Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 28.djvu/585

Rh are really well built, and in front of many of them are small garden.", raised ten feet from the ground. To make these gardens, a well-built platform is covered with soil, in which flowers and tobacco are planted and cultivated.

The International Geological Congress.—The International Geological Congress held its sessions in Berlin from the 28th of September to the 4th of October last, and was attended by two hundred delegates of various nationalities, among whom were Mr. McGee, Professor Newberry, and Professor James Hall, from the United States. The German geologist, Von Dechen, who is eighty-five years old, was named honorary president, while Professor Beyrich served as effective president. Among the important matters to receive attention was the report of progress upon the geological map of Europe, the execution of which had been put in charge of a special commission by the preceding Congress at Bologna. The choice of colors made at Bologna was pronounced a happy one; and the principle of marking the subdivisions of periods by graduated tints of the same color, the darker tints indicating the older beds, was approved. The report on nomenclature stated that, while the Congress of Bologna had established the fundamental principles on the subject, there were some important matters which it had not settled, and upon which the international committees had not been able to agree. On the points considered in this report the Congress decided that the Triassic and Jurassic formations should be divided into three series each, and the Cretaceous into two, the lower series including the Gault. On other points, on which differences of opinion were more pronounced, discussion was remanded to special publications and to future consideration. Professor Neumayr, of Vienna, asked the sanction of the Congress to his contemplated "Nomenclator Palæontologicus," to be published in fifteen volumes of a hundred pages each, in which should be given the names of all vegetable and animal fossils, with the beds in which they occur and the works in which they are described. It will have a French introduction and a Latin text, as brief as possible. The next meeting of the Congress was appointed to be held in London in 1888, between the 15th of August and the 15th of September.

The new England Meteorological Society.—At the annual meeting of the New England Meteorological Society, held in Boston, October 20th, Professor Davis read a paper upon the thunder-storms of the summer of 1885, and Mr. Harold Whiting a paper on the self-recording aneroid barometer. A full presentation of the year's work of the society was given in the report of the Council. The number of members had increased from nine in November, 1883, to ninety-five; the number of observers sending reports from forty-five to one hundred and twenty-three. Efforts had been constantly made to secure increased accuracy and greater uniformity in the observations. The subject of accurate instruments received early attention; and it was decided to manufacture a special class of rain-gauges rather than to adopt any now in the market, and to adopt certain makes of self-registering thermometers. All desiring to make observations have been encouraged to do so, and efforts have also been made to secure observers in special localities. In co-operation with the United States Signal Service, local weather-flags are daily displayed in more than a hundred cities and towns of New England. More than four hundred observers have co-operated in the special investigation of thunder-storms; and two hundred and three reports were sent in of a single storm. The National Academy aids these investigations with an appropriation of two hundred dollars. The expenses of the society have, by the aid of friends, been kept within its income. As its financial prosperity depends on the number of members, it is desired to include in the membership all who are interested in meteorological studies in New England, whether they make observations or not.

How to exalt the Teacher's Art.—"Teaching as a Business"—that is, why is it not a profession?—is the title of a paper which was read by C. W. Bardeen before the National Educational Association at its last meeting. One reason why teaching is not a profession lies in the way school