POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and A Historical Survey of Sociological 

 Thought, and also a series of public lectures 

 on A Group of Social Philosophers. The 

 summer quarter is not a " summer school," 

 but an integral part of the university year, 

 with all the departments in operation. 



In a bulletin of the New Hampshire Col- 

 lege Agricultural Experiment Station on de- 

 horning cattle, the horns of cattle are de- 

 scribed as consisting of two parts of different 

 origin ; the outer horny shell, derived from 

 the skin, and the bony inner part or pith, de- 

 rived from the skull. These parts are unde- 

 veloped in the infant calf, but begin at once 

 to grow. If removed after some develop- 

 ment, they must be cut away, the cut being 

 made deep enough to remove the matrix. 

 In calves the as yet soft and growing points 

 of the horns are of small extent and can be 

 destroyed with little trouble by the simple 

 application of caustic potash or caustic soda. 

 When properly applied, either substance de- 

 stroys the matrix or growing point of the 

 horny tissue and the underlying periosteum. 

 In calves a few days old a surface half an 

 inch or a little more in diameter will destroy 

 these parts. 



The announcement for the third year's 

 work of the " Marienfeld summer camp for 

 boys " is just received. The camp opens on 

 the last day of June and closes on the 1st of 

 September. It is meant to offer a thoroughly 

 wholesome outdoor life for boys during the 

 summer months, and to provi(!e enough of 

 the intellectual element to keep a sound 

 balance of character. Professor Hender- 

 sen's ability as an instructor and the care 

 with which the moral and social training of 

 the members of the camp is carried on should 

 make a summer's residence at Marienfeld an 

 extremely valuable experience for the grow- 

 ing " youngster." 



A RATHER unique cold pack is described 

 by an English practitioner of Constanta, 

 Roumania. He was called in to visit a Rou- 

 manian boy suffering from typhoid fever. He 

 found the child's head wrapped in a white 

 sheet, which he shortly observed to be mov- 

 ing ; presently a small frog crept out on the 

 pillow, and further examination revealed two 

 or three dozen more, which the mother said 

 she had been told to apply by some other 

 doctor. 



Some interesting revelations are made by 

 correspondents of Xature concerning the re- 

 fractoriness of insects to poisons. The cater- 

 pillar of the spurge hawk moth feeds on sea 

 spurge, a plant that secretes an acid juice 

 " so painfully poisonous that it is difficult to 

 imagine a digestive apparatus competent to 

 deal with it " ; a druggist of Sydney, New 

 South Wales, found weevils feeding and 

 thriving on wheat soaked in strychnine ; a 

 certain caterpillar feeds on the virulent poi- 

 son contained in the kernel of the seed of 



Physosiigrna vcnenosum. and is not affected by 

 it, while it is killed by hydrocyanic acid ; and 

 a weevil feeds with impunity the in last- 

 named poison. The subject is an interesting 

 one for investigation. 



Two oceanic meteorological observatories 

 have recently been established on the Azores, 

 one on the island of San Miguel and the other 

 on the island of Flores. The San Miguel ob- 

 servatory has regular cable connection with 

 some of the European observatories, and that 

 of Flores, although not yet in cable connec- 

 tion, promises to be very important. By the 

 aid of these stations the European meteor- 

 ologists hope to be warned of the approach 

 of storms fifty hours in advance. 



Toe French Journal Le Veto has counted 

 852 pieces in a bicycle, and adds that by 

 closer searching we might find more. 



Ax effort is making in Utrecht, Holland, 

 to erect a monument by international sub- 

 scription of Buys Ballot, the famous Dutch 

 meteorologist, whose nam.e has been given 

 to one of the fundamental laws of the mod- 

 ern science. 



The list of recent deaths among men of 

 science includes the names of Bradney B. 

 Griffin, author of papers on the fauna of the 

 northwest coast of America, and of impor- 

 tant papers on subjects of cellular biology, 

 March 26th ; M. Aim6 Girard, professor of 

 industrial chemistry in the Conftervatoire des 

 Arts (t Mft'wrR^ in Paris, who was distin- 

 guished for his i-esearches in the chemistry 

 of vegetable fibers, wheat, meal, sugars, and 

 drinks ; T. Kirk, a New Zealand botanist, 

 chief conservator of state forests, and au- 

 thor of Forest Flora of New Zealand ; Dr. 

 George Dragendorff, professor of astronomy 

 at Rostock ; Dr. F Sandberger, professor of 

 mineralogy at Wiirzburg, aged seventy-two 

 years ; Jules Marcou, a distinguished French 

 and American geologist, at one time profess- 

 or of geology at Zurich, author of geological 

 maps of the United States and of the world, 

 and of numerous scientific papers, at Cam- 

 bridge, Mass., April 18th, aged seventy- four 

 years ; Alfred U. Allen, originator and secre- 

 tary of the Postal Microscopical Society and 

 formerly editor of the Journal of Microscopy 

 and Natural Science and of the Scientific 

 Enquirer, at Bath, England, March 24th ; 

 Colonel Sir Vivian D, Majendie, inspector of 

 explosives, London, April 24th ; Dr. J. S. Hy- 

 land, a young mineralogist and petrologist of 

 much promise, who wad author of papers on 

 petrological subjectfl, and at one time con- 

 nected with the office of mineral resources of 

 the United States, on the west coast of Africa, 

 April 19th, aged thirty-two years; and Mel- 

 ville Atwood, geologist and metallurgist, who 

 devised improvements in the working of zinc 

 ore and introduced the blanket system of 

 amalgamation, at Berkeley, Cal., April 25th, 

 aged eighty-six years. 



