NOTES. 



43 1 



would arise. President Gilman, of Johns 

 Hopkins University, writes to the editor of 

 the Rundschau that by expediency, usage, 

 and justice, " the ancient and honorable title 

 of a doctor should not be bestowed or ac- 

 cepted in any unjustified way," and that the 

 proposed application of it is likely to mislead 

 the public. Other confusion may arise, too, 

 from the use of the initials Ph. D., which are 

 those of Doctor of Philosophy, a degree that 

 implies the successful pursuit of some special 

 study. The title of Master of Pharmacy, 

 already in use, is appropriate and significant, 

 and should be held sufficient. 



A curious theory of the channels on Mars 

 is propounded by Mr. Tornebohm, of Stock- 

 holm, which is worth citing for its ingenuity. 

 With a drier atmosphere and less mountain- 

 ous relief than the earth, Mars must have 

 large desert tracts. Across these its enter- 

 prising inhabitants have constructed trade 

 roads, which they have furnished with arte- 

 sian wells and possibly with canals, for the 

 convenience and facilitation of traffic. This 

 irrigation has promoted the growth of vege- 

 tation for a considerable distance back of the 

 roads on either side, and the dark marks it 

 makes are what we call the channels. 



Objections to the use of wood in warships 

 arise out of its combustibility and its liability 

 to splinter. A board of experts commissioned 

 by the United States Navy Department to 

 consider the subject of dispensing with it and 

 of finding a substitute for it, has decided that 

 the substitute sought. should be light, or not 

 heavier than wood, nonconducting, noncom- 

 bustible, and, when struck by shot, should 

 not fly into splinters. It suggests, as a di- 

 rection in which the search for a substitute 

 should be made, to select something in the 

 nature of cheap wood or vegetable fiber and 

 fine sawdust; treat them chemically with 

 some insoluble fireproof substance, not too 

 heavy ; then press and roll into boards, more 

 or less dense, according to the use for which 

 the material is desired. 



An international and representative com- 

 mittee of one hundred and eighty men of 

 science has been formed for the erection of a 

 monument to the late Prof, von Helmholtz. 

 The Emperor of Germany has promised ten 

 thousand marks and a free site for the pur- 

 pose. 



Thoreau records in his journal how he 

 witnessed the formation of a ravine in the 

 course of a February thaw. " Much melted 

 snow and rain being collected on the top of 

 the hill, some apparently found its way 

 through the ground frozen a foot thick, a 

 few feet from the edge of the bank, and be- 

 gan, with a small rill, washing down the 

 slope the unfrozen sand beneath. As the 

 water continued to flow, the sand on each 

 side continued to fall into it and be carried 

 off, leaving the frozen crust above quite firm, 



making a bridge five or six feet wide over 

 this cavern. Now, since the thaw, this 

 bridge, I see, has melted and fallen in, leav- 

 ing a ravine some ten feet wide and much 

 longer, which now may go on increasing from 

 year to year without limit. I was there just 

 after it began." 



A number of explosions of gas have re- 

 cently occurred in London, which are sup- 

 posed to have been connected with the 

 electric-lighting conduits, though the con- 

 nection was not in every case traced, so that 

 Major Cardew, who has investigated them, 

 has sought for other possible causes. As 

 shown by his report, the most striking fea- 

 tures about the accident of four explosions on 

 Southwark Bridge were the distance to which 

 a series of explosions may travel along the 

 electric mains ; the proof the event affords 

 of the insufficiency of any ordinary ventila- 

 tion of the pipes and street boxes, if gas can 

 find an easy access to them ; and the neces- 

 sity for exercising great care to make and 

 keep the street boxes impervious to gas. 



A section of Anthropology was organized 

 in connection with the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia on the 3d of April 

 last, under the chairmanship of Harrison 

 Allen, M. D. The purpose of the section is 

 the presentation of original papers, the state- 

 ment of interesting facts, the exhibition of 

 illustrative objects, and the discussion of the 

 methods included under the term anthro- 

 pology. The meetings of the section will be 

 held at the academy on the evenings of the 

 second Friday in each month, from Septem- 

 ber to May. Communications should be ad- 

 dressed to Charles Morris, Academy of Natu- 

 ral Sciences, or 2223 Spring Garden Street. 



The fourth summer session of the School 

 of Applied Ethics, at Plymouth, Mass., will 

 continue from July 7th to August 9th. The 

 school will embrace four departments : 

 Economics, Prof. H. C. Adams, director ; 

 Ethics, Dr. Felix Adler, director; Education, 

 S. T. Dutton, of Brooklyn, R. G Huling, 

 Cambridge, Mass., and Paul H. Hanus, of 

 Harvard University, committee in charge ; 

 and History of Religions, Prof. C. H. Toy, 

 director. A large variety of subjects will 

 be discussed in these departments, with 

 teachers and specialists of high repute lead- 

 ing ; and in most of their relations to social 

 questions those relating to labor will be 

 held prominent. 



Prizes have been awarded by the adjudi- 

 cators on behalf of the Leprosy Fund in Eng- 

 land for five papers on leprosy relating to 

 the decline and extinction of the disease as 

 endemic in the British Islands ; its preva- 

 lence and decline in Iceland ; its increase at 

 the Cape and prevalence in South Africa ; 

 its extent and probable causes in Australia ; 

 and the conditions under which it prevails 

 in China, Cochin China, Batavia, and the 



