to do if asked for the third ofa pound? If calculation in our present system is as easy as claimed, he would in- stantly perceive that he could get the weight by laying on the scalepan five ounces, five drams, nine and eleven ninety- sixths grains. This also is a ‘makeshift third.’ The objection is also urged that the me- tric system would not be in accordance with our division of time. But since the natural units of time, the day, the month and the year are incommensurable no sys- tem of numeration can agree with them. As it is, our notation and our measures of weight, length, area, volume and time have no relation to each other. With the adoption of the metric system our notation and all our measures except time will agree. The value of the Centigrade ther- mometer need not be discussed, since it is not a part of the metric system, and the adoption of that system does not carry with it the Centigrade thermometer. As there is no relation between the boiling and freezing points of water at an arbitrary at- mospheric pressure and any system of weights and measures, the Fahrenheit scale is just as well suited to the metric system as any other. It should be noticed, how- ever, that in both scales the fractions of a degree are reported in tenths, not in halves quarters and thirds. A thermometer scale 62 might be devised, based on absolute zero, which would be really decimal, have no minus readings and be in accordance with the metric system. It is unfortunate, theoretically,.at least, that the meter is not exactly a ten-mil- lionth of the earth’s quadrant. But the question with us in America is, shall we adopt asa unit the platinum-iridium bar in Paris, accurate copies of which are in all the national archives and the length of which is known in terms of the wave-length of light, or shall we continue to use as our unit a broken brass rod riveted in the mid- dle which differs from everything else in creation. Compound numbers, which to the French are known in ancient history, are to us a daily nuisance. They take up a good third of our arithmetics, by far the hardest third at that, and require about a year of a child’s school life to learn even passably. If the ‘English accountant’ can add guineas, pounds, shillings, pence and farthings as rapidly as an American accountant can add dollars and cents, it must be because the greater difficulty of his-task has caused a greater mental development. If Sir Fred- erick Bramwell can calculate by mental arithmetic how many grains of water there are ina gallon as quickly as a child can tell how many grams there are in a liter he is indeed a mathematician. The requirements of scientific work are not so different from those of commerce as ‘has been imagined. It is nota matter of indifference to the scientist whether his measures are capable of easy division. A chemist has to make more divisions into aliquot parts than a shopkeeper, as I know by personal experience in both capacities. It is probable that the duodecimal nota- tion would be preferable to the decimal, though it is not certain that it is the best that could be devised. Notations based on eight, sixteen and two have, I believe, been SCIENCE. [N. 8. Von. IV. No. 81. more favored by mathematicians than that based on twelve. The difficulties of a change are, however, almost inconceivable, perhaps as great as a change to a more perfect language would be, and it seems hardly worth while to take into considera- tion its possibility. The fact is that for the period intervening between that geological epoch when our saurian ancestor lost his sixth digit, to that perhaps equally remote date when men shall become intelligent enough to choose a better system of nota- tion than the present, the world is doomed to a decimal system. Let us then make the best of it by bringing weights and measures in accordance with it and, instead of com- plaining, rather be thankful that the first human arithmetician had five fingers in- stead of seven, since he did not have the happy medium. Itseems that the English, in spite of their national genius for devising incommensurable units, are moving as fast in the matter of adopting a better system of weights and measures as the Americans, and we may put faith even in the prophecy made by Matthew Arnold in one of his optimistic moods, that the time will yet come in England when the fact that an in- stitution is an anomaly will be regarded as an objection, not an advantage. E. E. Siosson. UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING. THE USE OF THE HAIR HYGROMETER. For some time past there has been an in- creasing demand for a direct reading hy- grometer, so constructed that it would in- dicate the relative humidity of the air with reasonable accuracy. Among those hygrometers which have been considered as possibly suitable for this purpose is the Saussure’s or hair hy- grometer. Although formerly this hygrom- eter was looked upon merely as a hygro- scope, and was supposed to give only the approximate hygrometric state of the air, . a yn * ( im JULY 17, 1896. ] now it has reached a higher place among hygrometrical apparatus by virtue of cer- tain improvements in its construction. I have recently tested a form of hygrom- eter based on the Saussure principle, with a view of observing its action when sub- jected to different changes in the degree of saturation of the air. Fia. 1. Fie. 2. The hygrometer which was tested is shown in the accompanying cut, Figs. I. and II.; the essential parts of the instru- ment are designated by letters, and the parts so indicated are explained in the fol- lowing paragraph : A and A’ are two thin brass supports, re- spectively 23.7 centimeters and 22 centi- meters long and 2 centimeters broad. B, small rivets which connect the sup- ports A and A’, but leave an air space which separates the latter by .7 of a centi- meter. C, six fine hairs about 18 centimeters long, placed parallel, and laid close to- gether, so as to hang like one large hair in the air space between A and A’. 'D, an adjusting screw, from which the six hairs, C, are suspended. SCIENCE. 63 E, ashort lever, to which the lower ends of the hairs, C, are fastened (a small weight is attached to this lever in such a way that the hairs are kept at a slight tension). F, an indicator, 4.7 centimeters long, fastened to the lever, E, which shows chan- ges in the length of the hairs, C ; by the use of this indicator the actual change in the length of the hairs is multiplied a conven- ient number of times. G, a scale of percentages of relative humidities, from 0 to 100 per cent. H, a thermometer fastened to the support A’, which is used in dew-point determina- tions. It was important that the scale of per- centages, G, Fig. II., should be carefully tested and either verified or the corrections obtained throughout; therefore observations were made with all possible different per- centages of saturation of the surrounding air. The readings of the air hygrometers in each case were compared with the relative humidity obtained from observations made with wet and dry bulb thermometers, and the percentage of saturation deduced from the Smithsonian hygrometrical tables of Guyot. This was done as a relative com- parison, since the wet and dry bulb ther- mometers, or Auguste’s psychrometer, is ‘the means almost entirely used at the U. S. Weather Bureau stations for obtaining the relative humidity of the air. Of course, in the present investigation, the determinations made with the wet and dry bulb thermometers were themselves subject tosome error; yet this method is so generally accepted, and is the means which is so often used for obtaining the relative humidity, that it seemed fair to compare the readings of the hair hygrometer with those calculated from observations made with wet and dry bulb thermometers. The results of the comparisons which were obtained indicated that for the middle 64 section of the instrument under considera- tion, say from. 20 to 85 per cent., only a difference of from one to three per cent. could be observed. But for the extremities of the scale, from 0 to about 20 per cent. and from about 85 to 100 per cent, the reading indicating the relative humidity seemed unreliable, and especially so at low humidities, differing in some cases aS much as 10 per cent. from the calculated degree of saturation. Thus, in cases of either very low or very high humidity, when two or more hair hy- erometers were placed in the same atmos- phere, their readings were very apt to in- dicate different relative humidities, and also when the same hair hygrometer was placed at different times in an atmosphere of a constant hygrometric state (of either very low or very high relative humidity) it gave different percentages. These variations of course presented a difficulty in drawing a correction curve for the extremities of the scale on the hair hygrometer. Prof. Rood called my attention to an article in the Beiblditer zw den Annalen der Physik und Chemie, Vol. 19, No. 11, page 875—‘ Theorie des Haarhygrometers, by B. Sresnevsky,’ in which it is stated that the change in the length of the hairs for degrees of saturation of the air ceases to be regular when the relative humidity be- comes as low as 7.8 per cent. This is in agreement with the statements just made. In the tests which were carried on, it was also invariably found that if the de- gree of saturation of the air was altered, some time had to elapse before the hairs became adjusted to the new conditions sur- rounding them, and therefore ample time was always given for the hairs to become adjusted when the hygrometric state of the air was changed. Thus, when the hair hygrometers were placed in an entirely new atmosphere differing 15 per cent. SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. IV. No. 81. or more in relative humidity, 5 to 25 minutes elapsed before the hairs re- sponded perfectly to the change and gave approximately correct readings. It was further observed that the length of this time depended on whether the change was ~ to a higher or to a lower percentage of humidity, and also in what part of the scale the change occurred. For example: A change from 15 to 90 per cent. required about 10 minutes a3 30 to 90 a Hee aah) a 15 to 30 (a9 6c 6c 15 66 90 to 15 (a3 (a5 (a5 90 (79 90 to 30 sf is 10 to 15 Ns 30 to 15 ue fe about 20 “ which indicated that it takes longer for the hairs to dry out than for them to take up. the moisture, and that the change is slower at the lower parts of the scale than else- where. A knowledge of the relative humidity of the air is important, not only in various branches of science and the arts, but also. in the treatment of the sick, particularly in cases of certain pulmonary disorders. - Although it may be probable that a per- fectly accurate direct reading hygrometer cannot be obtained, this drawback should not condemn the hair hygrometer, for such great exactness is seldom required, a knowledge of the relative humidity of the air to within two or three per cent. being, in most cases, all that is necessary. The precaution of allowing considerable: time to elapse for the hairs of hair hygro- meters to become adjusted to a changed atmosphere, before taking a reading, is only really necessary where a possibility exists. ‘that a decided change in the relative humidity has suddenly occurred. _ The table which is given below has been constructed from results obtained by com- paring the readings of relative humidity shown by the hair hygrometer with those calculated from observations made with wet. a ee ; ss JULY 17, 1896.] and dry bulb thermometers, and it is meant to exhibit the amount of error to be ex- pected when the former is compared with the latter in different parts of the scale. Sections of Scale erobebe Error Ordinarily of Percentage. oii Daa. to be Expected. 0—- 10% 10 % From 0 to + 6 % LO—— 90 (73 6 66 6c (0) ee + 4 66 20— — 30 ‘ dl GC +3 ‘ 30— - 40 “ aye aa 40— — 50 ‘4 Dan a 50— - 60 “ Bt a2 60—- 70 Be a 70— - 80 ‘ ants ao gts s0— -— 90 ‘ Ae +3 ‘ 90— -100 ‘S Mhice From 0 to — 5 “‘ C. C. TROWBRIDGE. CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. INSTRUCTION IN NATURAL HISTORY AT THE JARDIN DES PLANTES, PARIS. Ir has been my good fortune to have “spent the past winter in carrying on inves- tigations in the paleontological laboratory of the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, and while there I took the opportunity to study the methods of instruction at the Muséum D’Histoire Naturelle. I am especially in- debted to MM. Albert Gaudry, Alphonse Milne-Edwards, Henri Filhol and Marcellin Boule. These gentlemen have placed ex- ceedingly valuable material in my hands for study, and I am greatly obliged to them all for their extreme kindness during my stay in Paris. | The instruction at the Jardin des Plantes consists of the ‘ cours’ or lectures, the ‘con- férences’ or practical work in the labora- tory, and the ‘enseignements specials’ or Special instruction, generally for the benefit of travelling naturalists. During the year there have been eighteen courses of lectures 0n various scientific subjects, eleven of which were biological, the remaining being on agriculture, physics, geology, ete. Some of the subjects treated of by the pro- fessors are certainly not intimately con- nected with natural history, but we must SCIENCE. ; 65 remember that the Jardin des Plantes was previously founded as a school of pharmacy, and in connction with the same there was a large garden for the cultivation of plants for medical purposes. It was not until 1793 that the reorganization of the Jardin des Plantes took place and regular courses of public lectures were opened. It is inter- esting to note that in this year two brilliant men were added to the faculty of the ‘Jardin;’ these were the Chevalier de Lamarck and the young Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. The latter commenced a course of lectures at this time, and later in 1798 accompanied Napoleon on his Egyptian expedition, as naturalist. As a rule almost all of the naturalists who have held professorships in the Jardin des Plantes have been men of broad learn- ing and have worked in many fields of biology. This is noticeable in the public lectures given at the ‘Jardin,’ and I can safely say that even the systematists are well grounded in comparative anatomy. When we consider that the French naturalists have had so great a teacher as Georges Cuvier to follow, it is not strange that the professors at the Muséum D’ Histoire Na- turelle fully appreciate the fact that the curators, etc., of the Muséum who lec- ture should be well grounded in the mor- phological relation of animals. The numerous lectures on biology given at the Muséum D’ Histoire Naturelle are in strong contrast with the few that are held in other natural history museums of the world. The lecture hall of the British Natural History Museum has been given up entirely and there are no lectures now given in this institution. In fact, it is a great question with the trustees of some museums whether a natural history museum is a place for teaching at all or simply a great store-house, in which vast accumulation of specimens are preserved, labelled and placed by the hundreds in glass cases for 66 SCIENCE. exhibition and for the general public, who have had no previous instruction in natural history whatever. The natural history museum is for the benefit largely of the public, who have had no preliminary training in biology, and if lec- tures are not held to instruct them, how they can appreciate the specimens which they see by the countless thousands on ex- hibition in the museums. I am convinced that the lectures given at the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, do an im- mense amount of good, and they reach a class of people, like teachers, who are un- able to follow the courses given in the col- leges and universities. In Paris, as in many other places, there is a considerable amount of feeling as to how much general work in biology should be done at the Muséum, and if the professors or curators make their courses too general, they will encroach upon the work of the learned professors at the Sorbonne or in the universities. In general the courses in natural history in the col- leges are more in detail; they are often prepared for students who are going to be- come professional naturalists. On the other hand, the museum work, owing to the na- ture of the specimens, is less detailed and more general in its character. Museum lectures on natural history must necessarily be rather superficial, owing to the class of _ hearers, and these lectures would be rather on the broad facts of general morphology in its bearing on classification and of geo- graphical distribution of animals. Detailed embryological and histological lectures would be of little use ina museum cur- riculum. At the Jardin des Plantes courses are givenin embryology and histology, but I believe there are very few students who take them. The ‘cour’ in general comparative anatomy is very popular at the ‘Jardin’ and well attended, and I see no reason why a course of this kind could not be given in museums in this country. At the Jardin [N.S. Vou. 1V. No. 81. des Plantes there are a number of labora- tories for practical work, where the students can go and study the specimens on which the professor lectures. These laboratories for practical work are an absolute necessity, as natural history taught without seeing and studying the specimens is of little benefit. The department of comparative anatomy is one of the strongest, if not the best at the Muséum. Prof. Filhol, who is so well known for his extensive investigations in vertebrate paleontology, is at the head of this department. The material which M. Filhol has at his command for teaching is immense, and the osteological collection alone is the largest in the world. The col- lection of skeletons was largely made by Cuvier and used by him for comparison with the extinct fossil vertebrata, which he so ably described in his ‘Ossemenes Fos- siles.’ M. Filhol is now having prepared a beautiful collection of the internal organs of the vertebrata, which are injected and colored to immitate the hues of the living viscera. This collection will be of immense value in laboratory work and in the lecture room. Prof. Gaudry’s department of paleon- tology is about to be greatly enlarged, owing to the new museum which is rapidly ap- proaching completion. This new building is for the department of comparative an- atomy, including under this term the an- atomy of recent and extinct types. Verte- brate paleontology has suffered too long being placed under geology, and most naturalists who are workers in vertebrate paleontology realize that the true position of this division of biology is under com- parative anatomy and not geology. Ver- tebrate paleontology as studied by the methods of anatomy is now making great progress, the old and dry geological methods as applied to paleontology only prevented the progress of this science from a morpho- logical and phylogenetic standpoint. JULY 17, 1896. ] The new museum at the Jardin des Plan- tes for comparative anatomy will have the paleontological specimens placed on the second floor. The fossils will be well ar- ranged for study and the gallery is splen- didly lighted. Immediately at the end of the building is Prof. Gaudry’s lecture room and a working laboratory for students. Here you have the ideal museum, well ar- ranged specimens, not too many of them so as to be a burden to the student’s mind, a laboratory for studying the objects, and lastly, a well planned lecture room for the ‘cour.’ Vertebrate paleontology has at least one great advantage over recent mammalogy and ornithology; there is no danger of ex- hibiting too many specimens of vertebrate fossils, especially mammals, as these speci- mens themselves are exceedingly rare and very costly in procuring. In most museums the hundreds of grinning owls and the forty eleven species, illustrating the forms of the Muridae for example, are only a hindrance to the appreciation by the public of what an Owl or a mouse is. Synoptical collec- tions, I believe, do a great deal more good for general exhibition purposes than all the species representing the numerous genera of the animal kingdom. Let us have on exhibi- tion the complete life-histories of a number of well selected types of animals, as illus- trated by the metamorphosis of an ar- thropod or the changes in plumage of a bird. I believe the beautifully arranged collection of comparative osteology and the cases illustrating adaptation of birds and mammals to their environment in the British Natural History Museum, London, _ do more good in the way of educating the public than miles of so-called species ar- ranged in cases. I have always particu- larly noticed, in passing through the cen- tral corridor of that great Natural His- tory Museum in South Kensington, that many people were collected around the SCIENCE. 67 cases in this main hall, whose specimens illustrate the structure and variation of the animal kingdom. A great innovation was introduced in biology by the publication of Huxley and Martin’s ‘ Practical Biology,’ taking up the the study of animal types, and placing aside for the time being the old method of ham- mering at species all the time, which leads to small results in getting at the real affinities of animals. I think if, in arrang- ing museums, this idea of illustrating the structure and life-history of animals were more followed, better results in educating the public would be attained. CHARLES HARLE.. NEW ROCHELLE, N. Y. CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. THE IRON AGE IN AMERICA. In the American Anthropologist for June, Prof. Otis T. Mason has a well-prepared article on the introduction of the iron age into America. Of course, this was post- Columbian, but its history is important and has never before been presented. The use of the metal extended rapidly, and often reached tribes long before the first white men wandered to their abodes. The influ- ence of this new material was felt imme- diately, and not always to the best advan- tage. ‘The technique may be better, but the motive, the underlying conception and the composition may be incalculably worse.”’ The author most judiciously in- sists on the truth that ‘‘ the unadulterated aboriginal product reveals to our gaze the living processes by which men have always progressed to higher life.” The article closes with a strong and a much needed appeal to those who have in charge public and private collections to cultivate cooperation and to show greater liberality to students in the same field. Some very pointed statements of facts could be made in this connection. There 68 are too many owners and custodians of col- lections who seem to think that specimens should be locked up and concealed, rather. than exhibited and offered for examination. ON ENDO-CANNIBALISM. By this term is meant eating members of one’s own tribe, while ‘ exo-cannibalism ’ signifies the consumption of the dead bodies of strangers and enemies. Dr. R. 5S. Stein- metz, of Holland, well known for his ex- cellent treatise on the development of pun- ishment, has a study of endo-cannibalism in Vol. XXVI. of the Mittheilungen of the Anthropological Society of Vienna. He collects a large array of facts about the custom from numerous writers and from all parts of the world. These he tabulates with reference to motives, and then proceeds to deduce conclusions. The question arises, was primitive mana cannibal? It has already been answered in the affirmative by various archeologists, and Dr. Steinmetz agrees with them. He believes the usual disposition of the dead body in early times was as a delicacy for the table. This will easily explain why we do not find, according to Mortillet, any signs of tombs or burial places in paleolithic ages. Of course, as the author observes, there could have been no abhorrence of a corpse when it was a favorite article of diet. That sentiment came later, when the belief in a soul and an after-life arose, and the fear that the ghost would not like his body to be so treated. The memoir will be found re- plete with interesting suggestions. D. G. Brinton. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. LORD KELVIN, AT the banquet given to Lord Kelvin by the Corporation and University of Glasgow on the evening of June 16th, he spoke (according to the report in the London Times) as follows : SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. 1V. No. 81. I thank you with my whole heart for your kindness to me this evening. You have come here to commemorate the jubilee of my Univer- sity professorship; and I am deeply sensible of the warm sympathy with which you have re- ceived the kind expressions of the Lord Provost regarding myself in his review of my 50 years’ service and his most friendly appreciation of practical results which have come from my scientific work. I might perhaps rightly feel pride in knowing that the University and City of Glasgow have joined in conferring on me the great honor of holding this jubilee, and that so many friends and so many distinguished men, friends and comrade-day-laborers in sci- ence have come from near and far to assist in its celebration, and that congratulations and good wishes have poured in on me by letter and telegram from all parts of the world, I do feel profoundly grateful. But when I think how infinitely little is all that I have done I cannot feel pride; I only see the great kindness of my scientific comrades and of all my friends, in crediting me for so much. One word charac- terizes the most strenuous of the efforts for the advancement of science that I have made per- severingly during 55 years ; that word is failure. I know no more of electric and magnetic force or of the relation between ether, electricity, and ponderable matter, or of chemical affinity, than I knew and tried to teach my students of natural philosophy 50 years ago in my first session as professor. Something of sadness must come of failure; but in the pursuit of science inborn necessity to make the effort brings with it much of the certaminis gaudia, and saves the naturalist from being wholly miserable, perhaps even al- lows him to be fairly happy, in his daily work. And what splendid compensations for philo- sophical failures we have had in the admirable discoveries by observation and experiment on the properties of matter, and in the exquisitely beneficent applications of science to the use of mankind with which these 50 years have so abounded! You, my Lord Provost, have re- marked that I have had the good fortune to remain for 50 years in one post. I cordially reply that for me they have been happy years. I cannot forget that the happiness of Glasgow University both for students and professors is i JuLY 17, 1896. ] largely due to the friendly and genial city of Glasgow in which it lives. To live among friends is the primary essential of happiness ; and that, my memory tells me, we inhabitants of the University have enjoyed since I first came to live in it in 1832, 64 yearsago! And when friendly neighbors confer material benefits, such as the citizens of Glasgow have conferred on their University, in so largely helping to give it its present beauti- ful site and buildings, the debt of happi- ness due to them is notably increased. I do not forget the charms of the old college in the High street and Vennel. Indeed, Il remem- ber well when in 1839 the old natural philos- ophy class room and apparatus room (no phys- ical laboratory then) was almost an earthly paradise to my youthful mind. And the old College Green, with the ideal memories of Os- baldistone and Rashleigh and their duel, cre- ated for it by Sir Walter Scott, was attractive and refreshing totheend. But density of smoke and of crowded population in the adjoining lanes increased, and pleasantness, healthiness and convenience of the old college, both for students and professors, diminished year by year. If, my Lord Provost, your predecessors _ of the Town Council, and the citizens of Glas- gow, and well-wishers all over the world, and the government, and the great railway com- pany that has taken the old college, had not given us our new college, I do not believe that attractions elsewhere would have taken me away from the old college; but I do say that the fifty years of professorship which I have en- joyed would have been less bright and happy, and I believe also less effective in respect to scientific work, than they have been with the great advantages with which the University of Glasgow has been endowed since its migration from the High street. My Lord Provost, I ask you to communicate to your colleagues of the Town Council my warmest thanks for their great kindness to me in joining to celebrate this jubilee. Your Excellency, my lords and gentlemen, I thank you all for the kind manner in which you have received the toast of my health proposed by the Lord Provost, and for your presence this evening to express your good wishes for myself. SCIENCE. 69 THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. THE anniversary meeting of the Royal Geo- graphical Society was held on June 12th. Ac- cording to the report in the London Times the Society presented the Royal medals for the en- couragement of geographical science and dis- covery. The Founder’s medal was awarded to Sir William Macgregor for his long-continued services to geography in British New Guinea. This was received on Sir William’s behalf by Sir Henry Norman. The Patron’s medal was awarded to Mr. St. George R. Littledale for his valuable Asiatic expeditions. The following other awards were also declared: The Murchi- son grant for 1896 to Yusuf Sharif Kahn Baha- dur. Yusuf Sharif is the first native assistant who has acted entirely on his own resources and knowledge, and who has carried systematic and really scientific surveys right through the most difficult and dangerous country which lies between Makran, Kurman and Bandar Abbas (Persian Baluchistan). His work embraces the extension of direct triangulation from Makran to Bandar Abbas and the topographical survey of Persian Baluchistan. He has done other similar work in Arabia and elsewhere, and is now about to retire from the service. The Back grant for 1896 to Mr. J. Burr Tyrrell, for his five explorations in Labrador. The Gill Me- morial for 1896 to Mr. A. P. Low, for his two expeditions in the Barren Grounds of northeast Canada, during which he went over much new ground. The Cuthbert Peek grant for 1896 to Mr. Alfred Sharpe, for his journeys during sev- eral years in Central Africa. The President, Sir Clements R. Markham, de- livered the anniversary address, in which he re- viewed the work of the past year. He said that their progress was, on the whole, satisfac- tory. The Congress was a great success. Ex- cellent work had been done in Asia, in Africa and in the Polar regions. Above all, there was evidence of a great revival of geographical in- terest in the rising generation. Volunteers for all kinds of enterprises were numerous, zealous and of the best sort. That was a good sign, and was of excellent augury. It betokened a future for the Society of continued activity. 230 fellows and 9 honorary correponding members were elected during the year. The 70 total number of fellows on the list was 3744 and the income for the financial year was over £10,000. TIDAL WAVES IN THE PACIFIC. Tue Eastern papers quote from the Oregon Gazette a description of a tidal wave which has been seen at Victoria and along the North Pa- cific coast, doubtless caused by the recent Japanese earthquake. dents at the mouth of Rogue River witnessed a series of tidal waves. The fishermen, out in the river with their boats, noticed soon af- ter noon a series of waves coming into the river, increasing the volume of water con- siderably. The waves continued to grow in size until they became dangerous, and boatmen had to watch carefully to keep from being swamped. Between two and three o’clock the waves were from three to six feet high. The in- rushing volume of water made itself felt for over a mile up the river, beating against the banks in waves several feet high, while the water of the river was backed up for several miles. The disturbance lasted all the afternoon, being at its height from two to three o’clock, gradually diminishing until the waves disap- peared about six o’clock. During the afternoon the bar and sea were smooth, with a light swell running. A number of the largest waves in the river were timed, and it was found that they came about a mile apart and travelled the mile in about three minutes. A correspondent of the Washington Star writes from Honolulu that the western coast of the island of Hawaii was visited by tidal waves of destructive force from 7 a. m. to 2 p. m. on June 15th. At Keanhou the water reached points 35 feet above the sea. The shocks of the earthquake were, it ap- pears, registered by instruments in Italy. PROTECTIVE SOUNDS AND COLORS. In the July number of Natural Science Mr. R. I. Pocock describes the stridulating organ in the Indian and African scorpions and argues that it is protective in character. He writes: ‘¢ Since the organs that have been here described are equally well developed in both males and females, and appear in the young long before SCIENCE. On June 15th the resi- ~ [N. 8. Vou. IV. No. 81. the attainment of maturity, there is no reason to suppose that they are of a sexual nature, serving, like the chirrup of the cricket or the call of the cuckoo, to inform the one sex of the whereabouts of the-other. If this were the case we should expect to find, firstly, that the organs were exclusively confined to one sex, or, at all events, better developed in it than in the the “other ; and, secondly, that they put in an appearance either just before or simultaneously with the reaching of the adult stage. Again, in spite of the opinion of many authorities, who maintain that the existence of a sound-produc- ing organ implies of necessity the existence of an auditory apparatus in the same individ- ual, we can only assert again that there is not a particle of evidence that either the large spiders or the scorpions can hear the sounds that their own stridulating organs emit. All the available evidence goes to show that in these groups of arachnids the organ is brought into use when its possessor is under the influ- ence of irritation or fright, exactly as in the case of the rattlesnake’s rattle. Like the snake too, both the scorpions and the spiders are fur- nished with highly developed poison glands, and it is a well known fact in natural history that animals so gifted are frequently rendered conspicuous by bright and staring colors, so that they may not be destroyed by carnivorous creatures in mistake for other harmless and edible species. Nature, in fact, for purposes of protection, has labeled them with her poison badge ; and apparently with the same end in view, she has supplied the rattlesnake and the large spiders and scorpions with a sound pro- ducing apparatus, which, when in action, serves as a danger signal to meddlesome intruders, warning them to beware of hostile interfer- ence.’’ On the other hand it appears from experi- ments made by Mr. Frank Finn that the lizard eats indiscriminately plain-colored and bright- colored butterflies, the supposed protective col- oring not being of use in this case. NEUROLOGIC NOMENCLATURE. THE following Report of the Committee on Neuronymy, Prof. Burt G. Wilder, Chairman, was adopted unanimously by the American JULY 17, 1896. ] ! Neurological Association at Philadelphia, June Bes 96.% It is recommended: 1. That the adjectives Dorsal and Ventral be employed in place of posterior and anterior, as commonly used in human anatomy, and in place of upper and lower, as sometimes used in comparativeanatomy. 1880; 1882; 1889; 1889, A; 1890; 1892; 1895. 2. That the cornua of the spinal cord and the spinal nerve-roots be designated as Dorsal and Ventral rather than as postorior and anterior. 1880; 1882; 1889; 1889, A; 1890; 1892. 3. That the costiferous vertebre be called Thoracic rather than dorsal. 1880; 1889; 1889, A; 1890; 1892; 1895. 4. That other things being equal, mononyms (terms of a single word each) be preferred to polyonyms (terms consisting of two or more words). 1880; 1882; 1889; 1889, A; 1890; 1892. 5. That the hippocampus minor be called Calear; the hippocampus major, Hippocampus; the pons Varolii, Pons; the insula Reilii, In- sula; pia mater and dura mater, respectively Pia and Dura. 1880; 1882; 1889; 1889, A; 1890; 1892; 1895 (excepting that the German Com- mittee retain calcar avis, pia mater and dura mater). 6. That the following be employed in place of their various synonyms: * The dates after the names refer to earlier recom- mendations as follows: 1880. Paper by the chairman before the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 1882. ‘Anatomical Technology,’ Wilder and Gage. 1889. Articles, ‘Brain’ and ‘ Anatomical Termi- nology.’ Reference Hand-book of the Medical Sci- ences, Vol. VIII. 1889, A. Report of the Committee of the Associa- tion of American Anatomists, adopted unanimously at Philadelphia, December 28th. 1890. Report of the Committee of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, adopted unanimously at Indianapolis, August 25th. 1892. Report of the Committee on Biological Nomenclature of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, adopted unanimously August 23d. : 1895. Report of the Committee of the Anatomische Gesellschaft, adopted at Basle, 1895. SCIENCE. Tt Mesencephalon. 1880; 1882; 1895. Pallium. 1895. Oliva. 1882; 1889; 1895. Clava. 1882; 1889; 1895. Operculum. 1889; 1895. Fissura centralis.* 1882; 1889; 1895. F. calearina. 1889; 1895. F. collateralis. 1889; 1895. F. hippocampi. 1882; 1889; 1895. Cuneus. 1889; 1895. Praecuneus. 1889; 1895. Claustrum. 1889; 1895. Fornix. 1880; 1882; 1889; 1895. Infundibulum. 1882; 1889; 1895. Vermis. 1882; 1889; 1895. Hypophysis. 1882; 1889; 1895. Epiphysis. 1895. Chiasma. 1880; 1882; 1889. Oblongata. 1889. Lemniscus. 1889; 1895. Monticulus. 1889; 1895. Tegmentum. 1889; 1895. Pulvinar. 1889; 1895. Falx. 1882; 1889. Tentorium. 1882; 1889. Thalamus. 1880; 1882; 1889; 1895. Callosum. 1880; 1882; 1889. Striatum. 1880; 1882; 1889. Dentatum. 1889. GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF PRINTING OFFICES IN GERMANY. Tue Berlin correspondent of the Lancet states that a bill providing for hygienic im- provements in printing offices has been proposed to the Federal Council by the Imperial Chan- cellor. It specifies that the rooms of the offices must be 4 meters in height, and must contain at least 15 cubic meters of air for every man employed therein. The floor must be smooth, and the walls must be painted with oil paint renewed every five years. The type cases must be provided with pedestals to avoid the accumulation of dust beneath them. Ster- eotype work is to be done in special rooms efficiently ventilated. The type cases are to be * The German Committee adopt Sulcus in this case, but the replacement of Rolando by centralis is the more essential feature. 72 cleaned in the open air and by the aid of bel- lows only. Ample lavatory accommodation is made compulsory by the bill, which gives very precise directions in this matter. One washhand basin at least must be furnished for each five workmen; soap and towels are to be supplied to them free of charge, anda cloakroom separated from the workrooms is to be pro- vided. This bill, which is viewed very unfa- vorably by the employers, is on the other hand declared by competent medical men to be very useful. Dr. Lewin, a lecturer on toxicology at the Berlin University, points out that whilst the German insurance laws oblige employers’ associations to indemnify workmen in case of accidents, they are entirely unprotected against the chronic influence of poisons. As printers are liable to suffer from the effects of lead—one of the strongest poisons—he thinks that pre- ventive measures are necessary, but the bill ought, in his opinion, to be extended to other trades where lead is used, and he specially mentions some of the home industries where the workmen’s children inhale dust impregnated with lead. The children of dial-plate painters, for instance, even if born healthy, die in a few months with convulsions. Ina village of Hesse, where pottery is glazed by home workers, 71 per cent. of the children were sickly, 50 per cent. died within the first five years, and the survivors suffered from hydrocephaly or macrocephaly. GENERAL. THE seventh session of the International Geological Congress will be held at St. Petersburg toward the end of the month of August, 1897, and will continue about. one week. A committee has been organized in Russia consisting of the leading geologists, - paleontologists and wmineralogists, with Life seems terribly foreshortened as they look back, and the mountain they set themselves to climb in youth turns out to be a mere spur of immeasurably higher ranges when with failing breath they reach the top.’’ But itis infinitely better to have reached the top of a spur even than never SCIENCE. 127 to have begun the ascent. The whole world has been called to a broader outlook and a grander vision by those who have reached the spurs and higher ranges. Their effort after ideals ennobles and humbles. It chastens while it subdues. In some respects science is more human- istic than the humanities. Here and there ancient literature enforces the conception of the reign of law. It presents the human captive vainly prolonging the struggle to es- capeit. Tantalus-like, the unattainable ever eludes the seeker. Prometheus bound is a fit symbol of circumscribed humanity. The same thought, which has always impressed itself upon the race and worn itself deep into human experience, is enforced in Holy Writ: ‘If I take the wings of the morn- ing, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead and thy right hand hold me.” Now science illustrates and emphasizes the reign of law. It has cleared away the mystical, the fortuituous, the anthropologi- cal, and has given us instead the orderly and progressive sequences of natural phe- nomena. It has in no way weakened the necessity felt for a First Cause, but it pre- sents the activity of that Cause under a new and more rational aspect. It presents a Creator who sees the end from the begin- ning, who does not need to hold the world in leash or drive it with a goad, but who endowed matter with certain capabilities and infused into it divine energy, so that it can run its ceaseless changes down the grooves of time. Science has replaced a world of humanistic divinities by a world of energy and law. Instead of the caprice of classical gods and goddesses, it has sup- plied a physical organism devised and elab- orated by infinite wisdom. Man has there- fore learned to order his physical life so as to conform to the laws of the physical world, or if he elects to transgress those laws he does not expect the interposition 128 of humanistic divinities to effect his escape. So impressed is the human mind by the reign of law in the physical world that it has carried this conception over into the spiritual. ‘Natural law in the spiritual world’ is an obvious sequence of natural law in the physical world. It is therefore an intensely human interest that impels to the study of the reign of law. Every great branch of learning has been adorned with the names of eminent scholars and discoverers. When we bear in mind that the arts and sciences are the product of directed, conscious human effort, and that it is the lot of but few to be endowed with the intellectual insight, the native sagacity, the penetrating perception to push far beyond their fellows, we are not sur- prised at the smallness of the number of luminous names that shine on the rolls of honor, or that go down to succeeding gen- erations as the great discoverers. The hu- man interest in these names, differentiated from all others by their powers and their contributions to the progress of the world, is equally intense whether they belong to art or architecture, to literature or science. To these men it has been given to delight the soul with beauty, to penetrate the un- known, to enlarge the boundaries of human knowledge, and to gather up the tangled threads of thought and weave them into a tapestry of beautiful design. Each depart- ment of creative art or of learning is justly proud of the distinguished names associated with it. They all inspire the same human interest and are characterized by the same passionate devotion. Galileo, persecuted and condemned for his. scientific writings, is still a vivid figure, a living personage in history ; and we look with reverence upon the old bronze lamp or candelabra, swinging on its long suspending rope in the Duomo at Pisa, as it swung centuries ago when Galileo watched it and discovered the isochronism of its pendular motions. Old SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 83. Copernicus, turning over with death- stricken hands the first copy of his book on the solar system, which he dared not pub- lish sooner, is a figure to excite at the same time sympathy and indignation. The genius of Michael Angelo still presides over the art and architecture of Rome, and Raphael will forever stand beside the glowing can- vas of the Sistine Madonna, which burns itself into the soul of every beholder. One. almost expects to see Scott standing within the deep shadows of Melrose Abbey by moonlight, or strolling with his faithful hounds in the woods about Abbotsford. Alloway Kirk and the Brig o’Doon are still visited by the strange creations of the busy brain of Burns. How sweetly the chimes of Holy Trinity Church ring out over the hills about Stratford-on-Avon on a quiet evening! Green are the fields and quiet the cottagers along the cleanly lanes and alleys where the great poet was born. In the spacious chimney corner of the Hath- away cottage linger the shades of Ann Hathaway and William Shakespeare. Itis hard to believe that for 300 years the ashes of Shakespeare have reposed beneath the slab in Holy Trinity, guarded by the fa- mous couplet, ‘‘Blest be the man that spares these stones And curst be he that moves my bones.’’ The scientific traveller in London turns. his steps toward the Royal Institution in Albermarle street, where the noble Faraday worked and achieved - immortal renown. There are the coils and magnets and other appliances which his own hands fashioned; and Faraday himself is everywhere present there. How powerful still is the memory of our own Joseph Henry at Princeton and Washington! Though he be dead, his works do follow him. Prof. Butler said in his address at Den- ver: ‘‘We must enlarge our conception of the humanities, for humanity is broader and deeper than we have hitherto suspected. JULY 31, 1896. ] It touches the universe at many more points than one; and, properly interpreted, the study of nature may be classed among the humanities as truly as the study of language itself. This conclusion, which would welcome science with open arms into the school and utilize its opportunities and advantages at every stage of education, does not mean that all studies are of equal educational value or that they are naturally and indifferently interchangeable, as are the parts of some machines. It means rather that the study of nature is entitled ‘to recognition on grounds similar to those ' interests. put forward for the study of literature of art, and of history.”’ This position con- cedes the claim which Iam now urging. It is an ancient chapter in educational history that places the humanities in one grand division and the sciences.in another, with- out mutual relations or common aims and The relative value of these sub- jects as educational material I am not now disposed to discuss, passing it with the re- mark that the order of excellence laid down will depend upon the standard of values assumed and the point of view of the writer. It will not be inappropriate to make special reference to the study of physics in connection with the subject of this address. No one of the sciences is associated with a longer list of splendid names; none ap- peals more strongly to that characteristic of the human mind which searches into the causes of phenomena; none is more capable of serving directly human needs and of advancing the material interests of society. - It is almost the universal judgment that physics is a fundamental subject, and more than any other is essential to the pursuit of other branches of science. In its historical development it is no less ancient and honor- able than chemistry, while in recent times the proof that it has lost none of its vigor SCIENCE. 129 lies in the splendid discoveries that are almost unrivaled in any other department of scientific investigation. It is therefore justifiable to urge that physics be made an essential part of every course of study in secondary schools, and that the place and time devoted to it corre- spond to its importance. It is not enough that physics be admitted to all secondary schools, but that it should not be there in a secondary place. It should be placed on an equal footing with the most favored sub- jects. It seeks no preferences, butis stren- uous that no special bounties be extended to other branches. Whether it be con- sidered from the point of view of its edu- cational value, of its splendid achievements and its service to civilization, or of the in- terest that it awakens in the unfolding mind of the inquiring student, it should form as essential a part of every course of study as mathematics or history or lan- guage. First of all, a student should know his own language; it does not admit of question that he should also know the his- torical development of his own country ; he should in addition be familiar with the fundamental physical principles and con- cepts which are as closely interwoven with his life and well-being as are his language and the history of the land in which he lives. If now the pursuit of this noble science is to serve the human and ethical interests which we are contemplating, it is essential that its serious study be entered upon at the right period in the education of the pupil. It is very properly pointed out by Mr. Gage in the report of the Conference of Ten on Physics and Chemistry that ‘‘ Phys- ics requires the largest knowledge of mathematics that the secondary school af- fords, and the difficulty of this study de- mands the greatest maturity of mind.” What interest can be served by placing it in the first year of the high school, except 150 its subordination to more favored branches, it is quite impossible to understand. The Conference of Ten recommended “That physics be pursued the last year of the high school course.’’ That recommendation meets the enthusiastic approval of every physics teacher whose experience is worth con- sidering. The exigencies of the school pro- gramme sometimes require that physics be crowded down into the third year, but the instructor in this subject should never cease to protest against any further lowering of the standard by its relegation to the second year. When only a single year is sought for a subject of such transcendent impor- tance, the studies that are crowded to the front for from three to six years should be compelled, in all fairness and reason, to give way, if necessary, at the point where the physics properly belongs. The pupil will then be provided with the requisite knowl- edge of geometry so essential to the intelli- gent study of physics, and may be presumed to have that maturity of mind which will enable him to profit by the study. The limits of this paper do not permit me to enlarge on the method to be pursued in teaching physics. It must suffice to say that the student in the elements needs a text-book of principles for the purpose of securing accuracy and to enable him to dwell long enough on any portion to com- prebend it. To the didactic work of the class room should be added the method of the laboratory. Practical work acts like a mordant to fix the color which may other- wise be evanescent. It is the testing ma- chine to determine the strength and tough- ness of intellectual fibre. It furnishes a scale by which to evaluate acquisitions. It is the method of original investigation applied to the student; he will not dis- cover any new laws of nature, but he will discover his own ignorance and limita- tions. Henry 8. CARART. SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. 1V. No. 83. THE TEACHING OF BEGINNING CHEMISTRY.* THE momentous changes which have been brought about in chemical science within the past two decades are too often lost sight of in teaching the elements of the subject. It is easier to go in the old way, the habit of descriptive chemistry, founded primarily on the atomic hypothesis, is too well estab- lished to be suddenly uprooted, and, as a consequence, in America we can see but little progress toward a more rational and scientific means of beginning the study. The reason for this unsatisfactory condition is most probably to be found in the history of © the development of science during the pres- ent century. Gay-Lussac, Dalton, Ber- zelius, Davy, Faraday, and the other lesser lights who appeared upon the chemical firmament between the years of 1800 and 1826, were completely engrossed with the discovery of new elements, the determina- tion of chemical equivalents and the rela- tionships between these latter quantities and the atomic weights. It was then that our system of chemical notation originated, and for this, even if his name were not in- separably connected with other lines of advance, we owe a lasting debt of gratitude to Berzelius. methods of analysis in inorganic chemistry, both qualitative and quantitative, assumed the greatest importance, for where the com- position of so many new minerals remained to be ascertained, and when in each a pos- sible new element might be discovered, such work must necessarily claim the at- tention of the foremost investigators. Searcely an appeal was made to turn the science into broader channels, the material side was uppermost, the statics of chemis- try was being investigated, and there was no time to think of the nature of chemical changes from any standpoint other than that of the transposition of matter. The * Delivered before the Dept. Nat. Sci. Instruction, N. E. A., Buffalo, July 10, 1896. Naturally at this time, a eee = - Meee eStats JULY 31, 1896 j voice of the great Berthollet was, it is true, raised in a demand for the study of the physical aspect of chemical change, while Avogadro explained the meaning of Gay-Lussac’s and Dalton’s discoveries of the simple relationships between combining gas volumes, but both were unheeded, for the chemical field was not ripe for such devel- opment. During the latter part of the life of Berzelius we find such investigators as Wohler, Liebig and Dumas busily engaged in building a new edifice of structural or- ganic chemistry, and at the same time the tendency showed itself to unduly emphasize the importance of chemical symbols, for the theory of compound radicles with its numer- ous variations, held most men in its grasp. Chemical bodies were classified according to arbitrarily constructed formule, regard- less oftentimes of obvious family relation- ships; theory began to outrank exact observation; and, even with so careful an experimenter as Berzelius, chemical formu- lation began to distort and replace ascer- tained facts. This chaos, produced by the clashing of minds, all equally qualified to dictate in the chemical field, was further heightened by the lack of any reliable scientific basis for the determination of atomic weights; there were almost as many systems as there were chemists. It was only after 1850, when Cannizzaro success- fully revised Avogadro’s hypothesis, when the laws of thermodynamics were estab- lished and when the impulse toward a. log- ical system of atomic weights was given, that some advance toward order was made. From this time on, owing to the labors of Kolbe, Williamson, Strecker, Gerhardt, Laurent and finally Kekule, our present views of valence and structural chemistry began to take the place of former confusion. With the advent of the definite theory of quadrivalence of carbon, at first advanced by Kekule simply as a means of classifica- tion, a basis for united action was given SCIENCE. 131 which was eagerly seized on by all of the workers in the chemical field. Never be- fore had so simple a theory been adopted, and never before had one appeared which so heartily met with the approval of most men. So easily comprehended, indeed, were these views that, as a logical conse- quence, chemists were carried too far in their enthusiasm; if the tetravalence of carbon was established, why was not a constant valence true of all other elements ? Acting on the impulse, the classification into monads, diads and triads, etc., was made, often in utter disregard of easily ob- served facts. Theories were once more confused with the facts from which they were deduced, and an arbitrary method of chem- ical teaching, far removed from the basis on which physics rested, was inaugurated. The chemical symbol and chemical equa- tion were given a rank and place far above their merits; and, as a consequence, the scientific axiom that all theoretical deduc- tions must be founded upon carefully ob- served facts was too frequently lost sight of. Even Mendelejeff and Lothar Meyer, in their Development of Newland’s Periodic System, were often tempted to force dog- matic classification upon the chemical world. This tendency in chemical teaching has continued to the present day, and along with it we still have the undue emphasis laid upon analytical chemistry, a remnant of Berzelius’s time, although the chemical field has been so widened that many other branches of the science have far outgrown the latter in relative importance. Taking heed of the errors of the past, it is time to bring the teaching of chemistry to a purely scientific basis of experimental observation, to omit theoretical deductions, especially the atomic theory, until such a time as the pupil has at his disposal suffi- cient material to give it a definite basis to rest upon. There are two laws which are fundamen- 132 tal throughout chemistry, the law of definite and the law of multiple proportions. No matter whether or not we hold to the atomic theory, these would remain unalterable and by their existence would inevitably force the science to be a quantitative one. By . leaving this basis, or ignoring it, while still keeping the atomic hypothesis in sight, even great chemists have been led to adopt the most impossible theories and to distort the most carefully established facts, as the history of Prout’s hypothesis abundantly demonstrates. But, if the foundations of chemistry are quantitative, why not begin the study of it in such a way that this as- pect is thoroughly and permanently brought out to the attention of the student? The difficulties in the way are not great; the necessary equipment for the work does not add a large outlay to those expenditures which all properly provided laboratories al- ready have to meet, and in the majority of cases experiments for beginners can be al- tered from the qualitative to the quantita- tive ones by the simple graduation of a glass tube. The quantitative neutraliza- tion of acids by bases and vice versa, easily carried out with accurate results, is espe- cially useful, combining, as it does, both the laws of definite and multiple proportions and the most striking chemical characteris- tics of two important classes of compounds. The study of the combining volumes of gases is also simple and necessary as lead- ing up to subsequent important theoretical considerations ; only by following a course of accurate work can a proper basis be se- cured for future generalizations. The atomic theory has no place in the be- ginning of the study of chemistry. The re- actions which students encounter during the first period are as easily understood without it as with it. Its early use is con- fusing and pernicious, giving, as it does, a _ visionary and immaterial basis for the science, which is too apt to cling to the SCIENCE. pupil throughout his subsequent course. Our belief in this theory has been brought about by the convergence of a number of lines of investigation which have made use of facts discovered both in physics and in chemistry, and it should be dealt with in this way. If we use it in any other we are bringing ourselves back to the scientific standpoint of Aristotle, whose deductions were subjective and not objective. Chemical formule are, of course, in their present meaning, founded on the atomic theory, and therefore are to be excluded until after the proper work has brought about their logical development. It is not, however, inexpedient to introduce a few symbols which represent not atoms, but equivalent weights which are so related as to be referred to one gram of hydrogen as a unit, for by this means an advantageous conciseness of expression can be obtained. So, to use a concrete example, it can readily be demonstrated that, by the action of cer- tain metals on acids, a definite quantity of hydrogen is substituted by a given weight of each metal, and, if in such an experi- ment we select the unit weight of hydrogen as a basis of calculation, we have a means at hand of ascertaining the reacting quan- tities of the substances in question. These relationships are further exemplified by the experiments on neutralization, so that, finally, a few of the simple reactions can be expressed by a system of notation which is founded only on observed facts. In this way a basis is obtained for further en- largement and explanation when the time comes to introduce theoretical deductions, and thus the pupil can be brought to under- stand the scientific means by which our present system has been brought about. It is too often the case that students who have even had a somewhat extended chemi- cal instruction are only able to present their knowledge in a language of symbols, of the fundamental meaning of which they [N.S. Von. IV. No. 83. Oe eee eee « JULY 31, 1896. ] have no conception. They are chemically helpless if they cannot have pencil and paper and are not allowed to express them- selves in the form of chemical equations. It must be confessed that the teachers are more responsible for this state of affairs than the pupils, because in many text-books and laboratory manuals we find, possibly for the sake of a mistaken idea of saving printer’s ink and paper, directions, para- graph and chapter headings given in the shape of chemical formulz to a beginner in the science. The current language was constructed for chemists as well as for other mortals, and I see no reason why we should not express ourselves in its terms. The pupil should be able to tell us what he knows, and he should not be wedded to his writing materials. One phase of chemical investigation has made such enormous strides of late years that it can no longer be ignored even by beginners in the science. I refer to so- ealled physical chemistry. From the start the teacher and pupil must recognize that there are two enduring things in the uni- verse—matter and energy—and that but half of the tale has been told, when in study- ing a chemical change, only the former has been considered. Of course, it is not possi- ble in all cases to. consider the latter; none of us are as yet able to do that, no matter how great our experience or how much we have worked in this line ; but in the simple reactions which are encountered at the be- ginning of the course the question of energy changes can be dwelt upon as clearly as the others. Such a line of work requires a cer- tain knowledge of physics, and ‘‘ as chemis- try is a branch of the study of the relations of matter and energy it should be preceded by the more general aspect of this subject which is undertaken by physics. Obviously, owing to the close connection between chem- istry and physics it will frequently be re- quired to more clearly outline physical topics SCIENCE. 133 in chemical work, and to enable the teacher to make such outlines, a preliminary gen- eral knowledge of physics is necessary.’ Another topic in physics which must neces- sarily be introduced before the atomic hy- pothesis is taken up, isthe kinetic gas theory, for a comprehension of which some knowl- edge of elementary energetics is necessary. It is very easy to make the pupil learn the dogmatic statement that ‘in equal volumes of gases, under like conditions of tempera- ture and pressure, there are equal numbers ot molecules,’ but to make him understand why this fundamental theory is accepted by the scientific world, and what is its bearing on our present system of atomic weights, requires careful reasoning and con- scientious teaching, without which the dogma becomes as useless as any other em- pirical utterance. In short, I would have the pupil’s preliminary work, both physical and chemical, so centered around observed facts that he will approach his theoretical conclusions with a mind free from bias, and so logically trained in the successive steps that he may enter upon his more difficult task in a condition to comprehend its full meaning and significance. It is desirable that he should feel the need of some such theory as the atomic theory, before the teacher shows him the way for its develop- ment. Double decomposition and phenomena attendant upon it have lately come to be among the most important topics in physi- cal chemistry. This subject must be intro- duced in an elementary course, but the present state of the science forbids that it shall be treated from an empirical stand- point in which the most important fact is the obtaining of a precipitate which can be made to serve the purpose of identifying *Extract from a report made by a committee con- sisting of Messrs. Noyes, A. Smith and Freer at the conference of chemists of the Northwest at Chicago, January 2, 1896. 154 some chemical individual. These chemical separations are simply particular cases in- cidental to certain conditions obtainable in a series of general phenomena, and as such they should be treated. An elementary knowledge of chemical equilibrium, of dis- sociation in solution, of the separation of ions by the electric current and of the modern views of neutralization, is now as ~ essential to the beginning of chemistry as any of the descriptive portions. Armed with such a knowledge, the pupil can ap- proach many subsequent facts, which were formerly simply memorized, from a reason- ing standpoint. To render such a course of study as I have outlined successful, it is necessary only to take up but a few of the more com- mon elements and compounds, doing. the work thoroughly and conscientiously. Im- portant chemical deductions are as well illustrated by a few widely distributed and simple substances, as by many. The time for the study of all of the elements and of their relations in the periodic system is not in the beginning. Such work can only be undertaken in a systematic spirit when the pupil has been taught to reason in the terms of the science. A mass of descrip- tive detail, no matter how well it is memo- rized, is not chemical science; the time is passed for that; we are not longer in the age of Berzelius. For the same reason I would leave the subject of valence for a later period. The reasons for its accept- ance are many and complicated; they are the result of painstaking work, of much bitter strife and heartburnings, and are too intricate for the beginner. I have much more faith in the pupil who has been trained to accurate observation, who can logically connect what he has seen and who can tell what he knows, than in the one who, by a system of arbitrary instruction, can write down any number of chemical formule and equations, founded on a dog- SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 83. matic and too early discussion of the theories of valence. Are not even the most brilliant investigators in the science in doubt as to its present position and as to its future development? In conclusion I would like to answer the argument that I know will be brought against me. It will be said that while the outlined course is well adapted for those who wish to make a life study of chemistry, it can scarcely be applied to pupils who will never take any more chemical work than that given in an elementary course. It is absurd to suppose that an elementary course is intended to produce a chemist. The most that can be done is to give the begin- ner some knowledge of the fundamental principles of the science. Such being the case, how can we best give the pupil the mental discipline incidental to the scientific habit of thought, and at the'same time put him in a position to go on with his work in chemistry, should he so elect? Surely not by taking incidental facts from the entire field, by introducing him to theories which he can not comprehend, and by burdening his memory with a mass of material which disgusts him with the science and leaves him helpless for future advancement. We must always take pains, in teaching begin- ners, to pick out that which is absolutely essential to their comprehension of the sci- ence as such, and even if we use only such materials we shall find that the allotted time is more than filled. We must not depart from our ideal of scientific truth to meet a demand which we recognize as not in the interests of the science. By failing to teach the pupil the true elements of chemistry, and by attempting to make the course, as it is termed, ‘ practical,’ we are in reality do- ing the most impractical thing imaginable, not at all teaching the real science of chemistry, besides stunting the pupil’s fu- ture scientific growth. Above all, we should compel our students JULY 31, 1896.] to observe accurately and never to put their conclusions in their note books, until they can base such conclusions on what they have seen. I have known of teachers who re- quire their students to balance large num- bers of equations, outside of the laboratory and according to set rules, and thus en- tirely subvert the purpose of chemical no- tation, which is, at its best, but a short means of expressing observed chemical facts, and as such should only be used in ' the laboratory asa means of describing what the student has actually seen. The former course leads the beginner to the conclusion that chemical reactions must actually take place exactly as the equation demands ; the latter teaches him to observe accurately and to express his observations in the terms of the science. Finally, I-regard such work as this fitted only for advanced students ; the chemical equation has but asmall place in the beginning study of chemistry. Paut C. FREER. CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. MYTHS OF THE NORTHWEST COAST. For some years Dr. Franz Boas has been collecting and publishing the myths and stories of the tribes of the northwest coast. In the last number of the Zeitschrift fir Ethnologie for 1895 he sums up his theories of their development and extension. His conclusions are that the tribes there located not only borrowed from all parts of America, but drew largely for their engage from the Old World also. This conclusion from such an eminent au- thority will give considerable satisfaction to those who are on the hunt for traces of Asiatic culture in America. Dr. Boas reaches it by counting the number of ‘ele- ments’ or incidents in a story, and then as- certaining how many of them reappear in a similar story told at a more or less distant point. If the coincidences are many, he considers it proof of borrowing. SCIENCE. 135 There are various objections to this rough and ready method, notably one, to wit: that all ‘elements’ are not equally valu- able for comparison, to which obvious fact he does not appear to attach much weight. It is curious to note in the same number of the Zeitschrift that Frobenius, in dis- cussing the prevalence of vase worship, quite positively condemns the hypothesis which is at the base of Dr. Boas’ argu- ments. Hvidently the ee is still an open question. THE STORY OF ‘NUMBER NIP.’ Tue story of ‘Number Nip,’ the tricky wood and mountain sprite, is not unknown to English folklore, but is not prominent in it, and was introduced at a rather recent date from Germany. There, under the name Riubezahl, he figures, especially in the Riesengebirge, as a prominent person- age in the tales and superstitions of the population. He has been made the subject of a singularly learned monograph lately by Dr. A. Lincke, of Dresden, who, in an oc- tavo of fifty pages, brings together pretty much everything, at least references to it, that has been written about him. The general conclusion appears to be that Ruibezahl is no more at home in the Giant Mountains than he is in England ; that perhaps he is of Slavonic origin, and that his name is a Slavonic word rendered into a German equivalent by that process of popular language which some linguists call ‘otosis;’ and that in this change of place and name, like many a human ana- logue, he left his good character behind him. Originally he was probably a divinity of the fields and crops, or vegetation and growth. Or he isa rain and thunder god of the old Germans, to which Dr. Lincke inclines; in either case, once a highly re- spectable god, and no mere Kobold. The title of Dr. Lincke’s paper is ‘ Die Neuesten Riibezahlforschungen. Ein Blick in die 136 Werkstatt der schaft.’ mythologischen Wissen- D. G. Brinton. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. AUSTRALIAN METEOROLOGY. THREE valuable contributions to the me- teorology of Australia have recently been published together in one volume by Hon. Ralph Abercromby, under the title Austra- lian Weather. All of these papers have been previously published elsewhere, but they are now brought together and issued in book form for convenient reference. The first paper, by H. C. Russell, the Govern- ment Astronomer of New South Wales and Director of the Sydney Observatory, on Moving Anticyclones in the Southern Hemis- phere (originally published in Quart. Journ. Roy. Met. Soc., Jan., 1893), gives a gen- eral account of the auticyclones which control Australian weather south of lati- tude 20° §. The average number of anti- cyclones which pass over the country every year is 42; they are most numerous in summer, and their average velocity is 400 miles a day. The author holds out the hope of possible long range forecasts for a month in advance, or even for longer pe- riods. The second paper, on Southerly Bursters, by H. A. Hunt, of the Sydney Observatory (originally published in Journ. Roy. Soc., N.S. W., xxviii, 1894), was awarded a prize of £25 offered by Hon. Ralph Aber- cromby for the best essay on southerly ‘pursters.’ The ‘ burster,’ formally called the ‘brick-fielder’ because it was _ her- alded by a cloud of reddish dust from the neighboring brick-fields, is a strong southerly wind associated with a V-depres- sion, and bearing some resemblance to the _ ‘pampero’ of Brazil and the ‘norther’ of Texas. This is an exhaustive study of this interesting phenomenon. ‘The last “SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 83. paper, also by Hunt, on Types of Austrliana Weather, is a clear and useful account of the typical atmospheric conditions con- trolling Australian weather, and is illus- trated by numerous maps. INTERNATIONAL CLOUD ATLAS. Tue International Cloud Atlas, already re- ferred to in these notes, may be purchased of MM. Gauthier-Villars et Fils, 55, Quai des Grands-Augustins, Paris, for 14 frances a copy. The Aélas, which contains 28 views, is now the official cloud atlas of the world, and the illustrations in it are the types to which all cloud forms must hereafter be re- ferred. It is the work of the International Cloud Committee, appointed by the Inter- national Meteorological Conference held at Munich in 1891, and the standard types now adopted were selected from over 300 photographs collected from all parts of the world. The Cloud Committee is composed as follows: Hann, Hildebrandsson, Mohn, Riggenbach, Rotch and Teisserenc de Bort, and the sub-committee in charge of the publication of the Atlas comprises Hilde- brandsson, Riggenbach and de Bort. METEOROLOGICAL WORK AT BATAYIA. From the 17th volume (for 1894) of the Observationsmade at the Magnetical and Meteoro- logical Observatory at Batavia, we learn that the sub-director of the Observatory, Dr. 8. Figee, is conducting an elaborate inquiry into the influence of the moon upon the magnetic elements at Batavia, some of the results of which study appear in the present volume. A large number of cloud photo- graphs have also been taken at the Observa- tory, with satisfactory results, as a prepara- tion for the work of the International Cloud Year. It is disappointing to note that it is feared the cloud observations by means of theodolites will prove to be too trying for the eyes of the observers at Batavia, and may have to be given up. JULY 31, 1896.] WEATHER MAP OF THE ST. LOUIS TORNADO. Tuer Weather Bureau has issued what it calls a ‘souvenir’ weather map of the St. Louis tornado of May 27th. Thesheet is of small size (8 in. by 10 in.). On one side there is a map showing the weather con- ditions over the United States on the even- ing of May 27th, with the tornado districts indicated by red crosses, and with brief de- scriptive text beneath. On the reverse side is an explanation of the wind, weather and temperature signals of the Bureau. R. DEC. Warp. HARVARD UNIVERSITY. NOTES UPON AGRICULTURE AND HORTI- CULTURE, VIII. POTATO CULTURE. Wiruin the past month no less than six bulletins have been issued by as many Sta- tions upon potato culture or some phase of it. HASTENING MATURITY OF POTATOES. _ ‘Hastentne maturity’ is the sub-title of bulletin No. 36 from the Rhode Island Station. Three methods of bringing about an earlier crop are considered and one in detail, as it has been tested at the Station. Director Flagg and Mr. Tucker write: “Maturity may be hastened in three ways. (a) By planting sets in pots in a green- house and transplanting to open ground; (b) by sprouting, that is planting sets thickly in a cold frame, and when ready to break ground transplanting them to the field, and (c) by building.”” For the latter small potatoes the size of hen’s eggs are given heat and light for six weeks or so be- fore planting time, thus causing a strong bud to develop and roots to form. The budded potatoes are placed in the field - with the care given to onion sets, etc. A gain of 32 bushels per acre was obtained by this method over the ordinary way of planting. SCIENCE. 137 CRIMSON CLOVER GOOD FOR POTATOES. In Bulletin No. 38 of the Maryland Sta- tion, Director Miller and Mr. Brinkley find that crimson clover plowed under increased the yield in 1894 thirty-six and in 1895 fifty per cent. Ridge and level culture have given the same results, and also deep and shallow cultivation proved of equal value. Spraying four times with Bordeaux mixture to prevent blight doubled the crop. POTASH FOR POTATOES. At the Kentucky Station (Bulletin No. 61) Director Scovell found that potash was the most profitable commercial fertilizer to use, while the nitrates and phosphates were sometimes used ata financial loss. Several tests were made to check the scab; but here is an instance in which it is a misfor- tune for the enemy to fail to appear any- where in the field and the results are postponed thereby. SCAB AND INTERNAL BROWN ROT. PROFESSOR GREEN in Minnesota Station Bulletin No. 45 reports that the subsoil- ing of heavy clay land increases somewhat the yield of potatoes. Considerable space is given, with engravings, to the report upon treatment for scab. The germ theory, or fungous nature of the disease is recognized in full, for it is stated that: ‘‘ Perfectly clean seed planted on land which is free from scab fungus will always and in any season produce a crop of smooth clean potatoes, no matter what the character of the land. * * * Land infected by the germs of this disease will produce a more or less scabby crop, no matter how clean and smooth the seed is.” It is recom- mended to dig scabby potatoes as soon as ripe, because the scab continues to grow so long as the potatoes are in the ground. The internal brown rot works at the center of the potato, and all thus infested 1358 should be discarded as seed. The cause of this trouble is not given. EARLY AND LATE POTATO BLIGHTS. BuLietin 118 of the Cornell, N. Y., Sta- tion treats only of the diseases of the potato, giving several illustrations of these troubles and one coloritype plate of blight. Two leaves are shown in this, one of the ‘early Blight’ and the other of the ‘ late blight.”’ The former is due to the fungus Macrosporium Solani, E. & M., and the latter to Phytophthora infestans, DeBy, a downy mildew which, when affecting the tubers, produces the potato rot, an old enemy in Europe, where it has caused famines, as in Ireland in 1846. Prof. Lodeman draws largely upon the literature of this blight, mentioning its rapid growth in and destruc- tion of the attacked vines and the disagree- able odor of the ruined potatoes. The germ tube from the spore secretes a ferment that dissolves the cell wall of the host, and permits the parasite to pass through. The term ‘late blight’ came from the fact that the Phytophthora does not usually appear before August. The early blight comes sooner in the season, and usually the fun- gus follows after some injury, frequently the work of flea beetles. The earlier plant- ings of the same variety are the more affected by this blight. Bordeaux is a satisfactory remedy for the late blight and a promising one for the early blight. The cause of the scab is considered and the corrosive sublimate both highly recom- mended with the precaution that it be not used so strong as to injure the seed. VARIETY TESTING OF POTATOES. BULLETIN 65 Ohio Station is devoted to the comparison of varieties of potatoes and experiments with fertilizers, by Profs. Green and McFadden. They maintain that variety trials are of much value only when the sorts are tested under several sets SCLENCH. [N.S. Vou. lV. No. 83. of conditions. It is the summing up of sets of trials that brings results of practical importance. Thus the three varieties that have averaged highest at the central and both sub-stations in Ohio are American Wonder, Columbus and Irish Daisy. Varie- ties that are the least influenced by varia- tions of soil, climate, etc., they claim are the most valuable. GOVERNMENT FARMERS’ BULLETIN UPON POTA- TOES. In addition to the above station bulletin” the United States Department of Agricul- ture has issued a farmers’ bulletin (No. 35) upon Potato Culture, by Mr. Duggar with the following sub-heads: Soil and rotation, manuring, varieties, planting, change of seed, side of seed pieces, distance in the row, mulching, storing, with a lengthy sum- mary. This is a remarkably comprehen- sive, condensed and clear exposition of potato culture. The impression at least is gained from the above notes that the potato is fully re- cognized by experimenters as a leading crop in the country and likewise a subject that is many sided and as yet far too little un- derstood. Byron D. HALsteD. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. SIR JOSEPH PRESTWICH. AT the meeting of the Geological Society of London, on June 24th, the President, Dr. Henry Hicks, said: It is with deep regret that I have to announce to you the death of our dear and much-beloved friend, Sir Joseph Prest- wich. He was elected into the Society in the year 1833, and we had come to look upon him as the father of our Society. He served it as Treasurer and President and was one of its Wollaston Medallists, and we feel that by his © death our Society loses one of its truest friends. He always gave us of his best, and delighted to communicate his knowledge to his fellow workers. He was in every respect a typical representative of our Society and its objects, for he passionately loved the science, fearlessly JULY 31, 1896. ]} maintained what he believed to be the truth, and had that open mind and craving for knowl- edge which has ever characterized the best and noblest of its members. This is not the time to refer specially to his labors; but we may feel assured that such sterling work as he accom- plished will ever hold an honored place in the annals of British geology. The Council at their sitting this afternoon passed the following resolutions, which I feel no doubt all the Fel- lows present will cordially endorse : (1) That the President, Council and Fellows of the Geological Society of London desire to convey to Lady Prestwich the assurance of their heartfelt sym- pathy with her in the sad and irreparable loss that she has sustained, and at the same time to place on record their high appreciation of the lifelong geologi- cal work achieved by Sir Joseph Prestwich, who for sixty-three years was a member of their body, alike respected and beloved. i (2) That this Resolution be placed upon the Min- - utes, and a copy of it be communicated to Lady Prestwich. ; The above resolutions were then passed unanimously. “A NEW FACTOR IN EVOLUTION.’ UNDER this title Prof. J. Mark Baldwin has contributed an article to The American Naturalist (June and July) enlarging upon the views pub- lished by him in this JouURNAL (Aug. 23, 1895, Mar. 20, Apr. 10, 1896). Prof. Baldwin thus sums up the factors in evolution which he desig- nates ‘ organic selection’ and ‘social heredity.’ “* Organic Selection.—The process of ontoge- netic adaptation considered as keeping single or- ganisms alive and so securing determinate lines of variation in subsequent generations. Or- ganic selection is, therefore, a general principle of development which is a direct substitute for the Lamarkian factor in most, if not in all in- stances. If it is really a new factor, then it deserves a new name, however contracted its sphere of application may finally turn out to be. The use of the word ‘organic’ in the phrase was suggested from the fact that the organism itself cooperates in the formation of the adapta- tions which are effected, and also from the fact that, in the results, the organism is itself selected; since those organisms which do not secure the adaptations fall by the principle of natural SCIENCE. 139 selection. And the word ‘selection’ used in the phrase is appropriate for just the same two reasons. “‘ Social Heredity.—The acquisition of func- tions from the social environment, also consid- ered as a method of determining phylogenetic variations. It is a form of organic selection, but it deserves a special name because of its special way of operation. It is really heredity, since it influences the direction of phylogenetic variation by keeping socially adaptive creatures alive, while others which do not adapt them- selves in this way are cut off. It is also hered- ity since it is a continuous influence from gen- eration to generation. Animals may be kept alive, let us say, in a given environment by so- cial cooperation only ; these transmit this social type of variation to posterity ; thus social adap- tation sets the direction of physical phylogeny and physical heredity is determined in part by this fac- tor. Furthermore, the process is all the while, from generation to generation, aided by the con- tinuous chain of extra-organic or purely social transmissions. Here are adequate reasons for marking off this influence with a name.’’ GENERAL. THE Astronomer Royal, Mr. Christie, has been unanimously elected corresponding mem- ber of the Paris Academy of Sciences in the place of the late Mr. Hind. Apvicres from Japan state that the two American expeditions to observe the solar eclipse under the charge of Professors Todd and Scheberle, respectively, have reached Yoko- hama. THE sum of $5,000 has been subscribed for the purpose of erecting a statue as a memorial to the late Wilhelm Mayer, of Copenhagen, the discoverer of adenoid vegetation of the pharynx. It appears that the largest sum has been sub- scribed in America (about $1,500), Great Britain and Denmark each having subscribed in the neighborhood of $1,200 and Germany $500. Mrs. HuxLey, widow of Prof. T. H. Hux- ley, has been granted a Civil List pension of £200 a year. AT the celebration of the centennial of the founding of the city of Cleveland, it was an- 140 SCIENCE. nounced that Mr. John D. Rockefeller would give the city for a park 276 acres of land valued at more than $600,000. THE Hauer Medaille, of the Vienna Geographi- cal Society, and the gold Kirchenpauer Medaille, of the Geographical Society of Hanover, have been awarded to Prof. Neumayer, of Hamburg. THE Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, was struck by lightning on July 7th. The fire was extin- guished before damage was done to the valuable contents of the museum. ‘There are four light- ning conductors on the building, but the elec- tric current struck a gable on which there was no conductor and traveled along a lead gutter and down a standpipe to the earth. THE completed building of the Indian Insti- tute at Oxford was declared open on July 1st by Lord George Hamilton, the Secretary of State for India. The building contains an oriental library and museum. Mr. PERcIvVAL LOWELL, of Boston, has left for Flagstaff, Arizona, to continue observations on the planet Mars. He is accompanied by Mr. Alvan G. Clark, who will mount the new 24-inch telescope. Dr. T. J. J. See, of the University of Chicago, also accompanies the expedition in order to continue his observations on double stars. Pror. G. D. HARRIS, of Cornell University, is spending the summer in Alabama, making paleontological collections for the University. THE death is announced of Prof. A. G. Stole- tow, professor of physics in the University of Moscow. A LIFE of Fridtjof Nansen by W. C. Brogger and Nordhal Rolfsen has been published in Scandinavia. Pror. HueH C. McLAUGHLIN died on July 20th at the age of 85. He had recently been a professor of classical languages and had _ for- merly been Superintendent of the Bureau of Statistics. THE daily papers state that Mr. William R. Brooks, director of Smith Observatory, while observing the moon recently with the large telescope, made a most interesting and unique discovery. A dark round object was seen to pass rather slowly across the moon in a hori- . [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 83. zontal direction. Mr. Brooks believes that it was the passage of a dark meteor between the earth and the moon, far beyond the earth’s atmosphere, so that it remained non-luminous, A NEW entomological journal, Illustrierte Wochenschrifé fiir Entomologie, will hereafter be published by Neumann in Neudamm. It pro- poses to treat rather the biological relations of insects than systematic entomology. THE Scientific African, a journal founded at the beginning of the present year in South Africa, has been compelled to suspend publica- tion. THE discontinuance of the publication Climate and Health is announced to take effect with the end of the present fiscal year, June 30, 1896. Vol. II.,.No. 8 (four weeks ended March 28, 1896), will be the last issue. It has been deemed necessary to take this action in view of a doubt having arisen as to whether the publi- cation of Climate and Health was authorized by the act making appropriation for the Depart- ment of Agriculture for the fiscal year ending June 80, 1897. It is the intention of the Chief of the Bureau to have prosecuted during the coming fiscal year a number of special clima- tologic studies, and it is expected that the statistics collected during the present fiscal year will be of much value in this connection. The results of these special researches will, if their importance justifies it, be published in the form of special bulletins, at such times and in such shapes as the circumstances may warrant. WE have received the first number of The Laryngoscope, a new mouthly journal devoted to diseases of the nose, throat and ear, edited — by Drs. F. M. Rumbold and M. A. Goldstein, The number opens with an article by Dr. S. Montbleyer on the Photo-Fluoroscope, describ- ing applications of the X-Rays in laryngology. PSYCHICAL research has assumed such dimen- sions that Mr. W. H. Myers finds it desirable to compile a glossary in the June number of the Proceedings of the Society. Many of the terms given are those commonly used in psy- chology and medicine, but we owe to Mr. Myers the invention, or at least wide application, of the words ‘telepathy’ and ‘subliminal,’ and we JULY 31, 1896.] find here a number of other words suggested by him—‘ cosmopathic,’ ‘hyperpromethia,’ ‘me- thectic,’ ‘telergy,’ etc., which we may not only soon find in the Century Dictionary, but may also hear on the street corners some day. Dr. L&oN BERTRAND, of Antwerp, describes in the Medical Record a fluoroscope in which double fluoride of uranyl and ammonium was used as the fluorescent substance. This is said to be fully as good as other substances, such as tungstate of calcium and to be much cheaper. On July 4th the Royal Societies’ Club gave a complimentary dinner and reception to the newly elected Fellows ofthe Royal Society and the newly elected Royal Academicians and Academicians-elect. Speeches were made by Sir Clements Markham, Sir Robert Ball, Prof. Ray Lankester and others. The Railway Review describes a foul-air indi- cator exhibited at the Industrial Exposition at Zurich, Switzerland, which is designed to show whether and in what degree the air in a work- shop or other inhabited room is contaminated. The apparatusis described as consisting of an air-tight closed glass vessel filled with a red fluid. Through a glass tube that dips into the liquid and is bent at the top a drop falls every 100 seconds on a cord that hangs beneath and that is somewhat stretched by a weight. The fluid from which the drop comes has the prop- erty of changing its color by the action of car- bonic acid. The more carbonic acid there is in the air the quicker this change in color takes place. Ifthe air is very foul the drop becomes white at the upper end of the cord, while the change of color corresponding to a slight pro- portion of carbonic acid does not take place till the drop has run further along the cord. The exact condition of the air can be ascer- tained by observing a scale that is placed along- side the cord and divided into convenient parts, bearing the designations, ‘extremely bad,’ ‘very bad,’ ‘ passable,’ ‘ pure.’ MM. BEAUREGARD and Dupuy have re- ported to the Paris Academy, experiments on electrical variation in the acoustic nerve when excited by a sound with one electrode placed on the tympanum and one on the nerve it was SCIENCE. 141 possible to note the variation of the current with the pitch of the sound which gives a method for determining the range of audibility for pitch in the lower animals. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES. In the Atlantic Monthly for August President Gilman takes the appearance of the memoirs of Barnard and McCosh as an occasion to review the progress and outlook of universities in America. President Gilman’s article is of special interest, as he not only writes from wide knowledge, but also with the power to carry into effect the ideas that he advocates. He says: ‘‘ Barnard came very near the right ex- pression when he claimed that the university must be ‘a school of all learning that the ne- cessities of the age demand.’ Whatever may be the best definition of a university, its func- tions are clearly to be discovered. It must above all things be a seat of learning, where the most cultivated scholars reside, where libra- ries, laboratories, and scientific collections are liberally kept up, and where the spirit of in- quiry and investigation is perpetually mani- fested. It must be a shrine to which the out- side world will resort for instruction and guid- ance upon the problems of the day, scientific, literary, educational, political. It must be a place from which are sent forth important con- tributions to science—theses, memoirs, books. Here every form of scientific investigation should be promoted. Researches too costly for ordinary purses should be prosecuted at the ex- pense of the general chest. Expeditions should be sent forth from time to time to engage in in- vestigations on the seashore or on the moun- tains. Physical and astronomical instruments of the most improved forms should be devised, procured and frequently renewed. The litera- tures of all nations, ancient and modern, should have their devotees. Every school of philoso- phy should be interpreted. Historical and polit- ical inquiry should be diligently promoted. The problems of modern society, economical, industrial, financial, administrative, philan- 142 thropic, demand the most careful examination. _ All these researches should go forward in an at- mosphere of repose and leisure, very different from that of business and professional engage- ments.’’ _ GENERAL. THE Ithaca Daily Journal states that there are 179 students enrolled in the Cornell University summer school, exclusive of 40 students in the school of law. A large part of the students— 58 per cent.—come from states other than New York. DURING the last ten years the department of entomology of Cornell University has deferred the regular winter term’s work until summer. These summer terms have been largely at- tended, and by many who are now holding pro- fessorships in other colleges or at experiment stations. The present summer term is attended by 18 students, 6 of whom are graduates, and a part of the graduates are professors of ento- mology in other colleges. Certainly, if insect life and the economic side of entomology are to receive due consideration, this plan of a sum- mer instead of a winter term commends itself. There is also the advantage of not being dis- turbed by the demands of other subjects. It also makes more advanced work possible. Dr. THADDEUS L. Botton, of the faculty of the State Normal School at Worcester, has re- signed to accept a position in the State Normal School at San José, Cal., at the head of the de- partment of psychology, pedagogy and training of teachers. Dr. VAUGHAN HARLEY has been appointed to a newly established professorship of patho- logical chemistry in University College, London. Pror. PAuL JAcoBson has been called to Berlin to fill the position of General Secretary of the German Chemical Society. Drs. JossE and Kammerer have been ap- pointed full professors of engineering in the Technical High School of Berlin, and Prof. Schmidt, of Stuttgart, has been made director of the Weather Bureau at Wurtemburg in the place of Prof. Mack, who has retired. Garden and Forest states that the first horti- cultural. school for women in Germany was SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 83. opened at Friedenau, near Berlin, in the autumn of 1894, and it will graduate its first class of seven members next fall. One of the graduates will then assume the position of teacher in a similar school recently established at Riga, in Livonia. On the first of October next still an- other institution of the kind will be opened on the estate of Baroness Barth-Harmating, near Plauen, in Saxony. The courses of study ex- tend over two or three years, and include not only the various branches of horticulture, but also fundamental scientific instruction and such knowledge of business methods as is needed for the successful prosecution of com- mercial gardening. Emphasis is laid upon the fact that the new work thus made possible for women is suitable for those of the cultivated classes, and not for uneducated or semi-edu- cated rustics. THE Duke of Devonshire has introduced in the House of Lords a bill, somewhat similar to that introduced by Lord Playfair in the last Parliament, consolidating the educational insti- tutions of London with a view to the establish- ment of a great university. The report of the Cowper Commission has thus the support of the two English parties, but it is not likely that any progress will be made during the present ses- sion of Parliament. THE issue of Nature for July 9th contains an extended article discussing the position of science at Oxford, which takes a somewhat dis- couraged view of the place of science in the University. It attributes the comparatively small number of students in the school of natural science in part to the lack of scientific instruction in the public schools, which is im turn due to the nature of the examinations re- quired for entrance to the University, and in part to the fact that there are only three science tutors in all the colleges, while the course chosen by the student depends largely on the advice of his tutor. DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. THE TEACHING OF ANATOMY. To THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: It seems to me proper to take some exception to Prof. Mall’s paper on this subject, which you quote from in JULY 31, 1896.] the issue of July 10th, for there are many points connected with this question of great practical interest. I assume that Prof. Mall is speaking of teaching anatomy to medical students. If I am mistaken as to this, I have nothing but praise for his methods; but if he is speaking of medical education it seems to me that he puts himself out of court at once. He says: ‘‘The object of the laboratory is to teach stu- dents, to train investigators and to investigate. Although the first mentioned requires the greater portion of the instructor’s time; its im- portance is by no means as great as the second and third.’’ I submit that the first and most important duty of a professor in a medical school is to teach the students his branch in the manner best fitted to their future needs as practitioners of medicine. He must find time for scientific research when he can, and it must be subordinate to his teaching, and to his teaching for a practical purpose. Prof, Mall is very severe on the lecture system. He men- tions that several professors, ‘even’ of anat- omy, declare that they learned nothing that way. I wish my name to be added to the list ; but I conceive the reason to be that I had no lectures worth listening to. It seems to me that there is a fallacy in calling the method stupid because none of us would choose it for himself were heastudent. Ofcourse, we would choose to be the private students of some dis- tinguished anatomist; but this is impossible for all the members of a large class. Moreover, as implied above, we professors of anatomy are hardly fair representatives of the rank and file of medical students, who are studying anatomy aS ameans and not as an end. Again, I am not sure precisely what is meant by ‘lectures,’ as Prof. Mall admits that ‘ lectures with demon- strations are certainly valuable—more valuable than the lectures with text-books alone.’ But who does lecture with a text-book? It is true that I have heard of a professor of anatomy who gave his class a certain number of pages of Gray learned by heart; but what competent man does not illustrate his lectures to the best of his ability? It is his duty to emphasize cer- tain parts of his subject and to go lightly over others, to point out the practical deductions, to show what facts are for, what against, prevail- SCIENCE. 143 ing theories. If lectures are to be abolished the professor might be abolished too were it not necessary for him to lay out the course and to see it carried out. In a large school the teaching or guiding of small groups must of necessity be left to assistants of varying learn- ing and of varying power of imparting it, and were there no lectures the professor’s influence would be lost. There must be students of all grades, and to my mind those who learn the most from the lectures are the best ones. The worst are hopeless anyway ; probably a little more so in the laboratory course that they neither understand nor appreciate. But, though I firmly believe in the anatom- ical lecture, I believe in personal study, in demonstration to small classes, and in close supervision. I am developing these at Har- vard as fast as I can. Prof. Mall’s plan strikes me as most admirable for the training of scien- tists; I do not believe in it even for good med- ical students; certainly I do not want to have it implied that those who differ are behind the times in matters of medical education. THOMAS DWIGHT. HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL. IS NOT THIS COUNTRY RIPE ENOUGH TO ADOPT THE METRIC SYSTEM ? ON reading in your issue of July 17, Prof. Slosson’s clear and cogent exhibition of the present condition of Decimal Numeration in the United States, Iam impressed by the rapidity with which a great change in the habits of thought of our people has been brought about. The paramount influence of the custom of reckoning in dollars and cents is palpable ; it first became universal on the disappearance from circulation of the Spanish fractional coins which were common during the first half of this century. But beside that it is evident that the change of usage from ‘common’ fractions to deci- mals has been due in some measure to the im- proved general character of the school arith- metics, faulty enough though many of these books may still be. The change bears emphatic witness to the efficacy of scientific methods of teaching and to the good results which must necessarily follow from the action and reaction 144 of scientific methods in the class room upon the affairs of every-day life. Barring the risk of some vicious compromise, it should be a hope- ful sign for the speedy adoption of the metric system that the American people are now so thoroughly imbued with the decimal method of notation and have become impatient of other forms of reckoning. As bearing on the difficulties felt to-day by several eminent Englishmen, I can testify that thirty years ago when serving in a great manu- facturing establishment under a man of more than ordinary ability and intelligence, who had been thoroughly drilled in the intricacies of the older arithmetics, it was a matter of surprise to us youngsters that on presenting any decimal computation to our chief he invariably con- verted the decimals into vulgar fractions, not at all for the sake of the double verification of our work, but that he might comprehend clearly the matter in hand. We respected the thor- oughness with which the old schooling had taken possession of the man, though we could not but marvel that the number of his fingers and toes had so little influenced the workings of his mind. I have reason to believe that many elderly merchants and manufacturers in this vicinity were at that time of the same habit and opinion as my friend; in fact, their training had been similar to his. But it would probably be difficult to find many such men in _ the country to-day. It may seem incredible to most of your read- ers, as it does to myself, that the per cent. mark (%), now in universal use, is in this country a modern innovation. In the year 1858, on the occasion of printing a ‘ Dictionary of Solubili- ties,’ I found that the charater % was unknown to the printers and type founders of Boston and, Cambridge, and was not to be had in the market. At my instigation, and at my own expense, the leading type founder in Boston prepared at that time a punch and matrix and cast types of the character in question. It is of interest to re- mark, by the way, that the procuring of this type was the result of French influence. In my capacity of American collaborateur of the old Répertoire de Chimie Appliquée, I had become familiar with the economy and convenience of the per cent. mark. SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 83. As regards the inconvenience of changing from the present to the metric system, it seems to me that it would be felt more keenly in measurements relating to buildings than in the matter of weights or of measures of capacity. Most existing constructions have been made in terms of feet and inches. ‘ Dimension work’ and ‘dimension lumber,’ all joists and beams, whether of wood or iron, bricks, boards, cast- ings and moulds for castings, are measured by feet and inches. Plans and specifications have been drawn, stated and acted upon in these terms. Feet and inches have full possession of the bodies and souls of masons, carpenters and other mechanics, and it would doubtless be highly inconvenient in many instances, espec- ially in the case of repairs and reconstructions, to make the inch and the centimeter lie down together harmoniously. Here is an impediment which must be faced, and the public needs to be taught how much more rational it would be to accept the metric system in its entirety than to acquiesce in the gradual subdivision of our common measures into tenths, for the sake of a simplification which would be incomplete at the best. The practical experience of the French and other nations has shown emphatically that the diffi- culty just now mentioned is in no sense in- superable. Every instructed person knows that the inconveniences incidental to the adoption of the system have been met and overcome by most of the civilized nations. That some small hitches may have occurred in respect to non- essential details does not in the least detract. from the great gain which has everywhere re- sulted from the adoption of the metric system. For example, it is simply amusing to hear the ‘ hawkers in the streets of Paris offer their hari- cots verts at so many sous the demi-kilo. The habit shows merely how, in the final shadings, strict verbal and logical accuracy must give way to a combination of inherited instinct or sentiment and practical convenience. There is no sense anyway or anywhere in stickling too strongly for le pied de la lettre, though for the sake of preventing fraud it was, perhaps, well enough for the French authorities to have ac- cepted the term demi-kilogram rather than to have encouraged the perpetuation of the old — Jury 31, 1§96.] word, livre. In respect to this country, how- ever, there may be danger, as Prof. Slosson in- timates, that we may after all drift into a less satisfactory system than the metric, in case the adoption of the latter should be too long de- layed. At the present moment we are really in some sort in the predicament of the boy blubbering at the street corner, who explained to the sympathetic stranger that his hands were so cold that he couldn’t put on his mittens be- cause it would ‘hurt.’ It would have been false and futile to have told the urchin that his hands were not cold or that the enterprise he shrank from could bring no pain, but it might have been well to convince him that he was a baby, and to have suggested ways and means of taking the leap with the least possible incon- venience. F. H. STORER. SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. Preliminary Synopsis of the American Bears. By Dr. C. HART MERRIAM. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, X., 1896, pp. 65-83, pll. iv—vi. April 13, 1896. Material for the comparative study of any of the larger mammals is exceedingly troublesome to bring together in satisfactory amount, owing to its bulky character and the labor and expense of its preparation and transportation. This is particularly the case with our North American bears, where the large series of specimens, skins as well as skulls, necessary for their de- tailed study, is especially difficult to acquire. By the expenditure of much time and labor Dr. Merriam has been able to gather for the present investigation about 200 skulls, but, owing to the lack of proper material, has been unable to treat of the external characters of the species and sub-species he believes are entitled to recognition. In fact, of several of the forms here for the first time recognized no skins exist in any of our museums. We, hence, have here merely a preliminary announcement of the re- sults of a study of the cranial and dental char- acters, which is ‘to be followed later by a more comprehensive treatise.’ This preliminary an- nouncement, however, is most welcome, since it has been for some time evident that the num- SCIENCE. 145 ber of forms of North American bears is much greater than has been currently recognized. As all are aware who have made a study of bears, the range of individual variation, in cranial as well as in external characters, is quite extended, in addition to which there is much variation due to age and sex. This Dr. Merriam duly concedes, and still finds, after making allowance for such differences, charac- ters that appear to be constant, by which the species and sub-species may be recognized. In view of what is now known of the variability, with varying conditions of environment, of the smaller North American mammals, it is not surprising that Dr. Merriam has found it neces- sary to recognize a considerable number of new forms. Whether their status will be that of full species or in some cases that of sub-species merely, it is evidently too early to determine. Of the eleven species here formally admitted, five are described as new, and two additional sub-species are incidentally indicated as prob- ably worthy of recognition. Heretofore it has been customary to refer the bears of North America to three groups, con- sisting of the polar bear type, the grizzly bear type and the black bear type. To these Dr. Merriam adds the Sitka bear type and the Kadiak bear type. The polar bear was long since separated from the land bears as Tholarctos maritimus (Linn.), and remains thus far a mono- typic group. The black bears were also some time since distinguished as a separate sub-genus (Euarctos Gray) of the genus Ursus, in which latter genus all the other North American bears are still retained. Dr. Merriam considers that ‘‘ the black bears may be separated into at least four species, hav- ‘ing more or less circumscribed geographic ranges.’’? He recognized of the grizzly bear group also four more or less marked forms. As distinct from the grizzlies, Dr. Merriam dis- tinguishes, as already said, two other types of large bears, one of which consists of two species and the other of one, the Ursus middendorffi, ‘the largest of living bears,’ and ‘differing markedly from the other American species.’ The species and sub-species recognized in this important paper are the following : 1. Polar Bear, Thalarctos maritimus Linn. 146 2. Kadiak Bear, Ursus middendorffi Merriam, of Kadiak and the Alaskan Peninsula. 3. Yakutat Bear Ursus dalli Merriam, from Yakutat Bay, Alaska. 4, Sitka Bear, Ursus sitkensis Merriam, from Sitka. 5. Grizzly Bear, Ursus horribilis Ord. 6. Alaska Grizzly, Ursus horribilis alascensis Merriam (nom. prob.). 7. Sonora Grizzly, Ursus horribilis horrizus Baird. 8. California Grizzly, Ursus horribilis califor- nicus Merriam (nom. prob.). 9. Barren Ground Bear, Reid. 10. Black Bear, Ursus (Euarctos) americanus Pallas. 11. Louisiana Bear, Ursus (Euarctos) luteolus Griffith. 12. Everglade Bear, Ursus (Euarctos) flori- danus Merriam. 18. Glacier Bear Ursus (Euarctos) emmonsi Dall, St. Elias Alps, Alaska. The paper is very fully illustrated, having seventeen cuts in the text and three plates, illustrating the dental and cranial characters of the forms recognized. Many of the figures of the skulls are reproductions from photographs. dia ey NS Ursus richardsont Elementarcurs der Zootomie in fiinfzehn Vorlesun- gen. Von Dr. B. HATSCHEK und Dr. C. J. Cori. Jena, Gustav Fischer. 1896. This new zootomy of viii. and 104 octavo pages, 18 plates and 4 text figures comes to us as a surprise after waiting so long (and apparently in vain) for the Vierte Lieferung of Hatschek’s Lehrbuch der Zoologie. It devotes four lec- tures to Salamandra maculosa, one to Rana temporaria, two to Anodonta mutabilis, two to Helix pomatia, two to Astacus fluviatilis, two to Periplaneta orientalis, one to Lumbricus ter- restris, and one to Hirudo medicinalis. Apus cancriformis and Hydrophilus piceus each con- stitutes an ‘Anhang’ to the eleventh and thir- teenth lecture respectively. Of the plates four are devoted to the Salamander, one to Rana, two to Anodonta, two to Helix, three to Asta- cus, one to Apus, three to Periplaneta and Hy- drophilus, one to Lumbricus and one to Hirudo. SCIENCE. [N.S. Vout. IV. No. 83. The general plan of the book is to indicate first in a table or two the systematic position of the animal to be studied; then, as an intro- duction, give a brief account of the organiza- tion and relationship of the group to which the animal belongs, and then give an account of the external and the internal anatomy of the ani- mal, preceding the accounts of the several sys- tems of organs with brief laboratory directions. Practically it is a meager laboratory guide dis- tributed in a text-book that aims to give the beginner a general survey of the animal king- dom in as short a time as possible, and with material most easily obtained at Prague. The fish is omitted because a profitable study would require too much time, and the Coelen- terata, Echinodermata and Ascidians are merely alluded to in the lectures, because laboratory work on these groups is impracticable in ‘ eines ganz elementaren Kurses.?’ When we read the lectures, the technical notes and examine the figures we exclaim what is a ‘ ganz elemen- tar Kursus’ at a university ! In the preface we are told this elementary course in zootomy is the outcome of a ten-years’ experience at the University at Prague and that with respect to ‘ Form, Inhalt und Ausdehnung’ it represents quite accurately the annual course of lectures and exercises given at the Univer- sity. The object of the course, it is stated, is to acquaint the beginner with a mass of facts that in connection with the lectures upon theoretical zoology shall constitute a foundation for more advanced study. All of this we are assured can be attained in fifteen two-hour periods! This will no doubt be welcome news to the lovers of the ‘14 weeks’ courses which many of us mention with so much respect. Personally we have no time to waste upon such courses at our colleges or uni- versities, and we even have our doubts as to their value in our high schools. It is the unanimous verdict of careful obser- vers that the American student in general is not a whit inferior to the German student, and yet these authors would have us believe their beginners in zoology study ‘in fruchtbringender — Weise’ the vascular and nervous systems of Salamandra maculosa—listening to the lecture, dissecting and making sketches and notes of = JULY 31, 1896. ] these systems—in two hours! And this at the beginning of the course! This same course also provides laboratory work on Apus and Hydroph- ilus in addition to that on two other Arthro- pods, but can not get time for any work on the fish or the Echinodermata or the Coelenterata. We can crowd ourselves enough to pass the Tunicata, but we can hardly comprehend how a man capable of beginning so promising a work as the ‘Lehrbuch der Zoologie’ can so lightly pass over these magnificent groups. As to the figures we are bound to say that in point of distinctness most of them are in- ferior to those of well known standard works. The shading is often poorly done, though they are all neat and clean. Originality, however, is hardly enough to justify a new figure, partic- ularly if it is to appear in a text-book for some good. Unless a figure is a decided improve- ment in some respect or other we prefer to have it remain the exclusive property of the author and his students. Some of the figures are of necessity so much like well known old ones that they have nothing to specially recommend them. It is undoubtedly a mistake to introduce into an elementary course individual views of mat- ters in dispute. The authors have not sinned grossly in this respect; still the ‘Cladus’ and ‘ Anhang’ ideas might have been kept out with- out impairing the value of the book. We even get the accounts of Apus and Hydrophilus as Anhange. The hope of the authors that their ‘ Buchlein’ will prove useful to others may be realized to some extent in Germany; but for the English teacher and student, excepting the descriptions and illustrations of animals not taken up so fully in other books, there is nothing in it to recommend it above any of the good books now available. Henry F. NACHTRIEB. SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. _ THE PHYSICAL REVIEW, JULY-AUGUST. On the Measurement of the Expansion of Metals by the Interferential Method: By E. W. Mor- LEY and Wm. A. Rogers. The first part of this article by Prof. Morley is devoted to a de- scription of the method used, which consists SCIENCE. 147 essentially in measuring the change in length, during the heating or cooling of a test bar, by observing the displacement of interference bands. These bands result from the interfer- ence of beams of monochromatic light reflected from mirrors which are placed at the ends of the test bar and a constant temperature bar re- spectively. A later article will contain the results of an actual trial of the method. Asin all cases where interference phenomena are used, the method demands great care in all de- tails and is capable of extreme accuracy. Prof. Morley discusses the sources of error and the means of avoiding them at some length and in avery practical manner. A difficulty which one would not be apt to think of arose when the sodium flame was used as a source of light ; for the number of bands to be counted was so great (five or six thousand) that the slight dif- ference in wave-length between the two sodium lines caused a great decrease in the visibility of the bands in certainregions. Thus when about 3,400 bands had been counted, the fringes were so obscure that the next hundred could hardly be observed at all. The Viscosity of Polarized Dielectrics : ‘By A. W. Durr. Professor Duff finds that the vis- cosity of certain non-conducting liquids, suchas glycerine and castor oil, is increased when the liquid is subjected to considerable electrostatic stress. The increase observed was small, being expressed in fractions of one per cent., but the fact of its existence seems to be definitely proved. The change was measured by observ- ing the rate of descent of small spheres which were allowed to fall through the liquid between two oppositely charged plates. If, as seems probable, Prof. Duff’s results are confirmed, we have here a new class of electrical pheno- mena, doubtless intimately connected with the electrostatic Kerr effect. Note on the Theorem of Clausius: By EDGAR BUCKINGHAM. Prof. Buckingham’s object is to give a demonstration of what we usually refer to as the ‘Second Law of Thermodynamics,’ for cases not considered in Clausius’ original proof and usually treated very briefly by his followers. The cases considered are (1) systems whose state is defined by only one coordinate besides the 148 temperature, but where the work done is not necessarily confined to overcoming pressure. The coordinate used to define the state may be of the most general type; e. g., quantity of elec- tricity, as used by Helmholtz. (2) Systems whose state is defined by more than two coor- dinates. An example of such a case would be an electrolytic cell in which the effect of pres- sure is not negligible. Professor Buckingham’s article gives an interesting discussion of the graphical, as well as the analytical, treatment of such cases. The article is one which will do good, for the subject is one which must be pre- sented in many different forms, as well as with great clearness, if our text-books are to be freed from the hazy and unsound treatments of Ther- modynamics with which they now abound. The Refractive Index and Reflecting Power of Water and Alcohol for Electric Waves: By A. D. Cote. In preliminary work the index of re- fraction for waves 260 cm. long was found to be 8.95 for water and 5.24 for alcohol. These results are in fair agreement with values ob- tained by other observers, as well as with the values computed according to Maxwell’s theory from the dielectric constants. Using much shorter waves (5 cm.) Prof. Cole then again de- termined the indices, the object being to find at what wave-length dispersion begins. The ab- sorption of both liquids was so great that a prism method could not be used, even with the delicate means at hand for detecting and meas- uring the waves. The method finally adopted depended upon the measurement of the reflect- ing power of the two liquids. The index was then computed by Fresnel’s formula. The values obtained were 8.85 for water and 3.2 for alcohol. It thus appears that there is consider- able dispersion by alcohol between the wave- lengths 260 and 5 em. A New Electrolytic Generator for Oxygen and Hydrogen: By W.S. FRANKLIN. An Apparatus for Illustrating the Laws of Fall- ing Bodies: By H. M. RANDALL and W. A. MARKEY. Books reviewed : GRAY and MATHEWs, Bes- sel Functions; GRotH, Physikalische Krystal- lographie ; JAHN, Grundriss der Thermochemie PRESTON, Light. SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. IV. No. 83. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. NORTH CAROLINA SECTION OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. THE second meeting of the North Carolina Section of the American Chemical Society was held in Chapel Hill, N. C., on July 7, 1896. The Secretary reported ten new members as received since the last meeting. After the transaction of some routine business the follow- ing papers were read: ‘Crystallized Alumin- ium,’ by F. P. Venable; ‘The Detection and Purification of Saccharin,’ by B. W. Kilgore; ‘Reduction of Sulphuric Acid,’ by C. Basker- ville; ‘A Comparison in Digestibility of Raw and Steamed Cotton Seed,’ by J. A. Bizzell and A. H. Prince; ‘An Attempt to Form Some Organic Compounds of Zirconium,’ by Thos. Clarke; ‘The Determination of Sulphur in the Presence of Iron,’ by W. A. Withers and R. G. Mewborne; ‘The Action of Phosphorus Trichloride upon an Ethereal Solution of Hy- drogen Dioxide,’ by W. A. Withers and G, §. Fraps; ‘Some Difficulties in the Way of the Periodic Law,’ by F. P. Venable. The Section then adjourned to meet in Raleigh next winter. The Section has doubled its numbers in less than six months. . NEW BOOKS. Herbart’s A B Cof Sense—Perception and Minor Pedagogical Works. Translated with Intro- duction, Notes and Commentary, by WILLIAM J. Ecxorr. New York, D. Appleton & Co. 1896. Pp. xviiit+288. $1.50. Grundriss einer exacten Schépfungsgeschichte. By HERMANN HABENICHT. Wien, Pest, Vil. Tenth Report of the New York State Entomologist, for the year 1894. J. A. LiIntNER. Albany, University of the State of New York. 1895. Pp. 341-633. . Manual of Midwifery. W. Ez. FOTHERGILL. New York and London, Macmillan & Co. 1896. Pp. xiiii+484, $2.25. The Monetary and Banking Problem. LoGAn G. McPHERSON. New York, D. Appleton & Co. 1896. Pptiv+185. $1.00. Leipzig, A. Hartleben. Pp. viii+135. Plates — CIENCE NEW SERIES. SINGLE CopPrss, 15 cTs. VoL. IV. No. 84. FRIDAY, AvuGusT us 1896. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, $5.00 The Macmillan Company’s New Books. JUST READY. THE PRINCIPLES OF THE TRANSFORMER. By Dr. FREDERICK BEDELL, of Cornell University. 8vo, CLOTH, $3.25 NET. This book contains an extensive treatment of the laws and principles governing the operation of the transformer. A feature of the work is the unity and sequence of treatment, the method of treatment being such as to make it valuable to the practicing engineer as a work of reference, and to the student as a text- book. The book contains chapters on Transformer Systems of Distribution, the Design and Construction of Transformers, Constant Current and Constant Potential Transformers, the simple theory and the general theory of Transformers, effects of hysteresis and Foucault currents, Transformer Diagrams and Transformer Testing. Graphical methods are freely employed. The. book contains about 400 pages with over 200 illustrations. Wectitectonekiven anand) Awial The Biological Problem of To=Day. Preformation or Epigenesis. The Basis of a Theory Psychology. of Organic Development. 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With illustrations. 16mo, cloth, cents. 80 cents. New Book by Sir JOHN LUBBOCK—Now Ready : The Scenery of Switzerland, arid the Causes to which it is Due. By the Right Hon. Sir JOHN LUBBOCK, Bart., M.P., F.R.S., D.C.L., LL.D. With numerous Plans and Illustrations. Crown 8vo, $1.50. By the same Author, Uniform with the above: he Beauti f N 4 The Pleasures of Life. fhe Beauttesjom Nature And the Wonders of the World we The Use of Life. Two Parts. Complete in one vol- Live In. With numerous Illus- ume. 12mo, cloth, $1.25. ‘ trations. 3d Kdition. 12mo, 12mo, cloth, $1.29. { cloth, $1.50. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, 66 Fifth Avenue, New York City. il SCIENCE.—AD VER TISEMENTS. The Rural Science Series. THE SOIL: Its Nature, Relations and Fundamental Principles of Management. By F. H. Kine, Professor of Agricultural Physics in the University of Wis- consin. With Illustrations. 12mo, cloth, 75 cents. THE SPRAYING OF PLANTS. 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The Macmillan Company, 66 Fifth Ave., NEW YORK. eliG ae Horsford’s Acid Phosphate with water and sugar only, makes a delicious, healthful and invigorating drink. Allays the thirst, aids digestion, and relieves the lassitude so common in midsummer. Dr. M. H. Henry, New York, says: ‘‘ When completely tired out by prolonged wakefulness and overwork it is of the greatest value to me. As a beverage it possesses charms beyond any- thing I know of in the form of medicine.”’ Descriptive pamphlet free. Rumford Chemical Works, Providence, R. I. Beware of Substitutes and Imitations. NEW CATALOGUE. We have recently issued a new edition, revised and enlarged to 64 pages, of our Catalogue of Books on Chemistry, Chemical Technology in Physics. It is arranged by subjects, and includes all the standard books in Chemical and Physical Science, as well as the recent literature up to date. A copy of this Catalogue will be sent free by mail to any address. D. 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THURSTON, Engineering; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry; J. LE ContTE, Geology; W. M. DAvis, Physiography; O. C. MAarsu, Paleontology; W. K. BRooKs, C. HART MERRIAM, Zoology; S. H. SCUDDER, Entomology; N. L. BRITTON, Botany; HENRY F. OSBORN, General Biology; H. P. Bowpircu, Physiology ; J. S. BILLINGS, Hygiene ; J. MCKEEN CATTELL, Psychology ; DANIEL G. BRINTON, J. W. POWELL, Anthropology ; G. BROWN GOODE, Scientific Organization. Fripay, Aucust 7, 1896. CONTENTS: Nature Study and Moral Culture: DAVID STARR al OIRIDUA WN onos so caso sa .onbnboU Ros SovonUaLaccoUsaQubuREepoboDEoE 149 Observations on the Relation of Physical Development to Intellectual Ability, made on the School Children of Toronto, Can.: G. M. WEST...........0.sccceee0: 156 A Two-headed Tortoise: ERWIN HINCKLEY ACRIB OUR awcitaissicteesniete seve ceeitince eee Aa em cate tenant tes 159 Some Difficulties in the Presentation of the Periodic 1LGTDS 1G 16) WAS P20332 01 Ob crpboe cassobon pabn ode aboseIboode 160 Current Notes on Physiography :— Hills and Plains of Southeast Louisiana ; Pimpled Prairies of Louisiana ; Lubbock’s Scenery of Switz- erland ; Report of the London Geographical Con- GEESS MEM Vfl Nin cL AVALS! osciscienisjscicneesce ste sisisiesis ousistee's 163 Current Notes on Meteorology :— Relative Humidity of New England; Protection from Frost ; Tornadoes in Texas: R. DEC. WARD..164 Current Notes on Anthropology :— Native American Textile Art ; The ‘Second Column’ of the Achemenidean Inscription: D. G. BRINTON..165 Scientific Notes and News :— Electrical Conduction at Low Temperatures ; The Diminution of Consumption ; General.............++ 165 University and Educational News :— Foreign Students in the French University ; General.169 Discussion and Correspondence :— The Personal Equation: T. H. SAFFORD. Cin- nabar and Rutile in Montana: M. BE. WADs- WORTH. Pygmy Villages discovered in the Inte- rior of Surinam, Guiana: R. G. HALIBURTON..170 Scientific Literature :-— Von Wasielewski’s Sporozoenkunde: CH. WAR- DELL STILES. Leport of the Government Ento- mologist of the Cape of Good Hope; Tenth Annual Report of the New York State Entomologist: LL. O.H. Ribot’s Psychologie des sentiments : HIRAM TMI, (SIMA ONSETINY -cooue bondaousopagecnosucosdoduonouqUScoSeBods 171 Scientific Journals :— The American Chemical Journal:: J. ELLIOTT GIR, W40@ AlOI® sconeosboaboneoccbn soc acbcoeesEdsdes 174 EMEMUM OOS edtsnn ua bien ae actslaguteceousee del ceseeaelessince se 176 MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Prof. J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y NATURE STUDY AND MORAL CULTURE.* In making a plea for nature study as a means of moral culture I do not wish to make an over-statement, nor to claim for such study any occult or exclusive power. It is not for us to say, so much nature in the schools, so much virtue in the scholars. The character of the teacher is a factor which must always be countedin. But the best teacher is the one that comes nearest to nature, the one who is most effective in developing individual wisdom. To seek knowledge is better than to have knowledge. The essence of character building lies in action. Precepts of virtue are useless un- less they are built into life. At birth or be- fore, ‘‘ the gate of gifts is closed.”’ Itis the art of life, out of variant and contradictory materials passed down to us from our an- cestors, to build up a coherent and effective individual character. Character building is action, not imitation. The chief value of nature study in character building is that, like life itself, it deals with realities. The experience of living is of itself a form of nature study. One must, in life, make his own observations, frame his own in- ductions, and apply them in action as he goes along. The habit of finding out the best thing to do next and then doing it is the basis of character. A strong character is built up by doing, not by imitation, nor * Presented at the National Educational Association at Buffalo, N. Y., July 10, 1896. 150 by feeling, nor by suggestion. Nature study if it be genuine is essentially doing. This is the basis of its effectiveness as a moral agent. To deal with truth is neces- sary if we are to know truth when we see it in action. To know truth precedes all sound morality. There is a great impulse to virtue in knowing something well. To know it well is to come in direct contact with its facts or laws; to feel that its quali- ties and forces are inevitable. To dothis is the essence of natures study in all its forms. The claim has been made that history treats of the actions of men, and that it therefore gives the student the basis of right conduct. But neither of these pro- positions is true. History treats of the records of the acts of men and nations. But it does not involve the action of the student _ himself. The men and women who act in history are not the boys and girls we are training. Their lives are developed through their own efforts, not by contemplation of the efforts of others. They work out their problem of action more surely by dissect- ing frogs or hatching butterflies than by what we tell them of Lycurgus or Joan of Are. Their reason for virtuous action must lie in their own knowledge of what is right, not in the fact that Lincoln or Wash- ington or William Tell or some other half- mythical personage would have done so and so under like conditions. The rocks and shells, the frogs and lilies, always tel] the absolute truth. Association with these, under right direction, will build up a habit of truthfulness, which the lying story of the cherry tree is powerless to effect. If history is to be an agency for moral training it must become a nature study. It must be the study of original documents. When it is studied in this way it has the value of other nature studies. But it is carried on under great limitations. Its manuscripts are scarce, while every leaf on the tree is an original document. When a thousand SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 84. are used or used up, the archives of nature are just as fullasever. From the intimate affinity with the problems of life, the prob- lems of nature study derive a large part of their value. Because life deals with reali- ties, the visible agents of the overmastering ~ fates, it is well that our children should study the real rather than the conven- tional. Let them come in contact with the inevitable instead of the made-up, with laws and forces which can be traced in ob- jects and forms actually before them rather than with those which seem arbitrary or which remain inscrutable. To use concrete illustrations, there is a greater moral value in the study of magnets than in the dis- tinction between shall and will, in the study of birds or rocks than in that of diacritical marks or postage stamps, in the development of a frog than in the longer or the shorter catechism, in the study of things than in the study of abstractions. There is doubtless a law underlying ab- stractions and conventionalities, a law of catechisms, or postage stamps, or grammati- cal solecisms, but it does not appear to the student. Its consideration does not strengthen his impression of inevitable truth. There is the greatest moral value as well as intellectual value in the inde- pendence that comes from knowing, and knowing that one knows and why he knows. This gives a spinal column to character, which is not found in the flabby goodness of imitation or the hysteric virtue of sugges- tion. Knowing what is right and why it is right before doing it is the basis of great- ness of character. The nervous system of the animal or the man is essentially a device to make action effective and to keep it safe. The animal is a machine in action. Toward the end of motion all other mental processes tend. All functions of the brain, all forms of nerve impulse, are modifications of the sim- ple reflex action, the automatic transfer of AvuGuSsT 7, 1896.] sensations derived from external objects into movements of the body. The sensory nerves furnish the animal or man all knowledge of the external world. The brain, sitting in absolute darkness, judges these sensations, and sends out cor- responding impulses toaction. Thesensory nerves are the brain’s sole teachers ; the motor nerves and through them the muscles are the brain’s only servants. The un- trained brain learns its lessons poorly and its commands are vacillating and ineffective. In like manner the brain which has been misused shows its defects in ill-chosen action, the action against which nature pro- tests through her whip of misery. In this fact that nerve alteration means ineffective action, lying brain and lying nerves, rests the great argument for temperance, the great argument against all forms of nerve tampering, from the coffee habit to the ‘ protracted meeting.’ The senses are intensely practical in their relation to life. The processes of natural selection make and keep them so. Only those phases of reality which our ancestors could render into action are shown to us by our senses. If we can do nothing in any case, we know nothing about it. The senses tell us essential truth about rocks and trees, food and shelter, friends and enemies. They answer no problems in chemistry. They tell us nothing about atom or molecule. They give us no ulti- mate facts. Whatever is so small that we cannot handle it is too small to be seen. Whatever is too distant to be reached is not truthfully reported. The ‘ X-rays’ of light we cannot see, because our ancestors could not use them. Thesun and stars, the clouds and the sky, are not at all what they appear to be. The truthfulness of the senses fails as the square of the distance in- creases. Were it not so we should be smothered by truth. We should be over- whelmed by the multiplicity of our own SCIENCE. 151 sensations, and truthful response in action would become impossible. Hyperesthesia of any or all of the senses is a source of con- fusion, not of strength. It is essentially a phase of disease and shows itself in ineffec- tiveness, not in increased power. Besides the actual sensations, the so-called realities, the brain retains also the sensations which have been and are not wholly lost. Memory pictures crowd the mind, mingling with pictures which are brought in afresh by the senses. The force of suggestion causes the mental states or conditions of one person to repeat themselves in another. Abnormal conditions of the brain itself furnish another series of feelings with which the brain must deal. Moreover the brain is charged with impulses to action, passed on from genera- tion to generation, surviving because they are useful. With all these arises the necessity for choice as a function of the mind. The mind must neglect or suppress all sensations which it cannot weave into action. The dog sees nothing that does not belong to its little world. The man in search of mushrooms, ‘ tramples down oak treesin his walks.’ ‘To select the sensations that concern us is the basis of the power of attention. The suppression of undesired actions is the function of the will. To find data for choice among the possible motor responses is a function of the intellect. In- tellectual persistency is the essence of in- dividual character. As the conditions of life become more complex it becomes necessary for action to be more carefully selected. Wisdom is the parent of virtue. Knowing what should be done logically precedes doing it. Good impulses and good intentions do not make action right or safe. In the long run action is tested, not by its motives, but by its results. The child when he comes into the world has everything to learn. His nervous sys- tem is charged with tendencies to reaction 152 and impulses to motion, which have their origin in survivals from ancestral experi- encé. Exact knowledge by which his own actions can be made exact must come through his own experience. The experi- ence of others must be expressed in terms of his own before it becomes wisdom. Wisdom is knowing what it is best to do next. Virtue is doing it. Doing right be- comes habit if it is pursued long enough. It becomes a ‘second nature’ or a higher heredity. The formation ofa higher hered- ity of wisdom and virtue of knowing right and doing right is the essence of character building. The moral character is based on knowing the best, choosing the best and doing the best. It cannot be built up on imitation. By imitation, suggestion and conventionality the masses are formed and controlled. To build up a man isa noble process, demanding materials and methods of a higher order. The function of individ- ual education is to break up the masses. Only the robust man can make history. Others may adorn it, disfigure it or vulgarize it. The growth of man is the assertion of individuality. The first relation of the child to external things is expressed in this : What can I do with it? What is itsrelation tome? The sensation goes over into thought, the thought into action. Thus the impression of the object is built into the little universe of his mind. The object and the action it implies are closely associated. As more objects are apprehended, more complex re- lations arise, but the primal condition re- mains. WhatcanIdowithit? Sensation, thought, action—this is the natural sequence of each completed mental process. As vo- lition passes over into action, so does science into art, knowledge into power, wisdom into virtue. By the study of realities wisdom is built up. In the relation of objects he can touch and move, the child comes to find the limita- SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 84. tions of his power, the laws that govern phenomena and to which his actions must be in obedience. So long as he deals with realities these laws stand in their proper relation. ‘So simple, so natural, so true,”’ says Agassiz. ‘This is the charm of deal- ing with nature herself. She brings us back to absolute truth so often as we wan- der.”’ So long as a child is led from one reality to another, never lost in words or in ab- stractions, so long this natural relation re- mains. ‘ Whatcan I do with it?” is the be- ginning of wisdom. ‘‘ What isitto me?” is the basis of personal virtue. So long as a child remains about the home of his boyhood he knows which way is north and which is east. He does not need to orient himself, because in his short trips he never loses his sense of space di- rection. But let him take a rapid journey in the cars or in the night and he may find himself in strange relations. The sun no longer rises in the east, the sense of reality in direction is gone, and it is a painful ef- fort for him to join the new impressions to the old. The process of orientation is a difficult one, and if facing the sunrise in the morning were a deed of necessity in his re- ligion this deed would not be accurately performed. This homely illustration applies to the child. He is taken from his little world of realities, a world in which the sun rises in the east, the dogs bark, the grasshopper leaps, and the water falls, and the relations of cause and effect appear simple and natural. In these simple relations moral laws become evident. ‘‘The burnt child dreads the fire,’’ and this dread shows itself in action. The child learns what to do next, and to some extent does it. By prac- tice in personal responsibility in little things, he can be led to wisdom in large ones. For the power to do great things in the moral world comes from doing the right AuGusT 7, 1896. ] in small things. It is not often that a man who knows that there is a right does the wrong. Men who. do wrong are either ignorant that there is a right or else they have failed in their orientation and look upon right as wrong. It is the clinching of good purposes with good actions that - makes theman. This is the higher heredity; _ that is not the gift of father or mother, but is the man’s own work on himself. The impression of realities is the basis of sound _ morals as well as of sound intellect. By _ adding near things to near, the child tends to grow into wisdom. ‘ Knowledge set in _ order’ is science. Nature study is the beginning of science. _ Itis the science of the child. To the child training in methods of acquiring knowledge ___ is more valuable than knowledge itself. In general throughout life sound methods are more important than sound information. _ Self-direction is more important than inno- cence. The fool may be innocent ; only the __ sane and the wise can be virtuous. ____It is the function of science to find out a the real nature of the universe. Its pur- pose is to eliminate the personal equation * and the human equation in statements of _ truth. By methods of precision of thought _ and instruments of precision in observation ‘ it seeks to make our knowledge of the 4 small, the distant, the invisible, the myste- TG, as accurate as our knowledge of the ommon things men have handled for ages. _ It seeks to make our knowledge of common _ things exact and precise that exactness and _ precision may be translated into action. _ The ultimate end of science, as well as its _ initial impulse, is the regulation of human _ conduct. To make right action possible ik and prevalent is the function of science. The ‘world as it is’ is the province of cience. In proportion as our actions con- orm to the conditions of the world as it is _ do we find the world beautiful, EL ouOue, divine. The truth of the ‘world as it is’ SCIENCE. fancies and realities. 153 must be the ultimate inspiration of art, poetry and religion. The world, as men have agreed to say it is, is quite another matter. The less our children hear of this, the less they will have to unlearn in their future development. When a child is taken from nature to the schools he is usually brought into an at- mosphere of conventionality. Here he is not to do, but to imitate ; not to see nor to handle, nor create, but to remember. He is, moreover, to remember not his own re- alities, but the written or spoken ideas of others. He is dragged through a wilder- ness of grammar with thickets of diacritical marks into the desert of metaphysics. He is taught to do right, not because right action is in the nature of things, the nature of himself and the things about him, but because he will be punished somehow if he does not. , He is brought into a medley of words without ideas. He is taught declensions and conjugations without number in his own and other tongues. He learns things easily by rote, so his teachers fill him with rote learning. Hence grammar and lan- guage have become stereotyped as educa- tion, without a thought as to whether un- digested words may be intellectual poison. And as the good heart depends on the good brain, undigested ideas become moral poison as well. In such manner the child is bound to lose his orientation as to the forces which surround him in life. If he does not re- cover it he will live in a world of mixed Nonsense will seem half truth, and his appreciation of truth will be vitiated by its lack of clearness of definition, by its close relation to nonsense. That this is no slight defect can be shown in every community. There is no intellec- tual craze so absurd as not to have a follow- ing among educated men and women. There is no scheme for the renovation of 154 the social order so silly that educated men will not invest their money in it. There is no medical fraud so shameless that educa- ted men will not give it their certificate. There is no nonsense so unscientific thatmen ealled educated will not accept it as science. It should be a function of the schools to build up common sense. Folly should be crowded out of the schools. We have built costly lunatic asylums for its accommoda- tion. That our schools are in a degree re- sponsible for current follies there can be no doubt. We have among us many teachers who have never seen a truth in their lives. There are many who have never felt the impact of an idea. There are many who have lost their own orientation in their youth, and who have never since been able to point out the sunrise to others. It is no extravagance of language to say that diacritical marks lead to the cocoaine habit, nor that the ethics of metaphysics points the way to the higher foolishness. There are many links in the chain of decadence, but its finger posts all point downward. “Three roots bear up dominion, knowl- edge, will, the third obedience.” This statement which Lowell applies to nations belongs to the individual man as well. It is written in the structure of his brain: Knowledge, Volition, Action ; and all three elements must be sound if action is to be safe or effective. But obedience must be active, not passive. The obedience of the lower animals is auto- matic, and therefore in its limits measurably perfect. Lack of obedience means the ex- tinction of the race. Only the obedient sur- vive, and hence comes about obedience to ‘sealed orders,’ obedience by reflex action in which the will takes little part. In the early stages of human development the instincts of obedience were dominant. Great among these was the instinct of con- ventionality by which each man follows the path others have found safe. The Church SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 84. and the State, organizations of the strong, have assumed the direction of the weak. It has often resulted that the wiser this direction the greater the weakness it was called on to control. The ‘sealed orders’ of human institutions took the place of the automatism of instinct. Against ‘sealed orders’ the individual man has been in con- stant protest. The ‘ Warfare of Science’ was part of this long struggle. The Refor- mation, the Revival of Learning, the Growth of Democracy, are all phases of this great conflict. The function of democracy is not good government. If that were allit would not deserve the efforts spent on it. Better government than any king or congress or democracy has yet given could be obtained through the automatic processes of competi- tive examinations. By this we could get along with one-half our number of rulers and at one-fourth the present cost. Hven an ordinary intelligence office or employ- ment bureau for statesmen would serve us better than we are served by caucus and convention. Butnotforlong. The people who could be ruled in this way would bea people not worth saving. But this is not the point at issue. Government too good as well as too bad may have a baneful influ- ence on men. Its character is a secondary matter. The function of self-government is to intensify individual responsibility, to promote abortive attempts at wisdom, through which true wisdom may come at last. Democracy is a nature study on a grand scale. The Republicis a huge labora- tory of civics, a laboratory in which strange experiments are performed, but by which, as in other laboratories, wisdom may arise from experience, and having arisen may work itself out into virtue. ‘¢ The oldest and best endowed university in the world,” Dr. Parkhurst tells us, ‘is life itself.”” ‘‘ Problems tumble easily apart in the field that refuse to give up their secret in the study or even in the closet. Ne AuGuST 7, 1896. ] Reality is what educates us, and reality never comes so close to us with all its powers of discipline as when we encounter it in action. In books we find truth in black and white, but in the rush of events we see truth at work. It is only when truth is busy and we are ourselves person- ally mixed up in its activities that we learn of how much we are capable, or win the power by which these capabilities can be made over into effect.”’ Mr. Jackman has well said: ‘ Children always start with imitation, and very few people ever get beyond it. The true moral act, however, is one performed in accord- ance with a known law that is just as natural as the law which determines which way a stone shall fall. The individual becomes moral in the highest sense when he chooses to obey this law by acting in ac- cordance with it.”’ Conventionality is not morality Soe may co-exist with vice as well as with virtue ; for the obedience which lasts is the ea. uct of individual knowledge and will. It is the progressive response to higher and higher laws and as the individual comes to recognize them in his own experience. The welfare of man is not primarily security from deception and evil influences. It goes with the growth of his power to recognize illusions and to base his action on realities. Obedience induced by deception cannot be permanent. Wrong information, it is true, may lead to right action, as falsehood may secure obedience to a natural law which would otherwise be violated. But in the long run, men and nations pay dearly for every illusion they chefish. For every sick man healed at Denver or Lourdes, ten well men will be made sick. Faith cure and patent medicine feed on the same vic- tims. For every Schlatter who is worship- ped as a saint, some equally harmless lunatic will be stoned as a witch. This scientific age is beset by the non-science which its ' SCIENCE. 155 altruism has made safe. The development of the common sense of the people has given security to a vast cloud of follies, which would be destroyed in the unchecked com- petition of life. It is the soundness of our age which has made what we call its deca- dence possible. It is the undercurrent of science which has given security to human life, a security which obtains for fools as well as for sages. or protection against all these follies which so soon fall into vices or decay into in- sanity, we must look to the schools. A . sound recognition of cause and effect in human affairs is our best safeguard. The old common sense of the ‘ unhighschooled man,’ aided by instruments of precision and directed by logic, must be carried over into the schools. Clear thinking and clean acting, we believe, is a product of the study of nature. When men have made them- selves wise, in the wisdom which may be completed in action, they have never failed to make themselves good. When men have become wise with the lore of others, the learning which ends in self and does not spend itself in action, they have been neither virtuous nor happy. ‘‘ Much study is a weariness of the flesh.”” Thought, without action, ends in intense fatigue of soul, the disgust with all the ‘sorry scheme of things entire,’ which is the mark of the unwholesome and insane philosophy of pes- simism. This philosophy finds its condem- nation in the fact thatit has never yet been translated into pure and helpful life. With our children the study of words and abstractions alone may in its degreee pro- duce thesame results. Nature studieshave long been valued as a‘ means of grace’ be- cause they arouse the enthusiasm, the love of work, which belongs to open-eyed youth. The child blasé with moral precepts and irregu- lar conjugations turns with delight to the unrolling of ferns and the song of birds. There is a moral training in clearness and 156 tangibility. An occult impulse to vice is hidden in all vagueness and in all teach- ings meant to be heard, but not to be understood. Nature is never obscure, never occult, never esoteric. She must be questioned in earnest, else she will not re- ply. But to every serious question she re- turns a serious answer. ‘Simple, natural and true’ should make the impression of simplicity and truth. Truth and virtue are but opposite sides of the same shield. As leaves pass over into flowers and flowers into fruit, so are wisdom, virtue and happi- ness inseparably related. DAyiID STARR JORDAN. OBSERVATIONS ON THE RELATION OF PHYS- ICAL DEVELOPMENT TO INTELLECTUAL ABILITY, MADE ON THE SCHOOL CHILDREN OF TORONTO, CANADA. In the spring of 1892 Dr. Franz Boas, then of Clark University, Worcester, Mass., obtained the necessary permission from the Toronto School Board to make anthropo- metric observations upon the school chil- dren of that city. The observations were made by the teachers of the various schools upon the children under their immediate charge. The teachers were instructed as to the method of taking the measurements by Mr. A. F. Chamberlain of Clark Univer- sity, and the subsequent work was carried on under his immediate supervision. The measurements made by the teachers were stature, weight and finger reach. Besides the statistical information regarding age, sex, parentage, etc., the teachers were also requested to group the children as to their mental ability into three as nearly as possi- ble equal divisions of ‘good,’ ‘average’ and ‘poor.’ They were to make their esti- mate, not on the mere class standing, which would be influenced by such irrelevant mat- ters as regularity and punctuality of at- tendance, etc., but upon the observed natural intellectual quickness, general aptitude for SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 84. assimilation of ideas and initiative. Atthe same time that these observations were car- ried on, a similar series of observations was being made in Worcester. There it was soon made manifest that any such classifica- tion of children’s mental ability would be very greatly influenced by the mental cali- bre of the teacher making such classifica- tion, and in all cases it rested almost exclu- sively upon the markings of the class book. There was a further fact which was brought oars. \9 {5 (1. [xteoremea| +t Hoys Dature. A -1 un Girls Stalare. ei Sounds. Hos Weight. / +% } 5 y +1 | i, | Girls Weight. *y F i 5) cee za =1 cu. 3) oy Singer-veach. very sharply to my notice, and that was that in most class rooms there were no poor scholars. The teachers were perfectly will- Avaust 7, 1896.] ing to classify the scholars as of ‘ good’ and ‘average’ intelligence, but any intimation of the presence of ‘ poor’ or stupid scholars was taken as a personal reflection upon the teacher of the class in question. The re- sult was that what was primarily intended for a classification upon the lines of excel- lence, mediocrity and stupidity became a classification upon the basis of the two first qualities only. What occurred in Worces- ter was evidently the key to what occurred in Toronto. There also the ‘ poor’ students were no more than a mere handful and had to be disregarded in making up the material from the point of view of the groups ‘ good,’ ‘average,’ ‘ poor,’ though not with regard to the general average of the city. Between the other two classes the material was quite evenly distributed. The stature was taken, the child standing erect, heels together and shoes removed, by means of a straight rod marked in centi- meters against which the child stood, an arm at right angles to the upright being brought in contact with the top of its head and the scale read at the nearest centimeter. For finger reach the child was required to stand straight, place the middle finger of one hand against the wall and stretch with both arms at their greatest extent along the rod mentioned before, held horizontally at the height of its arm, the arm of the rod being brought in touch with the middle fin- ger of its other hand and the scale read as before at the nearest centimeter. The weight was taken on the ordinary weighing scales in ordinary indoor costume and was re- corded in pounds. _ The material has been arranged accord- ing to sex and age, the children being grouped according to age within the full year, 2. ¢., children between five and six are classed as five years of age. Thus the chil- dren are on an average a half year older than the tables represent. The separation into annual groups being made, the various SCIENCE. 157 measurements were then tabulated and the average found. This was done by taking the sum of the observations of one kind within the year and dividing the result by the total number of cases for the same year. In working up this material it was neces- sary first to form the general average for each series of observations for the whole school population and then the averages of the two classes of ‘good’ and ‘poor’ stu- dents. The averages of these two classes were then compared with the general averages. We have, therefore, in our tables six groups, three for boys and three for girls. Examining the tables we find that the general rule is that the ‘ poor’ children are more fully developed than the ‘ good’ chil- dren, though in each series of measure- ments there are one or two cases where the ‘good’ children show a higher average than the ‘poor.’ These cases are generally near the latter end of the series. In the case of girls’ stature this is so at fourteen years, of boys’ weight at thirteen years, while for girls’ weight it is at ten years. In the case of boys’ and girls’ finger reach, the pre- ponderance of the ‘ good’ is seen at thirteen and fourteen. Again, in boys’ weight the ‘good ’ are the heavier from five to seven, inclusive, and the finger reach at six and seven. The most striking difference be- tween the two groups is in the case of stat- ure for both sexes. The ‘poor’ are the better developed throughout, except, as be- fore noticed, in the case of girls of fourteen and possibly boys of thirteen. There is generally about half an inch difference in the averages of the two groups in favor of the ‘ poor’ students. In the case of weight this difference is not so marked. The reason for these differences is prob- ably the following: As I have said, the children of ‘ good’ ability were probably so designated from their class standing, and their class standing was undoubtedly in 158 many cases due to a greater amount of ‘pushing’ on the part of their parents. This would naturally mean a dimunition in the amount of exercise, resulting in de- creased rate of growth, while, on the other hand, their more sedentary life would re- sult in a greater relative girth and conse- quent weight. The weight depending on the stature as well as on the girth, we have the reason for the less marked difference in weight between these two classes than be- tween the same classes in respect to stature. The difference in stature is fairly constant ; the difference in weight fluctuates consider- ably. We see here, from both points of view, the relative effects of insufficient and of proper exercise. On comparing the dif- ference between the two pairs of groups of the girls and the corresponding groups of the boys we find that there is less contrast in the case of the former than in that of the latter. The diagram illustrating the girls’ stature is fairly regular in both groups and the difference fairly constant and comparable with that of boys. But when we examine the weight groups we find the girls’ diagrams to be much more irregular and the differences much more marked. It is difficult to estimate the cause of this difference, unless it be that the difference in exercise taken by the two groups of girls is more than that taken by the two groups of boys, though the reverse would seem to be most probable. The meaning of the remarkable irregularity of the curves of finger reach is not apparent. The differences in favor of the ‘ poor’ chil- dren is due to the fact that the finger reach bears a fairly constant, though not exact, ratio to the stature. This is seen in the general trend of the curves of stature and of finger reach. On the whole, we may from these obser- vations consider it safe to say that precocity bears an inverse ratio to bodily develop- ment. In making this statement, however, SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 84. we are directly contradicting the result set forth by Dr. W. Townsend Porter, in his paper on ‘The physical basis of precocity and dullness’ (Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, Vol. VIL, No. 7). A short discussion will per- haps show the reason for this discrepancy. In the first place, we find that Dr. Porter has grouped his material in two ways; first as to age, and next within the age, as to school grades. In this way he has made the school grade of the pupil the criterion of his mental powers. The policy of this arrangement will be appreciated at once when it is remembered that the school grade of the child depends partly upon the age at which he entered school, e. g., a child who enters the I. grade at nine years of age will naturally not be so far advanced in his studies as a child who enters that grade at six years of age, and who at nine years would naturally be in the IV. grade. Again, it would be necessary to ascertain whether the pupil has been able to attend regularly. The reason of the two chil- dren’s entrance at the respective ages mentioned might depend upon a variety of causes irrelevant to the question of their mental caliber, as means, health, and, in the case of a large heterogeneous population, knowledge of the language. Any or all of these would serve to determine the child’s grade irrespective of its ability. In the ma- terial obtained from Toronto this error has ° been avoided by considering the two ques- tions of school standing in the class and the measurement, and these only. We thus avoid the question of the age at which the child first entered school, and the question whether its attendance has been contin- uous. Dr. Porter ignores these and evi- dently proceeds on the hypothesis that all children enter school at the same age and © pursue their studies uninteruptedly there- — after, both of which are assuredly far from being the case. Again, while in arranging AUGUST 7, 1896. ] his material, he has grouped all children as of the same age who have, e. g., passed their ninth birthday and not yet reached their tenth; he has again ignored the fact that the majority of children enter school at the beginning of the year and not during the term, thus in this way still further throw- ing out his calculation. G. M. West. A TWO-HEADED TORTOISE. INQUIRIES from various quarters have been made so repeatedly for the sequel to the brief story of a young two-headed tor- toise, Chrysemys picta, published in . the American Journal of Science for October, 1888, that the author is led to believe that a pub- lic account thereof will serve more useful ends than many private ones. In order that the sequel may be more intelligible to all, a brief resumé of the first paper will be given. The young tortoise, hatched but a day or so, was found in the marshes bordering West River, New Haven, Conn. The cara- pace, which was somewhat broader than long and slightly distorted, bore the cus- Fig. 1. Dorsal view of the two-headed tortoise Chrysemys picta. tomary legs and tail, but there were two perfectly developed heads and necks. ‘SCIENCE. 159 The author visited and studied this little monstrosity almost daily for weeks. It lived and thrived and grew appreciably during that time. Its charm was in the very perfection of its imperfection. Such a oneness of two with individuality preserved is not to be found. In one carapace there were two alimentary systems, two nervous Fig. 2. Ventral view of the same. systems, two respiratory and circulatory systems, two muscular and bony systems. Each was double in part at least. There were two wills, for the heads fought con- tinually for the rights of their common shell and for their food. There were two dispositions ; the one quicker, more timid and more irascible ; the other stolid. Each head could hear, see, eat, drink and breathe independently. Though afterwards acquired, there was originally no concerted action between the right side and the left. However, with surprising frequency, the two did act in unison, and simultaneously, as if there were correlation by a common nervous Sys- tem. They might, or they might not, each drink, sleep or swim, as each willed. When one side with its organs and appendages 160 slept, or was inert, the other with this dead weight as a center could but describe a cir- cle—a course which it found endless. Here then arose a beautiful example of adapta- bility. It learned to drag itself sideways, wherever it would—over the whole yard. This was the right half (never the left) which has been spoken of as having a timid, quick and irascible temperament. They swam together well, but walked together awkwardly. As they walked, the fore legs acted simultaneously, so in turn the hind legs, leaving alternately the front and back of the shell without. support. Thus by a slow teetering, or rocking gait, they could go where they would. In starting they al- most invariably pulled persistently in oppo- site directions, which drew them laboriously backward three or four feet. Resting a moment, they would start together, as described above, and make the circuit of the yard. With fate against them, they adapted themselves to their condition so admirably, and excited the admiration of so many that a false and exaggerated value was put upon them. Showmen offered sums out of all proportion to the actual value, which were rejected by the owners. Ifso highly prized then it should in all con- sistency have been more zealously guarded. But while at large with other similar pets, a prowling cat singled out this one and pounced upon it. It was secured at once, but not before it had tumbled down the stone steps leading to the cellar. It was returned to its aquarium, where the right head came out from its protecting shell at once; likewise the left head a half hour later. The next day it was itselfagain. It ate, walked and swam as usual, save the left head refused food, which was not un- usual. The second day it was itself still, though the left head would take no food. On ‘the third day it drooped. Though rallying at times and hurrying about as SCIENCE, ° [N.S. Vou. LV. No. 84. usual, the left one was soon dead, as were also the left legs. The cat’s claw had pierced the neck close to the shell. The distress and uneasiness of the surviving half was very apparent. All its energies and activities were redoubled, yet it died in two and one-half hours later. Up to this time its only sign of weakness was an oeca- sional gaping as if for more air. This little monstrosity’s short life con- tinued from the first of June to the middle of September. Erwin HIncKLEY BARBOUR. THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA. SOME DIFFICULTIES 1N THE PRESENTATION OF THE PERIODIC LAW. Tue Periodic Law contains so much that is true, and promises so much further reve- lation as to the connection between the ele- ments and the relations of their atomic weights, valence and other properties, that its permanent position in the science is as- sured. It truly deserves the name of the Natural System, first given it by Mendeléeff, but abandoned because it had been used some twenty years before by Odling for a very different sort of arrangement. Itstands before us to-day as the statement of a nat- ural law, though as yet undeveloped and im- perfectly understood. There can, therefore, be no question as to the acceptance of the law of the inter-dependence of the atomic weights and other properties, and the pecu- liar relationship of the elements now known as the Periodic Law. This must be the basis of the science, and the proper formulation of the law will contribute to a wonderful de- velopment of it in the future. But there may well be question as to the acceptance of any of the present statements of the law. The systematic arrangements of Mendeléeff or Meyer or Bayley are all necessarily tentative because of the serious imperfections in our knowledge. There is a probability that new elements will be dis- Avuaust 7, 1896.] covered. The properties including the im- portant physical constants of even the well- known elements and their compounds are quite imperfectly known. A great deal of the future work of the chemist must be de- voted to the detailed and patient study of the multitudinous compounds already known, as well as to the formation of new ones. The increased knowledge of the future will render changes and modifications neces- sary in any one of the present systems, or, perhaps, will set all of them aside and evolve out of them one which will perfectly present the truths ofthe law. Understand- ing the heading of this paper to refer then not to the law itself, but rather to the pres- ent arrangements of the elements under that law, let us briefly look at some of the difficulties in their way. An impartial observer would notice first the large number of unknown elements, necessary for the completion of most of these arrangements. Mendeléeff has blank spaces for at least thirty-five new elements, or, if a hydrogen period below lithium be granted, then forty-one more elements must be discovered somewhere, or more than one- third of the total supposed number. It would almost seem unreasonable to found any system upon the imperfect knowledge of less than two-thirds of the individuals to be included in it, were it not borne in mind that the ones now known constitute all but a small fraction of the matter of which the universe is composed, and again that they fall in the system in regular consecutive order, leaving only one unoccupied space among the first fifty-two members accord- ing to Mendeléeff. Even this blank has been filled, if the recent discovery of an ele- ment in monazite having an atomic weight of approximately 100 be confirmed. Modifications of the Mendeléeff system do _ not require so large a number of additional elements for their completion, eight or ten SCIENCE. 161 satisfying all apparent requirements. In case the Mendeléeff system is correct, where are these to come from? The close scrutiny to which all terrestrial forms of matter have been subjected by chemical and spectro- scopic analysis leaves little material to be called upon as the source of these elements. Still the recent discoveries of argon and helium teach us not to be too positive in our exclusion of unknown elements because of past investigations. The so-called rare earths will unquestionably yield several new elements. It seems a great pity that this scarce and valuable material cannot be collected and placed in the hands of some patient investigators whose labors might be supported from some research fund and who could tell us then just what the science had to expect from this source. A further thought is that some of these elements may not occur in nature, but that the future may teach us some way of synthesizing them, and then the whole list can be filled out. The brilliant victory over the difficulties surrounding the chemistry of the sugars and their synthesis, filling out their system so meagerly outlined in nature, would be ground for encouragement as to possible conquests among the elements. The anomalous position of hydrogen forms a second objection to the Periodic Law. It is not counted in any of the periods of seven or of seventeen. Its intro- duction into any system in which the ar- rangement depends upon increasing atomic weight would throw out the sequence of the elements. Placing hydrogen at the head of the system, with connecting lines to all seven of the first period, as has been done by some, is a very questionable expedient. This is simply an unjustifiable return to the Prou- tian hypothesis, and is a violent distortion of all the facts concerning valence, positive and negative properties etc, for which the table is supposed to stand, and lastly it does not relieve the anomaly of the position. 162 A second supposition that hydrogen is the initial member of a period of seven which precedes Mendeléeff’s typical ele- ments, but which are as yet unknown, is much more plausible. The discovery of helium, and perhaps another element with very low atomic weight, lends strength to this supposition. Certainly the present anomalous position of hydrogen is a serious blot upon the system. Wurtz has pointed out two difficulties in the system, both of which bear upon the nature of periodicity. The first is the lack of regularity in the differences between suc- cessive elements, and the second is that the gradations in properties do not seem to de- pend upon the degree of these differences. It has been also pointed out that the use of the term periodic in the case of these varia- tions is not astrictly mathematical one, and — that these periods, in passing from negative to positive values, should pass through a transition stage of either zero or infinity. It is true that very little has been done to dis- cover the nature or the laws of this so- ealled periodicity, though some of the modi- fications of Mendeléeff’s table make some points clearer and remove some difficulties. Chemists have generally contented them- selves with calling any successive increases or decreases in properties periodic, whether they exhibited any regularity or not. This is too slovenly and unsatifactory for a true science, and those who love the science must labor to remove such a reproach. The ob- stacles to success are first inaccurate knowl- edge of the properties, and in some cases the absence of any definite standard of measure- ment for these properties. Minor difficulties lie in the relative posi- tion of certain elements. Some are far from satisfied with the position assigned the triad, iron, cobalt and nickel. In some respects they are out of line with some of the elements apparently closely alliedtothem. Perhaps when what Blanchard has called ‘ cross an- SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 84. alogies’ are better understood these matters © will be made clearer. In the cases of at least two sets of ele- ments, tellurium and iodine, and cobalt and nickel, the very best determinations of their atomic weights would place them in differ- ent relative positions from those demanded by the periodic system. These determina- tions have been repeatedly revised in the past few years, and yet the system still seems at fault. Which is wrong, the system or the investigations of the atomic weights ? So many difficulties surround these deter- minations, and so many chances for errors lie in their paths, that most will decide in | favor of the system and call for more thor- ough and patient search after impurities and imperfections of methods in the pre- vious determinations. The discovery of argon and helium has been regarded by some as giving a most telling blow to the periodic system. Arti- cle after article has been written on their possible position in the system. Several originators of systems have claimed to have predicted these new bodies. No supposed property nor absence of property staggers these prophets. They have foreseen every- thing. The whole question is, however, premature. Manifestly the position of any newly discovered element cannot be fixed until two things are definitely settled: first, the elemental character; and secondly, the more salient properties, as atomic weight, valence, etc. These questions are yet to be settled for the substances named, and there ‘are some serious difficulties in the way of those investigating them. Until these ques- tions are answered nothing can be done, and certainly a system which has answered ad- mirably for so many of the elements is not to be given up on the half knowledge and half guess-work which surround the two newly found bodies. F,. P. VENABLE. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. Auaust 7, 1896.] CURRENT NOTES ON PHYSIOGRAPHY. HILLS AND PLAINS OF SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA, Tue State Experiment Station at Baton Rouge has just issued a report on the Florida parishes of east Louisiana and the bluff, prairie and hill lands of southwest Louisiana, by W.' W. Clendenin, of the State University, with a lucid account of the topography and drainage. East of Baton Rouge the ‘pine hills’ grade west- ward into the ‘bluff’ district toward the Mississippi, and southward into the ‘ pine flats’ toward the sea marsh. The ‘pine hills’ have a mature topography, produced by pre-Columbian dissection of Lafayette strata, and now thinly veneered by the loam of Columbian submergence. The streams still occupy their pre-Columbian courses, giving typical examples of resur- rected drainage. Passing towards the Mis- sissippi the veneer of Columbia thickens ; the pre-Columbian topography fades away, and at last disappears beneath the flat cover of ‘ bluff’ or loess. Here the topography is adolescent; extensive interstream plains still standing between narrow, steep-sided valleys. The ‘pine flats’ are an infantile coastal plain of Columbia clays, so level that the rainfall is hardly gathered into streams ; the larger water courses seeming to be the seaward extensions of the resurrected streams from the ‘ pine hills.’ PIMPLED PRAIRIES OF SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA. THE same report describes the coastal prairies of southwest Louisiana, upon which there are numerous mounds, especially around the sulphur district of Calcasieu parish, but extending also inland to the ‘pine hills’ and seaward to the coastal marsh. The mounds are roughly circular in outline, about fifty feet in diameter and up to ten feet in height; always arranged in zones or intersecting systems of lines, never solitary. They are more sandy than the argillaceous prairie, and hence are drier SCIENCE. 163 and support trees and a better pasture grass than that of the marshy plain. Clendenin discards Hilyard’s explanation of themounds as ant hills, and follows Hopkins in compar- ing them to ‘mud lumps,’ formed by the es- cape of gas from beneath ; adding that the zonal and linear arrangement of the mounds may be accounted for by associating them with the radial and branching fractures that diverge from earthshock centers. Ac- cording to this theory, ants, like plants, oc- cupy the mounds but do not make them. LUBBOCK’S SCENERY OF SWITZERLAND. Tuts admirable book (Macmillan, 1896) shows how thoroughly a sagacious amateur may follow, appreciate and transmit to a large circle of readers the best physiographic results gained by geologists and geographers of Switzerland. The many essays and memoirs quoted appear to have been inter- preted, and indeed verified on the ground, during the authors’ vacations during the past thirty years. Beginning with geo- logical structure, chapters follow on glaciers present and past, rivers, valleys, lakes, in- fluence of strata on form, the Jura, the central plain, the outer Alps and the central massives ; then come ten other chapters on districts of particular interest, such as Lake Geneva, Mont Blanc, the Rhine, the Reuss. etc., closing with a general summary. There is no book in English in which so compact and accurate an account of the physiography of Switzerland is to be found. Itis on every account to be most warmly welcomed and commended to stu- dents, travelling or at home. The contests and exchanges between the several branch- es of the upper Rhine are well presented, after Heim ; but the processes by which a river may come to follow an anticlinal axis, and the many ways in which rivers may - come to cross mountain ridges, are not fully appreciated. The delta-like origin of the Rigi conglomerates, now overturned ; the 164 ‘dead valleys’ of the plain, once occupied by larger streams; the warping of valleys to produce lakes—these and many other topics are most acceptably treated. REPORT OF THE LONDON GEOGRAPHICAL CON- GRESS. A voLuME of almost a thousand pages, edited by Dr. Mill, now presents in full and in the original language the papers read at the Sixth International Geographical Con- gress in London last summer (Murray, 1896). The volume is so large, and so much mention was made of the proceed- ings of the Congress in current journals, that an abstract of the Report is now neither possible nor necessary. The ac- count by Levasseur of the status of geo- graphical instruction in France is of much value as illustrative of a highly formu- lated system. Penck presents his geomor- phological nomenclature, in which he in- troduces the idea of stage of development, but hardly extends it as faras seems desirable to many, some of his fundamental forms being the products of erosion. On the whole, physiographical problems attracted little attention alongside of subjects of greater popular interest, such as polar ex- _ploration, or the habitability of Africa by the white race. Lallemand, director of gen- eral levellings in France, makes the fol- lowing surprising statement, displacing a view supposed to be orthodox: The in- equality of level between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, determined by former French and Spanish levels, and explained by the different densities in the two bodies, does not exist; the illusory results being due to systematic errors of early observa- tions, and to the superficial character of the observations made on the salinity of sea water. Whether the density currents at the Strait of Gibraltar must also be given up is not told. W. M. Davis. HARVARD UNIVERSITY, SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 84. CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. RELATIVE HUMIDITY OF NEW ENGLAND. Buiuetin No. 19 of the Weather Bureau is a Report on the Relative Humidity of Southern New England and other Localities, by A. J. Henry. The investigation, the results of which are now published, was undertaken in order to ascertain how the humidity con- ditions of the South compare with those of New England and other places where cot- ton is manufactured, cotton manufacture, as is well known, being to a considerable extent dependent on the humidity of the at- mosphere. It appears that hitherto in the development of the cotton manufacturing industry but little account has been taken of climatic conditions as affecting the quan- tity or quality of the output, and that the control of temperature and humidity by artificial means is the final solution of the problem when the establishment of mills in a relatively dry section is contemplated. PROTECTION FROM FROST. Tur Weather Bureau has issued a short pamphlet entitled Injury from Frost and Methods of Protection (Weather Bureau No. 86,) by Hammon. The formation of frosts ; the best locations for orchards or gardens to avoid injury by frost; the methods of protection and times when protection is needed, are considered. TORNADOES IN TEXAS, MAY 12 AND 15. Durine the spring a number of destructive tornadoes were recorded in our Southern and Western States. The local tornadoes which occurred in northern Texas on May 12 and 15 are described by Cline in Special Bulletin No. 8 of the Texas Climate and Crop Service. On May 12 two distinct tor- nadoes occurred, and on May 15 four were noted. The usual phenomena accompanied - the disturbances. R. Dr C. WARD. HARVARD UNIVERSITY. AUGUST 7, 1896. ] CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. NATIVE AMERICAN TEXTILE ART. A MONOGRAPH of much beauty and inter- est has lately appeared from the pen of Prof. W. H. Holmes, of the Field Colum- bian Museum. Its subject is the ‘ Prehis- toric Textile Art of the Eastern United States,’ and it a portion of the 13th An- nual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology. The topics taken up are the basketry, matting, cloths, nets, feather- work, embroidery and wattling of the In- dians in the region designated, as these arts existed before the arrival of the white man. The primitive methods of spinning and weaving are explained, and the various knots and stitches illustrated by numerous engravings. Incidentally, the styles of clothing in former use are touched upon. A chapter is added on ‘fossil fabrics,’ by which is meant those exhumed from caves, mounds, shelters and other deposits supposed by some to be the relics of a pre- Indian population. The result of the in- vestigation here is noteworthy and adds to the evidence that it seems impossible to get away from the Red Indian in the Hastern United States. ‘Charred cloths from the great mounds are identical in material, combination of parts and texture with the fabrics of the simple savage.”’ Nothing in them indicates a higher development of the art than was possessed by Algonkins and Iroquois. THE ‘SECOND COLUMN’ OF THE ACHEMENI- DEAN INSCRIPTION. THE famous inscription in cuneiform characters of the Achemenides is, as most readers are aware, in three columns, each a different language. The first is Old Per- Sian; the third is the Assyrian dialect of the Semitic; but the second has been a standing puzzle. Some claimed it as Dra- vidian, others as a remote Aryan tongue, but most scholars, following Norris, Raw- SCIENCE. 165 linson and Max Miller, looked upon it as ‘ Turanian,’ by which is meant Ural-Altaic. It has been called Susian or Medic, and some have thought it related to the Sumer- ian or Acadian, of Babylonia. The first thoroughly satisfactory analysis of its forms which has ever appeared has just been published at Breslau, from the pen of the profound Ural-Altaic scholar, Dr. Heinrich Winkler. He had already announced that this Susic was certainly not Ural-Altaic, nor was the Sumerian. In the present brochure of sixty-five quarto pages he proves that the verb of the Susic isa true yerbal, whereas in the Ural-Altaic, like many American languages, it is a noun form; that the relative in the Susic is one that is real and not a mere con- nective; that the formation of the case re- lations is wholiy distinct; and a number of other vital points. As the second column is certainly not Altaic, what is it? To this Dr. Winkler replies by assigning a number of cogent reasons for believing it a member of the Caucasic group of related tongues. His valuable essay, like that which he wrote on the relationship of the Japanese to the Ural-Altaic, has extremely important bearings on the ethnography of Asia. The full title is: ‘Die Sprache der Zweiten Columne der Dreisprachigen Inschriften und das Altaische.’ D. G. BRINTON. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. ELECTRICAL CONDUCTION AT LOW TEMPER- ATURES. In a Friday evening discourse at the Royal Institution, Prof. J. A. Flemming, F.R.S., re- cently gave an account of the very interesting researches into the magnetic and electric prop- erties of metals at low temperatures, which have been carried out, during the last four years, in the laboratories of the Royal Institu- tion, by him in conjunction with Prof. Dewar. According to the report in the London 166 Times, the lecturer showed that the conductiv- ity of a pure iron wire, at ordinary tempera- tures only about one-sixth of that possessed by a copper wire of equal size, was increased nine or ten times under the influence of the cold of liquid air. But while pure metals had their conductivity immensely increased by intense cold it was shown that alloys, such as brass or German silver, experienced in the same circum- stances a comparatively small increase in con- ducting power, not more than about ten per cent. By carefully examining with a suitable form of resistance coil the variations in the electric resistance of a large number of chemi- cally pure metals cooled to about 190 degrees, Profs. Dewar and Fleming have established that every pure metal would in all probability have no electrical resistance at the zero of ab- solute temperature, or, in other words, would become a perfect conductor of electricity. In this condition the passage of an electric current would generate no heat in it. Another conse- quence would be that a pure metal at the abso- lute zero would form an absolutely opaque screen to electro-magnetic radiation. These experi- ments furnished an additional proof that the pro- cess. by which an electric current was conveyed from place to place was primarily dependent on actions going on outside that which we usually spoke of asa conductor. At the absolute zero any electric power, however large, could be transmitted along metallic wires, however small, without loss of energy, the wire becom- ing then a mere boundary and the energy-con- veying processes being all effected in the non- conductor outside of it. Diagrams were shown illustrating the great increase in the conductiv- ity of mercury on freezing. At its freezing point its conductivity rose fourfold, and beyond that point increased in such a way as to show that at the absolute zero its conductivity would be perfect. The peculiar differences in the re- sistance of pure and slightly impure bismuth were described, and proof was adduced that the result of taking the electric resistance of a wire of any metal in liquid air afforded a conclusive test of its chemical purity. It was found that the remarkable property possessed by bismuth of undergoing a great increase in electrical resist- ance when placed in a magnetic field was in- SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 84. creased several hundred per cent. by the cold of liquid air. In contrast with metals, carbon and non-metallic bodies increased in electric resist- ance as their temperature was reduced, this in- crease continuing to take place as far as the low- est temperature reached. In conclusion, Prof. Fleming laid stress on the value of the knowl- edge gained about the electrical resistance of metals at low temperatures as a means of test- ing the purity of a metal almost rivalling the spectroscope in delicacy, and said that the facts collected would prove of importance in judging the validity of existing hypotheses of electric and magnetic action, while at the same time they opened out a wide field for fascinating research in a region hitherto but little explored. THE DIMINUTION OF CONSUMPTION. Dr. ARTHUR RANSOME contributes to the Lancet (July 11) an article on ‘Tuberculosis and Leprosy,’ in which he draws a parellel be- tween the two diseases, (1) in their specific causation and in their morphology; (2) in their pathology; (8) in their distribution; (4) in their general history and the conditions favorable or otherwise to their existence; and (5) in their in- fectiveness and hereditary transmission. There are many points of similarity between them, and the author states that many authori- ties are inclined to believe from a study of their morphology that they are identical in character and that their bacilli are modifications of one species altered only by their environment. Dr. Ransome does not, however, regard the dis- eases as absolutely identical, but believes that they are at least so far alike as to make it per- missible from a study of the decline of one com- plaint and its causes to attempt to glean some idea of the most hopeful means of diminishing the other; and that it is possible to go further and prophesy that as one disease, leprosy, has dis- appeared from our midst, so the other, tubercle, may also be made to vanish, and that from the recognition of its predisposing causes we may learn in what way it may best be attacked and finally driven from amongst civilized nations. Leprosy was banished mainly through gen- eral sanitary measures and was scarcely affected by direct efforts at preventing contagion. The author considers it, therefore, only necessary AUGUST 7, 1896. ] to press forward the general sanitary measures on which he dwells in the article, in order that ‘(we may regard as no Utopian dream the fore- cast that after only a few more years we may see the totai extinction of tubercle in our land.”’ A chart is appended showing the phthisis rate per 10,000 of the population during the last fifty-eight years. In the year 1838 it stood at the enormous figure of over 38, and in 1894, little more than half a century later, it was only 13.8 —little more than one-third of its former prey- alence. A straight line drawn from its highest to its lowest points shows also that its decline has been remarkably steady and generally regular. If phthisis were to continue to dimin- ish in prevalence at the same increasing rate of decline for another thirty years it would then have entirely disappeared. GENERAL. IN connection with the proposed railway to the summit of the Jungfrau, it is proposed to establish a series of meteorological stations at which it will be possible to study at various altitudes the relations of temperature, atmos- pheric pressure, precipitation, etc. The obser- vatory at the summit will cost $20,000. ACCORDING to Nature Dr. N. Busch, of Dor- pat, has undertaken, at the request of the Uni- versity of Dorpat and the Russian Geographical Society of Petersburg, a botanical investigation of the Caucasus. He proposes to visit the hitherto unexplored sources of the rivers Te- berda and Maruch in northern Caucasus. , AW expedition under the direction of Lieu- tenant Werther, accompanied by two geologists, is about to leave Berlin to spend a year or more in exploring Northeast Africa. Die Natur states that the Austrian deep-sea expedition under the charge of the ichthyologist Dr. Franz Steindachner, the Director of the Royal Vienna Museum, has now returned. The expedition has for seven months been en- gaged in explorations of the Red Sea on the warship Pola. _ THE Société Scientifique Antonio Alzate, of Mexico, elected the following honorary members at the recent general meeting : M. Cuenot, pro- fessor in the Faculty of Nancy; MM. Fizeau and SCIENCE. 167 Lippman, of the Institute of France: M. Ch. Richet, of the Faculty of Medicine, Paris; Dr. G. Brown Goode and Prof. F. H. Bigelow, of Washington; Prof. Réntgen, of Wurtzbure: Lord Rayleigh and Prof. William Ramsay, of London. THERE will be held, at Sables d’ Olonne, from the 3rd to the 7th of September of the present year, an International Congress of Fisheries. Two new year books are announced from Paris, one Annuaire des Musées scientifiques et archéologiques des Départements, the other L’ Année biologique, edited under the direction of ' M. Y. Delage. SIR WILLIAM MAcCorMac, of St. Thomas’ Hospital, has been elected President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. THE MACMILLAN Co. announce for early pub- lication a translation of Dr. von Zittel’s elabo- rate Paleontology, by Dr. Charles R. Eastman, of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Har- vard University. AT the sixty-fourth annual meeting of the British Medical Association, which was held at Carlisle on July 28, 29, 30 and 31, the address in medicine was to be delivered by Sir Dyce Duckworth, lecturer on medicine, St. Bartholo- mew’s Hospital, and that in surgery by Dr. Roderick Maclaren, senior surgeon to the Cum- berland Infirmary. The scientific business of the meeting was conducted in nine sections. THE Millennial Congress of Hygiene and Medicine will be held at Buda-Pesth, Septem- ber 18th to 16th, under the Presidency of Profs. Koranyi and Ketli. Among the subjects pro- posed for discussion are the organization of medical aid for the poor, pension and sick funds for medical men, medical councils, etc. THE third Congrés Francais de Médecine meets at Nancy on August 6th to 9th. The subjects announced for discussion are The Application of Blood Serums to the Treatment of Diseases, Intravascular Coagulation of Blood and Prog- nosis of Albuminuria. IF certain conditions are fulfilled by the City of Chicago the Field Columbian Museum is to receive $2,000,000 as an endowment fund from Marshall Field, the founder of the institute. 168 THE London Goldsmiths’ Company have con- tributed £1,000 for the extension and better equipment of the scientific laboratories at the Imperial Institute. A research fellowship of the value of £150 annually has been established by the Salters’ Company, in connection with the scientific department, for the investigation of new or little known natural products. Ir is stated that Mr. T. Ruddiman Johnston, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, will erect in London a terrestrial globe, showing the earth’s surface on a scale of about eighty miles to the inch. Every geographical feature of importance will be shown and named, as well as every city and town having 500 inhabitants ormore. The globe will take nearly two years to construct, and Mr. Johnston hopes to have the assistance of all those having a special knowledge of any portion of the earth’s surface. The globe will revolve slowly, and will be ob- served from the upper end of a spiral gallery to be erected for this purpose. THE Tokyo Botanical Society is doing excel- lent work in making known studies of the native flora carried on by its members. The last number of the journal of the Society, The Botanical Magazine, contains the following ar- ticles : Notes on the Plants collected in Suruga, Totomi, Yamato and Kii, by M. Shirai; On the Smut of Japanese Cereals, by S. Hori; Salix of Hokkaido, by Y. Tokubuchi; Plants em- ployed in Medicine in the Japanese Pharmaco- poeia, by K. Sawarda ; Contribution to Knowl- edge of the Marine Algae of Japan, by K. Okamura; Phanerogams of Shonai, by T, Kawa- kami. The first four articles are in Japanese. THE first part of the 9th volume of the Pro- ceedings and Transactions of the Nova Scotia Institute of Science contains an account of the work of the session of 1894-95. The papersare of interest, as they contain chiefly observations regarding the local geology, antiquities, flora, ete., of the region. The address of the Presi- dent, the late Prof. George Lawson, reviewed the history of the Institute, which was founded in 1862, with special reference to the work of the preceding session. M. WiiiiamM Voer has prepared a biog- raphy of his father, Carl Vogt, which has been SCIENCE. the purpose. ‘each year. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 84. published by Reinwald under the title La vie @un homme—Carl Vogt. Ir has been decided to erect a statue of Jenner in Tokyo; 1000 yen have been sub- scribed by the private Sanitary Association, and it is estimated that 2,500 yen will remain after the expenses of the recent centennial have been defrayed, which will be devoted to The statue is to be ordered from London. WE quote the following from Nature: ‘‘ Dr. Brown Goode makes the following comparison in a report of the U. 8. National Museum, lately issued: ‘There is not a department of the British government to which a citizen has aright to apply for information upon a scien- tific question. This seems hard to believe, for I cannot think of any scientific subject regard- ing which a letter, if addressed to the scientific btireaus in Washington, would not receive a full and practical reply. It is estimated that not less than 20,000 such letters are received The Smithsonian Institution and National Museum alone receive about 6,000, and the proportion of these from the new States and Territories, which have not yet developed institutions of learning of their own, is the largest. An intelligent question from a farmer of the frontier receives as much attention as a communication from a Royal Academy of Sci- ences, and often takes more time for the prepa- ration of the reply.’ It is little to the credit of the British government that Dr. Goode’s com- parison should be so much to our disadvantage.”’ Last year Mr. George W. Breckenridge, of — San Antonio, presented to the University of Texas ‘The Singley Collection of Texas Mol- lusea.’ This unique gathering of shells was the work of Mr. J. A. Singley, who devoted much time and energy to its production. It is unrivaled, we believe, in the world, embracing 309 species, represented by 6143 specimens from 977 localities. This year the same gener- ous donor has added to his previous gift the re- mainder of the ‘Singley Collection,’ consisting of shells from all parts of the world: Marine shells, 750 species and varieties, represented by 2350 specimens; land shells, 1101 species and varieties, represented by 3839 specimens; fresh AUGUST 7, 1896. ] water shells, 702 species and varieties, repre- sented by 1947 specimens. In this collection there are, it will be seen, over 2500 species and varieties. It is safe to say that the University of Texas has now the largest and finest collec- tion of recent mollusca in the South or West. THE ‘Bibliography and Index of North American Geology, Paleontology, Petrology, and Mineralogy for 1892 and 1893,’ by F. B. Weeks, has been issued as Bulletin No. 130, of the U.S. Geological Survey. This Bulletin isa continuation of the annual publication hereto- fore known as the ‘ Record of North American Geology’ (Bulletins Nos. 44, 75, 91, 99). The ex- tended scope of the work necessitated a change in its arrangement. It is divided into two parts, a bibliography and a subject index. The bibliog- raphy is arranged alphabetically by authors’ names. ‘The index comprises geographic, geo- logic mineralogic, paleontologic and petrologic subdivisions, arranged alphabetically ; and lists of economic products, minerals, rocks and fossils described in the various papers listed in the bibliography are given. A similar bibliog- raphy and index for the year 1894, and an- other for the year 1895 (Bulletins Nos. 185 and 149, respectively), are in press and will be de- livered soon. THE deficiency of rainfall in Great Britain is this year even greater than last, being so far 4.69 inches. The East London Water Works Company has been compelled to shut off the supply of water during the night, and lack of sufficient water in the east end of London is apt to be followed by an increased mortality. THE Lancet states that an important Royal Commission has just been appointed. Its object is to enquire into the administrative procedure available for controlling danger to man through the use as food of the meat or milk of tubercu- lous animals. The Commission will further con- sider what should be the proper action of the responsible authorities in condemning for the purposes of food supplies, animal carcasses or meat exhibiting any stage oftuberculosis. The Commissioners are as follows : Sir Herbert Max- well, Dr. Thorne Thorne, C.B., Mr. G. T. Brown, C. B., Mr. H. E. Claver, Mr. Shirley F. Murphy, Mr. John Speir and Mr. T. C. Trench. SCIENCE. 169 Dr. T. M. Legge will act as Secretary to the Commission, the work of which, from a sanitary point of view, should be of the highest possible value to the community. ACCORDING to Nature General M. Rykatchef has been appointed Director of the Central Physical Observatory, St. Petersburg, in the place of Dr. H. Wild, resigned. For many years General Rykatchef has had charge of the mari- time meteorological branch of the Observatory. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. FOREIGN STUDENTS IN THE FRENCH UNIVER- SITIES. OFFICIAL information has been received in Washington by the Franco-American Commit- tee, organized for the purpose of securing fuller privileges for American students in the educational institutions of France, that in all probability the faculties of letters will soon be open to Americans as freely as the other facul- ties that have already been opened. The Com- pagnie Transatlantique offers a reduction of 30 per cent. in its rates to duly certified American students who intend to study in France. There are already fifty or more American students enrolled in the French faculties. Since the promulgation of the decree of January last, changing the regulations in the faculties of sci- ence, the number of German students in the French faculties has increased from fifty-two to. one hundred and twelve, of whom only sixteen are students of medicine. The admission of foreign students to the med- ical schools gave rise to a serious debate in a re- cent session of the Chamber of Deputies, it be- ing claimed that French students were exposed to undue competition on account of the influx of foreigners, who, by reason of graduation, be- came entitled to practice medicine in France, and this without being subjected to military duty. It is probable that the regulations will be modified so that foreigners will not be hereafter entitled to the privilege of practice, although the facilities for study and the obtaining of degrees will be as good or better than heretofore. GENERAL. ‘ DisparcuEs to the daily papers from Lan- sing, Mich., state that the Supreme Court de- 170 cided on July 28th that the State Legislature has no right to interfere with or dictate the management of the University of Michigan. The Legislature passed an act at its last session directing the regents to establish the homeo- pathic department of the University in Detroit. The regents refused to comply on the ground that the act was unconstitutional, and a man- damus was asked for to compel them to estab- lish the department in Detroit. The Court holds that the regents have the sole control of the University and that the act of the Legisla- ture is invalid. GRounpD has been broken for the new science hall at Lake Erie Seminary, O. Of the $20,000 required for the completion of the building, $14,000 has already been raised. In addition $10,000,has been subscribed for equipment. Dr. H. T. LUKENS, of Clark University, has been appointed professor of education at Bryn Mawr College, and Dr. Colin A. Scott to the chair of experimental psychology and child study at the Chicago Normal School. Mr. BEN F. Hit, B. 8., has been appointed Fellow in Geology at the University of Texas. He will assist in the laboratory instruction in paleontology and mineralogy under the direc- tion of Dr. F. W. Simonds. Mrs. ARTHUR JACKSON has contributed to the Sheffield Medical School the sum of £5,000 towards the endowment of a chair of anatomy, to be called the Arthur Jackson Chair of Anat- omy. Mr. Jackson, who died recently, was much interested in the success of the Medical School, and had served it in the capacity of Secretary and Lecturer. Dr. J. NoRMAN COLLIE, F.R.S., has been ap- pointed professor of chemistry in the Pharma- ceutical Society’s School of Pharmacy. Dr. Collie has been for some time associated with Professor Ramsay in the teaching of chemistry at University College, London. The Council of Bedford College for Women, London, has ap- pointed Dr. Thomas Morison Legge, to the pro- fessorship of hygiene. AMONG recent foreign appointments we note the following: Professor Valentiner, of Carls- ruhe, has been called to the chair of astronomy SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 84. in the University of Heidelberg. Professor A. B. Tichamerow has been appointed director of the Zoological Museum at Moscow. Pro- fessor Gutermuth, of Aachen, has been made professor of engineering in the technical high school at Darmstadt. -Dr. Von Rumker, pro- fessor of agriculture in the University of Bres- lau, has been called to Leipzig. Dr. Henking, of the University of Gottingen, has been pro- moted to a professorship of zoology, and Dr. H. Biltz, of the University of Greifswald, to a professorship of chemistry. Dr. Schenk, of the University of Bonn, has been elected full professor of botany and director of the botani- cal gardens at the Technical High School at Darmstadt. Dr. Pauly, docent in the Uni- versity at Munich, has been promoted to an assistant professorship of applied geometry, and Dr. W. Semmler, of the University of Greifs- wald, has been made professor of chemistry. Dr. Wachsmuth has been appointed docent in physics in the University of Gottingen, and Dr. Emil Knoblauch docent in botany in the University of Giessen. Dr. ERNST BryYRICH, professor of geology and paleontology, died at Berlin on July 9th at the age of 81 years. Dr. FRANZ REULEAUX, for forty years pro- fessor of engineering in the Technical High School at Charlottenburg, has resigned. DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. THE PERSONAL EQUATION. In the admirable heliometric triangulation of the cluster in Coma Berenices, by Dr. F. L. Chase, lately published by the Yale Observatory, the author has not noticed that the cluster is one which was photographed by Mr. Ruther- furd in 1870 and several years since; hence, material is already on record for the proper mo- tions of the group. The cluster will furnish an unusual number of stars which can be observed for personal equation between bright and faint ones, a problem which is not without psycho- logical as well as astronomical interest at the present time. It will be remembered that among very early studies in experimental psy- chology were those experiments conducted by AucGustT 7, 1896. ] Wundt in 1861, which resulted in his important discovery of the Zeitverschiebung, which takes place when the observer connects clock beats heard with the seen positions of a star in appa- ent motion through the field of the telescope. As this Zeitverschiebung may be either positive or negative, it offers an explanation of the ab- normal personal equations (more than a second of time) which Bessel found to take place in his own case, as compared with Argelander and Wilhelm Struve. The variations of personal equation depending on the magnitudes of the stars can most readily be studied by the help of heliometric or photographic relative right as- censions such as are now in progress of publica- tion. The Pleiades, Preesepe and Coma Bereni- ces, as well as the clusters in other parts of the sky which have been photographed by Ruther- furd, deserve careful study by transit observers. The delay in reaction caused by the faintness of the stars is now pretty well recognized by as- tronomers when the chronograph is used, but there are indications of a similar delay in apperception when the eye and ear method is still retained. Astronomers need to pay especial attention to those magnitudes of stars which are near the point where the observation of transits begins to become difficult. T. H. SAFFORD. CINNABAR AND RUTILE IN MONTANA. TO THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: I wish to call the attention of your readers to a new locality for cinnabar and rutile. Specimens were sent me from the placer works in the vicinity of Philipsburg, Montana, with the idea that they were hematite and emery. The cinnabar is in small rolled grains, quite pure, and the rutile in small prisms. Neither of these minerals are known to have been found in Montana before. I hope to obtain more definite information con- cerning the occurrence of these minerals later. M. E. WADSWORTH. MICHIGAN MINING SCHOOL, HOUGHTON, MIcH. PYGMY ViLLAGES DISCOVERED IN THE INTERIOR OF SURINAM, GUIANA. To THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: Yesterday I received a letter from an American commer- . SCIENCE. Via cial explorer of Guiana, who had recently met there with villages of typical pygmies, who are not over 4 feet 8 inches in height, and have a ‘brilliant reddish-yellow complexion.’ They seem to have come from the head waters of the Orinoco, and to be numerous enough to finally settle the problem as to the existence of dwarf races in America. Humboldt heard rumors as to them, but was unduly skeptical. I hope to be able, at the approaching meeting of the Amer- ican Association at Buffalo, to submit a full description by the explorer, of his interesting discovery. R. G. HALIBURTON. Boston, MAss., July 29, 1896. SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. Sporozoenkunde. VAN WASIELEWSKI. Hin Leit- faden fur Aerzte, Tierarzte und Zoologen. Mit 111 Abbildungen im Text. Jena (Verlag von Gustav Fischer). 1896. Pp. 162. M. 4. The specialist in parasitology is frequently asked by general zoologists and by physicians for a short comprehensive book, which, while not too technical and detailed, will serve as a gen- eral guide to a brief study of the Sporozoa. As a rule he recommends Balbiani’s Les Sporozo- aires (1884) and Butschli’s Protozoa, I. Bd., II. Abth. (1882), both of which are now rather old; Blanchard’s Traité de Zool. méd.,I., p. 32-68, Railliet’s Traité de Zool. méd. et. agric., I., p. 122-160 (1893), and Braun’s Die tierischen Par- asiten des Menschen., pp. 47-106 (1895), which though excellent, do not cover the entire field ; or possibly Pfeiffer’s Die Protozoen als Krank- heitserreger (1891)—a book which is very diffi- cult to comprehend, and in which the line be- tween fact and supposition is not always clearly drawn. To this list of general works we can now add von Wasielewski’s Sporozoenkunde which forms, in some respects, a very excellent compilation on these parasitic protozoa. In a general introduction to the Sporozoa the author discusses their (1) distribution, (2) habi- tat, (3) form, (4) food and motion, (5) reproduc- tion, (6) development, and (7) classification. Each group is then discussed in turn, and brief diagnoses of the more common genera and spe- cies are given. Next follows a valuable tabu- 172 lar list of the parasites, arranged according to their hosts, and finally brief remarks on tech- nique and a short bibliography. The author recognizes the orders Gregarine, Heemosporidia, Coccidia, Acystosporidia, and Myxosporidia, while the Sarcosporidia, Amcbo- sporidia and Serosporidia are given in an ‘An- hang.’ In discussing the Gragarine Léger’s classifi- cation is adopted. The chapter on Hzmo- sporidia is based almost entirely upon Labbé’s writings; in this order the author recognizes only one family the Drepanididz. In the clas- sification of the Coccidia, A. Schneider is fol- lowed. Labbé’s (1894) order Gymnosporidia appears as the Acystosporidia, and in it are placed the malarial parasites, the parasite of Texas fever and allied forms. In the chapter on the Myxosporidia Thélohan is followed. While the general discussion of the groups is interesting, and the numerous illustrations give the reader unacquainted with these forms a very good idea of the Sporozoa, it is necessary to exercise considerable care in accepting the nomenclature adopted by the author, and fur- ther, not to assume that the numerous species mentioned by him in his compendium represent a complete list of the known forms. The reader should, therefore, be warned that this work is more fitted for use in obtaining a knowledge of the morphology and biology than of the classification of the Sporozoa. The generic and specific names adopted in many cases, and the authorities to which the binomials have been attributed, do not seem to have been de- termined by any particular principle. Pyro- soma Smith, for instance, is rejected as name of the parasite of Texas fever, on the grounds that it is preoccupied, while Apiosoma Wandolleck, (which is also preoccupied) is adopted, and the name Piroplasma is overlooked. The parasite of malaria is given as Haemameba laverani, al- though neither this generic nor this specific name can stand. Balbiania gigantea is quietly included in Sarcocystis tenella, notwithstanding the lack of grounds for so doing, while quite a number of other Sarcosporidia which have been described and named as belonging to three dif- ferent genera are mentioned as ‘ Sarcocystis spec. ine.’ SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. 1V. No. 84. It is possibly unfair to criticise these details adversely, yet, as the author includes the zo- ologists among the persons for whom his work is written, he should have had more regard for zoological customs. On the whole, von Wasie- lewski’s Sporozoenkunde will be a welcome guide to those who, desire to study this group, but’ who are unable to consult the original papers. CH. WARDELL STILES. . Report of the Government Entomologist for the Year 1895, Cape of Good Hope, Department of Agriculture. By C. P. LOUNSBURY. This little volume illustrates three interesting points: First, that the Government of Cape Colony is an enterprising one, and will not al- low itself to fall behind other governments in matters which affect the welfare of the agricul- tural community; second, that in appointing an entomologist it was considered to be for the best interests of the Colony that an American, trained in recent American methods in the war- fare against insects, should be chosen; and third, that this American has in so short a time familiarized himself with the needs of the Colony in his own special line of work, and has presented as his first report a most excellent ac- _ count of the species which are attracting par- ticular attention at the present time in that country. The report is largely general and much attention is paid to the subject of the im- portation of injurious insects and of the desira- bility of legislation to check importation and’ spread. The species especially considered are certain scale insects, the peach maggot, codling moth, pear slug, the apple and quince borer and the so-called American blight, which is the name generally used in English colonies for the wooly root-louse of the apple, Schizoneura lanigera. The Government of Cape Colony is to be congratulated upon its appointment. L. O. H. Tenth Annual Report of the New York State Entomologist. By J. A. LINTNER, PH.D. It is always a pleasure to receive a new re- port from Dr. Lintner. The full and careful articles which the reports of this writer always contain are models in style and treatment for the younger generation of economic entomolo- * AUGUST 7, 1896. ] gists. The present report, although smaller than some of its predecessors, contains the usual array of important articles, the most in- teresting of which are the account of Phora agaraci, a little fly which damages mushrooms, and which is largely the cause of the impracti- cability of mushroom cultivation during the summer months; an account of the 1894 oc- currence of the seventeen-year locust in New York State, and of the grasshopper plague in western New York. The present report contains a valuable appendix in the shape of an article on scorpion flies, by Dr. Lintner’s assistant, Dr. E. P. Felt, who describes the heretofore unknown larvee of Panorpa rufescens. The report also contains an elaborate index to Reports I. to X., which renders at once available nearly all of the results of Dr. Lintner’s able work since he has held the position of State Entomologist of New York. This general index means more than appears at first glance, on account of the custom which Dr. Lintner has followed of late of publishing full bibliographies of the insects treated. Thus it becomes an easy matter for a person possessing the ten reports to familiarize himself to a very considerable degree with the literature of a very large number of species. L. O. H. La psychologie des sentiments. Paris, Alean. Pp. xi+443. The indefatigable Th. Ribot has given us in his last work, La Psychologie des Sentiments, a clear, forcible and succinct summary, professedly from the James-Lange point of view. How- ever, this interpretation is not adhered to very rigorously, and sometimes, indeed, seems di- rectly contradicted (see p. 383 and compare pp. 108 and 187). Yet M. Ribot’s main position undoubtedly is that all feeling is a reflex, or, as he would prefer to state it, an aspect of organic changes. But this constant reference to the nature and constitution of the nervous system,or otherwise set forth as tendency, instinct, need, impulse, seems to us highly unsatisfactory ex- planation. To explain mental forms as knowing and egoism by intuitive fixed tendencies thereto (e. g., p. 192 ff.) appears to us quite on a par with the old intuitive psychology, and not far re- moved from the much derided metaphysics that By Tu. RIsBort. SCIENCE. 173 2) explains lion by leoninity. It appears to us that the word ‘tendency’, whether interpreted physiologically or psychically, is like the word ‘chance’ in physics and biology, a mere ex- pression to cover ignorance. And it does not better things to assume that physiological and mental are only modes of an unknown some- thing. ‘To explain the known by the unknown may be good metaphysics, but it is certainly bad science. Further, when M. Ribot endorses Spinoza’s dictum that desire and appetite are the bases of all emotion, we must ask what is desire but an emotion, and what is appetite but pure pain mingled with a feeling toward an un- recognized objectivity ? However, we fully recognize the value of a physiology of feeling, and of a physics and chemistry as well, and we wish that M. Ribot had adhered rigidly to this interpretation, but he often encroaches on psychology where his descriptions are only of the most general and obvious sort and his analyses (e. g., jealousy, p. 264) are greatly lacking in accuracy and thoroughness. M. Ribot regards fear, anger and sympathy as the universal primitive emotions, closely fol- lowed by the self-feeling and sexual feeling, which five are basal, all other emotions being derived by evolution, by arrest of development and by composition. We do not think that the author has here made clear how hate is arrested anger, or how platonic love is arrest of sexual. As to the latter, indeed, he at one place (p. 18) assigns it a rank as culmination of sexual evo- lution. But, however, this may be, it certainly seems contrary to the first principle of evolu- tion, that any high and late form can be ex- plained as ‘arrest of development of an early form. The whole treatment of this and other principles is far too slight. M. Ribot touches upon the curious pleasu- rable pain and painful pleasure, but the treat- ment is rather unsatisfactory. The taking a pleasure in a pain or vice versa is, we think, not uncommon, and merely shows that emotion can develop upon any subject. The child in taking a certain pleasure in picking its own sores has a relief from ennui and an emotion of effective activity. The desire to feel, to do, to know, help explain this pleasure. Alphonse Daudet 174 is said to take great pleasure in his fear experi- ences, but this may be a case of mere reaction from over-refined emotion, or it may be artistic emotion. The whole subject demands a large and detailed treatment. This volume adds little to our knowledge. M. Ribot refers the very highest emotions to the James-Lange theory, but only in a very general way. Chapter XI. is an original study of affective memory and contains some inter- esting matter. I incline to believe that the memory of feeling is a far more general fact than M. Ribot makes it, and that, since the inter- esting is the rememberable, it is the core of all memory. All living in the past is filled with resuscitated feelings, both recalled and recur- rent, and both associated with images and with correlated feelings. The difficulty in the study of affective memory is to discriminate between the new and the old, between the anger resusci- tated with the thought of the insult and the anger provoked by the thought. Msthetic feeling is, as usual, referred to super- fluity of energy. However, this theory must explain why great artists and poets are so often starvelings. The truth is, superfluity expends itself in the easiest channel for the individual, which for most men is apt to be hunting or fishing, or fighting. Superfluity may be one condition of rise and progress of esthetic, just as there must be a certain fund of available en- ergy for the rise of any higher emotion, but it cannot in itself explain estheticism. On the whole, while we can commend M. Ribot’s work as a useful summary, we can not speak highly of its originality, its thorough- ness or its fairness of tone. It is often narrow and dogmatic, and though the author is suf- ficiently eclectic in his field it is an eclecticism little vindicated. Hiram M. STANLEY. - SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. AMERICAN CHEMICAL JOURNAL, JULY. Oxidation of Sodium Sulphide and Hydrosulphide to the Sulphate by Electrolysis: By F. W. DURKEE. Sodium sulphide and hydrosulphide are completely oxidized to sulphate when a current is passed through the solution. When carbon or copper electrodes were used, no oxida- SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 84. tion took place; but when platinum ones were substituted, the formation of sulphate was quite rapid. When the currentis first passed through, considerable hydrogen is set free at the negative ~ electrode ; but very little oxygen escapes at the positive electrode. The oxygen is used up in oxi- dizing some of the sulphide to thiosulphate, and this in turn to sulphate, setting sulphur free. This free sulphur, which separates as a white cloud, is partly dissolved in the sulphides form- ing polysulphides, which color the solution yel- low. These polysulphides are in turn oxidized, and so it continues until all has been oxidized to sulphate, which point is reached when no fur- ther separation of sulphur takes place. The presence of these different products was shown by quantitative determinations of the substances present at different stages of the oxidation. Both direct and alternating currents were used, but the former were found more suitable for the purpose. A Method for Obtaining Crystalline Silicon: By G. DE CHALMoT. By heating a mixture of silica, carbon and oxides of metals in an electric fur- nace, crystals of silicon can be obtained. These can be obtained in almost pure condition by treating the product with hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acids. When oxide of manganese is used, a manganese silicide having the com- position MnSi, is formed. On Some Mercury Salts of the Anilides: By H. L. WHEELER and B. W. McFaRLAND. So little attention had been given to the methods of formation and reactions of these compounds that no conclusions could be drawn as to their structure. In this paper the authors give the results of their work and conclude that the metal is joined to the nitrogen and not to the oxygen, as has been suggested. When for- manilide is treated with mercuric bromide, a mercuric formanilide is formed ; and when this is treated with benzoyl chloride, halogen mercury compounds are formed, which are undoubtedly nitrogen derivatives. Nitrogen substituted anilides, whose reactions can only be explained on the supposition that the metal is joined to nitrogen, are also formed. On the use of Antimony Trichloride in the Synthe- sis of Aromatic Ketones: By W. J. Comstock. In some cases antimony trichloride is preferable, as AuGusT 7, 1896, j a condensing agent, to aluminium chloride, on account of its cheapness and the fact that it is more stable and can be easily recovered again. It cannot be used, however, with low-boiling chlorides, and also fails in some cases where aluminium chloride can be used, as in the for- mation of triphenylmethane from chloroform and benzene. Several examples are given of the different classes of compounds with which it can be used and the yields as compared with the other method. The Action of Sodium on Aldehyde: By P. C. FREER. On account of the great instability of the compound formed by the action of sodium on aldehyde, the latter is mixed with benzoyl chloride and then added to the sodium in ether. The compound formed can be isolated in pure condition and obtained as white crystals. Deter- minations of its composition, molecular weight and decomposition show it to be aldehydoaldol benzoate. The authors consider the product first formed by the action of sodium on adelhyde to be sodium aldehyde or sodium vinyl alcohol CH,: CHONa. In this compound the metal is joined to the oxygen. On the Constitution of Some Derivatives of For- mic Acid: By P. C. FREER and P. L. SHER- MAN, JR. Attention is called to the fact that formic acid, although classed with the acetic acid series, does not exhibit physical properties in conformity with the rest of the series. It is stated by some authors that this acid acts both _ as acid and aldehyde, but the evidence in favor of the latter is very slight. A study of sodium formylphenylhydrazine seems to show that there is neither a hydroxyl nor aldehyde group in it, while in the salts of formanilide there is evi- dence of the presence of a hydroxyl grouping. Different groups seem to have different influ- ences and the evidence is not yet sufficient to draw any positive conclusions. Notes on New Apparatus: By G. O. HIGLEY, B. J. Howarp and P. C. FREER. Improve- _ thents are suggested in the old Hofmann appa- ratus for showing the electrolysis of hydrochloric acid, and in the Hofmann apparatus for demon- strating the volumes of oxygen and hydrogen which unite to form water vapor. A simple form of apparatus for distillation in a vacuum is also given. SCIENCE. 175 The Action of Metals on Nitric Acid: By G. O. HIGLEY and W. E. Davis. In the present paper the authors give the results of the action of nitric acid on silver. In this case nitric oxide and nitrogen peroxide are formed and no nitrous oxide as with copper. On the Esterification of Halogen Substituted Acetic Acids: By D. M. Licury. The author has continued his investigation of the esterifica- tion, using lower temperatures, and finds that the results depend on the mass-action of water and alcohol and also on the specific nature of the acid. Starting with acetic acid and intro- ducing one, two, and three atoms of chlorine, he finds that the increase in chlorine influences the rate to a greater extent than it does the limit. The Constitution of the Acid Amides: By A. LACHMAN. Some doubt has recently been thrown on the generally accepted structure of the amides, and while there seems to be evi- dence in some cases pointing to the occurrence of the normal amide structure in some com- pounds, in others it is in favor of the imido hydroxy structure. The author finds that the attempts made so far to test these ideas have failed on account of the great indifference of amides to all the reactions he tried. Chromic Hydroxide in Precipitation: By H. E. PATTEN. Many hydroxides when precipi- tated carry down other substances with them and in some cases even decompose them. The present work is a study of the action of potas- sium hydroxide on chromium chloride in the presence of potassium sulphate. In all cases the precipitation was complete and no sulphate was carried down. Magnesium, calcium and ammonium sulphates behave in the same way ; but chlorides and nitrates do not cause precipi- tation. When the sulphates are not present the hydroxide of cromium dissolves in the ex- cess of alkali. He conceives of two reactions taking place, first a breaking up of the sulphate by the chromium hydroxide and the formation of a compound of sulphur trioxide and chro- mium sesquioxide, and second, a decomposition of this compound by water. An Empirical Relation Between Melting-point and Critical Temperature: By F. W. CLARKE. The author draws attention to the ratio between 176 the melting point and critical temperature of a number of compounds, and shows how this ratio is constant for certain ones ; but these be- long to such widely different classes of com- pounds and the facts at hand are so slight that no generalizations can be drawn. Aluminium Alcoholates: By H. W. HILLYER. When attempts were made to preserve some amalgamated aluminium by keeping it ina solu- tion of mercuric chloride in absolute alcohol, it was found that the aluminium acted quite vio- lently on the alcohol forming aluminium alco- holate. A number of alcohols were found to act in the same way and the subject is now be- ing investigated by the author. |The Conductivity of Solutions of Acetylene in Water: By H. C. Jones. The author calls attention to the fact that the results published by Jones and Allen, showing acetylene to be considerably dissociated in water, are not cor- rect. He has repeated the work and finds that it has a very slight conductivity. Heattributes the previous error to some unknown impurity. This number contains reviews of the following books: Water Supply, W. P. Mason; A Dictionary of Chemical Solubilities, A. M. ComEy; Milk, Its Nature and Composition, C. M. AIKMAN. J. ELLIOTT GILPIN. THE AUK. THE Avk for July (Vol. XIII., No. 3) opens with an article by Herbert K. Job, on ‘The Ducks of Plymouth County, Massachusetts,’ wherein the author presents the results of many years’ observations in a condensed report on the 28 species known to occur. Dr. Walter Faxon gives, with prefatory remarks, a list of nearly 200 drawings of Georgia birds made by John Abbot between 1790 and 1810. Some 160 species are represented, including several which were then unknown to science. Publication, or rather the lack of it, seems to have been Ab- bot’s only bar to immortality as an ornitholo- gist. Mr. O, Widmann discourses pleasantly on ‘The Peninsula of Missouri as a Winter Home for Birds,’ and Mr. A. W. Anthony gives evi- dence of the breeding of the Black-vented Shearwater off the coast of southern California SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 84. with other interesting notes on the habits of this species. In giving his ‘ Observations on Histrionicus histrionicus in Maine,’ Mr. Arthur H. Norton writes of a comparatively little known species, while Mr. Ruthven Deane adds a page to the life history of the Passenger Pigeon, in which our interest increases as it ‘takes its flight.’ Notes from Bermuda, that refuge for feathered waifs and strays, are al- ways of value, and in commenting on the Ber- mudan avifauna Dr. Prentiss tells of the recent colonization of the Mocking-bird and European Goldfinch. The latter was accidentally intro- duced in 1893 by escaping from a vessel at St. George’s, and so favorable have the conditions proved that already it is quite common. The English sparrow, the most abundant resident species, is spoken of as ‘aggressive, offensive and despised.’ Somewhat over a dozen pages are devoted to reviews of recent ornithological books and pa- pers, and about an equal number to records of the capture of more or less rare species or brief original observations of unusual interest. The colored plate of this issue is an excellent illustration of the handsome Ptarmigan (Lago- pus evermanni), from Attu Island, described by Mr. D. G. Elliot in the January number. NEW BOOKS. Prantl’s Lehrbuch der Botanik. WHerausgegeben und neu bearbeitet von Dr. FERDINAND PAX. 10th edition. Leipzig, Wilhelm Engelmann. 1896. Pp. x+406. M. 4. Grundriss der Entwicklungs geschichte des Men- schen und der Sdugethiere. Dr. Oscar SCHULTZE. Leipzig, Wilhelm Engelmann. 1896. Erste halfte Bogen 1-11. Pp. 176. Meo, ; Studien zu Methodenlehre und Erkenntnisskritik. FRIEDRICH DREYER. Leipzig, Wilhelm En- gelmann. 1895. Pp. xiiit+223. M. 4. Psychologische Arbeiten. Herausgegeben von EMIL KRAEPELIN. Leipzig, Wilhelm En- gelmann. Hefte I., II., III. Pp. 488. M. 12. Beitrage zur Psychologie und Philosophie. Her-— ausgegeben yon Dr. GOTz MArtTIus. Leip- zig, Wilhelm Engelmann. Bd. I. Heft L pe too. 7) Mia: SCIENCE ee ee Fripay, Aucust 14, 1896. SENGEE COntEs) 1oicre. 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Fripay, Auaust 14, 1896. CONTENTS : Paleontology as a Morphological Discipline. W. B. - JSICOITH a dogopaodoodede coonapbancbodeoosods dercsencoceapranad ied On Pholadidea Penita and its Method of Boring ; FE} BVAUN CG pet LOVED) erctscteeis ansjejsn siecle ciesieienrsin apcie''s one 188 Sin JosephePrestwichis TW. Wr. Cy...cacecceenecceascceess 190 Current Notes on Anthropology :— Researches in Mexico; A New Anthropological SOUnMAL Ds) Cee SBRINTONG eccadarscccesercse-+cneeee 191 Scientific Notes and News :— Adaptations in Cave-Dwelling Animals: C. L. F. Color Photography: C. L. F. The Eyesight of English School Children; The Observatory of Yale University ; General..............cccceeerercoeneese 192 University and Educational News ............0.se.0-++ 199 Discussion and Correspondence :— The Names Epiphysis, Conarium and Corpus Pineale: Burt G. WILDER. The Metric Sys- UemD 8 Mie IDS JD)y SWEET (64 o5a5sqedanopapsepbpasaaedbede 199 Scientific Literature :-— Mathematical Papers read at the International Congress: F. N. Co“uE. Recent Text-books of Geometry: THOMASS. FISKE. McDevitt’s Ameri- can Fonostenografy: J. N. B. HEwitt. Swann’s Hand-book of British Birds: FRANK M. CHAP- HIVEBAGNiprets syietsictateyatais sifetcis sane ctiajeieiavs sels lsista siacietsoleicfoleieie:0.¢eieyeye ws 200 Scientific Journals :-— BESO Cheraetneita sceeeia aeceecioeee sine lero nas See dein s]eisicsie’s aaeo's 204 MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Prof. J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. PALEONTOLOGY AS A MORPHOLOGICAL DIS- CIPLINE.* Tue day has forever gone by when any one mind, however profound and compre- hensive, can take all knowledge for its prov- ince. Increase of knowledge, like advance *A lecture given at the Marine Biological Labora- tory, Wood’s Holl, printed in advance of its publica- tion in the Lectures of the Marine Biological Labora- tory by permission of the Director, Prof. Whitman. of civilization, necessarily brings with it a division of labor, and each of the great branches of science becomes more and more minutely divided and subdivided for the purposes of investigation. Such subdivision greatly enhances the efficiency of the indi- vidual worker, enabling him to concentrate his attention upon some definite problem of more or less limited scope, and, so far, it is advantageous. On the other hand, like most human devices, it has its drawbacks, and what is gained in one direction is apt to be lost in another. One great and grow- ing evil is the subdivision of knowledge which accompanies specialization of re- search. The worker finds the greatest diffi- culty in keeping abreast of all that is being accomplished by fellow laborers in his own field; how, then, shall he find time to learn anything of the work in other fields? Not to do so involves the penalty of such a nar- rowness of view as will inevitably lessen the value of his own work, because deduc- tions drawn legitimately enough from a single line of investigation often appear ab- surd when tested by a wider range of facts. Many a blunder might be avoided, were the worker’s vision not so strictly limited by the boundaries of his own speciality. The narrowing effects of this subdivision of knowledge result in a more or less marked loss of sympathy and mutual under- standing between the representatives of the different branches of the same science. To 178 magnify one’s own office is a very human infirmity, but it involves a minimizing of the offices of others. Science is not ad- vanced by the sneers of its representatives at one another as mere ‘species-makers,’ or ‘ section-cutters,’ or ‘ closet-naturalists,’ as the case may be. One is prone to regard with instinctive distrust results which run counter to cherished convictions, or which ill harmonize with prevalent theories and * call for a radical readjustment of opinion. Naturally the investigator is apt to place undue reliance upon the methods with which he is familiar and to undervalue other ways of attacking the same problem. Evidence derived from other lines of inves- tigation means less to him and is the more readily overlooked and ignored. Perhaps the greatest danger which at present threatens the healthy growth of zoological science in all its branches is the ever-in- creasing tendency to ambitious speculation, founded upon the narrowest basis of fact. So much of a theoretical taint attaches to nearly all morphological work as to cause hesitation in fully accepting it, and one often feels in reading that we have gone back to the days of the transcendental anatomists. The glib use of phrases and formule, which hide ignorance under the guise of ‘explanations’ which do not explain, is an outgrowth of thesame tendency. Itis the fashion to measure with elastic stand- ards, which expand and contract to meet the needs of each case. Dogmatism and narrow-mindedness have ever been closely akin. The obvious corrective for many of these evils is to take a wider view of our subject, and for each of us to learn something of the methods and results of workers in other fields than our own. I wish to invite your attention to a branch of morphology, the bearings of which are much misapprehended by the representatives of other departments of the same science, and which, where not SCIENCE. [N. S. Vou. IV. No. 85. completely ignored, is often wofully abused. namely, the subject of paleontology. This science has too long been abandoned to the geologist, but morphologists are coming to see that they have an interest in it, and sometimes condescend to make use of such parts of its data as favor their opinions. Even yet, however, the necessary and close connection which obtains between paleontol- ogy and geology leads many to the assump- tion that its relation to morphology is, at best, very remote; but this assumption is quite unjustified, and proceeds from a con- founding of the two quite distinct aspects and offices of paleontology. One of these offices is to determine the chronological suc- cession of the rocks, and in this mor- phology is very indirectly concerned; but the other office is the study of fossils as organisms, and here MHuxley’s dictum thoroughly applies: “The only difference be- tween a collection of fossils and one of re- cent animals is that one set has been dead somewhat longer than the other.” a shining example of the ‘ true word spoken in jest.’ The great problems of morphology are the same for all workers in that science ; it is the method of attacking them which differs. If I may be allowed to quote what I have elsewhere said, I would again call attention to the very instructive character of the analogies which exist between the history, aims and methods of animal morphology and those of comparative philology. ‘In both sciences the attempt is made to trace the development of the modern from the ancient, to demonstrate the common origin of things now widely separated and differ- ing in all apparent characteristics, and to establish the modes in which, and the fac- tors or causes by which, this evolution and differentiation have been affected. At the present time morphology is still far behind the science of language with regard to the solution of many of these kindred problems, This is — ee AuGust 14, 1896.] and can hardly be said to have advanced beyond the stage which called forth Vol- taire’s famous sneer: ‘ L’étymologie est une science ou les voyelles ne font rien et les consonnes fort peu de chose.’ Of the animal pedigrees, now so frequently pro- pounded, few have any better foundation than the guessing etymologies of the last century, and for exactly the same reason. Just as the old etymologists had no test to distinguish a true derivation from a false one, except a likeness in sound and mean- ing in the words compared, so the modern morphologist is yet without any sure test of the relationships of animals, except cer- tain likenesses or unlikeness of structure. How much weight is to be allowed a given similarity, and how far this is offset by a dis- similarity which accompanies it, we have, as yet, few means of determining, and have still to discover those laws of organic change which shall render the same service to mor- phology as Grimm’s law has done to the study of the Aryan tongues.” Philology was raised to the dignity of a true science by the laborious tracing back of modern words, step by step, to their ancient origins, through all their inter- mediate gradations, and sound principles of etymology could not be established until this was done. Morphology must profit by this lesson and must imitate the method of the science of language. Not until many long phylogenetic series have been re- covered, can the law of change be worked out. It is just here that paleontology is fitted to render invaluable services. to the common cause. As every.one is aware, the principal methods of morphological inquiry are com- parative anatomy, embryology and paleon- tology, each of which has its great advan- tages, but accompanied by its own peculiar drawbacks and limitations. Lack of time will prevent any discussion of Bateson’s proposed new method for the study of vari- SCIENCE. 72 ation. I have elsewhere examined that at some length. The foundation and corner stone of the whole structure of morphology must ever be comparative anatomy, an accurate knowl- edge of which is indispensable to successful prosecution of the other departments of in- quiry. This method has, in the hands of the masters, registered many great triumphs in the solution of difficult problems of ho- ’ mology and of the mutual relationships of animal groups. At the present time the tendency is to give more and more weight to its determinations. On the other hand, finality cannot be reached by this method. It suffers from the very significant draw- back of possessing no sure criterion by which to distinguish between those simi- larities of structure which result from actual genetic relationship and those which are due to parallel or convergent development, and thus to determine the taxonomic value of a given likeness or unlikeness. It is an exceedingly common fallacy to assume that, because a number of allied groups display a certain structure, their common ancestor must also have possessed it. This may have been the case, butit is almost as likely not to have been, because the structure in question may have been many times inde- pendently acquired. While the comparative method frequently enables us to discrimi- nate between the two classes of phenom- ena, it generally does not do so, and it never can give entire certainty upon this point. On comparing the humerus of the horses with that of the camels, we find in each a characteristic difference from other artio- dactyls and perissodactyls and agreement with each other—a feature which may be described in brief as the duplicity of the bicipital groove and presence of a bicipital tubercle. It is @ priori probable that such an isolated resemblance between two widely separated groups is due to convergence, and yet the comparative method can give us no 180 assurance that this is not a primitive un- gulate character retained in these two series and lost in the others. Having recovered the various extinct genera of both these phyla, we may trace out the gradual trans- formation of the humerus and definitely show that the resemblance has been inde- pendently acquired at a comparatively late period, and is not a case of a persistent primitive feature. In short, the difficulty of reaching firmly fixed conclusions upon questions of homol- ogy and relationship by the exclusive use of comparative anatomy lies in the fact, that this method deals only with the modern assemblage of animals, a mere frag- ment of that which has existed in former times. It is like attempting to work out the etymology of a language which has no literature to register its changes. The second method of morphological in- quiry, embryology, has had a somewhat chequered career. Not many years ago it was universally regarded as the infallible test of morphological theory, and the prin- ciple that the ontogeny repeated the phylo- genetic history in abbreviated form was ac- cepted, almost without question, as a fund- amental law. But this view has fallen somewhat into discredit. The admission which very early had to be made, that ‘cenogenetic’ features of development were imposed upon or substituted for those due to ancestral inheritance, opened the door to an unduly subjective way of dealing with embryological evidence and deprived the method of that authoritative character which had so generally been ascribed to it. Now the whole recapitulation theory is boldly called in question, and, in the ad- mirable lecture delivered last year in this place, Prof. E. B. Wilson showed the un- trustworthy nature of the embryological criterion of homology. The difficulty in this case lies in the absence of any ‘ canons of interpretation ’ (to use Bateson’s phrase) SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. 1V. No. 85. by which the contradictory data of embry- ology may be harmonized into a consistent whole. To take a concrete illustration : The ontogenetic development of the horse’s teeth would give us a very inadequate and indeed false conception of the actual steps of change, by which the modern type of dentition has been attained, nor would embryology show that the horse is de- scended from five-toed ancestors. Know- ing, as we do from the fossils, the phyletic series, the embryological facts may be readily understood. It is an undue reliance upon such facts which has led to the con- erescence theory of tooth development, now so rife in Germany and which seems so absurd when viewed in the light of paleon- tology. I have no intention of belittling the splendid services which embryology has rendered to morphology, but merely to point out that this method alone cannot reach finality any better than comparative anatomy. It resembles dealing with a lit- erature that has been vitiated by many for- geries, only the grossest and most palpable of which can be readily detected. A third method of attacking morphologi- cal problems is that offered by paleontology. Let us begin our consideration of this method by frankly acknowledging its draw- backs and limitations. (1) In the first place there is the imperfection of the geo- logical record. Paleontology does not pro- fess and never can hope to reconstruct the whole history of life upon the earth, or even the greater part of that history ; very many chapters are irretrievably lost, and others are so fragmentary that they teach us little or nothing. The great sedimentary de- posits which contain nearly the whole re- corded history of the globe were laid down under water, and fora land animal or plant to be entombed there is a lucky accident. If all we could learn of the terrestrial life of North America had to be deciphered from “ oS ae + a Se : Lp Me: 8 Ate 1? Avueust 14, 1896. ] the fragments enclosed in the oceanic de- posits along its shores, how very imperfect would our knowledge be! Although the estuarine, swamp and lake formations, which occur on such a grand scale among the rocks of the earth’s crust, have pre- served whole chapters in the history of ter- restrial life with wonderful fullness and accuracy, they are all too few and too widely separated to form any complete record. Even in a continuous series of marine de- posits, representing vast periods of time, there are sure to be gaps of greater or less importance in the record. Changes in the depth of water and the character of the bot- tom will drive out one set of forms from that locality and bring in another, which has no genetic connection with the former, which may perhaps return with a renewal of the old conditions. Many groups of or- ganisms are incapable of preservation in the fossil state, except under the rarest con- ditions—conditions which occur so seldom, and so widely separated in space and time, as to render hopeless any attempt to re- construct a continuous story from them. The very circumstances under which or- ganisms are preserved in the rocks offer another obstacle to the determination of phyletic series. On examining large col- lections of fossils from several successive horizons, we find that the majority of the species and even of the genera are confined to one or two formations, and that each succeeding fauna is recruited partly by migrations from other regions and partly by the rapid expansion of comparatively few adaptive and plastic types, while most of the forms which were especially well fitted for the older conditions die out under the new. The collections are, of course, largely made up from the abundant and dominant species of each horizon, which frequently are not the ancestors of those which will be dominant in the succeeding one. The sud- den appearance, as it so often seems to be, SCIENCE. 181 of a fully differentiated group is sometimes due to that cause, sometimes to a migration from some other region. Even in phyletic series which are well-nigh complete there is a tendency for each successive genus to undergo similar cycles of specific variation, and this adds to the confusion, the very completeness of the record increasing the difficulty of its interpretation. (2) asecond drawback to the paleonto- logical method of inquiry lies in the incom- plete preservation of those organisms which are fossilized. Of plants we find, for the most part, only scattered leaves, rarely the reproductive organs, stems or roots, and often the proper association of the various parts requires the strenuous labor of years. Of animals, except under exceedingly rare circumstances, only the hard parts, teeth, bones, shells and the like, are preserved, and in the case of vertebrates how seldom is even the skeleton completely recovered ! As in plants, the association of the various parts of a single skeleton may require the long continued and laborious efforts of many workers. Extraordinary blunders have sometimes been committed in this work. In the remarkable genus Chalico- therium the skull was at first referred to one mammalian order and the feet to another, and Forsyth-Major’s suggestion that they all belonged together was received with in- credulity. Of the even more curious Agri- ocherus the head was ascribed to one order, the fore-leg to a second and the hind-foot to a third. The utterly false notion, which nothing seems able to eradicate, that the paleontolo- gist can readily restore an extinct type from a single bone or tooth, ought to receive its quietus from such examples, though of course it will not. It is equivalent to saying that we have nothing to learn from the fossils, and that all possible types of structure are exemplified in the living world. On account of this incompleteness of 182 preservation we cannot learn much that we wish to know of the structure of extinct organisms. The nervous, vascular, mus- cular and alimentary systems are entirely lost and can be inferred only from indirect and often insufficient evidence. Were the pearly nautilus extinct, our notions of the anatomy of the tetrabranchiate cephalopods would be very much astray, and in the cases of several groups of fossils we are quite unable to interpret the structure from what remains. (3) A third difficulty in the way of a truly morphological paleontology consists in the uncertainties of geological correla- tion, by which the relative age of forma- tions in widely separated areas and differ- ent continents is to be determined. It may and often does make a vital difference in the construction of a phylogeny, whether a given set of rocks in North America is older or younger than one in Europe, with which it is correlated. The principles ac- cording to which such correlation is to be made are still somewhat indeterminate, and not a few geologists maintain that the prob- lem is an insoluble one. On the other hand, it is essential to the paleontologist that it should be solved, and already a very encouraging beginning has been made. (4) In the fourth place the apparent order of succession of organisms in the strati- fied rocks must not be too implicitly and uncritically accepted. Animals and plants diffuse themselves as widely as possible un- til stopped by some impassable barrier. During the long ages of the world’s history these migrations have ever been in progress, and they greatly confuse the record when we attempt to read it in terms of evolution- ary descent. A species in a newer forma- tion, which appears to be derived from one in an older horizon of the same region, may, as a matter of fact, have had an entirely different ancestry and have migrated half around the globe to the place where it oc- SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 85 curs. To make these distinctions theoreti- cally is easy; to apply them very difficult. (5) Lastly should be mentioned a practi- eal drawback to the paleontological method, namely, its costliness. The naturalist may find much to do in other departments at small expense, which will be a source of in- finite pleasure to himself and of great value to science. Every field and wood, every pond and stream, and above all the sea, offer boundless stores of material. Even the side of paleontology which bears upon stratigraphy and historical geology may be taken up to great advantage by the private worker who happens to live in a favorable locality. With paleontology as a branch of morphology, however, the case is unhap- pily very different. Here great collections brought together without much regard to cost, skilled workers to prepare the speci- mens, and great buildings in which to house them are indispensable. Distant regions must be examined and the whole world ran- sacked for material. Many problems con- nected with the North American fauna must. await their explanation until Asia can be thoroughly explored, while Africa and South America have already shown what a. complete geological knowledge of those con- tinents may be expected to teach. In this country the arid parts of the West have yielded a marvelous store of wonderfully preserved fossils, but great sums have been expended in gathering them—an oppor- tunity which falls to the lot of but few. It is to be hoped that the multiplication of museums may ere long put within the reach of all biological students something of these great stores of wealth. It might well seem that all these limita- tions and drawbacks would necessarily dis- qualify paleontology as a morphological subject from being of the smallest real im- portance, but such a conclusion would be highly erroneous. Several of the limita- tions are but partial, not applying to par- AvuaustT 14, 1896.] ticular cases, while others are difficulties that further investigation may hope to re- move, notinsurmountable obstacles. Every year new forms are discovered and better material of known forms. Though the White River Bad Lands have for more than half a century been classic collecting ground, hardly a season passes that several new genera are not registered from there, and, better still, types before known only from fragments are gradually made more and more complete. From the middle Eocene to the lower Miocene there is in the West an almost unbroken transition which is bringing forth a truly magnificent series of evolutionary stages. While paleontology, as we have seen, does not profess to give an unbroken life history of the earth, yet it has certain preeminent advantages which neither comparative anatomy nor embryology possesses, and which fit it to form an invaluable supple- ment to those other methods of morpho- logical investigation. (1) In the first place, it gives us in many eases actual phyletic series in their true or- der of succession in time. In many groups of animals we have already recovered phy- letic series so full, so complete, that no ob- server can hesitate to accept them as repre- senting actually or very nearly the succes- Sive steps of evolutionary change in the or- der in which they occurred. Little confi- dence may, perhaps, be placed in these phyla by those who have not made a special study of them, and it may be imagined that fuller knowledge will require them to be completely changed. But when we find such a series as that of the horses, leading back by almost imperceptible gradations from the great monodacty1 living forms to their little five-toed progenitors in the far distant Eocene times, doubt becomes well- nigh impossible. A limit of error is placed by the stratigraphical order, the geological and morphological successions coinciding SCIENCE. 183 5 beautifully. Whatever changes in the details of such a series may be needed, a radical re- construction of it is not in the least likely to be called for. Few observers, if any, would now uphold the arrangement of the equine phylum proposed by Kowalevsky, namely, Palwotherium, Anchitherium, —_Hipparion, Equus; and yet it is surprising to see how the general character of this series, and the deductions as to the manner of evolution which may be drawn from it, agree with those made on the basis of the equine se- ries aS we now have it. Kowalevsky’s mis- take merely consisted in putting certain members of the side branches into the main line of descent, and that similar errors have been made in accepted phylogenies is not at all unlikely. The correction of such errors will, however, change the general result but little, and we may appeal with considerable confidence to the conclusions which legiti- mately follow from a study of these phy- logenies. Fortunately, the well-defined phyletic series which have already been made out occur in very widely separated animal groups—mammals, reptiles, cephalopods, brachiopods, echinoderms, etc.—so that the points in which they agree are apt to prove of general application and validity. The cephalopods are particularly valuable in this connection, because in them the em- bryonic and young stages of the shell are preserved in the adult, and thus conclusions have a distinct support from embryological considerations. To recur to the linguistic analogy, we have here at least fragments, and sometimes very extensive ones, of the various literatures which register the changes of language, and in the original documents which bear evidence of their dates and succession, and which, however incomplete, have not been falsified by forgeries and late interpolations. In this way we may establish unequivocally some, at least, of the animal pedigrees, which it is 184 one of the great objects of morphology to construct, and thus to correct the results obtained by the other methods of inquiry. Paleontology further enables us accurately to discriminate between resemblances which are due to genetic affinity and those which result from parallelism or convergence. To illustrate: On grounds of comparative anatomy, Flower classified the land Car- nivora in three sections: the Cynoidea, or dogs ; the Arctoidea, containing the bears, raccoons and mustelines; and the Aeluro- idea, including the civets, hyenas and cats. This classification has found wide favor and very general acceptance, but paleontology proves it to be untenable. The extinct phyla show that the dogs and bears are very closely akin, as are ,the mustelines, civets and hyenas, while the cats occupy a very isolated position and are not nearly allied to any of the other families. The anatomical characters which suggested Flower’s system are, in part, examples of convergence, and in part, due to the reten- tion of primitive characters in some groups and their loss in others. Again, reasoning from embryological data, Rése and others have propounded the theory that the complex, multicuspidate, mammalian tooth has been formed by the coalescence of many simple teeth. The phyletic series enable us to follow the evo- lution of these teeth step by step, and de- monstrate the incorrectness of the ‘con- ccrescence theory.’ In fact, the great lesson which the study of the phyla continually brings home to the observer is that trust- worthy results are to be obtained only by the laborious and minute tracing of the changes through every step of the way. Fragmentary series are not to be depended upon, and the wider the gaps between their members the more uncertain is their con- nection. (2) The reconstruction of pedigrees, the solving of homologies, the determination of SCIENCE, [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 85. relationships, and the establishing of classi- fication upon a sound and natural basis, important as these are, are yet only a part of the great task which morphology has set before itself. We wish to penetrate more deeply into the mystery of nature and learn how and why these changes have occured ; or, in other words, to discover the manner in which, and the efficient causes by which, development is effected. On these subjects there is, as yet, wide divergence of view among morphologists. The postulates and assumptions upon which morphological dis- cussions are founded are, in great measure, incapable of proof, and appeal with very different degrees of force to different minds. Modes of development which appear axio- matic to one observer are by another re- garded as absurd. All are agreed that there are limits to the possibilities of change; no one attempts to derive a butter- fly from a beetle, or a horse from a cow; but just how and where these limits should. be drawn it is at present impossible to say. It is this uncertainty which refers the question to the individual judgment and leaves the way open for such radical differ- ences of opinion. To the solution of these problems of evo- lutionary modes paleontology offers most valuable assistance, drawn from the study of actual phyla. It might seem that this was merely arguing in a circle, because the construction of phylogenetic series involves certain presuppositions as to what changes. are and what are not possible, and we then proceed to prove the presuppositions by the phyla thus constructed. But the cautious, step-by-step method, guarded by the order of appearance in time, offers a way of escape, and enables us to construct phyla in har- monious structural and stratigraphical suc- cession, which must very nearly represent the actual stages of change. Only a be- ginning has been made in this work, but the results drawn from an examination of — Avuaust 14, 1&96.] widely separated phyla, such as mammals, gasteropods and cephalopods, are so con- sistent and harmonious as to be full of promise for the future. Limitations of time and space forbid an attempt to fully consider here all the de- ductions which have been suggested and rendered more or less probable by this method, but one or two principles which stand out with especial clearness may be mentioned. (a) Evolution is ordinarily a continuous process of change by means of small grada- tions. The continuous character of a phylum is apt to be proportional to the rela- tive abundance of its representatives in the strata, which is equivalent to saying that well-known series are continuous, while ap- parently discontinuous series are imper- fectly known. This does not imply that the rate of change was always uniform—it probably was not—or that a sudden alter- ation of conditions may not bring about discontinuity, or per saltum development. It means that the usual and normal mode of advance is by continuity of change. (6) Development is, in most instances, direct and unswerving. The rise of new forms, and the decadence and degeneration of old ones, are not ordinarily by zigzag and meandering paths, but by relatively straight ones ; and though, of course, a path once taken may be diverged from, yet in such a case it is not regained. This applies par- ticularly to the organism as a whole; in minor details more latitude is permissible. The evidence is not yet sufficient to show just how widely applicable this principle is. (¢) Parallelism and convergence of de- velopment are much more general and im- portant modes of evolution than iscommonly Supposed. By parallelism is meant the independent acquisition of similar structure in forms which are themselves nearly re- lated, and by convergence such acquisition in forms which are not closely related, and SCIENCE. 185 thus in one or more respects come to be more nearly alike than were their ancestors. While some observers have tacitly or ex- plicitly denied the reality of these processes, most authorities have been compelled to admit them. What paleontology has done, and is doing, is to show the universality of these modes of development, and to point them out in directions where they had not been suspected. To give a few examples: The crescentic, or selenodont, molar has been separately acquired by no less than three groups of artiodactyls, and probably others as well. The spout-shaped odontoid process of the axis has independently de- veloped in the horses, the tapirs, and in three artiodactyl series. The true rumi- nants (Pecora) of the present day are, among other characteristics, distinguished from the remaining artiodactyls by the hol- low tympanic bulle, which in the pigs, tragulines and camels are filled with can- celli, or spongy bone. In Oligocene times only the camels had acquired the cancelli ; the other groups, though already differen- tiated as such, still had hollow and inflated tympanics. Lists of such parallelisms in single characters might be multiplied almost indefinitely, but they also occur in whole groups of structures. The camels have in teeth, skull, vertebree and limbs many points of resemblance to the true ruminants, which demonstrably are not due to inheritance from a common ancestor. The two great series of ungulates, the artiodactyls and perissodactyls, which are usually grouped together as the Ungulata par eacellence, are examples of parallel development on a grand seale, their many resemblances being for the most part independently acquired. The flesh eaters known as Carnivora include at least two, and probably three lines, which have been separately given off from the primitive flesh eaters, or creodonts. ‘ Such a mode of development greatly in- creases the difficulty of determining phy- 186 logenies, which would be very much easier could every notable resemblance at once be accepted as proof of relationship. It ofter renders impossible the proper classification of some isolated genus which seems to have several incompatible affinities. It empha- sizes the necessity of founding schemes of classification upon the totality of structure, and of determining the nature of character- istics, whether they are primitive or ac- quired, divergent, parallel or convergent, before attempting to assign them their proper taxonomic value. We may find a practical identity in teeth, skull or feet as the outcome of these pro- cesses, but as yet no case is known where all these structures have become alike through the operation of either parallel or convergent development. Among the in- vertebrates the case is different. Hyatthas shown that the degenerate, straight-shelled, ammonoid genus Baculites is a polyphyletic group, and derived from several distinct stocks, both European and American. Wurtenberger points out that the so-called Ammonites nutabilis is not a true species, but a composite group, made up by the conver- gence of several distinct lines to a common term. This case is peculiarly significant, because it would hardly have been detected had not the embryonic and young stages of the shells been preserved. It seems the most obvious of common- places to say that numerous and close re- semblances of structure are prima facie evi- dences of relationship. Yet the statement is true, even though the resemblances have been independently acquired, because par- allelism is a more frequently observed phenomenon than convergence, and because the more nearly related any two organisms are, the more likely are they to undergo similar modifications. All this brings us back to the thesis so frequently insisted upon already, that the only safe and trustworthy method of con- SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 85. structing phylogenies is by tracing the de- velopment, step by step, through all its gradations; and until this is done the clas- sification of any group can be but tentative and provisional, that is, if we intend classi- fication to express relationship. No department of biological science is at present the scene of such vigorous contro- versy as that which deals with the factors of evolution, the causes which determine the development of new forms, and the prob- lems of heredity which are inseparably con- nected with them. Paleontological evi- dence will prove to be of much importance in this connection also, but it cannot well have more than a corroborative value. Though the examination of long and com- plete phyla brings to light much that is sug- gestive concerning the factors which have brought these changes to pass, and any | rational theory must embrace and explain these facts, yet the deciding weight must probably come through the physiological and experimental method. Time fails to deal with such far-reaching questions here, and yet it may be well to call attention to the necessity of avoiding a dogmatic and in- tolerant attitude, and to deprecate any premature attempt to exclude this or that class of factors from consideration. In most of the recent writings upon the ef- ficient causes of evolution you will find ex- pressed or implied the feeling that these matters are not so simple and intelligible as we once supposed, and that we are yet only upon the threshold of their solution. The study of paleontology will not tend to dispel this feeling of mystery. Another department of biological science in which paleontology has proved of great value, and will become more and more so in the future, is that which deals with the geographical distribution and migrations of organisms. Though not a branch of mor- phology, this subject has a very significant bearing upon that science, and cannot be AuGUST 14, 1896. ] ignored in any comprehensive theory of evolution. This, again, is too large a field to enter upon at the close of a lecture. It must suffice, therefore, to hint at the many cases in the existing distribution of animals, which seem so puzzling and capricious, and which are so readily explained by a study of the past. That the nearest allies of the South American Hamas should be the eamels of the Old World seems unaccount- able, until we learn that North America was the original home of the entire tribe. The occurrence of the tapirs in South Amer- ica and in the Malay peninsula becomes in- telligible enough, when we learn that this genus is of very high antiquity, and was formerly represented in every part of the northern hemisphere. The more fully the past is recovered, the more completely the former land connec- tions of the various continents are made out, the more comprehensible do the seem- ing anomalies of the present order of things become—a proposition which applies to more than problems of geographical distri- bution. : The foregoing consideration of paleontol- ogy as a branch of morphological science is necessarily brief and very inadequate, but it will suffice, I trust, to show that its claims upon the attention of morphologists should not be ignored, and that it is admi- rably fitted to throw light upon many ob- secure problems. In conclusion, let me point out that final and lasting results are not to be gained by an exclusive adherence to any method of morphological inquiry, but by a combination ofallofthem. Each is able to supplement the others, and it is folly to reject such aid. Already most en- couraging results have followed from this combined method of work, and it is de- voutly to be wished that its scope may be more and more extended. As an example may be cited the recent investigations upon the mammalian dentition. From paleonto- SCIENCE. 187 logical phyla we have learned to distinguish the homologies of the cusps, and the way in which a complex tooth is gradually formed from a simple one. Embryology, on the other hand, has shown the relations of the successive dentitions to one another in a fashion that paleontology could by no pos- sibility accomplish unaided. As another example may be mentioned Wineza’s dis- covery of a bony clavicle in the embryo of the sheep, which was soon followed by the still more unexpected one of vestigial bony elavicles in certain extinct artiodactyls, confirming and explaining the first. Em- bryology has taught us that the large ele- ment in the carpus of the Carnivora known as the scapholunar was formed by the coalescence of three separate bones—the seaphoid, lunar and centrale. Later the fossils were unearthed, which showed that the embryonic and transitory condition of the modern forms was the permanent and adult structure of the primitive Eocene flesh-eaters. The more the combined method is em- ployed the more fruitful does it appear. Nor should the combination be restricted to the technically morphological subjects. Ex- perimental embryology has already won some notable triumphs, and that is a physio- logical quite as much as a morphological province. In the ever-increasing complexity of modern civilization a more and more im- portant role is played by systematic co- operation, specialists combining for joint work which neither could accomplish alone. Ts it Utopian to wish that some such organ- ized scheme of attack upon biological problems shall be devised, when, instead of every man doing merely that which is right in his own eyes, we shall combine in a defi- nite, orderly way to investigate a given topic in all its bearings? It may well be doubted whether any naturalist, however great his genius, will ever again be able 188 to take such an exhaustive survey of biological data as Darwin did in his time. The enormous mass of accumu- lated facts already far transcends the power of any one mind to grasp, and it would seem that organized cooperation is the only method of dealing with such vast accumulations. When that time arrives, the paleontologist will be able to render even more conspicuously valuable services that he has done in the past. W. B. Scott. PRINCETON UNIVERSITY... ON PHOLADIDEA PENITA AND ITS METHOD OF BORING. THE Piddock of the northwestern coast, Pholadidea penita, is found in its curved conical burrow in the rocks near the tide marks. These rocks, so far as the writer’s observation goes, consist of soft limestone or sandstone of varying hardness, the animal choosing the softer portions for its home. How the Piddock accomplishes the task of burrowing into the even moderately hard sandstone is a question upon which little ight is thrown by an examination of the mature, or as I shall call it, the resting form, which is characterized by the com- plete absence of its foot muscles and an al- most complete fusion of the mantle lobes along their ventral margin, leaving an opening hardly 2 mm.long. The inference is that Pholadidea penita is a degenerate form, as is the oyster. Further facts, how- ever, will show that this degeneracy does not occur till late in life, when its burrow, the home of its old age, is completed. The shell of the animal during its period of diligence, like that of other Piddocks, gapes widely in front. Through the upper por- tion of this gape protrudes a thick fold of the mantle which overlaps the antero-dor- sal margin of each valve and secretes a layer of calcareous matter on the outside of the shell. The gape is much wider below SCIENCE. ‘ Foot. [N.S. Vou. IV. No. 85. long. %! A Fig. II. Left side of working form, specimen 6 cm. long. iS ‘ f ; 4 Z \ \ a \ Fig. III. Inside of left valve showing hinge mechan- ism and muscle markings, specimen 9 cm. long ; Siphon retracted in all. aa. Anterior adductor muscle mark; the arrow point indicates its posterior limit. 3a. Third adductor muscle mark at angle of pallial sinus. f. Cuticular flap. ft. m. Thick antero-ventral edge of mantle surrounding foot. p. Pad formed by antero-dorsal mantlefolds. pa. Posterior adductor muscle mark. pl. 1. Plate secreted by antero-dorsal mantle fold, of that side. pl. 2. Plate secreted by m. in Fig. I. S. Additional extent of shell added at the same time with cuticular flap. u. Umbo. The leaders end in patch of abrasion, the point where the valves articulate. The small crosses indicate attachment of hinge cuticle. and through it protrudes a strong cylindri- cal muscular foot, the muscles of which are attached at a point of vantage supplied by a curved process on the inside of each valve. The mechanical result of this ar- 4K t ‘ae Avuaust 14, 1896. ] rangement is that the foot moves about a point near the common axis of the animal and its burrow and not at one side, thus enabling the foot to work with equal advan- tage in all directions. The mantle lobes are fused, except in the antero-venitral region (and, of course, at the siphonal openings), where an opening is found sufficiently large for the protrusion of the foot. The edge of the mantle opening seems to be provided with circular muscle fibres, by means of which the opening is kept just large enough for the foot. Speci- mens of this form when removed from the burrow will be found to have the foot armed with grit, and a glance at its size and mus- culature is enough to convince one that it is functional. These characters remain unchanged until the work of drilling the burrow is com- pleted. The depth and size of the hole will be determined by the number and frequency of the neighboring burrows or the hardness of the rock. Assuming that the work is finished and the author is ready to rest from his labors, let us see what changes take place. The foot, being thereafter of no use, begins to atrophy, till at last the mus- cular tissue is entirely lost, the whole bulk being taken up by the genitalia and diges- tive tract. As the foot disappears, the opening through which up to this time it has protruded grows smaller by further fusion of the mantle lobes, till there is left at the extreme anterior end a small opening about one and a half mm. in diameter. This opening is supplied with a sphincter muscle and two valves on the inside, so placed that egress of water at this point may be prevented. The opening seems to be used in drawing in water and débris chancing to be in the burrow. As this fusion takes place the gape of the shell becomes closed by plates secreted by the antero-dorsal mantle folds above and by the thick mantle now closing in front of the SCIENCE. 189 foot below. This results in the complete armature of the anterior end of the animal. At the posterior end an extra length of shell and two cuticular flaps, leathery con- tinuations of the shell, are produced. The shape and size of these is such that the bur- row is completely closed at this point by them as by valves. After these changes have taken place there is no more boring done, and we have now the fully matured but degenerate animal. It is interesting to note that not infrequently other clams Saxidomus are caught when very small in the burrow of the Piddock. Such forms have, it is well known, a very strong and muscular foot, which, however, becomes functionless in imprisonment and dwindles away until it is almost, if not entirely, lost. The shell becomes elongate or otherwise changed from the normal shape by pressure of the walls which imprison it. Mussels, too, attach themselves by their byssus to the wall of the burrow near its mouth, where it is narrow, and become much elon- gated. The absence of an elastic hinge ligament is a striking character, not only of this form, but of Piddocks in general, and of an- other allied form, Teredo. The valves are held in position each relatively to the other by the common cuticular invest- ment, which is, however, rather thicker and stronger along the dorsal line. The point at which the valves actually come in con- tact is morphologically the outside surface of the umbo, thus forming a double ball joint about which the dorsal cuticle is so dis- posed as to give rise to an incomplete cap- sular ligament. In place of the hinge liga- ment we find that the anterior adductor muscle, instead of remaining inside the shell, extends backwards and dorsal to the umbones, so that contraction of this muscle does not result in closing the valves, as it, aided by the posterior adductor, does in other dimyarians, but in separating them ven- 190 trally and approximating them dorso-an- teriorly. Compensation takes place, how- ever, by the development of a third adduc- tor muscle, which occurs at the lower angle of the pallial sinus. This adductor mus- cle is in fact composed of pallial muscles di- verted to this use. Such a muscle occurs in Zirphea and Teredo and another Pid- dock which I have examined, said to have been broughtin ballast from Panama. By means of muscles arranged with re- spect to the point of contact, as these are, the valves of the shell can be moved mutually in any plane excepting a dorso-ventral one. The antero-ventral margin of the shell of the working form is armed with teeth, which are constantly renewed by shell accretion, forming a good rasp. Certain scratches in the wall of the burrow show that this rasp _has been used in enlarging the hole, the an- terior mantle pad and foot being used as fulera. There are, however, other scratches at the apex of the burrow which indicate that the foot armed with sand serves also as a drill, but allattempts to watch the op- eration have so far been futile. Specimens of this form have been found by the writer showing all degrees of de- generacy. Francis EK. Luoyp. PACIFIC UNIVERSITY, FOREST GROVE, OREGON. SIF JOSEPH PRESTWICH. Tue Nestor of English geologists—Sir Joseph Prestwich—late professor of geology at Oxford, died on the 23d of June, last, at the ripe age of 84 years. The life of Prof. Prestwich covers the most eventful period in the past of geology. The problem whose solution has established the principles of the new science all arose during his life- time, and of these all he could say with truth “¢ quaeque ipse vidi Et quorum pars magna fui.”’ Born near London on March 12, 1812, SCIENCE. [N.S. Vou. 1V. No. 85. he received his early education partly in ° England and partly in France, becoming later a student of University College, where: his attention was chiefly turned to chemistry and natural philosophy, geological study not being then a recognized part of any course. While there he founded among his fellow students the Zetetical Society, com- posed of about 14 young men who arranged to lecture to one another for the ues of mutual improvement. _ Necessity, rather than inclination, turned his course into business, in which he was closely occupied for nearly 40 years, but during this long time his thought and his holidays were employed in his favorite topic, geology. It was his enthusiasm and stern earnestness that enabled him to ac- complish so much in hours that most men would have devoted to mere amusement. The necessary books and travel were ob- tained by the strictest self-denial in per- sonal expense, sometimes, perhaps, to an excessive degree, but the results became manifest in a series of investigations that rapidly brought him to the front, and re- sulted in his appointment to the chair at Oxford in 1874. To enumerate the successive publications. that came from his pen would scarcely befit this notice. A glance at the many prob- lems that engaged his attention and which were in part or altogether solved by his efforts will prove more instructive and in- teresting. One of his earliest papers ap- peared in the transactions of the Geological — Society of London in 1836, and contains an investigation of the Coalbrookdale coal field, but his attention was soon directed to the English and French Tertiary strata and their correlation, and from these he passed to the younger or quaternary deposit on which most of his later work was done. In several years reports had been current of the occurrence of human relics in the form of flint implements in gravels of very a Aueust 14, 1896. ] early date in France, but geologists on both _ sides of the channel received them with in- credulity. In vain did the discoverer, M. Boercher de Perthes lay the evidence before them. So firmly were they fixed in their traditional belief in the late date of the appearance of man that all his efforts failed to move them until Dr. Falconer visited the region, saw and was convinced. At his suggestion, Prestwich, Godwin, Austen and others went to Amiens, and the former in his paper be- fore the Royal Society gained over his English brethren to the new faith which he had himself adopted on seeing the evidence presented in the valley of the Somme. He even extended the limit of time which the French geologist had demanded by proving that the gravels were of at least two ages, and that the high level or older beds had been deposited before the valley itself had been excavated by the river. In the same time was the report on the Brixham Cave in 1872, where new evidence of the vast antiquity of the human race was adduced and previous conclusions were more than supported. Those who can look back to the time can well recall the condi- tions and realize the boldness of the few who dared to stand for the new truth and face the storm of ‘odium theologicum,’ which set in at once and beat on their repu- tation. Years passed by before it began to blow over, and only disappointment, loss and mental suffering were the reward of many who read and believed and acknowl- edged their faith. It is hard now to un- derstand the effort it cost twenty-five or thirty years ago. Prof. Prestwich has taken an active part in the efforts to find coal in the southeast of England; in the discussion relative to the channel tunnel, in the investigation of deep sea temperatures and in the water supply of London, “nihil tetigit quod non ornavit.”’ His large work on geology, in two vol- SCIENCE. 1 191 umes, appeared in 1886 and 1888 with a geological map of Europe, and contains the matured results of his life’s work. His energy continued almost to the last ; papers on quaternary geology and the antiquity of man have been read or written as late as the year 1893. Honors flowed in on the veteran geolo- gist from all sides. He received the Wol- laston medal in 1849, a royal medal from the Royal Society in 1865; he was President of the Geological Society of London from 1870 to 1872, Vice-President of the Royal Society in 1870 and 1871. He received the Telford medal from the Institute of Civil Engineers in 1874, was President at the re- union of the Geological Society of France, in 1880, and was elected a corresponding member of the ‘Institute’ in 1885. A short time only before his death he received from Her Majesty the honor of knighthood. His later years have been spent at Darent Hulme, near Sevenoaks, Kent, a home after his own taste, as those who have had the pleasure of visiting him well know. Geology is worked into every feature and adorns every corner and panel. It stands in the beautiful chalk downs, overlooking the valley of the Weald, where he delighted to ramble and where his life was shared by Mrs. Prestwich, niece of Hugh Falconer, herself attached to the pursuits of her hus- band, whose latterly feeble health she guarded with loving care. E. W. C. CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. RESEARCHES IN MEXICO. Tur rich soil of Mexico and Central America is never scratched but it yields a harvest. How much there is in that land of promise for the ethnographer and anti- quary is well illustrated in the brief descrip- tion of his journey from Mexico City to Guatemala, contributed by Prof. Starr to the Chicago University Record, for May 22, 192 1896. He did not find the ‘pygmies’ of which there was some talk at the American Association last summer; but the presence of cretins in the barrancas near Guadalajara was established. In Chiapas, many cases of pinto was observed and also of goitre. No reference is made to the remarkable antiquities of this state, but doubtless they were not overlooked. The pottery, lacquer work and native costumes are mentioned. A number of notes were made for future studies. Prof. Starr has also translated and pub- lished a pamphlet on Aztec place-names from the works of Father de la Rosa and Dr. Pefiafiel. It is to be regretted that this list was not revised before publication by some competent student of the tongue. Several of the explanations are certainly erroneous, and others doubtful. The Nahuatl is not a difficult language either in its phonetics or its composition, and it now has excellent dictionaries and grammars, of easy access. A NEW ANTHROPOLOGICAL JOURNAL. THE science of anthropology is developing so rapidly, the contributions to it are so numerous and in so many languages and publications, that Dr. G. Buschan of Stettin, very justly thought the time has come when a journal should be started intended to take in the whole field, and give a quarterly summary of the progress of the science the world over. This he has carried out in the Centralblatt fir Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte, issued at Breslau (J. U. Kern’s Verlag. Price 12 marks, 80 Pf., for this country ). It contains one or more original articles, one, for instance, by Dr. Orsi on the an- cient necropolis of Novilara in Sicily, and one by Dr. Sergi on the distribution of the Mediterranean race. Most of the pages are, however, occupied with brief notices of the leading articles on the science in various SCIENCE. [N.S. Von. IV. No. 85. journals, transactions and proceedings, or separately published, including books. They are intended to be descriptive rather than critical, and to serve as a running in- dex of the literature of the science. There is need of just such a publication, and every student of the science of man will be sure to find references to works and articles for which he will be grateful. EH should acquire a good subscription list in the United States. D. G. Brinton. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. ADAPTATIONS IN CAVE-DWELLING ANIMALS. THE influence of environment upon organ- isms is nowhere more striking than in the case of animals which find themselves accidentally lost in caves and which succeed in accustoming themselves to the situation in spite of its diffi- culties. M. Armand Viré gives some notes on his observations, in the Comptes Rendus. The principle difference in the situation consists in the absence of light and in the rarity of animal prey. The eye always becomes atrophied to a degree which varies with the species and also with the individual; there is sometimes a dif- ference between the two eyes of a single indi- vidual. The eyes are to a certain extent replaced by other organs of sense; the antennee of the Campodes become, in some individuals, twice as long as usual, and sometimes longer than the entire body. The tactile hairs with which the body is covered obtain an exaggerated development, and in the crustaceans sometimes even invade the ocular globe. Hearing does not seem to be accentuated, but the sense of smell is very acute, and a bit of tainted flesh becomes invaded in a very few minutes with a large colony of animals. The organs of diges- tion become very considerably modified in those species which are naturally carnivorous, and in two Staphylins the mandibles were found to be completely atrophied. Every animal is more or less completely depigmented; but those which had no trace of color remaining began to have numerous little black spots disseminated over the whole body after they had been kept for a Avuaust 14, 1896. ] month in the light, and these spots were par- ticularly abundant in those parts (antenne and claws) which had been accidentally lost and were in course of restoration. (OA DRO is COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. M. GEORGES ADOLPHE RICHARD States in the Comptes Rendus that he has solved the problem (which has hitherto seemed insoluble) of repro- ducing and making permanent three separate proofs of the picture in the Becquerel process of color photography, and of superimposing them upon a single plate. His process consists in substituting for the reduced silver, which is deposited in the collodion at varying depth, corresponding to the crests of the standing waves produced by light of three fundamental colors, a coloring matter of the corresponding tone. There are two ways of accomplishing this: (1) the reduced silver is transformed into a salt which is capable of fixing or of precipita- ting the coloring matter in question, or (2) it is transformed into a salt which reacts upon the carbon derivatives and forms an artificial color- ing matter in the place and of the thickness re- quired. Three plates are formed for the three fundamental colors, the middle one on a gelatine film and the other two on glass. The superposi- tion of these three layers in the exact place re- quired offers no difficulty, and the colors are of absolute stability. The combined plate can, of course, be looked at at any angle, unlike the plate produced by the Becquerel process in its original form. At the same time comes the in- formation that a Chicago photographer has per- fected the Joly process; it would seem that the moment is not far distant when photographs which reproduce the natural colors of objects will be easily within reach. Ge Leas THE EYESIGHT OF ENGLISH SCHOOL CHILDREN. A REPORT has been presented to the British Education Department by Mr. Brudnell Carter on the vision of 8,125 children attending twenty- five elementary schools in London. The re- fraction of the eyes had in many instances to be determined from a simple ophthalmo- scopic inspection owing to the objections raised by parents to the use of mydriatics, and inter- Tuptions occurred from holidays, non-attend- SCIENCE. 193 ance and other causes. 3,181 children, or 39.15 per cent., were found to have normal vision in both eyes; 1,016, or 12.5 per cent., had normal vision in the right eye and subnormal in the left; 700, or 8.6 per cent., had normal vision in the left eye and subnormal in the right; and 3,228, or 39.7 per cent., had subnormal vision in both eyes. Comparing the sexes, the total was made up of 3,928 boys and 4,197 girls; of these 43.7 per cent. of the boys had normal vision in both eyes, and 33.4 per cent. of the girls. Mr. Carter is of the opinion that the eyes of London school children generally are not in any way injuriously affected by the conditions of elementary school life. Myopia is not of fre- quent occurrence, and Mr. Carter has failed to find any evidence of its progressive increase from younger children to the elder ones, or any correspondence between the degree and the prevalence of the defect and the quality of, the lighting in the schools where it was found. He holds that the prevalence of subnormal vision is due to the fact that children so rarely look at distant objects. THE OBSERVATORY OF YALE UNIVERSITY. THE report of Dr. W. L. Elkin, who since it was written has been made director of the Ob- servatory, to the managers for the year 1895-6, is as follows : ‘