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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The " Technology Quarterly " has been 

 started at the Massachusetts Institute of 

 Technology. It is published by a board of 

 editors chosen from the senior and junior 

 classes, who are intended to represent all 

 the departments of the Institute. 



Dr. T. Langdon Down, inquiring into 

 the causes of idiocy, has found that intem- 

 perance of parents is one of the most con- 

 siderable factors in producing the affection. 

 His view is confirmed by some French and 

 German investigators, one of whom, Dr. 

 Delasiauve, has said that in the village of 

 Careme, whose riches were in its vineyards, 

 ten years' comparative sobriety, enforced 

 by vine-disease, had a sensible effect in di- 

 minishing the cases of idiocy. Nervous con- 

 stitution and consumption exercise impor- 

 tant influence. Of the professions, lawyers 

 furnish the smallest proportion of idiots, 

 while they arc credited with the procreation 

 of a relatively very large number of men of 

 eminence. With the clergy, these propor- 

 tions are more than reversed. The influ- 

 ence of consanguineous marriage, per se, is 

 insignificant, if it exists. 



The French Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science will meet in Toulouse, 

 September 22d to 29th. 



Bottles for holding spirits and acids are 

 now made of paper. The glued paper is 

 rolled by machinery into such a tube as is 

 required, and the tube is cut up into suit- 

 able lengths. The tops and bottoms, of 

 wood or paper, are cemented in, and necks 

 are added when required. The interiors 

 of the bottles are then lined with a heated 

 fluid composition that sets hard and will 

 resist acids and spirits. The bottles are 

 practically unbreakable, have a minimum of 

 weight, and require no packing material in 

 transit. The manufacture is said to be car- 

 ried on extensively in Chicago, and has been 

 introduced into England. 



Mr. Norpexskiold some time ago re- 

 ceived an account from Don Carlos Stolp, 

 of San Fernando, Chili, of his observations 

 of the "red sunsets" of 1883-'84, from a 

 point on the Andes about fifteen thousand 

 feet above the sea ; and afterward Seiior 

 Stolp sent some specimens of an atmos- 

 pheric dust which he had observed at the 

 same time. Analysis of this dust showed 

 that it had no relation to volcanic dust, but 

 that it was of the kind regarded as cosmic 

 dust containing the iron, nickel, phosphor- 

 ic acid, and magnesia constituents charac- 

 teristic of the cosmic deposits. There is, 

 however, no evidence that this dust was con- 

 nected with the red light. 



Mr. Ernest Hart, of the Smoke Abate- 

 ment Institute, fears that London will al- 

 ways suffer from fogs, because it is placed 

 in a river valley, on a clay soil, and is bor- 



dered on the Essex side by low-lying lands 

 very imperfectly drained, and on the north 

 side by the Harrow Weald. The fogs gener- 

 ated the results of damp exhalations are 

 greatly aggravated by the parks, most of 

 which require draining. But if the smoke 

 is got rid of, the fogs will be much less 

 dense. 



An English National Association for the 

 Promotion of Technical Education has been 

 formed. The Marquis of Hartington is its 

 president, and several lords, Professor Hux- 

 ley, Sir John Lubbock, Mr. Mundella, Sir 

 Lyon Playfair, Professor Stuart, and Pro- 

 fessor Tyndall, are among its vice-presi- 

 dents. 



Photographs of the sun were taken at 

 Greenwich Observatory on 199 days during 



1886, while photographs from India filled 

 in the gaps for 164 days ; so that the record 

 of observations is complete for all but two 

 days. The area of sun-spots and faculne 

 has continued to decline during 1886 and 



1887. There were 61 days in 1886, and 

 from October to April 17th last, 73 days 

 on which no spots appeared. 



OBITUARY NOTES. 



Charles Rau, one of the curators of 

 the Smithsonian Institution, died in Wash- 

 ington, July 28th, at about seventy years of 

 age. He was invited by Professor Henry 

 about forty years ago to come to the United 

 States and take a position in the Smithso- 

 nian Institution. He was the author of 

 archaeological books, and of numerous spe- 

 cial articles in his chosen study. 



Dr. Moritz Wagner, professor in the 

 University of Munich, a distinguished trav- 

 eler and scientific writer, died May 31st. 



The death of M. Issarlier, a French 

 jenator and mayor, formerly an eminent 

 medical man, is reported. M. Issartier 

 had long given up the practice of medicine, 

 and had devoted himself to horticulture 

 and scientific agriculture. He published a 

 treatise on the cultivation of fruit-trees, and 

 a course in agriculture. 



Ivan Polyakoff, who died recently at 

 St. Petersburg, at about forty years of age, 

 was regarded as one of the most promising 

 Russian men of science. His particular 

 field was in botany and zoology. His 

 earlier papers were published in the " Ir- 

 kutsk Gazette." He was engaged upon 

 expeditions from the Lena gold-washings to 

 Transbaikalia, in the Olonetz region, the 

 middle Volira, the lower Obi region and 

 Saghalien, and the Pacific littoral. He was 

 attacked with his final illness on his return 

 from the last journey. He was the author 

 of the accepted description of Prjevalsky's 

 horse, " Equus Prjevalski." 



