Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 41.djvu/883

  of the names of colors, would involve danger to life and property; that the testing should be compulsory, and intrusted to examiners certificated by the central authority; that Holmgren's test be used for color-vision, and that after passing it the candidate be required to name without hesitation the colors that are employed as signals or lights, and also white light; that rejected candidates have a right of appeal; that candidates rejected for naming colors wrongly who are proved to possess normal color-vision be allowed to be re-examined after a proper interval of time; that certificates of the qualifications of candidates be given, and schedules of the results of examinations be sent up every year; that persons filling the scheduled employments be examined every third year for form-vision; that the tests, etc., be inspected periodically; that signal colors of ships and railways be as far as possible uniform; and that witnesses in judicial inquiries arising out of these matters be themselves tested for color and form vision.

A Curious Accident by Lightning.—A singular wholesale effect of a stroke of lightning occurred at Bourges, France, on the 4th of May. A detachment of soldiers was hastening to get under shelter from an approaching storm, when the whole body were thrown by the lightning upon their faces. One man, who was a little distance away and in the rear, was also affected, but not so seriously. Most of the men rose immediately, but four remained prostrated for a little while, and one was killed. The men say they felt violent blows in the nape of the neck and the legs, and a sensation of burning. None of the men saw the lightning, except an officer in front, who was facing them.

Types of Indian Beauty.—In an interesting paper on Indian Types of Beauty, Dr. R. W. Shufeldt has collected portraits, with personal descriptions, of specimens representing several tribes of the Southwest, including a Navajo man and his wife Anserino; Izashima, a belle of the Laguna Pueblo; the daughter and the wife of Paliwahtiwa, governor of Zuñi; a girl of Moqui; Natuende, an Apache maiden; Sowatcha and Luli-pah, married Mojave women; and a Yuma squaw. The Yumas never have as good-looking women among them as are to be found among the Mojaves; and, in the author's opinion, "the prettiest and most intelligent faces of all are possessed by the young unmarried girls of the pueblos."

Kerosene as a Preventive of Mosquitoes.—Mr. L. O. Howard, of Washington, read an interesting paper before the Association of Economic Entomologists in Washington, on averting the mosquito plague by treating the breeding-spots of the pests with kerosene. He gave the details of some accurate experiments made during the first part of July, which indicated that ninety-six thousand square feet of water can be covered by one barrel of kerosene, at the cost of $4.50. The effect of the treatment is that the eggs and early stages of the mosquito are destroyed, and all the female mosquitoes alighting upon the surface of the water for the purpose of laying their eggs will be killed. The deadly effects on insects of such application will remain for at least two weeks, and will outlast all evidence by the smell of the presence of kerosene.



of five members, chosen from different sections, was appointed by the American Association to act with the corresponding committee of the World's Congress of the Columbian Exposition respecting such matters as may appropriately come under its cognizance.

report of the American Association's committee on indexing chemical literature recommends that communications be entered into with the Royal Society, so that a perfect index can be prepared. It was decided to appoint a committee to secure a certain number of experts to work on the index which is to be published by the Smithsonian Institution.

credit for the introduction of manual training into the public schools is claimed by Director J. L. Tadd, of the Public Industrial Art School of Philadelphia, for Mr. Charles G. Leland, who was chiefly instrumental in influencing the board to make the first attempt, Mr. Leland was a skilled hand-worker as well as literary man, and had a complete idea of the practical side of the question as well as of the theoretical. The teachers in the Philadelphia school think 