Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/178

 — The first parL ol the new 'Journal of (he New- Tork mtvroBcopii'al society ' tins appeared as. a welt- printed Dctnvo at llilrty-twu pagpi. It is to coiilain llietrRDsocLlons and proceedings of IheEoeiely, atidto be publislied in nine monihly inimlKrs, rruin Novem- ber to JuIt iTicliiaive, at one dollnr per annum. The proeiit iiuraberconlalnsui abstract of Stain's arliole on eleett^cnl illumination for t1ie microscope, wlilch nppean'd in the ZeiUrhrift f&r tetniett'cht/thelie mi- kronkoiiiv ; & aliort critical esfar on pollen-lubes, by Dr. liritton; the report of the proceedings of the society; and, Bnally, an 'Index to articles of iniervst to microKcopIsts.' From the examination of the journal, we conclude that the society opens its career with good prospects; and we Kiid among the members a number of faiulliarand esteemed names, whicb nutbes us hope that it will prove someihlns more lliati an association of ditettoKti. Cornelius van Urunt Is president of the society, and B. Ilroman editor of ihe jounml.

— The DtuUehe •jfngrapMachf blatter of Bremen publishes a ' ^uclotngical essay ' on t]i« Kongo tribes, written by Mr. R. C, Phillips, an old resident at Punia da Leuba. Tbe writer deain more especially Willi the social condition of the tribes with whom be was brought into eontocl, and only incidentally enters Iniu questions of commerce and international imllcy. What he says about ibe recent 'annesallons' and purchases of land by the International ussociation, the French, and the Portuguese, la of some interest ju»l now. It Is quite clear that the native chiefs, when they signed the docimienls so oslentnllously made public, never meant ei the r to 'sell' the land of their tribes, or to place themselves under the sover- eignty or protection of foreign powers.

— The following three nionographs, part of the larger work on the fauna and Hura of the Bay of Naples and the neigbboriug coasts, will sbortly be publisbcd by Engeluiann of Leipzig: ' Doiioluro,' by Dr. BmbIIIus Uljanln, with twelve colored lithographs, ten zincograplifi, and a woodcut; ' Polycladae,' by Dr. A. Lang, with lltlecn lithographs; 't'ryplomen- iaceae,' by Dr. O. Benhold, wIiL eight colored liiho-

— The eighteenth volume of the new edition of the 'Encyclopaedia Brltannica' is to be pulilishrd this montii. It opens with the article 'Ornithology,' of Prof. A. Newton: and among the other sclenllSc articles are 'Oysters,' by Mr. J. I. Cunningbam; 'Ptciflc Ocean,' by Mr. J. Murray; 'Parasitism,' treated under the three heads, 'animal.' 'vegeiable,' and ' medical,' by Mr. P. Geddes, Mr. Milne Murray, and Dr. C. Crelghtoii; 'Pathology,' by Dr. Creigh- lon; ' Photography." by Capl. Abney; and 'Phrenol ogj-,' by Professor Moeallster. "Pbilology' Is dealt witb by Professor Whitney of Tale, and Prof, E. Si e vera of Tubingen.

— The fourth edition of 'Tables, meteorological and physical.' by Professor Arnold (iuyot, has jiisl been published by the Smithsonian insiilutlon. The pre- ceding or third edition was published in 185D: and though stereotyped, it was Ihouglit advisable lohave

��this new edition entirely reconstructed. It now forms an octavo volume of seven hundred and sixty- three pages, and is offered for sale at the price of three dollars. The first series of table* (fifteen in number) i^mbraces thermometrical comparlBuna aud convcrElon^: Ihe second (of thirty-three tables), tiygrometrlral computations; the third (of twenty- teven), barometrical tables; the fourth (of twenty- six), hypsometrical tables; the flfib, geographical tables of convereioi.s. including forty-nine tallies of ine&Bureg of length (for heights, ete.), ten tables of itinerary measures, and ten tables of square ures, or measures of geographical surface; the (of ninety nine), tables for corrections of varlatii of temperaline, etc, at different parta of Ihe the aevenlh and last series |of nine table: braces mii'ci'lluneous tables.

— The brothers Donhardt have reached Zanii! and will continue the explorations in the Interior eastern Africa, which they bcgau in 1S76 and IST9.

— Tbe International b* "ijion has officer lo open a station •wtween Earema, on LakC* Tanganyika, and the station at Stanley Falls, Upper Kongo, A transcontinental route will then be opened by steamer up the Zambezi and Lake Nyassa, across the Stevenson rood to Lake Tanganyil thence by the new station to Stanley Falls, and down the Kongo.

— The two Austrian explorers, Dr. von IIard«| and Professor Paiditschke, have sailed from Trii for Aden, whence they mean lo go to Horar, make scienlillc studies, and collect specimens betw( there and Sela.

— The general geographical conference of the Australian colonies, to be held at Melbourne, is lo discuss the necessity of defining IhecxacC meaning of the geographical term' Aiistmlasia,' Ibe compilation of a reliable work on the geograpliy of Australia for Australian schools, the Ncw-Ouinea exploration, and the discovering; and defining of the exact liotmdarlcs of what may now be termed ' British New Gulueii.'

— It is staled in the anthropological note* of Allifaa^uin, that Deniker's study of the Kalmue) which bos appeared In Ihe last five numberaof Hevne d' anttirnpologie, is now complete. Ho marks that In Itusaia, na In Cblua. the Kalmucks are little by little losing tbeir originality, though not so quickly as some other peoples; and that Ihe lime is not far dlalant when Ihere will only remain of this ancient and warlike people, which ha!i lis own lit- erature, religion, and laws, lome thmirands of peace- able subjects whose physical type will perhaps be all that will be left to prove their Mongidian origin. In sooner or later abaorbing themselves Into Ihe rest of humanity, however, they will certainly add to the mnsB some tmila of character dUtlnctively their own. Tbe same author has also published an investigiition into the foetus of the gorilla; a specimen of which, the only one which has ever reached Europe. Is In his hands, and has been described by him to the So- ciety of anthropology of Porls.

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