288 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ably true that those which are sent by the 

 manufacturers are carefully selected and 

 therefore far more reliable than the average 

 of those sold without certification. Never- 

 theless, the testers are obliged to reject 

 twenty-five, fifty, and even seventy-five per 

 cent of those sent them. As a rule, these 

 are not rejected without receiving double the 

 time and care required by the large majority 

 of those to which certificates are granted. 



The course of instruction in naval archi- 

 tecture recently established at the Massachu- 

 setts Institute of Technology provides for a 

 thorough training in the theory and methods 

 of devising and building ships, together with 

 a study of the properties requisite for safety 

 and good behavior at sea. It is arranged to 

 occupy four years, and leads to the degree of 

 Bachelor of Science. It is intended to cover 

 the same ground and accomplish the same 

 results as the English and French Govern- 

 ment schools for training naval constructors, 

 and to give, in addition to professional and 

 technical training and equipment, a good sci- 

 entific and liberal education. 



Hitherto disorders observed among 

 workmen in hemp have been regarded as 

 originating wholly in mechanical causes, as 

 in the inhalation of vegetable dusts. Dr. L. 

 Salomon, of Savigne I'Eveque, France, who 

 has studied two cases of such disorders, at- 

 tributes them to intoxication by the active 

 principles of hemp, similar to those produced 

 by hashish. 



The Laboratory of the Psychological In- 

 stitute at the University of Gottingen de- 

 scribed by Prof. W. 0. Krohn as in many 

 respects the best for research work in Ger- 

 many owes its excellent equipment to a 

 liberal gift from a private person, the state 

 contributing only a pittance to its support. 

 This person is a former student of Prof. 

 Miiller. 



The Report of the Division of Entomol- 

 ogy (Bulletin No. 29) on the Boll Worm of 

 Cotton {Heliothis armiger) covers in the first 

 part observations made by Mr. F. W. Mally 

 upon the parasites and natural enemies of 

 the insect, and presents in the second part 

 bacteriological experiments made by the 

 same observer with certain insect diseases 

 affecting it. The paper also contains ob- 

 servations of the depredations of the larva 

 upon corn, and upon the use of com as a 

 trap for it. 



The courses of instruction in the Depart- 

 ment of Geology of Colgate University, while 

 designed to give such knowledge of the sev- 

 eral subjects as a scheme of general educa- 

 tion requires, are so arranged as to provide 

 two years of continuous work to those who 

 may wish to teach geology or pursue it as a 

 profession. The instruction is given by 

 lectures, with text-books for supplementary 

 reading, oral and written reviews, and labo- 



ratory and field work. Besides the general 

 collections of minerals, and in geology a dy- 

 namical collection, illustrating weathering, 

 glacial action, the work of springs, under- 

 ground waters and the ocean, the results of 

 volcanic and mountain-building forces, the 

 work of organisms, and various structures, 

 with specimens illustrating lithology, and a 

 systematic collection of fossil remains have 

 been begun. In economic geology sample 

 blocks of building stone have been acquired. 



OBITUARY NOTES. 



The death is announced of M. Daniel Col- 

 ladon, of Geneva, one of the most eminent 

 of the former generation of physicists, in the 

 ninety-second year of his age. He was born 

 at Geneva in 1802; became an engineer; 

 studied physics and mathematics in Paris; 

 returning to Geneva, performed in co-opera- 

 tion with Sturm, in 1827, his famous experi- 

 ments on the propagation of sound in water. 

 The two also studied together the resistance 

 of materials and the compressibility of liq- 

 uids. In 1829 he_ became Professor of Me- 

 chanics in the Ecole Centrale des Arts et 

 Manufactures in Paris ; later, professor in 

 the academy at Geneva. Near the begin- 

 ning of his career he studied the properties 

 of liquid veins, and executed the remarkable 

 experiment of the transportation of luminous 

 waves by a column of water, which is the 

 basis of the curious luminous fountains. 

 One of his most important discoveries was 

 that of the use of compressed air as a me- 

 dium for the transmission of energy a dis- 

 covery which has found practical application 

 of great value in apparatus for perforating 

 tunnels. He was also an earnest student of 

 meteorological phenomena, and made many 

 observations on lightning and hail. Like 

 most students of broad minds, he took much 

 interest in the popularization of science. 



Henry J. Philpott, a writer who had 

 gained considerable distinction in the discus- 

 sion of economical subjects, died of consump- 

 tion in Niles, Cal., September 24th. He was 

 a resident of Iowa; had been engaged in 

 editorial work in that State ; and had gone 

 to Cahfornia as a last resort for the possible 

 benefit of his health. He was prominent in 

 the organization of the Free-Trade move- 

 ment in Iowa; was interested in the work 

 of the Society for Political Education of this 

 city; and published many bright and forci- 

 ble papers on the subjects he held near at 

 heart. He contributed to The Popular Sci- 

 ence Monthly articles or letters on The Joint- 

 Suake Idiocy (vol. xxx); Social Sustenance 

 (vol. xxxi); Origin of the Rights of Prop- 

 erty (vol. xxxv) ; Irrigation of Arid Lands, 

 and A Novel Water-Cooler (vol. xxxvi); A 

 Little Boy's Game with a Ball (vol. xxxvii) ; 

 and Almond Culture in California (vol. xli). 



