Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/56

 I

I

I

I

��The use of slips in scientlSc correapoadence.'

Ad accbiuit of the ' Blip-Byetem of notes ' was pub- lished by me In the Proceedings of the Boston society ot natural history in 186T (May 16, p. 342). after using It for more than a year. A. fuller description is eireu in Wilder and Gage's ' Anatomical technology ' (pp. 46-53). On p. 40 It f» *ald that " slip-noleB are of the following kinds: museum catalogues, library catalogues, references, extracts, statements of obser- vations (original or otherwise, with or without draw- ings)."

During last summer I l>egBn to use slips In another way, suggealed, perhaps, by the fact that poxtai-cards referring to a aiiigle point were frequently filed away with the slip-notes on the same subject. In my sci- entific correspondence I encloge Rlips (postal-card bIkc) relating each to a special point. If writteti closely or with the type-writer, there Is usually ample sftace, not only for the original note, but for an answer to It, if In the shape of inquiry: if not. a second is attached.

As compared with a letter in the usual form, such ' correspotideuce-slips' present the following advan- tages: 1. Each point may be attended to by the tender or the receiver Independently of others which may require more delay; 2. Without transcription, the slips may be filed with others on the same subject; 3. The same slip, with or without attachments, may be sent back and forth, or to other correspondents, for comment or inquiry; 4. The date of each writ- ing may be affixed, when desirable, either by band, or by the use of Perkins rubber stamps, xir other me- chanical do rice.

As a matter of detail, I may add that 1 have found it convenient to keep by me envelopes addressed to those ivith whom I desire to communicate frequently upon matters of common interest, to insert Ibe slips as they were written, aud to send the letter as occa-

Among those who have more or leas fully co-oper- ated with me in the use of sli|n In correspondence, should be named, especially. Dr. F. P. Foster, editor of theNew-Tork^fedicoI Joiirnai: Prof. H. F. Osborn ot Princeton college; and my colleague, Prof. S. H. Gage. B. Q. WiLDitK.

IlUw, N.Y.. D«o. M.

American pearls.

Bemembering an Inquiry in a back number of Science regarding pearls. I thought it perhaps worth recording that small black pearls are not infrequent in the common Venus fluctlfraga, Y. succlncta, and T- simlllima of this coast. We also occasionally find white pearls in the larger Facliydeema crasaatelloldes. Baliotis splendens and H. Cracherodii are often pearl- bearera, pearls found in them often being of value and qullo pretty. Martesia intercalala buries Itself in the shell of Hallotis; and ujKin boring tbroiieh, as it often does, the abalone covers the opening wltb a black, pearly layer, that frequently becomes a larce protuberance on the inside ot the shell.

C. R. OKcrn-.

��The earthquake of Jan. 2.

The earthquake of Jan. 2 wax felt disrinctly 1

Waxhinglon. Making allowance for the error i

my watch, the shock occurred at tfh. 12,1 m. p.u

-- -- -. standard time, and lasted ten or twelve ac

���ondii, accompanied by a rumbling sound, a rattling of windows, aud a 'chattering,' Jarring, unpleasant sensation communicated from the floor of the room in which I was sitting. The place of observation was about twenty-three hundred feet north-east of the naval observatory. The time nmy be half a minute in error, either way. William C. Wislock.

Wuhlnpon, D.C., Jan. 4.

��The story of the persecution of Galileo is now familiar to everj' one. In those days Iha church had ordained a certain system for the universe, and was disturbed bj- the discoveries of scientiflc men. Exactly the same feeling has been shown by two or three scientific men of the present day with regard to the prose- cution of investigatioua of certain so-called psychical phenomena. One of our foremost scientific men has been heard to say. that, if the facts claimed to be true by the committee on thought-transference of the English society for psychical research were true, life would not be worth living. Men of this stamp say that they cannot in any way, or by any proof, be led to believe in the facta; but they would have all study of the alleged phenomena sup- pressed.

It is very fortunate that meu of this ' dark- age ' frame of mind are in the minority. Any one who saw the reception among scientific men which was given last summer to Prafessor Barrett, the eraissai'y of the English society for psychical research, would see how deep- seated is the interest in such investigations, in spile of a healthy scepticism. There is no longer a feeling that such matters can be laughed out of court. As one result of Pro- fessor Barrett's visit, at a meeting held in Boston in September, a committee was ap- pointed to consider the formatiou of an Amer- ican society on a similar plan to that which Pi-ofessor Ban-elt represented. A professor- ship had already been established in the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, and a man appointed to the chair who should devote his time more especially lo the studj' of the physical mani- festations known as spiritnaUsm; a late wealthy citizeu of Philadelphia having bequeathed a

��I 1 I I

��^

��� �