NOTES. 



431 



tained that their development is much re- 

 tarded and often results in the production of 

 monstrosities. In some instances alcoholized 

 eggs of nearly a hundred hours were hardly 

 as far developed as normal eggs of twenty 

 hours. These facts may be regarded as hav- 

 ing a bearing on the frequency of sterility 

 and premature abortions in human beings 

 afflicted with alcoholism. They show, fur- 

 ther, that alcohol may have an effect on the 

 embryo, even when the progenitors have not 

 been subject to chronic alcoholism. 



The character of the writing found in the 

 Maya codices and inscriptions has been a topic 

 of discussion among students of the subject, 

 and three theories have been sustained : one 

 that the symbols are ideographic ; another, 

 that they are chiefly phonetic ; and a third, 

 or middle theory, by Dr. Brinton, that they 

 are in the nature of rebus-writing, or " icou- 

 omatic." The personal statements of cer- 

 tain old Spanish writers particularly of 

 Bishop Landa, who assumed to publish the 

 alphabet are in favor of their phonetic 

 character. This is also maintained in a re- 

 cent paper Are the Maya Hieroglyphics Pho- 

 netic ? by Dr. Cyrus Thomas, who presents 

 interpretations which, he believes, if they 

 are accepted, will settle the question. 



At the last annual meeting of the New 

 York Society for the Suppression of Vice, 

 the president, Mr. Samuel Colgate, spoke of 

 the encouragements that existed for the con- 

 tinuance of the work. The money receipts 

 for the year 1892 had been equal to those of 

 any previous year. The large proportion of 

 prisoners convicted to the number brought 

 to trial is cited as showing that the society 

 is careful in instituting prosecutions. Sev- 

 eral evidences were cited to show that the 

 society had been brought into closer touch 

 with public sympathy than ever before ; 

 among them was the fact that the year had 

 been exceptionally free from newspaper as- 

 saults and adverse criticisms. Yet defects 

 in the law needing amendment, and even 

 legislation in favor of vice, and frequent 

 laxity in the administration of existing laws, 

 were complained of. 



A UNIVERSITY course of thirty lectures on 

 Celestial Mechanics, by G. W. Hill, is now in 

 progress, beginning October 14, 1893, at Ham- 

 ilton Hall, Columbia College. The lectures 

 are given every Saturday except the last two 

 in December, at 10.30 a. m. A full presen- 

 tation of the subject is given, rather than a 

 rapid summary. 



M. Janssen has telegraphed the fact that 

 the observatory on the summit of Mont 

 Blanc is completed, and nothing now re- 

 mains to be done but carry out the interior 

 arrangements. The machinery adopted for 

 hauling materials up over the snow worked 

 to perfection and contributed greatly to the 

 success and comfort of the workmen. M. 



Janssen used it to assist in his own getting 

 up, and it was " curious, extraordinary," he 

 says, " to see materials moved by these en- 

 gines climbing over the icy slopes of the peak 

 by ways of a new sort, which science only 

 was able to contrive and realize." 



In an interference experiment described 

 by Lord Eayleigh the light from a single slit, 

 illuminated either by sunlight or a lamp 

 flame, passes down a tube about a foot long 

 and is received on two very fine and very 

 close slits. An eye placed at the back of 

 these sees a beautiful set of interference 

 bands. No lens is required, because the eye 

 itself acts as such. The two slits are really 

 swatches made by a knife on an evenly sil- 

 vered microscope cover-glass. 



The consultative committee appointed in 

 Italy to study the question of alcoholism has 

 recently presented its report to the Govern- 

 ment. It appears from the document that 

 the yearly mortality ascribed to alcoholism 

 for the whole kingdom is r62 per hundred 

 thousand inhabitants. It was greatest in 

 Liguria (3-46) and the March (3-11), and 

 least in Campania (0'53) and the Abruzzi 

 (0''75). Under the application of the new 

 penal code, which makes intoxication a crime, 

 16,504 offenses were reported in 1890 and 

 16,382 in 1891. 



In a paper on the wearing of rings in an- 

 cient Rome, M. Maximin Deloche shows that 

 in the early days of the republic the iron 

 ring was reserved for persons who had dis- 

 tinguished themselves by some splendid act 

 in war or had rendered the state some impor- 

 tant service. Afterward, patricians, knights, 

 and magistrates had the privilege of wearing 

 it. When the wearing of rings became gen- 

 eral the metal used became the distinctive 

 sign of the several classes of citizens, and 

 the metal worn was determined by birth. 

 The most precious metals were worn by the 

 inc/enui ; senators and knights alone had 

 golden rings ; while the plebeians' rings were 

 of iron. The fi-eedmen in time made claims 

 to the privilege of wearing gold, and it was 

 given to them by a constitution of Justinian. 



Noticing the fact that the Smithsonian 

 Institution has obtained a table in the Zo- 

 ological Laboratory at Naples, the Revue 

 Scientifique remarks that it is curious that 

 Americans should go to Europe to seek sub- 

 jects for study when they have so abundant 

 and varied a fauna at home. 



A MANUFACTORY of flints for guns and 

 tinder boxes still exists at Brandon, England, 

 in which, according to Mr. Edward Lovett, 

 the methods supposed to have been used in the 

 stone age are employed without much change 

 at the present time. The flint is broken 

 into conveniently sized fragments by placing 

 it on the knees and striking with a hammer. 

 The pieces are then split into flakes, and 

 these into squares, which are trimmed into 



