March 17, 1899.] 



ISCIENGE. 



423 



meut of the deposits of iiiie miueral iu the dis- 

 trict adjacent to the Great Lakes ; (c) Reductiou 

 of salaries through technical progress and 

 changes in systems of administration ; (d) Re- 

 markably low cost of fuel ; (e) Concentration 

 of production with unlimited capital ; (/) 

 Mainly, however, to reduced cost of transpor- 

 tation. This last factor more than all others 

 together has brought about this great change 

 and placed the United States in its present re- 

 lation to the world's markets. 



In a note by M. Considere, published in the 

 Moniteur Industrielle, recently, there are given 

 the data of tests of mortars and cements in 

 structures, their resistance being reinforced by 

 the introduction of iron straps and ' arma- 

 tures,' which show that, as he states, these sub- 

 stances may be thus caused to sustain tensions 

 twenty times as great as when not thus rein- 

 forced. 



It appears that the Nernst light, the scientiiic 

 principles of which we recently described, is 

 likely to rival the arc lamp for general use. 

 Companies have been organized in Germany, 

 Great Britain and America with capitals ex- 

 tending into the millions of dollars. The 

 English company values its rights at about 

 $1,300,000, and it is to be hoped that Professor 

 Nernst receives the greater part of this sum. 



Knowledge states that a site has been secured 

 at Kemp Town, overlooking Queen's Park, 

 Brighton, for the Gardens of the recently 

 founded Zoological Society for Brighton and 

 Hove. Some sixty years ago Brighton possessed 

 a small zoological garden situated north of The 

 Level, on the Lewes Road. The institution did 

 not flourish owing to the ignorance of its orig- 

 inators, who had no notion of the proper 

 method of dealing with captive specimens. 

 The consequence was a very high death-rate 

 and a brief career for the institution. The new 

 garden will not be likely to fail from the causes 

 which produced the collapse of its predecessor, 

 for it will be managed by competent zoologists 

 who have experience in the treatment of animals 

 of all kinds. Moreover, the encouragement 

 held out to the projectors by residents and per- 

 sons of distinction in Brighton is such as to 

 warrant us in believing that the undertaking 



will prove to be a success in all respects. A 

 special feature in the new institution will be 

 the regular delivery of courses of instructive 

 popular lectures for the benefit of the numerous 

 schools in Brighton and Hove. Among those 

 who have enrolled their names as patrons of the 

 Society are several of the foreign Ambassadors, 

 the Duke of Fife, Sir John Lubbock, Sir Ed- 

 ward Sassoon, the Earl of Chichester and the 

 Hon. Walter Rothschild. The managing-di- 

 rectors are the Earl of Landaff and Mr. F. W. 

 Frohawk. 



The New York Medical Record states that the 

 Japanese parliament has passed a bill authoriz- 

 ing the free distribution of vaccine virus and 

 rendering vaccination compulsory. It is pro- 

 vided that a child must be vaccinated within 

 ten month of its birth, and that, if the vaccina- 

 tion does not take, it must be repeated within 

 a period of six months, and yet again within a 

 similar period if it be again unsuccessful. 

 Further, all children must be re- vaccinated at 

 the age of six and once more at the age of 

 twelve. Thereafter vaccination becomes occa- 

 sional, and may be declared compulsory at any 

 time of threatened or actual epidemic, the 

 power to order it being vested in local gov- 

 ernors. 



A COURSE of nine lectures upon science and 

 travel has been arranged by the Field Colum- 

 bian Museum, Chicago, for Saturday afternoons 

 in March and April at 3 o'clock. The lectures 

 are as follows : 



March 4 — ' Cuba and the Cubans,' Dr. R. S. Mar- 

 tin, Chicago. 



March 11 — 'Blind Fishes of North American 

 Caves, ' Dr. Carl H. Eigenniann, Director, Biological 

 Station, Bloomingtou, Indiana. 



March 18 — ' Religious Ceremonies of the Hopi In- 

 dians of Arizona,' Dr. George A. Dorsey, Curator, 

 Department of AnthroiDology, Field Columbian Mu- 

 seum. 



March 25 — 'Colors of Flowers and Fruits, ' Pro- 

 fessor W. H. Dudley, "Wisconsin State Normal 

 School. 



April 1 — 'Russia and the Russians,' Professor A. 

 M. Feldman, Armour Institute of Technology. 



Aprils — 'The Bad Lands of South Dakota, ' Pro- 

 fessor O. C. Farrington, Curator, Department of Geol- 

 ogy, Field Columbian Museum. 



April 15 — ' Extinct Vertebrates of the Bad Lands,' 



