TEE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



511 



quently all librarians prefer untrimmed 

 copies, and the publishers of this maga- 

 zine must provide for some fifteen hun- 

 dred libraries. Then, we are not pre- 

 pared to admit that it is unscientific to 

 regard aesthetic considerations. Un- 

 trimmed copies look better to most 

 people, and there are a few who even 

 enjoy the use of the paperknife. This 

 preference may be in large measure a 

 survival; still a trimmed magazine 

 seems to be ready for the waste-paper 

 basket, whereas an uncut copy seems 

 to be waiting for its place on the 

 library shelf. Accordingly, copies of 

 this magazine with the edges cut are 

 supplied to the news-stands, but un- 

 trimmed copies are mailed to sub- 

 scribers. Any subscriber, however, who 

 asks for trimmed copies will receive 

 them. 



The second remark to which the 

 editorial in the 'Electrical World' gives 

 occasion is more important. It is in- 

 deed a matter for congratulation that 

 this country is able to support a 

 journal which calls itself popular and 

 yet publishes only articles strictly 

 scientific in character. Such a journal 

 obviously does not appeal to children 

 or to superficial readers; and its very 

 existence bears witness to the presence 

 in America of a large class of highly 

 educated and thinking people. It may 

 be, however, that some of those who 

 have read the magazine for thirty years 

 regret a certain change in its charac- 

 ter and do not appreciate that this is 

 simply an evolution fitting it to ex- 

 isting conditions. Some years ago the 

 truths of evolution needed a fearless 

 advocate, but when these are preached 

 from the pulpit there is no longer need 

 of a special organ. The daily press 

 now publishes articles everywhere of a 

 readable and light character on scien- 

 tific topics, and no monthly magazine 

 is complete without one or two such 

 articles. What the country needs is a 

 journal that will set a standard of 

 accuracy and weight, and will separate 

 the real advances of science from the 



vagaries of the charlatan. An article 

 such as Professor Thomson's 'On 

 Bodies Smaller than Atoms' must be 

 read with care, but when understood, 

 it is, as the 'Electrical World' remarks 

 in the editorial from which we have 

 quoted, 'more entertaining than the 

 story of the early crusades and more 

 astounding than those of the Arabian 

 Nights.' 



SCIENTIFIC ITEMS. 

 By the death of Charles Anthony 

 Schott, the government loses one of its 

 most distinguished officers. He was 

 born in Germany, but was for fifty- 

 three years connected with the U. S. 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey. His dis- 

 tinguished position in the scientific 

 world is sufficiently indicated by the 

 fact that the Paris Academy of Sci- 

 ences made to him the first award of 

 the Wilde prize, which is given with- 

 out regard to nationality for the most 

 important researches in the physical 

 sciences. — We regret also to record the 

 death of H. W. Harkness, a student of 

 the cryptogams and prominent for his 

 services to science on the Pacific 

 coast, having been for many years 

 president of the California Academy of 

 Sciences; of James Marvin, formerly 

 professor of mathematics and astron- 

 omy and chancellor of the University 

 of Kansas; of Williis H. Barris, 

 known for his contributions to paleon- 

 tology and long president of the 

 Davenport Academy of Sciences; of 

 George K. Lawton, an astronomer of 

 the U. S. Naval Observatory, and of 

 Charles Mohr, a well-known botanist, 

 recently connected with the Geological 

 Survey of Alabama. — Among foreign 

 students of science the following 

 deaths are announced: of Henri de 

 Lacaze-Duthiers, the eminent French 

 zoologist; W. Schur, professor of as- 

 tronomy at Gottingen; Johannes Lamp, 

 a geodesist of Kiel University; Henri 

 d'0rl6ans, known for his geographical 

 explorations in Asia and Africa; of C. 

 E. Peek an English meteorologist; 



