Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/99

 Jakuart K), ISBS.]

��«lev»U>, rmU]«r than i phjBieml instruction i

[The 'master mind' was diBlinclly recognised, and Its pKaence cbeerfullj acknowledged, in the review to which ihe above refers. The reviewer heartlif joint his critic in his desire fur a 'closer cxaniiiia- tiao ' to determine the justice of the commeiiU made. Such an examination will unquestionably show that every criticism mode In the review is well founded. It will be generally admitted tiiat mi explnimlion which needs explaining is not extremely satiafaclory. Tbe points under discusaion are such as are not usa- Ally cuasiclered In books with which the teacher Is lik«l<r to be familiar; and erroneous and confusing Btatcroeuts will generally be accepted, altboiigh not undnrstotxl- The result must be (lishearlpjiiiig, It not disastrous. It seeraa wiser, therefore, to warn him to tte on the lookout for errors which have not been eliminkled from ibis first edition, but which are not likely to be found in a second. And Ihls is es- petiallj true of a book wblcb contains as many t«ally good aud original things as the 'New phj'sics,' and which carries the weight which naturally and necee- Mrily goes with any thing Professor Trowbridge — "— -Rbv.]

��^Rltes.

��The eaitbqaake of Jan. 2.

��iuppoFHig that reasonably exupt determinations of time and character of seismic pbenomena are iiselul, I send the following note on the shock of Jan. 2 at Washington.

1 recognized the character of the shock nt the in< siaoi of its occurrence, and timed it. On the follon- ing day, comparInK my watcb with one set to the standard {uot local ) tioje adopted for this city, 1 found Ibe shock occurred at l)h. 18m. p.m., civil time, to which the correction to Ihe Washington meridian is to be applied. Hy residence is close to Ascension chtirch, on the highest land away from the bound- aries of Uie city: the grade is ninety-two feel above mean level of the river, and two feet higher than the base of the capltol. I was in the Iblnl-story back room. facInK post into the back-yard, and south into an alley. The bouse is of brick, and above the mid- dle of the second story Is Isolated. The shock w^ a diitSncI and very heavy and sudden jar, not accom- panied by noise, unless by a slight rattliiig of the windows, and lusted less than a second. Tbe sen- sation was as if a very heavy body hod struck the earth, yet also as if the jar were partly upward rather than downward. There was no second sliock within flfleen minutes, although I saw a paragraph in daily press to the effect that one individual ali( that be felt a second shock alKJUt II dria, Va. W. H. Dai

��lUnerant ecionce-teaoliers. yatare for Dec. 25, 1884, there it described an trant loelbod of sclence-leaclilng,' whicti " has

��.1 alleges

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��carried out on a large scale and with the ilifying success liy the bcIiooI boards of Blrmlng- in and Liverpool." A science demonstrator Is ap- pointed for a numlwr of schools; and he is provided wilb apparatus, which is conveyed from school to school in a handcart ■ by n strong youth.'

•' The syslem," it is said, " fairly meets the objec- tions which have been urged against the introduc- tion of science -teaching, on the grounds of want of qualified teachers, want of lime (tii prepare for the lessons], and cost of apparatus. It also secures syste- matic and contjunous tencliing throughout the scliool-

��Iear. Tlic teacbiiig is practical, and every [act or iw is demonstrated experimentally." Would It not he well to try a eimiiar plan heref

J. R. W.

[It would answer in large centres, but would be lliiilti'd in its a]>pIicallon to places wheri! It mi;ht be said to be least needed. — Kd.]

��Tbe voice of serpentB.

The text-books upon zoiUogy represent thai the vocal apparatus of serpents is very scantily developed, only enough toennblesomeof these creatures to hiss. A fact lately hrought to my atlention by Mr. Geoi^e W. Leitcb of Kyegale, Tu, Is worlJiy of mention. and may lead hcrpetologlsts to search more carefully for the vocal apparatus of serpents. Hr. Leitch was stationed for several years at Manepy, Ceylon, as a missionary of Ihe American board of commissiouera for foreign missions. One day a serpent entered an apartment containing lumber, and it was deemed best to kill him. It became very angry, and made a loud noise, which Mr. Li^itch says reminded him of the bellowing of a bull two years old. Perhaps others may know of instances lu which these creatures make loud noii^es. This animal was of an uncommon variety, and was not preserved. It was of consider- able site, say, seven or eight feet in h-iiglh.

C. H, Hitchcock.

Ilanovni. N.H., Jan. ]«.

��The incan descent light o In No. 102 of Science, in the article on 'Recent advances In electrical science,' Professor Trowbridge makes the statement that the Fall-River line took the iniliativQ in adopting the incandescent syslem. This Is certainly a mistake, as I myself saw it in fiitt operation on the Virginia, of the Bay line (running lietweeu Baltimore and Norfolk), in the autumn of 1882, about a year before the Pilgrim was launched. Whether the Bay line was the nrst to adopt it or not, t do not know.

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��RainfaU and orope.

Professor Snow's statement {Sciencf, v. p. 13), that an annual rainfall of eighteen Inches is entirely Inadequate to maintain successful agriculture, is. I suppose, meant to apply only to Kansas, and, with that limitation, may be correct. In California, and especially in this portion of it, our experience is very different. Properly distributed, a rainfall of ten inches is ample to mature the cereals, and excellent crops are frequently raised with less. In the season of ISSl-SZ Ibis place had 4.8S Inches of rain, and there was an almost complete failure of crops, except on irrigated land. In 1882-83 there were 6.88 inches; and the distribution could hardly have been worse, almost all the rain falling after the 26th of March. Even under such circumstances there was some pro- duction on dry land, and the opinion was general that the crops would have been fair if the same amount of rain had come at the proper times. Last year the rainfall was almost unprecedented, reaching 18.32 inches. It was atu>gether loo much. The crops were good, but they would have been far better if the last inch or two had been omitted. Of course, under different conditions of soil and climoie,

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