FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



575 



the Antichrist. He even condescended to 

 sign a minute, which was drawn upon the 

 spot, attaching to it the title Sanctus Demon 

 Fritnarms PrcBses which may mean " Holy 

 Devil, First President " with his signature, 

 consisting of various symbolical signs, 

 among which were a cock, a fork, etc. 

 The Volkszeitung declares that it is super- 

 stition to believe in the authenticity of the 

 signature, although it credits the possibility 

 of compacts between the devil and the 

 wicked. Pere Kiinzle believes that it is 

 consistent with sound doctrine to hold that 

 the signature is that of the Prince of Evil. 

 This is the point of controversy ; and the 

 scientific may look on, though not troubled 

 about the matter. 



NOTES. 



M. Emile Riviere has discovered and ex- 

 plored for a length of one hundred and twen- 

 ty-seven metres a prehistoric grotto in the 

 department of Dordogne, France, the walls 

 of which are covered with designs cut in the 

 rock. As some of the figures pass under sta- 

 lagmites, a great age is predicated for them. 



M. Olszewski, having failed to liquefy 

 helium, calculates that its boiling point is 

 below 264 C, or at least 20" below that 

 of hydrogen. Were the temperature of ebul- 

 lition calculated as a function of the density, 

 it would be much higher, the density of he- 

 lium being double that of hydrogen. Both 

 helium and argon have boiling points much 

 lower than was supposed a fact which may 

 be accounted for by the monatomic structure 

 of the two substances. 



A NUMBER of neolithic axes were described 

 in the American Association by Prof. E. W. 

 Claypole, which were found at New London, 

 Huron County, Ohio, by an intelligent work- 

 man while digging a well in the blue clay at 

 twenty feet below the surface. The features 

 of the formation were those characteristic of 

 the glacial deposits of northern Ohio. Here- 

 tofore, numerous flying reT>orts of the dis- 

 covery of implements in the glacial till have 

 been made, but this. Prof. Wright says, is 

 the first instance where the evidence has 

 seemed in itself altogether convincing and 

 satisfactory. 



Bearing in mind that an estimated aver- 

 age length of pupilage is frequently made an 

 important consideration in arranging some of 

 the points of school management. Prof. C. 

 M. W^oodward undertook to deduce, from the 

 comparison of the school statistics of several 

 cities, the average age at which pupils with- 

 draw from the public schools to engage in 

 the active duties of life, or to enter private 

 schools. He could get full statistics only 



from St. Louis, Chicago, and Boston. In 

 these cities the average age of withdrawal is, 

 severally, 13-3, 14-5, and 15-9 years. 



M. LoEWY, a fully trained astronomer 

 who has made his reputation along many 

 lines of research, and who has for many 

 years belonged to the staff of that institu- 

 tion, has been selected by the French Gov- 

 ernment to succeed M. Tisserand as Director 

 of the French Observatory. 



Recent researches by Prof. J. A. Hennig 

 indicate that pure metals have their electric- 

 al conductivity immensely increased by in- 

 tense cold, while alloys experience in the 

 same circumstances a comparatively small 

 increase, not more than ten per cent. Prof. 

 Hennig lays great stress on the value of 

 these facts, as a means of testing the purity 

 of a metal, almost rivaling the spectro- 

 scope in delicacy. 



It is said that the German Government 

 has recently sent Prof. Koch and Dr. Koh- 

 lenstock, both bacteriological experts, to the 

 Cape to inquire into the plague of rinder- 

 pest, and to report what measures are best 

 to prevent its spreading to the German 

 Southwest African colonies. 



At a meeting held at St George's Hos- 

 pital (Loni^on) early in December, it was re- 

 solved " That the present year, being the 

 centenary of the first successful vaccination, 

 is an appropriate time to inaugurate a work 

 of national utility in honor of Edward Jen- 

 ner." A second resolution to the following 

 effect was passed : " That a subscription be 

 set on foot with the view of founding some 

 institution of a nature to be hereafter deter- 

 mined in connection with the British Insti- 

 tute of Preventive Medicine, to be distin- 

 guished by Jenner's name." 



The forest department in India is now 

 paying its way handsomely and more, the 

 profits having been going up steadily since 

 1875. While for the five years ending with 

 that they stood at eleven lakhs, the profits 

 for the five years ending in 1895 were fifty- 

 three lakhs, or just short of five times as 

 much. 



Miss M. Peacock has published a paper 

 in the magazine Folk Lore on executed 

 criminals and folk medicine, in which are 

 collected instances of belief in the medical 

 effects of the touch of the body of an exe- 

 cuted criminal. 



An account of a number of remarkable 

 cases of psychical or hypnotic phenomena 

 which have fallen under his own observation, 

 or have been investigated by the Society for 

 Psychical Research, has been prepared by 

 Dr. R. Osgood Mason, of this city, and is to 

 be published by Henry Holt & Co., under the 

 title of Telepathy and Subliminal Research. 

 It will illustrate a theory held by the author 

 and some other investigators of a principle 



