NOTES. 



431 



On these two men take their station ; one 

 carries a light, four-pronged spear about fif- 

 teen feet long, just before the prongs of 

 which a lighted candle is fixed. Holding 

 on with one hand, he manages the spear 

 with the other hand, transfixes the nest, 

 and detaches it from the rock. He then 

 pushes the spear toward the second man, 

 who takes the nest off the prongs and puts 

 it in his " game-bag." The annual crop is 

 estimated to be worth from $25,000 to 

 $30,000, local value, and much more in 

 China. The caves have been worked for 

 seven generations, without any apparent 

 diminution in the product, although three 

 crops are gathered in the year. The floors 

 of the caves are covered with a deposit of 

 guano of unknown but great thickness. 



NOTES. 



Correction. — The paper on " School 

 Culture of the Observing Faculties," in the 

 December " Monthly," was written by Mr. J. 

 C. Glashan of Ottawa, Canada, and not Gla- 

 shaw, as printed. 



M. G. Chauvet, in a monograph on 

 the prehistoric polishing tools of Charente, 

 France, notices the fact that flints very like 

 some of the stone-age hatchets were, till 

 recently, used in the factories of Angou- 

 leme for polishing playing-cards. The pol- 

 ishers are now made of copper. 



A NUMBER of the members and officers 

 of the Academy of Natural Sciences of 

 Philadelphia have associated themselves in- 

 to a Bureau of Scientific Information, the 

 object of which is to impart, through cor- 

 respondence, precise and definite informa- 

 tion bearing upon the different branches. 

 The bureau consists so far of twenty mem- 

 bers, each of whom volunteers his services 

 in his particular field of investigation. Pro- 

 fessor Angelo Heilprin is secretary of the 

 association. 



Certain mushroom universities in the 

 West and South seem anxious to put a high- 

 sounding degree of some sort " within the 

 reach of all." The allurements of these in- 

 stitutions include, in the department of let- 

 ters, the degrees M. E. L. (Master or Mis- 

 tress of English Literature) ; M. L. A. (Mis- 

 tress of Liberal Arts) ; L. E. L. (Laureate 

 of English Literature) ; L. A. (Laureate in 

 Arts) ; B. E. (Bachelor of English) ; M. P. L. 

 (Mistress of Polite Literature); and 51. L. 

 (Master of Letters); in science, A. C. (Ana- 

 lytical Chemist), and B. S. (Bachelor of Sur- 



gery) ; and in other departments are offered 

 M. P. (Master of Philosophy) ; B. P. (Bache- 

 lor of Painting) ; M. A. (Master of Ac- 

 counts) ; and L. I. (Licentiate of Instruc- 

 tion). One institution gives the degrees B. 

 P. (Bachelor in Pedagogics) ; P. P. (Prin- 

 cipal of Pedagogics) ; T. E. (Topographical 

 Engineer); S. (Surveyor); and B. 1). A. 

 (Bachelor of Domestic Art). A person ac- 

 quainted only with the effete colleges of the 

 East would be at a loss on what scale to 

 estimate the attainments of those who had 

 been graduated with these degrees. 



Sir H. E. Roscoe, speaking in the Brit- 

 ish Association of the diamantiferous depos- 

 its of South Africa, and the ash of the dia- 

 mond, showed that silica and iron oxide form 

 constant constituents of the diamond. He 

 also stated that, when these yellow diamonds 

 are heated out of contact with the air, they 

 lose their color, and remain colorless so long 

 as they are not exposed to the light ; they 

 then regain their color. 



Mr. F. W. Putnam described before the 

 American Association the exploration of the 

 " Turner " group of mounds near Madison- 

 ville, Ohio, which had been conducted in the 

 most careful and thorough manner, with ex- 

 amination of the earth shovelful by shovel- 

 ful. The discoveries, both of objects ob- 

 tained, and of facts regarding the structure 

 of the mounds, were exceedingly valuable. 

 Among the objects, some of which had nev- 

 er been found before in mounds, were shell- 

 beads, disks, and rings by the thousand; 

 cones cut from alligator-teeth ; ornaments 

 from buffalo-horn, mica, and copper; objects 

 of native silver, gold, and meteoric iron ; 

 50,000 pearls, mostly pierced and injured by 

 heat ; small stone dishes carved in animal 

 forms ; and artistically shaped figurines of 

 terra - cotta, suggesting an Egyptian char- 

 acter. 



Nordenskjold is understood to be pre- 

 paring a new three years' expedition under 

 Russian auspices, the object of which is the 

 north pole. He will start first for the newly 

 discovered Bennett Islands, Henrietta and 

 Joannette, in the New Siberian Archipelago, 

 where dcpo-its of provisions will be made ; 

 thence to Franz- Josef Land, where other 

 provisions will be left, and whence a start 

 will be made in three divisions, for the pole. 



The meeting of German naturalists, 

 which opened at Magdeburg on the 18th of 

 September, under the presidency of Dr. Gach- 

 de, was attended by more than a thousand 

 men of science. Among the addresses deliv- 

 ered was one on the relation of micro-organ- 

 isms to the infectious diseases of man, by 

 Professor Rosenbach, of Gottingen. Dr. 

 Gerhard Rohlfs spoke on the importance of 

 German colonization in Africa. 



