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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



next seventeen years practiced his profes- 

 sion in Lynn, Massacliusetts, of which city 

 he was elected the second Mayor. In 1859 

 he went West, and took the position of 

 ohemist for the Breckenridge Oil and Iron 

 Company in Kentucky. When the war broke 

 out he removed to Kansas, and in 1863 re- 

 ceived the appointment of State Geologist. 

 In 1865 he was elected Professor of Geol- 

 ogy and Associated Sciences in the State 

 Agricultural College, a position he continued 

 to fill for eight years. Since 18*74 Professor 

 Mudge has thoroughly explored the geology 

 of Kansas, describing for Professor Hayden 

 the Tertiary and Cretaceous formations of 

 the State, and making extensive collections 

 for Professor Cope, including among other 

 interesting fossils the discovery of one of 

 the earlier if not the earliest specimen of 

 toothed birds found in this country. More 

 recently he was employed by Professor 

 Marsh as field geologist of Yale College, 

 and has since made large collections in the 

 West for the Peabody Museum. Professor 

 Mudge was a member of the American As- 

 sociation for the Advancement of Science ; 

 and was one of the founders of the Kansas 

 Academy of Sciences, and its first President. 

 He also took a deep interest in the cause of 

 general education, and was offered the posi- 

 tion of State Superintendent of Schools in 

 Kansas; this, however, he felt obliged to 

 decline, in obedience to his preference for 

 active scientific work. Indefatigable as an 

 observer, Professor Mudge was also a clear 

 and interesting writer ; and it is to be hoped 

 that his numerous scientific papers will yet 

 be brought together for permanent preserva- 

 tion in book-form. 



Zoiilogkal Wftik at the Chesapeake Lab- 

 ©ratsry. — In a brief report to the Presi- 

 dent of Johns Hopkins University, Professor 

 W. K. Brooks, of that institution, gives an 

 interesting outline of the investigations car- 

 ried on during the past summer in the Ches- 

 apeake Zoological Laboratory of which he 

 was in charge. The laboratory opened at 

 Crisfield, on the eastern shore of the bay, 

 June 25th, having its quarters in three barges 

 belonging to the Maryland Fish Commission. 

 There were a dozen gentlemen in attend- 

 ance, most of them trained observers, and 

 the amount of work accomplished during 



the session Professor Brooks describes as 

 very satisfactory. Later in the season the 

 mosquitoes made the barges uninhabitable, 

 and the party was obliged to move to Port 

 Wool, where its work was continued until 

 September 15th, making the length of the 

 session eleven weeks. Dr. S. F. Clarke, 

 assistant in the Zoological Laboratory of 

 Johns Hopkins, devoted most of the season 

 to the study of hydroids, and found that 

 many of the species which occur in the bay 

 are new to science. Besides describing a 

 number of these, he was able to make im- 

 portant observations on their structure, 

 manner of growth, and other points of in- 

 terest. Professor E. A. Birge, of the Uni- 

 versity of Wisconsin, made a very complete 

 series of observations on the larval stages 

 of two genera of crabs, tracing them from 

 the egg to the adult form ; and prepared a 

 full set of drawings showing each append- 

 age at each stage of development. A care- 

 ful study of the development of the edible 

 crab was attempted, but stormy weather 

 prevented a completion of this work, which 

 it is suggested should be taken up again 

 another season. Concerning his own inves- 

 tigations, which were mainly directed to the 

 development and artificial propagation of 

 the oyster, Professor Brooks states that he 

 obtained information on a number of ob- 

 scure points in moUuscan development, and 

 also reached very unexpected conclusions re- 

 garding the breeding habits of the American 

 oyster which he believes will prove to be of 

 great economic importance. Owing to the 

 difficulties attending such investigations at 

 the ocean, much of the work begun was left 

 incomplete ; several of the researches, how- 

 ever, were carried far enough to warrant 

 publication, and a number of papers have 

 been prepared that are now ready for the 

 press. 



Progress of tbe Electric Light. — Mr. 



Edison has been vigorously prosecuting his 

 investigations in relation to this subject, in 

 the laboratory at Menlo Park, and has late- 

 ly announced an important step forward. 

 His task has been to get an electric lamp 

 that would work satisfactoi'ily in giving out 

 only the light of a common gas-burner. 

 The carbon-points and arc would not an- 

 swer. He labored a long time to make 



