576 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



lower type was caused by the plantation of 

 one organism of the ganglionic ijve upon 

 another, the implanted organism giving rise 

 to the cerebro-spinal nerve system and in- 

 ternal skeleton." The author further be- 

 lieves that the ganglionic type is itself a 

 compound, the ganglions being parasitic on 

 a simple cellular matrix. 



A RESOLUTION passcd by the American As- 

 sociation at its Detroit meeting suggested, as 

 a remedy for the obstacles imposed on the in- 

 terchange of scientific thought l)ythe prevail- 

 ing diversity of tongues, the adoption by the 

 civilized nations of an alternate language of 

 Learning, Law, and Commerce, to be taught 

 in higher schools in comliination with the 

 mother tongue, and used in interlingual cor- 

 respondence and pi'inted records. The reso- 

 lution farther authorized the officers of the 

 association to pledge its co-operation in a gen- 

 eral movement seeking that end, and to pro- 

 vide for its representation in any conference 

 on the subject that may be called. 



The G-jildford Natural History Society, 

 England, is trying to have Walraer Forest set 

 apart as a sanctuary for wild birds, in which 

 they and their nests and eggs may remain un- 

 molested throughout tlfe year ; that it may 

 not be let at any time for game preserving or 

 for any purpose hostile to birds ; and that it 

 remain in perpetuity a national memorial of 

 Gilbert White. 



A NOTICE, with portrait, of the late James 

 Joseph Sylvester, Savilian professor of geom- 

 etry in the University of Oxford, and formerly 

 professor of mathematics in Johns Hopkins 

 L^niversity, appears in the Proceedings of 

 the Royal Society of London for May 9th. 

 In the writer's opinion, Sylvester was one 

 of the greatest mathematicians of all time, 

 .though it may be doubted whether he will 

 take a place among those who " occupy ab- 

 solutely the front rank " His greatest 

 achievement was probably his paper entitled 

 Algebraical Researches, piinted in the Philo- 

 sophical Transactions for 1S64; but his pub- 

 lished works do not properly represent his 

 genius and greatness. He was so oppressed 

 with floods of ideas that he was unable 

 suitably to organize his researches. His per- 

 sonal character was one of singular beauty, 

 and its salient points were simplicity and 

 honesty. 



A COPPER mask found inside the wrap- 

 pings of a mummy pack in a grave at Chim- 

 bote, Peru, and in a valley thickly dotted 

 with ancient cemeteries, is believed by Mr. 

 George A. Dorsey to be unique. It was ham- 

 mered from a single nugget of copper, and 

 shaped by the aid of a mold or block. All 

 the features are well formed and distinctive 

 except the nose, which is iiinched and 

 dn-ai'fed. A hole was made for the mouth, 

 the ragged edges showing the method of the 

 operation being still visible within. 



A RATHER unusual competition is de- 

 scribed by the Lancet as recently occurring 

 in Milan. It seems that the nose possesses 

 a peculiar significance for the Italians — so 

 much, in fact, that they have a " cult of the 

 nose," which has during the last seven years 

 held two ^'■concorsi di nasi'''' (nose competi- 

 tions). The former of these was at Padua in 

 1891. The more recent one took place at 

 Milan, when there were thirty-six competitors, 

 the first prize being a gold medal. 



We have to record the deaths, not previ- 

 ously mentioned in the Monthly, among men 

 known in science, of Dr. Joseph Albert Lint- 

 ner, State Entomologist of New York since 

 1881, at Rome, Italy, May 5th, aged seventy- 

 six years ; Ch. W. A. Herrman, formerly pro- 

 fessor of mineralogy ia the University of 

 Breslau, but since 1853 a resident of Xew 

 York city, whose fine collection of minerals 

 was widely known, June 21st, aged ninety- 

 seven years ; II. Perigal, treasurer of the 

 Royal Meteorological Society and fellow of 

 the Royal Astronomical Society, author of 

 works on bicycloidal and other curves, kine- 

 matics and the laws of motion, etc., early in 

 June, in his ninety-eighth year ; Hul^ert Sad- 

 ler, contributor to Knowledge, The English 

 Mechanic, etc., fellow of the Royal Astronom- 

 ical Society, in June, aged forty-two years ; 

 Osbert SalVin, F. R. S.,"an eminent English 

 ornithologist and entomologist, Strickland 

 curator in the University of Carnlnidge, one 

 of the founders and editor of the third series 

 of The Ibis, author of articles on Humming 

 Birds and Petrels in the British Museum 

 Catalogue of Birds, and joint author of Bio- 

 logia Cenirali Americana^ still in progress, 

 to which he contributed the results of three 

 journeys of scientific investigation in Central 

 American countries — June 1st, aged sixty- 

 three years ; the Rev. Percival Frost, mathe- 

 matician, editor of Newton's Frincipia, and 

 author of treatises on solid geometry and 

 curve tracing, aged eighty years ; Dr. George 

 Bauer, associate professor of paleontology in 

 the University of Chicago, at Munich, Ba- 

 varia, June 28th ; Dr. Theodor Eimer, an 

 eminent zoologist, professor in the Universi- 

 ty of Tiibingen, May 30th, aged thirty years ; 

 Sir James Nicholas Douglass, late engineer in 

 chief at the Trinity House, superintendent of 

 many important engineering works, and au- 

 thor of numerous improvements connected 

 with lighthouses and their illuminating appa- 

 ratus and in buoys and beacons, aged seventy- 

 two years ; Dr. Friedrich von Zenker, patholo- 

 gist, who first, in 1860, discovered trichiniasis 

 in the human body, and author of valuable 

 medical works, at Erlangen, aged seventy- 

 three years ; Dr. Anton Kerner von Mariiaun, 

 professor of botany in the University of Vi- 

 enna and author of the Natural History of 

 Plants, aged sixty-seven years ; and Professor 

 Cohn, of Breslau, distinguished for his re- 

 searches on alga?, and later for his studies 

 and cultures of bacteria, aged seventy years. 



