Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 62.djvu/427

Rh, has been greatly increased. As the result of an archeological journey to Permesos in Pisidia nine graves, differing in type from any yet opened, were carefully examined. Vol. I. of this report has now been published.

The Academy is trying to obtain for its 'Phonographic Archives': (1) Exact representations of the sounds of European languages and dialects at the beginning of the twentieth century, (2) representations of the best musical accomplishments of the present time and of the musical productions of peoples of different degrees of culture as a basis for comparison, (3) representations of the tones of the voices of distinguished men. These tones the phonograph will preserve. The results of the expedition to southern Arabia and Socotra will soon appear in a large number of volumes, giving an account of reptiles, fishes, insects, lepidoptera, diptera, coleoptera, neuroptera, etc. The gains for linguistics and epigraphy are said to be very great.

The study of the results of the commission to India to gather information in regard to the cause of the bubonic plague has discovered its bacillus and made it possible to prevent the spread of the plague in the future. An essay on 'Die Porcia von Socotra,' published by the academy, has pointed out the possible relation of this Porcia to the Portia of Shakespeare. Several tales current among the people of Socotra and on the coast were carefully written down and will not only show how stories of this character travel from country to country, but will add to our knowledge of folk-lore. Work which promises to be of importance has been done in the study of the syntax and philology of the Slavic languages, and several publications have appeared on the political history and philosophy of the Slavic peoples. The Academy is attempting to investigate and study accurately the history, archeology, philology and ethnology of the entire Balkan peninsula.

The archeological work of the academy proved to be of such importance and extent that a special society was formed to carry it forward. Explorations in Ephesus were made in 1897, preliminary reports of which have appeared, and also of work done in Cilicia. In the spring of 1898 measurements were made in Luxor, Egypt, to determine the influence of winter climate on atmospheric electricity, in Siberia to discover the influence of extreme cold, and in a balloon at the height of 4,000 meters. The Academy has taken part with the German academies in preparing an Encyclopedia of Mohammedanism and it shares with the academies of Berlin and Munich the income of the Savigny bequest for the study of Law, German and Roman, and the law of all nations. The subventions, which cover almost every department of scientific research, and those made for historical and philosophical purposes, over fifty in number, now exceed in amount 75,000 florins annually. They indicate an activity in research equaled by no