HARDWI CKE ' S S CIE NCE - G O SSI P. 



powers of the eyes should be, on the part of parents, 

 and perhaps it might be added, of some school 

 authorities also, is accountable for such a condition 

 of things. Whatever be the causes, he says, that 

 there is evidence of deterioration in two special ways, 

 viz. short-sightedness "which had come into exis- 

 tence within historic time, and into prevalence almost 

 within living memory, and which now affects at least 

 one-tenth of our population ; " and the malformation 

 of "flat-eye." He urges care on the part of parents, 

 the testing of the eyesight of children on their admis- 

 sion to school, the use of larger print in school books 

 for very young children, and the high estimation of 

 excellence of vision in connection with athletic sports 

 and contests. It is to be hoped that his recommenda- 

 tions will bear fruit and do something towards 

 checking the evil, not only for the sake of the 

 individuals who may otherwise suffer in the future, 

 but for the sake of the general benefit of the race. 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



In the " Midland Naturalist " for February, Dr. 

 C. T. Hudson describes the very curious Floscularia 

 mutabilis discovered last year by Mr. Bolton in Olton 

 reservoir, near Birmingham. 



We have received from Mr. William Wesley, 

 No. 63 of his welcome and useful " Natural History 

 and Scientific Book Circular." 



It is with much regret we have to record the death 

 of Dr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, the distinguished palaeon- 

 tologist and conchologist. He was one of the 

 liveliest and sprightliest of men, and died suddenly 

 at the age of seventy-six. Only the night before he 

 was present at the Royal Institution, listening to a 

 lecture by his son-in-law, Professor Moseley. 



We have received from Mr. J. E. Ady, an 

 additional issue of his able papers, entitled "Deep 

 Sea Soundings," illustrated. Mr. Ady also offers 

 what he calls " Optional Slides " to his subscribers. 



Mr. Francis Galton contributes to "Nature " an 

 account of the development of deaf-mutism in 

 America. It appears from the investigations of Mr. 

 Graham Bell, which have been based upon the 

 experience afforded by institutions devoted to the 

 training of deaf-mutes, that, in consequence of their 

 isolation from ordinary society, and their being 

 thrown so largely upon association with one another, 

 and the large proportion of consequent intermarriages 

 which take place among them in after life, the 

 numbers of deaf-mutes are increasing so much as 

 to make it probable that a deaf-mute variety of the 

 human race may be established, if means be not taken 

 to hinder such a result by preventing the isolation 

 that leads to it. 



In the same paper, Mr. G. J. Burch describes 

 various experiments on the nature of flame, and 

 thinks "that the proof is fairly complete, that the 

 luminosity of a candle or gas flame proceeds from 

 incandescent matter in a state of extremely fine 

 division." If this view be substantiated, it will be- 

 practically a return to the old theory of flame. 



Dr. R. von Lendenfeld, who has been studying 

 the sponges of the Australian shores for the Linnean 

 Society of New South Wales, thinks he has suc- 

 ceeded in discovering the nervous system of these 

 low animals, which has hitherto escaped observation. 

 The nervous system consists of small miodermal, 

 spindle-shaped cells, similar to those ectodermal 

 elements which perform the functions of sensitive 

 cells in jelly-fish and higher animals. 



Professor Flower, in his recent anniversary 

 address to the Anthropological Institute, expressed 

 his opinion that the Australian aborigines were not a 

 pure race, but descendants of a cross between an 

 original Melanesian population, and later intruders, 

 probably from the South of India, and of Caucasian 

 descent. 



A great advance has been made in the life 

 history of the Lycopodiacere. Mr. W. T. Thiselton 

 Dyer, F.R.S., says that Dr. Treub, the director of 

 the Botanic Garden at Buitenzorg, in Java, has been 

 engaged for some time on their study, and is now 

 acquainted with the prothallia of three species of 

 Lycopodium. Dr. Treub has given in a recent paper 

 an exhaustive account of the prothallium of L. 

 cernuum, and a brief resume of his results is given by 

 Mr. Dyer in " Nature " for February 5th. 



J. C. G. writes to " Nature : " In Mr. Johnston's- 

 interesting account of the ascent of M. Kilimanjaro, 

 in equatorial Africa, which appears from time to 

 time in the "Daily Telegraph," occurs a passage 

 which seems deserving of being rescued from the 

 comparative oblivion of the pages of a daily news- 

 paper. It will be found in the number of the 16th 

 ult., and is as follows : "Other noticeable features 

 in the scene were the tall red ant-hills, and, strange 

 imitation, the tall red antelopes, a species of 

 hartebeest, resembling faintly in shape the form of a 

 giraffe with sloping hind-quarters, high shoulders, 

 and long neck. Being a deep red-brown in colour, 

 and standing one by one stock-still at the approach 

 of the caravan, they deceived even the sharp eyes of 

 my men, and again and again a hartebeest would 

 start up at twenty yards' distance and gallop off,, 

 while I was patiently stalking an ant-hill, and 

 crawling on my stomach through thorns and aloes, 

 only to find the supposed antelope an irregular mass 

 of red clay." 



An account of Dr. Emanuel Witlaczil's researches, 

 on the Embryology of Aphides may be found in the 

 "American Naturalist" for February. 



