Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/347

, 1885.]

��There are also three ap|jen(lit;ea, — Ihe first relating to the reduction of the psychrometer observations, which, at the Bumniii of Ihe moun- tain, show certain considerable discordances; the second, on the experimental determination of wave-lengths in the invisible prisnialic spec- trum, — a paper already published elsewhere, but most appropriately reprinted in this connec- tion ; and, finally, an investigation of the effect of convection-currents upon the loss or gain of temperature by a thermometer-bulb.

There can be no question that Professor Langley's exposure of the fallacy of the earlier methods of investigating the solar radiation, and his invention of llie spectrobolometer, will always be recognized as an epoch in the history of the subject; and in the volume before us we have the best available summing-up of the matter.

It would be unjust to close this notice with- out an allusion to a fnct which is well and gracefully stated in Gen, Hozen's brief pref- ace : " It should be said that the aid given to Professor Langley [by the signal-service], which he so gracefully acknowledges in the text, was necessarily limited. A large part of the expense of the outfit was generously borne by a friend of the Allegheny observatory," To this anonj'mous friend, as well as to the signal-service and to Professor Langley, him- self, the thanks of all who are interested in ? due, and are hereby returned.

��NOTES AND NEWS.

TSK legislature of Wisconsin has appropriated a hundred and ninety tliouaand dollars to the Uni- versity of WiscoiiBln, for rebuilding the science Uboratorles destroyed by Sre on Dec. 1, 18»4. The new buildings will conalBt o( a chemical laboratory, B machine-glioii, and a building for the departments of physics, engineering, geology, and zoology. All are to bo flre-proof, or, more accurately. ' slow-burn- ing,' buildings; and the beating-apparatus for all is to be placed in a separate siructure. In addition to the above-named sum, the insurance on the former building, amounting tu some forty thousand dollars, is appropriated for refitting the department* with necessary furniture and apparatus for immediate use. Ho appropriation for cabinets, etc., was urged, as the next legislature will meet before the completion of the new building. It is proposed to push the con- atructlon of the chemical laboratory and macbine- •hop 09 rapidly aa possible, Since items have appeared, asserting that the Laphani lierbarium was destroyed. It may be stated tbat the herbarium was not in Science hall, and is consequently intact.

— In their report on Edison's autographic telegraph, the esaminers of telegrapliic apparatus at tbu riilia-

��delphia electrlcsJ exhibition write, " It waa not set up in such manner that its construction or mode ot operation could ba examined, nnd we are therefore unable to report upon it. It may, perbaps, be proper to say that the autographic system for the Iransmia- slon of communications In facsimile would seem to afford one of the roost promising fields for the lal>ora of future improvers of the telegraph. It is apparently In this direction, if any, that we must look for the future solution of the problem of cheap telegraphy. It will be readily understood that if an efGcient system were invented by which the original message, as writ- ten by the sender, could be placed in a machine, and a facsimile of it instantly produced by the action of electricity at a distant station, and this by automatic machinery withont the intervention of human hands, the actual cost of performing the service would be but the merest trifle. Yet there la apparently no obstacle In the nay of obtaining this result, which we may not hope to see overcome sooner or later by the genius and perseverance of our inventors."

— The Leander McCormlcfc observatory of the University of Virginia was inaugurated on April 18; the reremonies taking place in the public hall of the institution, and Professor Asaph Hall of the naval observatory, Washington, delivering the address. The principal Instrument la the great Clark refractor of twenty-six inches' apertiu^. The observatory has a house adjoining for the director, Professor Stone, and is possessed of a considerable endowment fund, the gift of Mr. W. H. Vanderbilt of New York.

— Capt Thompson of the schooner R. Bowers reports that on June 4, 1884, in latitude 420 4e' north, longitude W iV west, a sealed bottle, inside of which was placed a record of their voyage, was thrown over- board. The bottle, with record, was picked up on July In, 18S4, at Little Dover Bay, east point of Nova Scotia,

— A pamphlet has been Issued hy Dr. John S. Billings, Ihe secretary-general of the International medical congress, to be held in Washingtoii in 183T, giving the rules for the congress, and a provisional list of officers.

— The circular of the summer school of languages at Amherst for the coming session, exhibits an en- lai^ement of the methods and aims of the school, and an Increase in the number of subjects taught and of teachers demanded, which, a few years back, any one would have been thought over-sanguine to predlcL Tbe growth of the school seems to indicate plainly that it has created a demand for itself, and that its management Is meethig the necessities of the cose in a satisfactory manner. Professor Montague, of the department of modern languages In Amherst college, is the director of the school: and he baa the immediate eo-operatlon. In German, of Professor Zuelllg, now an instructor at Princeton; in French, of Professor Bernard of Boston; in Latin, of Pro- fessor Johnson of Lehigb university; and in Hebrew, of the well-known specialist. Dr. Haley. Thirteen other Instructors In language are also announced; and the generosity of the oHicers of the college in

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