May 26, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



755 



comparatively pmall apparatus, secured the 

 highest record yet establi^hed. With another 

 engine a gain in weight of steam supplied the 

 engine amounting to nearly 40 per cent, was 

 effected, and in weight of fuel 28 per cent ; the 

 ditTerence being due, obviously, to the fact that 

 each unit- weight of steam carried an abnormal 

 quantity of stored heat. 



Professor Sinigaglia concludes : 



1. Superheating vapor is irrefutably proved 

 to be the most efiective system of reduction of 

 internal wastes of heat in the steam-engine. 



2. The higher the degree of superheating at- 

 tainable, the nearer does the thermodynamic 

 result approximate that indicated by pure 

 theory and by the formulas of thermodynamics. 



3. From the industrial point of view, it is 

 necessary to note the gain, not at the engine, 

 but in fuel demanded at the boiler, and the ap- 

 paratus of vaporization and of gasification must 

 be efficient and durable. 



4. The final test is in the study of the finan- 

 cial aspect of the operation. 



"Mais, aujourd'hui, les installations nom- 

 breuses de 1' Alsace et del'Allemagneontdonne 

 des resultats si remarkables qu'on finira par 

 vaincre les dernieres difiicultes qui s'opposent 

 & une application generale de la surcbaulfeaux 

 machines a vapeur. Ce sera le meilleur hom- 

 mage rendu a Hirn et a son ecole." 



R. H. Thurston. 



THE REMOVAL OF DE. WORTH AN TO THE 

 CARNEGIE MUSEUM. 

 Dr. J. L. WoETMAN, of the American Museum 

 of Natural History, has been called to take 

 charge of the new collections of Vertebrate 

 fossils in the Carnegie Museum at Pittsburgh, 

 and has resigned his position in the American 

 Museum in order to enter upon his new duties. 

 The finest portions of the Cope collection of 

 Fossil Mammals were made by Dr. Wortman 

 previous to his connection with the Army Med- 

 ical Museum in Washington. Since 1890 he has 

 had charge of most of the parties sent out from 

 the American Museum for Fossil Blammals and 

 Reptiles and has conducted these explorations 

 with extraordinary success. A very large part, 

 therefore, of the collections in the Department 



of Vertebrate Paleontology are due to the 

 energy and intelligence of Dr. Wortman and 

 his assistants in the field. His field work has 

 been carried on almost exclusively during the 

 summer months, and he has been occupied dur- 

 ing the winters in the preparation of a series of 

 bulletins based chiefly upon the field collections, 

 many of which have attracted wide attention. 

 Notable among these are the papers upon the 

 Skeleton of Patriofelis, the Anatomy of Agrio- 

 choerus, the revision of all the early species of 

 horses, and a geological paper upon the Stra- 

 tigraphy of the White River Beds. The most 

 important of his original contributions in the 

 series is, however, that upon the ' Origin of the 

 Sloths,' based chiefly upon the fortunate dis- 

 covery of the foot of Psittacotherium in the 

 Torrejon beds of New Mexico. Dr. Wortman' s 

 latest paper, now in press, is upon the Ancestry 

 of the Dogs, in which he successfully demon- 

 strates the direct phylogenetic relationship be- 

 tween the Canidffi and of certain dog-like Creo- 

 donts. 



Dr. Wortman's services to the Museum are 

 greatly appreciated and his resignation has been 

 accepted with much regret. He carries with 

 him the best wishes of his friends for his suc- 

 cess in his new undertaking. 



H. F. O. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



Professor F. L. O. Wadsworth has been 

 appointed by the managers of the Western 

 Pennsylvania University, Director of the Alle- 

 gheny Observatory, succeeding in the position 

 Professors Keeler and Langley. Professor 

 Wadsworth has been connected with Yerkes 

 Observatory since its opening and was pre- 

 viously at the Astrophysical Observatory of the 

 Smithsonian Institution. 



Under authority of the Secretarj' of the 

 Treasury, the Superintendent of the Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey has effected a reorganization 

 in that Bureau in such a way as to relieve the 

 bead of the Bureau of a certain amount of the 

 routine work and to insure also a more direct 

 supervision of the field work. The following 

 officers have been appointed : Assistant Super- 

 intendent, Mr. O. H. Tittman ; Assistant in 

 charge of the Office, Mr. Andrew Braid ; In- 



