FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



569 



of Hypnotism. Pp 12 — McBride, T. H. Public 

 Parks for Iowa Towns. Pp 8.— Macmillan, Con- 

 way. On the Formation of Circular Muskeag in 

 Tamarack Swamps. Pp. 8, with 8 plates —Smith, 

 J. P. The Development of Lytoceras and Phyl- 

 loceras. San Francisco. Pp. 24, with plates.— 

 Stuver, E., M. D. What Influence do Stimulants 

 and Narcotics exert on the Development of the 

 Child? Chicago. Pp. 20.— Turner, H. W. Notes 

 on Some Igneous, Metamorphic, and Sedimentary 

 Rocks of the Coast Ranges of California. Chi- 

 cago. Pp. 16.— Washburn, F. L., Eugene, Ore. 

 Continuation of Experiment in Propagating Oys- 

 ters on the Oregon Coast, Summer of 1898. Pp. 5. 



Spencer, Herbert, The Principles of Biology. 

 Revised and enlarged edition, 1898. Vol.1. New 

 York: D. Appleton and Company. Pp.706. $2. 



Winthrop, Alice Worthington. Diet in Illness 

 and Convalescence. New York : Harper & 

 Brothers. Pp. 287. 



United States Geological Survey. The Kaolins 

 and Hire Clays of Europe, and the Clay-working 

 Industry of the United States in 1897. By Hein- 



rich Ries. Pp. 114 ; Bulletin No. 150. The 

 Educational Series of Rock Specimens collected 

 and distributed by the Survey. By J. S. Diller. 

 Pp. 400; No. 151. The Lower Cretaceous Gry- 

 phaeasofthe Texas Region. By R. T. Hill and 

 T W. Vaughan. Pp. 139, with plates; No. 152. 

 Catalogue of the Cretaceous and Tertiary Plants 

 of North America. By F. H. Knowlton. Pp.247; 

 No. 153. A Bibliographical Index of North 

 American Carboniferous Invertebrates By Stuart 

 Weller. Pp. 653; No. 154. A Gazetteer of Kan- 

 sas. By Henry Gannett. Pp. 246 ; No. 155. 

 Earthquakes in California in 1896 and 1897. By 

 C. D. Perrine P . 18; No. 156. Bibliography 

 and Index of North American Geology, Paleon- 

 tology, Petrology, and Mineralogy for 1897. By 

 F. B. Weeks. Pp. 130. 



United States National Museum Bean. Bar- 

 ton A. Notes on the Capture 01 Rare Pishes. 

 Pp. 2.— Bean, Tarleton H. and Barton A. Notes 

 on Oxycoltus Acuticeps (Gilbert) from Sitka and 

 Kadiak, Alaska. Pp 2.— Lucas, F. A. A New 

 Snake from the Eocene of Alabama. Pp. 2, with 

 2 plates. 



ffraflmtnts oi J>cUttce. 



Early Snbmariue Telegraphy. — The ac- 

 tual date of the beginning of subaqueous te- 

 legraphy was admitted by Professor Ayrtoun, 

 in a lecture delivered before the Imperial 

 Institute in 1897, to be uncertain. Baron 

 Schilling is said to have exploded mines un- 

 der the Neva by means of the electric cur- 

 rent as early as 1812 ; and this method was 

 used by Colonel Pasley to blow up the wreck 

 of the Royal George at Spithead in 1838 ; 

 but our Morse has the credit of having first 

 used a wire insulated with India rubber un- 

 der water. In 1 337, Wheatstone and Cooke 

 were experimenting with land telegraphy, 

 and were considering the possibility of lay- 

 ing an insulated wire under .water. Morse's 

 successful experiments date from 1842, 

 when he personally laid a cable between 

 Castle Garden and Governor's Island and 

 sent messages over it ; the next morning it 

 was broken. With the introduction of gutta 

 percha as an insulator in 1847, submarine 

 telegraphy became practicable. The Cen- 

 tral Oceanic Telegraph Company had been 

 registered by Jacob Brett in 1845, and a 

 cable was laid under the English Channel by 

 Brett and his brother in 1850. Messages 

 were sent through it, but, like Morse's ear- 

 lier effort, it immediately became silent. 

 Better success attended the cable of the 

 next year, which was sheathed with iron ; 

 and the first public submarine message was 

 sent over it November 13, 1851 Morse 



wrote of the possibility of establishing elec- 

 tro-magnetic communication across the ocean 

 as early as 1844. A syndicate was formed 

 for this purpose in 1855, Cyrus W. Field 

 being the most conspicuous figure in it. An 

 understanding was reached with the Brett 

 company, and the Atlantic Telegraph Com- 

 pany was formed. The first effort to lay the 

 cable was made in 1857 by the United 

 States frigate Niagara and H. M. S. Aga- 

 memnon, but the vires broke in deep water 

 when about a third of the work was done. 

 A cable was successfully laid the next year, 

 but it died out in a month. Finally, electi ic 

 communication was permanently established 

 across the Atlantic by the Telegraph Con- 

 struction and Maintenance Company, which, 

 capturing a cable that had been lost, soon 

 had two. Transatlantic cables have now 

 become so numerous and so regular in their 

 working that the danger of even a tempo- 

 rary failure has become very remote. 



The White Lady Mountain. — Iztaccihuatl 



(pronounced Is-tak-see-watl) is about ten 

 miles, measuring to its principal peak, north 

 of Popocatepetl. In shape it consists of a 

 loig, narrow ridge cut into three well-de- 

 fined peaks about equally distant from one 

 another, of which the central is the highest ; 

 and the snow-covered peak resembles the 

 figure of a woman lying on her back ; whence 

 the name of the mountain, which means 



