54° 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



croscope itself, we find in tlie first number 

 the science of zoology represented by pa- 

 pers on " The Sting of the Houey-Bee," and 

 " On the Structure of Blood-Corpuscles" ; 

 botany by " Descriptions of New Species of 

 Diatoms," aud " On the Spore-Formation of 

 the Mesocarpese " ; the arts, by " The Micro- 

 scopical Examination of the Fibres " ; and 

 in the next number we are promised among 

 others an article on microscopical geology, 

 and a study of a case of tubercular menin- 

 gitis ; while the subject of foods will receive 

 attention in a paper on the microscopical 

 characters of natural and artificial butter. 

 From this enumeration it will be seen that 

 the editor intends to cover a wide range of 

 topics ; and, while probably in the majority 

 of cases the discussions will be more or less 

 technical, many of them will also possess 

 both popular and practical interest. The 

 projectors of the enterprise are entitled to 

 great credit, not only for the handsome 

 magazine they have made, but for their 

 courage in entering a field already the 

 scene of many failures, and we would ask 

 for them, not the sympathy, but the cor- 

 dial support, of all who are interested in 

 the progress of science. 



Science News. Edited by Ernest Inger- 

 SOLL and William C. Wickoff, of New 

 York, and published fortnightly by S. E. 

 Cassino, Salem, Mass. Subscription price, 

 $2 a year. 



The main object of this new periodical, 

 as indicated by its title and expressly an- 

 nounced in the prospectus, is the prompt 

 publication of scientific news, and, judging 

 from the four numbers received, the editors 

 are fulfilling their promise in a very satis- 

 factory way. Each number is to contain 

 not less than sixteen pages of matter, ex- 

 clusive of advertisements, freely illustrated 

 and presented in a style that may be readily 

 understood by the average reader. The type 

 is good, the price is reasonable, the editors 

 are wide awake, and, with the advantages 

 of thorough scientific training and long pre- 

 vious experience on scientific journals, are 

 well adapted to the work — conditions cer- 

 tainly favorable to the production of a good 

 magazine. Yet in one respect we think the 

 new journal might be improved. There is 

 news enough of a scientific character, and 

 of both special and general interest, to more 



than fill such a periodical, even if it con- 

 tained double the present number of pages, 

 and to our minds this, in the form of para- 

 graphs as brief as an intelligible statement 

 will permit, might be profitably substituted 

 for the more elaborate essays which now 

 occupy the earher pages of the periodical. 



Third Annual Report of the Johns Hop- 

 kins University. Baltimore: Murphy 

 print, IS'ZS. Pp. 60. 



Mr. D. C. Oilman, President of the 

 Johns Hopkins University, in this report, 

 strives to draw the line of distinction be- 

 tween the college and the tiniversity. The 

 university is designed to give to those who 

 have already received a college training or 

 its equivalent more advanced and special 

 instruction. To this end it must possess 

 ample libraries, laboratories, and apparatus. 

 Then, the holders of professorial chairs in 

 a university must be expected and encour- 

 aged to advance by positive research the 

 sciences to which they are devoted. For 

 though, primarily, instruction is the duty 

 of the professor in a university, as it is in a 

 college, the difference of intellectual maturi- 

 ty between the students of the two institu- 

 tions involves a difference in the respective 

 demands of each upon the professor : uni- 

 versity students should be so mature as to 

 exact from their teachers the most advanced 

 instruction, and even to quicken and inspire 

 by their appreciative responses the new in- 

 vestigations which their professors under- 

 take. An interesting feature of this report 

 is a statement by Professor Ira Remsen, of 

 the nature of the work done in the three 

 scientific laboratories which form part of 

 the Johns Hopkins University — viz., the bio- 

 logical laboratory, the physical laboratory, 

 and the chemical laboratory. 



Notes on a Collection from the Ancient 

 Cemetery of Chacota Bay, Peru. By 

 J. H. Blake. With Illustrations. From 

 " Report of Peabody Museum of Archae- 

 ology and Ethnology," 18'78. Pp. 28. 

 The interesting collection here partly 

 described comprises mummies, utensils, 

 weapons, ornaments, etc. What race of 

 people it was that buried their dead in this 

 ancient cemetery it is impossible even to 

 conjecture. The present Indian inhabitants 

 of the locality claim no relationship with 

 them. 



