288 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



on raised terraces, like those found in the 

 Ohio Valley, is not sustained, for no such 

 terraces are found near the animal-shaped 

 mounds of Wisconsin or the burial-mounds 

 of the Illinois River. Judge Henderson 

 believes, therefore, that the ancient houses 

 were of a similar character to those that he 

 has described as existing at the beginning 

 of the historical period. 



NOTES. 



Denison's Improved Reference Index is 

 an ingenious arrangement to give aid in 

 making references in dictionaries and cy- 

 clopaedias. It can be added to any such 

 book at small cost and without disfiguring 

 it, saves time and avoids perplexity at ex- 

 actly the right moment when a reference 

 is to be made. Instead of fumbling till 

 patience is exhausted, and the mind dis- 

 tracted by the host of suggestions in look- 

 ing over the pages with the imminent dan- 

 ger of forgetting what one is after Mr. 

 Denison's device takes you to the letter you 

 want instantly, by a single glance and a 

 The invention is a godsend 



single motion. 

 to students. 



Johann Maria Hildebrandt, a German 

 African traveler of growing reputation, died 

 in Antananarivo, Madagascar, while engaged 

 in exploring the island, May 29th. Pre- 

 vious to going to Madagascar, he had spent 

 several years on the eastern coast of Africa, 

 and had had the honor of having a char- 

 acteristic African moss (Hildebrandtiella) 

 named after him. One of his later con- 

 tributions to the Berlin Geographical Soci- 

 ety's " Zeitschrif t " contained an interest- 

 ing description of the vernal phenomena 

 in Madagascar, in which he said that spring 

 arrives about the middle of November, 

 when the cold southeastern wind which has 

 blown throughout the winter, leaving its 

 moisture on the eastern slopes of the forest- 

 covered highlands and driving before it the 

 6avanna-fires, gives place to the northwest- 

 ern wind, bringing warmth and moisture. 



M. db Lesseps has been elected Presi- 

 dent of the French Geographical Society, 

 " in recognition of the services he has ren- 

 dered to science, and of his rank among the 

 most illustrious men of his country and of 

 the whole world." The enthusiasm which 

 Frenchmen feel for their great engineer 

 was tersely expressed by General Turr, who, 

 asking the patronage of M. de Lesseps for 

 his canal across the Isthmus of Corinth, 

 Btyled him "General-in-Chief of Isthmuses 

 and Canals." 



John Duncan, the weaver - botanist of 

 Alfonl, England, died in that place, on the 



9th of August, in the eighty-seventh year of 

 his age. Though he had been known in 

 private to a few men of science as a man 

 dependent on daily labor for the means of 

 subsistence, who had become perfectly ac- 

 complished in the botany of his district, 

 and had made valuable researches in it, he 

 was not known to the public till about a 

 year ago. Then, when, enfeebled by age, 

 he was about to fall upon the parish, Mr. 

 Jolly, inspector of schools, published an ac- 

 count of his work and his condition in the 

 newspapers. A general interest was awak- 

 ened in his case, and subscriptions were 

 spontaneously offered, which enabled him 

 to pass his few remaining days in comfort- 

 able ease. What he had his books and 

 the proceeds of the subscriptions he has 

 left in trust for the promotion of the study 

 of science in Alford and its neighborhood. 



Mr. IIewett Cottrell Watson, one of 

 the most indefatigable workers in British 

 botany, died July 27th, in his seventy-eighth 

 year. He was a prolific writer on the geo- 

 graphical distribution of British plants, and 

 on the distinguishing characters of the more 

 critical species, a contributor to periodicals, 

 and editor of the " New Botanist's Guide," 

 " Cybele Britannica," and the " London Cata- 

 logue of British Plants." In his garden 

 were collected growing specimens of rare or 

 little known British plants. He visited the 

 Azores in 1847, with the result of adding 

 much to the world's knowledge of the bot- 

 any of the islands. 



It was already known that music exer- 

 cises a very perceptible influence upon the 

 circulation and respiration of the human sub- 

 ject. Recent researches by M. Dogiel have 

 shown that the same is the case with ani- 

 mals. 



Dr. Ferdinand Keller, the discoverer 

 for science of the lake villages of Switzer- 

 land, died at Zurich, May 19th, at the age 

 of eighty-one years. His attention was first 

 called to the lake villages in the winter of 

 1853-54, when the remains of the structures 

 at Obermeilen were made visible by an un- 

 precedentedly low stage of the water in the 

 Lake of Zurich. He communicated an ac- 

 count of what he had found to the Anti- 

 quarian Society of Zurich, and thereby 

 awakened a lively interest in what has 

 become one of the most engaging and in- 

 structive departments of prehistoric re- 

 search. 



M. Dfbrunfai-t, a French chemist of 

 considerable merit, who has recently died 

 at the age of eighty-four years, was best 

 known by his discoveries of new processes 

 in the manufacture of beet-sugar, which are 

 still in use. At the time of his death he 

 was engaged upon a treatise on human lon- 

 gevity. 



