FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



719 



\vill watch him patiently. It is a very 

 important point in the study of pure 

 fetich to gain a clear conception of this 

 arrangement of things in grades. As far 

 as I have gone I think I may say four- 

 teen classes of spirits exist in fetich. Dr. 

 Nassau, of Gaboon, thinks that the spir- 

 its affecting human affairs can be classi- 

 fied completely into six classes." 



At a recent meeting of the Institute 

 of Mining Engineers (England), reported 

 by Industries and Iron, Mr. J. A. Long- 

 den, who delivered the opening address, 

 discussed the problem presented by the 

 rapid exhaustion of the English coal 

 fields. During the last twenty-five years, 

 he said, the output of coal had increased 

 from 120,000,000 to 200,000,000 tons, the 

 ratio of increase being two and a half per 

 cent per annum. Assuming that the in- 

 crease for the next twenty-five years will 

 only be one and a half per cent, the coal 

 output in 1925 would reach 280,000,000 

 tons. At such an increasing annual out- 

 put the commercially workable coal 

 would be practically used up. Mr. Long- 

 den suggested the propriety of putting 

 an export duty of sixpence per ton on all 

 coal exported, and finally said: The evi- 

 dence before them all pointed to one 

 thing — namely, that in fifty years they 

 would practically be dependent on the 

 United States of America for cheap coal, 

 iron, and steel, and when this came about 

 " we or our sons will find out that an 

 alliance with the United States for coal- 

 ing our navy was imperative." In con- 

 clusion, he insisted upon the necessity of 

 taking measures to avoid waste in the 

 coal industry. 



The following note is from Xature of 

 May 11th: "At the last meeting of the 

 Anatomical Society of Great Britain and 

 Ireland Dr. Elliot Smith settled a point in 

 the comparative morphology of the brain 

 which at one time was the subject of a 

 heated controversy between Huxley and 

 Owen. In 1861, it may be remembered, 

 Owen maintained that the caJcar avis 

 and the calcarine fissure which causes it 

 were characters peculiar to the brain of 

 man, a statement which Huxley showed 

 to be untrue, the formation being well 

 marked in all primate brains. Dr. Elliot 

 Smith has reached the further generali- 

 zation that the calcar avis is a character 

 shown by all mammalian brains, Avith 

 the possible exception of the protothe- 



rian. He identifies — and the reasons for 

 this identification do not seem capable of 

 refutation — the calcarine fissure of the 

 primate brain with the splenial fissure of 

 the brain of other mammals. This gen- 

 eralization will materially assist in ho- 

 mologizing the primate and unguiculate 

 pallium." 



The influence of wind on the speed of 

 steamers is of considerably more impor- 

 tance than is generally believed. In the 

 Annalcn der Hydrofjraphie for January, 

 1899, L. E. Dinklage describes some ob- 

 servations recently made on two of the 

 North German Lloyd steamers of about 

 five thousand tons and fifteen or sixteen 

 knots. The results show that when the 

 wind was favorable no difference what- 

 ever could be detected in the speed of the 

 vessels during a light breeze or a heavy 

 gale. But with a beam (cross-wind) or 

 head wind a reduction of from three to 

 five knots and a half was produced. The 

 obvious conclusion is that the wind when 

 favorable never helps a fast steamer, but 

 always hinders it when unfavorable. 

 Probably with vessels steaming ten knors 

 or less a favoring gale might increase the 

 speed. 



NOTES. 



The burden of the president's address 

 of J. B. Johnson before the Society for 

 the Promotion of Engineering Education 

 is the necessity for our future material 

 prosperity for a specific scientific training 

 for the directors of each and every kind 

 of manufacturing and commercial activ- 

 ity. Germany '• has worked out this 

 problem to a most fruitful issue," but its 

 imperial and paternal method can not be 

 imitated here, or probably anywhere 

 else. The problem is a very difficult one 

 with us, and it will be of no use to look 

 to mvmicipalities or Legislatures for its 

 solution. There exist a few special high- 

 grade industrial, commercial, mechan- 

 ical, electrical, and mining schools, but 

 they are entirely inadequate to answer 

 the demands of the occasion. The au- 

 thor looks to organized commercial bod- 

 ies like the one he is addressing as fur- 

 nishing the best means for establishing 

 the schools desired. 



Prof. F. L. Washburn, of the Uni- 

 versity of Oregon, describes in the Amer- 

 ican Naturalist a curiou^s specimen of 

 the toad {Bi/fo colinnhiensis), which has 

 an extra arm projecting from the left 

 side just in front of the normal left arm. 

 The extra arm has seven digits, and is 

 without an elbow joint, but is slightly 



