FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



431 



I 



of external gills, but no mouth or anal 

 opening. Two small suckers, just back 

 of where the mouth is to appear, enable 

 it to cling to aquatic plants and prevent 

 its dropping to the bottom of the pond 

 and getting smothered in the mud. It 

 soon develops into a tadpole, and pro- 

 ceeds to its development ; but if pre- 

 vented from coming to the surface of 

 the water no metamorphosis takes 

 place, and the changes are delayed by 

 cold and dark. 



At a meeting recently held in Ber- 

 lin in behalf of a German antarctic ex- 

 ploration, Dr. von Drygalski, speaking 

 of the scientific, practical, and national 

 importance of the enterprise, said that 

 from a geographical point of view the 

 fundamental problem attached to the 

 south polar region — the verification or 

 disproof of a polar continent — is still un- 

 solved. No less important questions 

 likewise await solution with respect to 

 the geological structure and character 

 of the southern lands — so important in 

 connection with a knowledge of vol- 

 canic action and the supposed former 

 connection of South America and Aus- 

 tralia — and with respect to the condi- 

 tions of inland ice. Even the study of the 

 floating ice broken away from the main 

 mass may lead to important conclusions 

 as to its mode of origin and the nature 

 of the land from which it comes. Other 

 problems to be investigated are the ori- 

 gin of the cold ocean currents that take 

 their rise in the south, the conditions of 

 the atmospheric pressure and tempera- 

 ture in that region, and the questions re- 

 lating to terrestrial magnetism, which 

 have a very important bearing on the 

 practice of navigation. The present 

 seems to be a particularly favorable pe- 

 riod for the resumption of south polar re- 

 search by reason of the unusual amount 

 of drift ice which has within the last few 

 years broken away from the main mass, 

 and because, according to Supan, we are 

 passing through a warmer temperature 

 period. 



Over and above the statistics and 

 the bare record of facts the annual re- 

 ports of the Perkins Institution and 

 Massachusetts School for the Blind, af- 

 ford a continuous and growing interest 

 to friends of suffering mankind in their 

 stories of the development of mental life 

 and illumination. Pupils come there 



blind and deaf, and apparently without 

 any avenues of intelligent communica- 

 tion with the outer world, and are there 

 brought to full consciousness and keen- 

 ness of intellect that would be remarked 

 even in many persons possessed of all 

 their senses perfect from birth. The rec- 

 ord began with Laura Bridgman, was 

 continued with Helen Keller, and has 

 been occupied for five or six years past 

 with the wonderful mental growth of 

 Elizabeth Piobin, Edith M. Thomas, and 

 Tommy Stringer. Before Dr. Howe be- 

 gan with Laura Bridgman, such things 

 would have been deemed impossible and 

 not to be thought of. 



NOTES. 



The Swiss Association for the Pro- 

 tection of Plants, which was formed in 

 GencA'a in 1883, has more than 900 mem- 

 bers, and publishes 1,500 copies of its 

 bulletin, which is sent, besides the mem- 

 bers of the association, to the libraries 

 of foreign Alpine clubs, the press, bot- 

 anists, car6s, and municipalities in 

 countries harboring plants that require 

 protection. Under its care, or the in- 

 fluenee of its work, gardens have been 

 created in various places and devoted 

 especially to the cultivation of such 

 plants as are most threatened with ex- 

 tinction. Of these are the Linnea Gar- 

 den in the Valais, 5,.500 feet above the 

 sea; the Chanousia, founded five years 

 ago by E. P. Chanoux, rector of the 

 Hospice of St. Bernard, 6,800 feet; and 

 the Rambertia, at the foot of the 

 Rochers de Naye, 6,500 feet above the 

 Lake of Geneva. Lectures are given 

 under the auspices of the association, 

 and no occasion for infonning the pub- 

 lic is lost. A neat chromo-poster call- 

 ing attention to the association and its 

 purpose has been prepared to be put up 

 in railroad stations and hotels, to which 

 is appended a motto emphasizing the 

 importance of caring for rare plants. 



The report of Heinrich Ries on the 

 Kaolins and Fire Clays of Europe, pub- 

 lished in the reports of the Geological 

 Survey, is based largely on notes col- 

 lected by the author during visits in 

 1897 to most of the important kaolin 

 and clay deposits. To these such facts 

 of importance concerning the clays as 

 have already been published have been 

 added. Some manufacturers have 

 claimed that the foreign kaolins are 

 superior to the American, but the evi- 

 dence, IMr. Ries says, does not seem to 

 bear out the statements. Notes are 

 added respecting the clays and clay- 



