NOTES. 



Z^ 



The length of time needed for reaction 

 in sensation has been made a subject of in- 

 vestigation by two German physiologists, 

 Vintsohgau and Hongschmied, with the fol- 

 lowing results : In the case of a person 

 whose sense of taste was highly developed, 

 the reaction-time was, for common salt, 

 0.169 second; for sugar, 0.1639 second ; for 

 acid, 0.1676 second ; and for quinine, 0.2351 

 second. With a person whose taste was 

 less acute the reactiDn-times were 0.595 sec- 

 ond for salt, 0.752 second for sugar, and 

 0.993 second for quinine. It will be seen 

 that in both instances for the bitter taste 

 of quinine the reaction-time was consider- 

 ably longer than for the others. 



The most noteworthy circumstance con- 

 nected with Captain Boyton's feat of cross- 

 ing the English Channel is, not so much his 

 having been kept afloat for so many hours, 

 but that his body temperature was not low- 

 ered appreciably. His water-proof dress 

 prevents the loss of animal heat, and hence, 

 after being in the water for fifteen hours. 

 Captain Boyton was almost as fresh and 

 vigorous on reaching Boulogne as when he 

 started from Dover. 



An apothecary and self-styled surgeon 

 in Liverpool, named Heap, was recently 

 hanged for the crime of attempting to pro- 

 cure abortion on a young woman, and so 

 causing her death. The jury recommended 

 the culprit to mercy, but the authorities very 

 commendably refused to interfere with the 

 process of the law. 



Jn view of the prohibitory duties im- 

 posed by the United States upon imported 

 agricultural machinery, the British Associa- 

 tion of Agricultural Engineers recommends 

 manufacturers to hold aloof from the Phil- 

 adelphia Exhibition. The imposition of 

 prohibitory duties is declared to be out of 

 harmony with the objects of international 

 exhibitions. This advice will be adopted 

 almost unanimously in England. 



A Scientific Association has been or- 

 ganized in Peoria, 111., with Dr. W. H. Chap- 

 man as president. Arrangements have been 

 completed by the Association for a " Sum- 

 mer School" for the study of botany and 

 zoology, the term to extend over four weeks, 

 commencing on July 5th. The ins^tructors 

 will be Profs. Burt G. Wilder and J. H. 

 Comstock, of Cornell University, and Prof. 

 Alphonso Wood. The tuition for the term 

 will be fifteen dollars. 



The meeting of the British Association 

 for the Advancement of Science takes place 

 this year at Bristol, commencing Wednes- 

 day, August 2ath. The President of the 

 Association for the present year is Sir John 

 Hawkshaw, C. E., Fellow of the Royal So- 

 ciety. 



A DONATION of $25,000 for library pur- 

 poses has been made to the Philadelphia 

 Academy of Natural Sciences. The library 

 of the Academy already contains 20,0()0 

 scientific works, but is in many respects 

 incomplete. It is believed that with the 

 means now at the disposal of the Academy 

 the library can be made equal to any scien- 

 tific library in the world. 



Died, March 20th, Daniel Hanburt, 

 F. R. S., F. L. S., member of the British 

 Pharmaceutical Society. Deceased had at- 

 tained distinction by his original investiga- 

 tions into the nature and history of drugs, 

 and of the plants from which they are ob- 

 tained. Just before his death appeared 

 " Pharmacographia : a History of the Prin- 

 cipal Drugs of Vegetable Origin met with 

 in Great Britain and British India." Of 

 this work Hanbury was joint author with 

 Prof. Fluckiger, of Strasburg. 



The committee of the Bremen Polar 

 Expedition propose that their vessels shall 

 coast along the eastern shore of Greenland, 

 while the English expedition proceeds up 

 Smith's Sound. If this arrangement is car- 

 ried out, possibly these two expeditions may 

 meet at the pole, or at all events at the 

 northernmost portion of Greenland. 



The Anderson School of Natural His- 

 tory, at Penikese Island, will not be opened 

 this summer. A card from Prof. A. Agas- 

 siz states that " the applications for this 

 summer's session have been so much re- 

 duced by the attempt to make the school 

 partially self-supporting, that the trustees 

 are forced, in order to save the institution 

 from debt, to close it for the coming season. 

 Since no assistance is to be expected from 

 State Boards of Education, it becomes evi- 

 dent that the school must be carried on 

 either by the help of the teachers for whose 

 advantage it is intended, or by endowment. 

 This interruption, which it is hoped may be 

 only temporary, arises neither from lack of 

 enthusiasm in the pupils of Penikese, nor 

 from any want of generous interest in the 

 naturalists who have thus far given their 

 services to aid the enterprise." 



The French Geographical Society has 

 awarded a gold medal to the family of the 

 late Captain Hall, in recognition of the dis- 

 tinguished services rendered to geographi 

 cal science by that intrepid explorer. 



The Gardenr''s Chronicle states, on the 

 authority of the market-gardeners around 

 London, that the spring just passed was 

 the most backward known in that locality 

 for many years. 



Dr. J. Bell Pettigrew has been awarded 

 the Goddard prize of the French Academy 

 of Sciences for his original anatomical and 

 physiological memoirs. 



