Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/135

 rxBBDABY e, 1880.]

��SCIENCE.

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�� ��inj person iu the world ivlio will write the Im:si tliree- Iboasand'Wcinl paper od the cnuse of the atmospheric effects ('reil light,' etc.) occompanjing sunset and ■uorise during the past sixteen months. It is desired Uukt these puperf be as original aj jiosaibte in fncu, 'fUiaoB. and treatment.

Under the auBpices of the Academy of natural IMS of Phlittdelpliia, Prof. D. G. Brinlon began Jon. 26 to deliver a leries of len lectures on lerlcan ethnology and archeology. He will be fol- lowed by Professor Benjamin Sharp in a course of from twenty to twenly-five lectures on the principles of loolt^y; Professor Angelo Hellprin. a course of prac- tical instraciion in geology and paleontology, to be sopplemented by Beld-excnrsions, and a final excur- sion to the region of the upper Delaware or the valley of Virginia, extending over a period of ten days or more; and Prof, H. Carvill Lewis, a course of twenty- five lectunta on mineralogy and lithology, with practi- cal deroonstruiions in the laboratory.

— The American pliilosophlcal society has jnst poblished an Index to its Proceedinga and Transac- tions down [« 1SS3, prepared by Mr. Henry Phillips, jim., one of the secretaries. It will l»e found very Qseful, but would have been much more so bad it been made in a single index, instead of in three, as at present. The simple preDx of P and T would hare di«linguiihed the Proceedings and the Transac- tions u readily as the present Roman numerals do [he volunieB; and a Tcould similarly Iiave been made to iiidluaie the old in distinction from the new series of the Transactions.

— The Erst number of the Journal o/ mseohgy. an- Wnced in a recent issue, has been received, and can

rdly be said to promise much for the future of niy-

y in this country. It is almost wholly devoted

I descriptions of new species; for the abstract of

'harton'i paper on Frles's nomenclature of colors,

n from Omtllea, Is of slight botanical value. If

'* Dumber is an Index of what is to come, it will be

Ktn'tter of regret that the journal was ever started.

e proper place for the description of species is in

B proceedings of scientiflc societies, or in the re-

,s iMued by the different states or by the national

r«niment. In the case of a monthly journal, the

eesslty of filling the requisite number of pages must

llcltlj result in the production of hastily or carelessly

red descriptions, which will only be an eiicum-


 * the inevitable tendency will be to degenerate

« ipecles-mill. Neither mycology nor any

lurnattiral-history science can hope for advancement

rough journals having no higher aim than this.

id what shall we say to authors who describe one of

x 'species,' and then add the following note: " It

K^teprobable that these are only the spores of some

" :r fungus accidentally scattered on the leaves, and

Bis given here more especially ta call attention to it,


 * l order to secertain its true character " ?

-In (lie jKJantic month']/ for February, Mr. Brad- d Torrey has a pleasantly written paper on winter ~> about Boston. In which he treats brielly the va- si that enliven our fields and waysides at

��this inclement season. The writer shows hiiuselt lo t>e a keen discriminating observer, as well as an affec- tionately appreciative one, and hasaisoahappy wayoC telling what he has seen. His paper will proveof inter- est to the ornilbologist as well as the general reader.

— Mr. W. W. Valentine of Richmond, Va., in the siHWiraen pages of his 'Comparative study of the new high Qennan language, theoretical and practical,' evidently gives a translation of the notes of some lectures ou German grammar which be once heard in Germany. Lilte niost lecture-notes, they contain some mistakes, and are, except fur a reader already fumliiar with the subject, obscure through their con- ciseness. And if there has been in this book any winnowing, any selection at all of topics to be treated, the winnowing has certainly left much chaff among the wheat. It is difficult to conceive of any class of students in America who could, with advantage, study German In such a grammar. We subjoin a few eharacteriatic extracts: "Consonants accumulate in simple words and compounds. It occurs often from the syncopation ... In compounds they accumu- late very often. —In English sex determines class- distinction tor the most part. —The es of the neut nore. ace. (also voc.} is often omitted iu folk-epeech, and also in poetry where it stands in connection wltU euphony and quantity. — Itelics of gender are found with the demonstrative dot that. — Eiuen (better eaten). [IIJ — Reduplication occurred originally with the preterit stem of all stem verbs.— /ofion to told (redupl.) Only the past participle is preserved in 111- erary language," [!1]

— The fourth number of the Anuario t/ililiagriifico de la Rtp'iblica oTf/enllna, by A. K. Viola (Buenos Aires, 1883), contains a good account of the publica- tions issued in that country for 1882. It coroprifes political and social subjects, aa well as scientific and technical, and aims to Include every thing bearing an Argentine imprint. Scientific subjects are allowed thirty p^es, which are filled chiefly with mention of the work accomplished by several government insti- tutions, such as the universities and the Cordoba observatory, and by the scientiGc societies of Buenos Aires and Cordoba. The entire list fills six hundred pages, small octavo. Another local list that deserves mention is Trautwein's BibKiigraphie der alptnen lilernlur tor 1883, that has appeared for the last tour- teen years in the ZeUgchiift da deuUcben und oenlerr. alpen-vereinx. It contains about (our hundred titles: but journals are entered only by their name, not by their contents. There are no abstracts, and the ar- rangement is only by name of author; so that con- venience of use would require more care expended in Its preparation.

— Mr. A. M. Elliott, in the Johns Hopkins circular for December, writes of a pbilotogicat expedition to Canada: —

"In point of language, the Canadian French is certainly one of the most interesting topics for a phllologlan. Here we find that time lias stood still, especially tor the more remote rural districts; and the scholar could easily imagine himself holding

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