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��— The Bonmuiiiiu ^remmeni has voMd tlip funds necessary for the esUblUhinent anrt maiolenaBde of the Central meteorolopcal obserrntory In Bucharest, and Mr. Hepites ha* been sppointed ihe tlirectnr.

— 1q N'ovember, 1881, Mr. Maiwell Hall, dilator of the Eerapshot obaerralor;, Jamaica, attacked again the quesllon of the variability of the light of Neptune as bearing on the planet's rotalioii on its axis. Be finds that fifteen ralallon periods occupy 118.71 hours; so that each period is 7.0U hourB, — a result which he considers idenlicaj with the period derived from bis ubservations In 1383.

— TIte Lena polar expedition, commanded by Lieut. .V. D. Jurgeus, who arrived at St. Petersburg on Jan. 4, bas proved a success. No one died or was seriously ill; scurry, which appeared the first winter, being

flMlckly suppressed. The second winter was some- milder than the first, although the spring and nn were cooler. In western Siberia, in the taiija iresi) north of Jenisseisk, there was rain, and rivers were open, as late as the 1st of Deceml>er. lowest temperature experienced by Lieut. Jur- was —50° C.; but the chief Inconvenience was freiinent storms, although observations were not interfered with. Those of the first year hiive al- ready been calculated by Mr. Elgner, wlio arrived In Su Peienbui^ in advance. The somraer was almost wtlboat sun; and 12" C, the highest temperature re- led, was reached only once. This bad a decided tbe vegetation. Mosses were almost the only It observed, and willows grow to a height of a {nches only, though Inland, where the sea wind not penetrate, they reach two feet. Magnetic iUstnrt)ances were leas frequent and important the second year than the first; thus proving the wisdom ct the scientific men, who Insisted that the observa- tions shonid be made in ie82-S-5. The survey of the dell* considerably changes our ideiu about this region. Among other things, Sagastyr, whore the ohserva- ' la were made, is not the most northern point of delt«; but this honor l>elangs to the laliindDunas, north. The changes of water-level at Sagastyr iuCQUslderable; the expanse of water being loii (e tor lilgh river-floods, and the tides small and lai^ly inBuenced by the winds. Lieut. Jnrgeni loft Sagaslyr on July S, passed several days al Takootsk, whence he readied Kireusk by steanier in twenty-four days, and continned by boat on the Lena lor two hundred versts ; he was then obliged to travel ~ J land, aa ice was fast forming on the river. The lonrDey to Irkutsk was made difficult by the lack of «w, which wasaisolai^lythecaseltetweenlrkulsk ulNeuberg. where he look the railroad. A telegram IS just been received from Dr. Bunge, the naturalist I the expedition, who has not returned, staling that n the way to Irkutsk, where lie will winter, d whence he will start early In the spring for the 1 of the Jana, north-eastern Siberia, which be Mil explore in Ir^, and in the sprin<; of 188U he will rl fof the New SIlHTia islands. — The publications of the second ^^■ological sur- rttf of Peunsvlvaiiin make steady progress. Reports

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��on faraeron, Elk, Forest, Perry, Unntlnglon, and Delaware counties, are in press. Reports on Letia- 11 on, Dauphin. Cumlwrland, and Franklin counties, are partly prepared for the press, together with the remaining sheets of the South Mountain snrvey, one additional atlas and the second report of the progress of the anthracite survey, the second part of the report on the Monongahela collieries, and the second pari of the report on Perry and Juniata counties. The state geologist has prepared a hatid-atlas of the state, reducing the county maps In common use to a iinltonn scale of six miles to an Inch, and coloring them geologically, Dcconllng to the reports of prog- ress in their respective dislrlclg, made to him by the Assistant geologists of the surrey. This atlas is jost about to issue from the press. The board of com- missioners has just recommended an appropriation of ninety thousand dollars for the next two years; twenty-five thousand dollars to be expended annually to continue the anihrncitc survey; ten thousand dol- lars annually to continue the topographical survey and commence the construction of a state map ; and ton thousand dollars annually to extend the oil-region survey, to continue the chemical analyses of miner- als, to provide for economic geological examinations in the bituminous and iron-ore regions, and to con- tinue the work of the state geologist.

— At the anuual meeting in February, according to SiUwre, the Royal astronomical society will award its gold medal to Dr. W. Hugglns for his researches on the motions of stars in the line of sight, and on the photographic spectra of stars aiid comets. This is the second time that Dr. Huggins has received the medal, he, In conjiiDctlon with the late Professor Miller, having received it in ISflT, for his researches in astronomical physics.

— At a meeting of the French academy of sciences cm Jan. !>, Mr. Pasteur presented a paper, Id the name of Mr. Duclaux, on the germination of plants in soil free from microbes. Ur. Duclaux had under- taken e.-tperlments in order to determine the effect of the presence of microbes upon germination. In his experiments ho used pease and Holland beans, the eotyledons of which uniformly appear, one below the soil, the other above. Tbe soil had been previously sterilized by processes of which the author gave no details, and, in addition, had been moistened with milk also slerlllied. Under these conditions, germi- nation did not take place, and at the end of two months the milk showed no Indication of alteration. These two experiments tend to prove that the pres- ence of microbes in the soil Is necessary to the de- velopment and to the life of plants. Pasteur added some critical reflections. He mentioned that he bad before this proposed to his pupils to examine what would liappen to an animal subjected from birth lo nourishment the elements of which had previously been freed of microl)es, and consequently reduced to its nutritive principles, pure and simple. To this he had been led by tho idea that in such conditions the maiatenance of life and development would be im- possible with animals. This conclusion leads Co the

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