.352 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 167. 



Philosophy of Religion : Professors A. T. Ormond and 

 E. M. Wenley ; Education : President De Garmo ; 

 Esthetics : Professors Tufts and James Angell ; Nm- 

 rology : President C. L. Herrick, Dr. C. J. Herrick ; 

 Bibliography: Dr. Benj. Rand, Professor H. C. War- 

 ren ; Biography : Professor G. A. Tawney ; Editor's 

 Assistants: Professor G. A. Tawney, Dr. W. M. 

 Urban. 



We learn from Cosmos that the railway to the 

 summit of the Jungfrau is being carried forward 

 in spite of the cold weather. One of the moun- 

 tain streams has been utilized, giving 2,400 h. p. 

 which is used to drive by electric motors the 

 drills excavating the tunnel, which has been 

 carried a distance of eighty meters. 



The Bulletin of the Iron and Steel Associa- 

 tion has made public the figures for the con- 

 sumption of pig iron in the United States and 

 its production since 1889 and including 1896, 

 thus : 



Actual production. Estimated consumption. 



Years. Gross tons. Gross tons. 



1889 7,603,642 7,755,093 



1890 9,202,703 8,943,338 



1891 8,279,870 8,366,728 



1892 9,157,000 9,303,315 



1893 7,124,502 6,982,607 



1894 6,657,388 6,694,478 



1895 9,446,308 9,628,572 



1896 8,623,127' 8,275,774 



It is a little too soon to estimate fully our 

 consumption of pig iron in 1897, the import and 

 export statistics of pig iron for the whole year 

 not being as yet available, but a very close ap- 

 proximation to actual results is possible. We 

 produced in that year 9,652,680 gross tons and 

 imported say 18,000 tons. The imports in the 

 first eleven months were 16,327 tons. At the 

 beginning of the year there was on the market 

 847,686 tons of pig iron. The total supply for 

 the year was, therefore, approximately, 10,- 

 518,366 tons. Of this total supply we exported 

 about 260,000 tons. The actual exports in the 

 first eleven months were 236,502 tons. There 

 were on the market at the close of the year 

 874,978 tons. Deducting these two items from 

 the total supply we have 9,383,388 tons as the 

 approximate consumption of the year. This 

 quantity is about 245,000 tons less than the 

 consumption of 1895, and not very much in ex- 

 cess of the consumption of 1892. For the per 



capita consumption we have, as the ' index of 

 civilization,' about 250 pounds per annum, 

 which we think is unexcelled by the consump- 

 tion of any other nation. 



The French Automobile Club will hold an 

 international motor-car and carriage exhibition 

 in Paris, June 13th to July 3d, inclusive ; and 

 the regulations have just been issued. The 

 exhibition is to be divided into the following 

 seven sections : (1) motor cars and motor 

 cycles, (2) motors, (3) tyres, (4) carriage work 

 for motor-vehicles, (5) motor-car parts, fittings 

 and accessories, (6) tools, etc., for motor- 

 vehicle builders, (7) motor-car literature. In- 

 tending exhibitors may apply to Messrs. Thevin 

 & Houry, Bureau de 1' Exposition, 4 Place de 

 1' Opera, Paris. Space is already announced to 

 be limited and early application only can insure 

 assignment. 



The Committee on Medical Expert Testi- 

 mony, of the New York Academy of Medicine, 

 has stated, in reporting progress, that it had 

 been determined that improvement in the system 

 of expert medical testimony must proceed along 

 three lines, viz. : (1) the establishment of some 

 standard of excellence for experts ; (2) the ap- 

 pointment of the experts for given cases by the 

 presiding judge, and (3) the fixing of the fees 

 by the Court and the deposit of a certain por- 

 tion of the sum in advance. It was recommended 

 that those registering as experts before the 

 Board of Regents should be required to si>ecify 

 the particular branch of medicine ; that they 

 should have been in practice ten years, and in 

 the practice of their specialty for five years ; 

 that evidence of special study should be pre- 

 sented, together with a certificate of good moral 

 character, and indorsements by the local county 

 medical organization and a judge of a court of 

 record. 



We learn from the Lancet that the annual 

 meeting of the Royal Zoological Society of Ire- 

 land took place on January 25th, at the Royal 

 College of Physicians, at Dublin. The report 

 of the Council showed that the popularity of the 

 the gardens, as a place of resort, was increas- 

 ing, as proved by the rise in the gate receipts. 

 In February, 1897, a deputation waited on Mr. 

 Hanbury, at the Treasury, for the purpose of 



