43 2 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



place where it may dry and become mingled 

 with the atmosphere. (3) Never drink from 

 the same glass with a consumptive. (4) Nev- 

 er kiss a consumptive upon the mouth. These 

 rules are equally applicable to pneumonia and 

 perhaps also to bronchitis. It will, there- 

 fore, be best to call them, not rules for con- 

 sumptives, but for all persons who cough and 

 expectorate. This will save the patient from 

 the shock of a positive and perhaps too hasty 

 diagnosis. 



Dr. J. S. Burdon Sanderson, "Waynflete 

 Professor of Physiology in the University of 

 Oxford, has been nominated for President of 

 the British Association at the Nottingham 

 meeting, 1893. 



The claim of Prof. Cyrus Thomas that he 

 has found the Maya hieroglyphics to be in 

 part phonetic, and has ascertained the inter- 

 pretation of a sufficient number to form a 

 key to the solution of the problem, having 

 been disputed by the distinguished Ameri- 

 canist, Dr. Seler, Prof. Thomas is preparing 

 a paper corroborating his views for publica- 

 tion by the Bureau of Ethnology. In the 

 mean time he has published a paper, present- 

 ing some of his proofs, in Science for Octo- 

 ber 7th. 



The programme of lectures of the Frank- 

 lin Institute, Philadelphia, for the season 

 1892-93, includes the topics of thirty-two 

 lectures to be delivered on Fridays and Mon- 

 days, from November 4th to February 27th, 

 on subjects relating to transportation, mining 

 and engineering, economics, electricity, chem- 

 istry and physics, evolution, art, and other 

 subjects of scientific and popular interest. 



The name of fluorography is given to a 

 process for transferring pictures to glass by 

 means of inks containing fluorides. These 

 inks, when sulphuric acid is applied to them, 

 disengage hydrofluoric acid, which etches up- 

 on the glass. A composition, described in the 

 Genie civil, consists of 400 parts by weight 

 of glycerin, 200 of water, 100 of fluor spar, 

 100 of tallow, 50 of borax, and 50 of lamp- 

 black. 



Old newspapers are said to be of value 

 for wrapping up winter clothing in summer, 

 because the printer's ink is as noxious to 

 moths and their larvos as camphor and coal- 

 tar. Being impervious to air, they also make 

 good wrappers for ice and for liquids which 

 it is desired to keep cool. 



The measure of a snail's pace has at last 

 been found. Camille Flammarion is quoted 

 in Daheim as estimating it at fifteen ten-thou- 

 sandths of a metre per second. 



The modern case of exorcism, related by 

 Prof. Evans in the December Monthly, is 

 supplemented by a news item in the New 

 York Herald of November 21st. The woman 

 Herz brought an action for slander against 

 Father Aurelian, on account of his saying that 



she had sent a devil into her boy. The case 

 was tried in the courts of Eichstadt, Bavaria, 

 and the woman was awarded small damages. 

 In his defense Father Aurelian testified that 

 he had exorcised the devil from the boy, and 

 supported this evidence by quotations from 

 the writings of the fathers. The boy himself 

 deposed that he knew nothing of the alleged 



OBITUARY NOTES. 



Prof. C. Schorlemmer, a distinguished 

 chemist, Professor of Chemistry in Owens 

 College, Manchester, England, died on June 

 27, 1892. He became assistant to Prof. Ros- 

 coe in Owens College in 1861, and was ap- 

 pointed to a professorship in 1874. He was 

 the author of A Manual on the Chemistry of 

 the Carbon Compounds, and, in conjunction 

 with Prof. Roscoe, of an extensive treatise 

 on chemistry. 



Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka, the 

 arctic explorer, died in Portland, Oregon, No- 

 vember 2, 1892, from the effects of an over- 

 dose of laudanum which he had taken to re- 

 lieve a habitual stomach pain. He was born 

 in Galena, 111., in 1849 ; studied at the uni- 

 versity in Salem, Oregon ; worked as a print- 

 er; was graduated from West Point in 1871, 

 and became a lieutenant in the cavalry ; was 

 admitted to the bar in Nebraska in 1875 ; 

 and received a medical degree at Bellevue 

 Hospital Medical College, New York, in 1876 

 — all while in the army. In 1878 he organ- 

 ized an Arctic expedition, and, accompa- 

 nied by William H. Gilder, sailed for King 

 William's Land in order to recover relics of 

 Sir John Franklin which the Eskimos said 

 were buried in that region. This expedition, 

 which was successful in its main object, was 

 marked by the longest sledge journey that 

 had been made at that time, and by the dis- 

 covery of the branch of Back's River that 

 was named after President Hayes. Lieuten- 

 ant Schwatka afterward explored the course 

 of the Yukon River in Alaska, and com- 

 manded the New York Times Alaska Ex- 

 ploring Expedition in 1886. He was the au- 

 thor of several books and magazine articles 

 relating to his travels, and was a popular 

 lecturer. He was an honorary member of 

 several foreign geographical societies, and 

 wore some of their medals. 



The death was recently announced, in 

 the seventy-ninth year of his age, of Robert 

 Grant, Professor of Astronomy in the Uni- 

 versity of Edinburgh. He was appointed 

 Professor of Astronomy in the University of 

 Glasgow in 1859. In observing the eclipse 

 of the sun in IS 60 he discovered the proof 

 of the existence of a continuous envelope 

 round that body. He was the author of nu- 

 merous astronomical papers and cyclopaedia 

 articles; and of a catalogue of 6,415 stars, 

 which is in considerable use. 



