XOTES. 



5" 



I 



Died suddenly, on June 1 1th, at the age of 

 forty-nine years, Joseph Winlock, Director 

 of the Cambridge Observatory, and PhilUps 

 Professor of Astronomy in Harvard College. 

 The deceased was a native of Kentucky, 

 and from 1845 till 1852 was Professor of 

 Mathematics in Shelby College, in that State. 

 He then removed to Cambridge, where he 

 was employed in making computations for 

 the Nautical Almanac. Later he was ap- 

 pointed Professor of Mathematics for the 

 United States Navy, and served as assistant 

 in the Washington Observatory, superin- 

 tendent of the Nauticad Ahnanac, and Di- 

 rector of the Mathematical Department of 

 the Annapolis Academy. From 1865 till his 

 death he was connected with the Cambridge 

 Observatory and Harvard College. 



The fifteenth annual meeting of the Na- 

 tional Educational Association will be held 

 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Tuesday, 

 Wednesday, and Thursday, the 3d, 4th, and 

 5th days of August. The officers of the 

 Association are : Pi-esident, William T. Har- 

 ris, St. Louis ; Secretary, William R. Ab- 

 bott, Bellevue, Virginia; Treasurer, A. P. 

 Marble, Worcester, Massachusetts. 



Committee "F" of the United States 

 Board for testing iron, steel, etc., request in- 

 formation as to the behavior of rails and 

 machinery exposed to the extremes of tem- 

 perature observed in northern latitudes, 

 when subject to wear or to breakage. Spe- 

 cimens, photographs, results of analysis, 

 statistics of railroads, statements from roll- 

 ing-mills, published or unpublished essays 

 in short, information of any kind upon the 

 subject may be sent in to the committee, 

 R. H. Thurston, chairman, Stevens Institute, 

 , Hoboken, New Jersey. 



An elaborate work by A. R. Wallace, 

 on the " Geographical Distribution of Ani- 

 mals," is announced as soon to be published 

 by Macmillan. It will be in two volumes, 

 illustrated with many maps and woodcuts. 



Mart Putnam Jacobi, M. D., of New 

 York, has recently received from Paris, 

 says the Tribune, the bronze medal awarded 

 three years ago by the Academy of Medi- 

 cine for her graduating thesis. In the com- 

 petition Mrs. Jacobi attained the rank of 

 from fifth to eighth in a class of 300, all 

 men except herself. And yet Paris medi- 

 cal journals are complaining that " the ad- 

 mission of women students to the Academy 

 has lowered its standards ! " 



It is stated in an Albany journal that 

 Seth Green has succeeded in hatching^ a 

 large number of sturgeon-eggs. It is in- 

 tended to stock the Hudson River with stur- 

 geon, a fish which at one time was very 

 abundant in that stream, but which has for 

 years been declining in numbers. 



The Swedish Arctic Expedition of the 

 present year was to have sailed in June for 

 Nova Zonibla. It will first study the hot- 

 any, zoology, and ethnology, of the south of 

 the island, and then advance along the west 

 coast to the northernmost point. Thence it 

 will advance to the northeast to explore 

 this unknown part of the Polar Sea. It 

 then goes south to the mouth of the Obi 

 and the Yenisei. Here the explorers will 

 quit the ship and go up the river in boats, 

 returning home afterward by land. Prof. 

 Nordenskiold commands the expedition. A 

 wealthy merchant, Oskar Dickson, bears all 

 the expenses. 



In excavating near Rideau Hall, Ottawa, 

 the residence of the Governor-General of 

 Canada, the workmen made an interesting 

 geological discovery. They came upon a 

 stratum of fossil-rock several feet thick, 

 containing beautiful petrified winged in- 

 sects. Some of these are like butterflies, 

 with the delicate fibre of the wings in a per- 

 fect state of preservation. 



During the last fifty years the water- 

 level of the rivers Elbe and Oder has fallen 

 17 inches, that of the Rhine 24, of the Vis- 

 tula 26, and that of the Danube as much as 

 55 inches at Orsova. And there is a simi- 

 lar decrease in the water-supply from springs 

 in Germany. The cause of this dechne is 

 attributable to the present reckless cutting 

 down of forests, as also to the artificial 

 drainage now so generally adopted by farm- 

 ers. 



Dr. Paul Bert, distinguished for his 

 researches on the physiological effects of 

 atmospheric pressures, has been chosen 

 President of the French Aeronautical So- 

 ciety. Gaston Tissandier is one of the vice- 

 presidents. 



The work of the Geological Survey of 

 California having been suspended by the 

 State Legislature, a vast collection of botan- 

 ical observations remained in manuscript, 

 which the State refused to have printed. 

 Prof. Gilman has succeeded in raising a sub- 

 scription of $5,000, for the purpose of pub- 

 lishing this valuable material. The funds 

 were contributed by nine public-spirited cit- 

 izens of San Francisco. 



Spectacle-frames with fine wire gauze 

 in place of glass are found to answer per- 

 fectly for the protection of the eyes from 

 dust in various trades and occupations, such 

 as stone-cutting, thrashing, etc. Such spec- 

 tacles permit the necessary access of air to 

 the eye, and produce no inconvenience to 

 the wearer. 



The best authorities consulted by the 

 British insurance companies, as to tlie ad- 

 visability of putting an extra premium on 

 the policies held by the members of the 



