March lo, 18S7] 



NA TURE 



445 



and ample apparatus for teaching the various subjects in which 

 instruction is given. Althougli the regular school exercises were 

 begun only in Kebruary 1884, the total number of pupils enrolled 

 is now 190. 



In his Report for 1886, Mr. Andrew S. Draper, Superintend- 

 ent of Public Instruction in the .State of New York, points out 

 that that -State is now spending 14,000,000 dollars annually in 

 support of its public school system ; and he suggests that it 

 might be well to spend a few thousands occasionally in efforts 

 to determine the best w.ay of using this vast sum. Mr. Draper 

 puts some questions which show that he is far from being per- 

 fectly satisfied with the educational system he his to administer. 

 " Is there not," he .asks, "too much French, and German, and 

 Latin, and Greek, and too little spelling, and writing, and 

 mental arithmetic, .and English grammar, being taught ? Have 

 we been as ambitious of progress in the lower grades as in the 

 advanced ? Are not our courses of study too complex ? Are 

 we not undertaking to do more than we are doing well ? Is not 

 the examination business being overdone? Are we not cram- 

 ming with facts, which will soon be forgotten, rather than 

 ins'illing principles which will endure ? " 



I.N an article in the March number of the Zoologist, Mr. 

 Robert Service tries to show that, until near the end of the first 

 quarter of the present century, ptarmigan were natives of the 

 south-west of Scotland. He thinks that when these birds were 

 on the mountains of Dumfriesshire and Galloway they were 

 probably also to be found on the Cumbrian Mountains. Mr. 

 Service says that, in nearly all the outlying stations of the present 

 race of ptarmigan in Scotland, such as Arran, Argyll, and the 

 Outer Hebrides, they are decreasing. 



Mr. William Burgess, who owns an extensive pheasantry 

 at Malvern Wells, has recently made some observations upon 

 the red worm, which is one of the worst assailants of birds. He 

 thinks it comes from the droppings of cattle, which when young 

 are especially liable to the attacks of this insect. Mr. Burgess 

 finds that agricultural salt acts as a remedy against it. 



A DISCOVERY of great geological interest was lately made on 

 Juckatoo Island, Sydney, in the shape of a Mastodonsaurus. 

 There is a similar specimen from Stuttgart in the collection of 

 the University, but this one is remarkable from the fact that it 

 is the first Labyrinthodont found in Australia. It belongs to the 

 Triassic age of the Hawkesbur>' Sandstone formation. 



Dr. Weill, of Paris, having carefully studied the new 

 therapeutical agent, antifebrine, or acetanilide, discovered -by 

 Cohn and Ilepp, of Strasburg, says that it is an anjesthetic 

 agent, and that it combats fever very effectually. 



.•\ French translation of the "Phantasms of the Living" is 

 being prepared in Paris by M. Ch. Richet and some other 

 persons. 



M. Hayez, of Brussels, has issued a second edition of " A 

 General List of Observatories .and Astronomers, and of Astro- 

 nomical Societies and Reviews," prepared by M. A. Lancaster, 

 Librarian of the Royal Observatory of Brussels. The List has 

 been drawn up with great care, and, from the fact that a second 

 edition has been called for, we may assume that astronomers 

 have found it of considerable service. The names and addresses 

 of all well-known .astronomers are given, and the compiler has 

 noted every Observatory, whether public or private, in whicli 

 work is actually being done. 



In the Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, latelv 

 issued, there is a paper by Mr. G. H. Boehmer, on Norse 

 nav.al architecture. Mr. Boehmer gives a clear and remark.ably 

 interesting account of the forms of boats represented in the 

 ancient rock-sculptures of Sweden and Norw.ay ; of the boat- 

 shaped stone burial-groups supposed to have been erected during 



the transition time from the Bronze period to the Iron Age ; and 

 of boat-remains dating from the third to about the ninth or tenth 

 century of our era, and found at various times and places. 

 The ship found at Tune, and the Gokstad ship, are carefully 

 described. .Mr. Boehmer thinks that the "Northland boats" 

 nosv used in the fisheries along the coast of Norway are almost 

 exactly like those which have always been used by Norsemen 

 from the time of the rock-sculptures. These Northland boats 

 are described as long, narrow, and low, light and elegant, and 

 fit both for sailing and rowing. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include a Black-winged Kite {Elanus avruietis) 

 from the Cape of Good Hope, presented by Mr. R. Southey ; a 

 Hawfinch {Coccothraustes vulgaris), British, presented by Mr. 

 W. H. Quintin ; two Pike {Esox lucius) from British fresh 

 waters, presented respectively by Mr. H. E. Young and Mr. G. 

 G. Sykes ; two Gloved Wallabys {Halmaturtis manicattis (J ? ), 

 two Cereopsis Geese {Cereopsis novis-hollandiie) from Australia, 

 a Blossom-headed Parrakeet {Palisontis cyanocephalus) from 

 India, received in exchange ; two Pike (Esox lucius) from 

 British fresh waters, purchased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



Solar Activity in 1886. — The latter part of 1886 showed a 

 most remarkable falling oft" in the number and size of the sun- 

 spots, a falling off so great as to lead so experienced an observer 

 as Prof. Tacchini to speak of it as possibly the minimum of the 

 eleven-year period. The following numbers, taken from Prof. 

 Tacchini's tables {Complts rendus, vol. ciii. No. 2, and civ. 

 No. 4), may be compared with those we gave (Nature, vol. 

 xxxiii. p. 398) for the year 1885 : — 



Relative Relative Daily number Relative size 



frequence size of spots of spot groups of faculac 



January ... 8'84 ... 6o'42 ... 2'oo ... 47'63 



February ... 6-30 ... 29-00 ... 170 ... 32-10 



March ... 14-39 .. 84-78 ... 387 ... 43'9i 



April 8-13 ... 51-91 ... 300 ... 4132 



May 6-50 ... 52-77 ... 1-92 ... 37-81 



fune 7-14 ... 25-22 ... 2-32 ... 37-14 



July 8-30 ... 39-93 ... 2-17 ... 35-42 



August 3-24 ... 18-70 ... 1-40 ,,. 8-33 



September .. 5-59 ... 23-41 ... 1-45 ... 18-52 



October ... I -46 ... 8-oS ... 0-69 ... 18-08 



November ... 004 ... 0-15 ... 0-04 . . 7-41 



December 6-17 ... 27-04 ... 1-22 'S'^S 



After the fine group of spots which were seen on May 7 and 8 

 had p.assed out of sight, the spots decreased in number and size 

 pretty steadily until the end of October. From October 31 to 

 December 12 there then ensued a long period of almost total 

 quiescence. On six days only out of the forty-two could 

 there be discovered on the sun any trace even of a spot, and on 

 those days only one tiny spot could be seen. For an entire 

 rotation and a half the sun was practically free from spots. M. 

 Ricco has also drawn attention to this remarkable interval, and 

 on searching the Palermo records for the earhest comparable 

 period after the maximum of 1870, he finds a somewhat similar 

 interval of quiescence in 1875, ^'^^ years after the maximum of 

 1870, and nearly eight years after the minimum of 1867. The 

 depression of last November follows the maximum of 1884 by 

 less than three years, but the previous minimum by about 

 eight years ; reckoning from tlie minimum, the November 

 depression follows the precedent of 1875, but reckoning from 

 the maximum, it would appear to have occurred most exception- 

 ally early. It would seem, therefore, that tlie irregularity has 

 njt been so much in the principal or second.ary minima as in 

 the maximum of 1884, which fell later than the mean by nearly 

 two years. M. Ricco anticipates that the true minimum of the 

 eleven-year period will fall in 1890. 



A striking feature of the past year has been the great diminu- 

 tion, and for some months, the almost total cessation of spot 

 .activity in the northern hemisphere of the sun, nearly all the 

 principal groups having been located in the southern hemi- 

 sphere. 



Faculte and prominences have shown a falling off in i886, but 



