Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/95

 (^■m the iviii. dynaatv to llinl of tliP Ptolemies, Till* uiiiveraiLy lias also parcbued casta, on a reduced ■tale of 1: 10, of Ihe two pediments of the temple of Zens at Olympia- They had recently bean executed at Berlin, under the direction of Curtlus and tlirich* Idd, by tJie sculptor Gruttner.

^^^■^E. and F. N. Spon annoanee as iu preparation, ^^^Bletricity In the house,' by E. Hospilalier, trans- ^^^Kl b; C. J. Wharton; also " The animitl food- ^^wSiurces of different natlont, wiih mention of some of the special dainties of various people derived from the animal kingdom." by P. L. Siramonds.

— Specific characters of considerable iiuporlHuce ar« found in the position of the resin-ducts and de- velopment of the bypoderm celie in the leaves of Abietineae, especially in the perplexing genu* Abies. Th« value of these characters U recngniiEed by special students of Coniferae; and material for the more g«ner»l study of the structure of the leaves of all the Horth-American species, exclusive of those of Mexico, is now available for botanists. Mr. J. D. King of Cottage C!ly, Ma"8., director of the department of nii- cmecopy In the Martlia's Vineyard summer Institute, has prepared and offers for sale microscopic sections of the sixty species of Abletineae of the United States, The sections are cut as thin as practicable, varying tram ■ hundredth to an eight-hundredth of an inch, and are so prepared bj bleaching and double staining 11 to *hniv the cross-section and the nhole structure of the leaf t-ety perfectly. These s|ieeimens are pre- pared from material collected in connection with the census iuvestigation of the forest wealth of the United SUt«a, and irere supplied for the herbarium of the Arnold arboretum by Professor Sargent.

— Tb« crisis in the grain trade, and llie American ■nd Indian competition in this cotumudity, are the topic* of the day in Russia, and are being discussed in no les« than t)iree societies in St. Petersburg, each of them ilcvoting more than one session to these

— The neod of a periodical of high character, de- voted to llie advniicc of areheological studies, and to the promotion of Interest in them in America, is widely lelt; and, to supply this need, it is proposed 10 publish quarterly, under the title of The Ameriean JMrninftjrareftaeoIo.'jff, a journal devoted to the study of the whole field of archeology, — oriental, classical, eariy Christian, mediaeval, and American. The Ircbaeotogical Institute of America baa recognised the journal as its official organ. The following is a liil of the editorial staff, so far as at present formed: ulrisory editor, Professor Charles Eliot Norton of Oarvard college; managing editor. Dr. A. L. Froth- iDghau) of .lohna Hophlns university, to whom all communications should be addressed; special editors. Dr. A. Emerwm of Johns Hopkins university, Mr, T. W, Ludlow of New York, Professor Allan Mar- ijuaod of Princeton college, Mr. A. H. Marsh of Har- vard college, and Mr. Charles C. Perkins of Boston. A reserve fund Is required in order Ui meet llie deficit irhlcb must occur during the first few years of the

��jounial'a esi»lence. Conlribuiions to It arp sotlcileil. and may be forwarded to the Safe deposit company of Baitlmore, which acts as trustee of the fund. Notification of such remittances should be made to

��then;

��gedito

��— Professor Sporer, at a recent meeting of the Ber- lin meteorological society, gave a brief sketch of the present period of sun-spots. The spot-periods being counted from minimum to minimum, the commenca- ment of the present spot-period was to be referred to 18TS. So far as had hitherto been observed, the pres- ent was distinguished from the last two spot-periods by two peculiarities, — first, that the maximum in the present period appeared to have occurred four-tenths of a yearlater than in the previous periods; and, sec- ond, that during the maximum, the distribution of the solar eruptions showed an essentially different charac- ter from that usually obtaining. In the former pe- riods It was observed during the maximum that the greatest concourse of s|iots siUTounded with faculae occurred in the median latitudes of the sim; that they were completely wanting towards the polea, became less numerous also towards the equator, and only at the equator itself did they again become somewhat more crowded. In the rotation of the sun, those erup- tions showed a heliographic displacement towards the equator, in contrast to the spots free from faculae, which, in the course of rotation, wandered towards Ihe poles. During the mlDima of the spot-periods the maximum of the eruptions was generally found in the neighborhood of the equator. Tn the present period, again, the greatest concourse of eruptions sur- rounded with faculae was found towards the equa- tor during the maximum as well, — a phenomenon usually occurring at the time of the minimum. The present, on the other hand, resembled former periods In the circumstance that it was only on rare occasions lliat the concourse of spots was alike on both hemi- spheres of IJie sun. In the majority of cases, either the northern hemisphere presented a more copious display of spots than the southern, or the southern mustered them in larger numbers than the northern.

— The inhabitants of the small town of Geluhau- sen, in Hesse, are putting up a bronze memorial bust of their distinguished townsman, Phillpp Reis, as the inventor of the musical telephone.

the w

— The lack of amusements at San Diego, Cal., Is causing some talk of establishing abotanicand analogi- cal garden. The great natural advantage?, especially of climate, would make such an Institution, In com~ petent hands, of great practical utility and scientific value, and far less expensive to sustain than In thi; Atlantic states.

— Mr. Tresca reports to the French academy In the Compteg rendu*. Oct. G, that a system of electric lighting, including both arc and incandescent lamps, was arranged from the electrical exposition building in Turin over a distance reaching to 40 kilometres (24.2 miles). The committee of the exposition, iu-

��J

�� �