528 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 172. 



prior to "William Gilbert's epoch-making work, 

 De Magnete. The authors quoted are P. de 

 Maricourt, F. Falero, P. Nunes, J. de Castro, 

 G. Hartmann, M. Cortes, G. Mercator, E. Nor- 

 man, W. Borough and S. Stevin. Explanatory 

 and critical notes in German greatly facilitate 

 their comprehension and appreciation. The 

 typographical reproductions of black letter and 

 MSS. are admirable. 



No. 11 is a collection of the fundamental 

 writings on atmospheric electricity between 

 1746 and 1753. How this branch of science 

 developed from the observations of thunder- 

 storms is told in the papers by J. H. Winkler, 

 B. Franklin, T. F. Dalibard and L. G. Le 

 Monnier, which, reproduced in fac-simile, are 

 also annotated by Dr. Hellmann in his well- 

 known scholarly manner. 



A few copies of these reprints are for sale at 

 the Berlin publisher's prices by A. L. Eotch, 

 Director of Blue Hill Observatory, Hyde Park, 

 Mass. The prices, post free, are for No. 10, 

 $3.75, and for No. 11, $1.00. 



GENERAL. 



The Maryland Legislature, in addition to 

 passing the regular appropriation of S20,000 

 for the State Geological Survey, has also appro- 

 priated to the same organization $10,000 for to- 

 pography and $20,000 for the study of the 

 question of road construction in the State. The 

 latter act calls for the investigation of and re- 

 port upon the character and distribution of the 

 natural road building materials in the several 

 counties and a full statement regarding the 

 present condition of the roads and the best 

 means for their improvement, with estimates of 

 cost of constructing, repairing and maintaining 

 the same. Such universal approval has been 

 accorded by the people and press of the State 

 to the Geological Survey that the acts passed 

 both houses unanimously. The entire appro- 

 priation has been placed under the direction of 

 Professor Wm. B. Clark, of Johns Hopkins 

 University, the State Geologist. 



Peofessor James B. Keeler has accepted 

 the directorship of Lick Observatory. As will 

 be remembered, he consented to stay at the Al- 

 legheny Observatory if $200,000 could be col- 

 lected for a new observatory and its endowment. 



but this amount was not subscribed within the 

 two weeks allowed. A new Allegheny Obser- 

 vatory is, however, assured, as the subscrip- 

 tions amount to $150,000. 



Dr. Henry T. Fernald has been appointed 

 to the position of economic zoologist of the 

 State of Pennsylvania. He holds the doctorate 

 of Johns Hopkins University, and is at present 

 professor of zoology in the Pennsylvania State 

 College. Dr. Fernald is a son of the eminent 

 entomologist, Professor C. H. Fernald, of the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College. 



At the recent annual meeting of the New 

 York Academy of Sciences the following elec- 

 tions as Honorary and Corresponding Members 

 were made : Honorary — Professor Arthur Au- 

 wers. Astronomer, Berlin ; Professor W. K. 

 Brooks, Biologist, Baltimore ; Professor David 

 Gill, Astronomer, Cape Town ; Dr. George W. 

 Hill, Mathematician, Nyack ; Professor E. Ray 

 Lankester, Zoologist, Oxford ; Dr. Fridjof 

 Nansen, Explorer, Kristiania ; Professor Al- 

 brecht Penck, Geographer, Vienna ; Professor 

 Wilhelm PfefFer, Botanist, Leipzig ; Professor 

 Hans Keusch, Geologist, Kristiania ; Professor 

 Rudolph Virchow, Biologist, Berlin ; Professor 

 Karl von Zittel, Paleontologist, Munich. Cor- 

 responding —Vvoiessov F. D. Adams, Geologist, 

 Montreal ; Professor I. B. Balfour, Botanist, 

 Edinburgh ; Professor George Baur, Paleon- 

 tologist, Chicago ; Professor William Carruthers, 

 Botanist, London ; Professor T. C. Chamberlin, 

 Geologist, Chicago ; Professor Wm. M. Davis, 

 Geographer, Cambridge ; Professor Adrien 

 Franchet, Botanist, Paris ; Professor George E. 

 Hale, Astronomer, Chicago ; Professor J. P. 

 Iddings, Geologist, Chicago ; Professor Charles 

 S. Minot, Biologist, Boston , Professor George 

 Murray, Botanist, London ; Professor William 

 B. Scott, Geologist, Princeton ; Mr. Charles D. 

 Walcott, Geologist, Washington ; Professor 

 Charles O. Whitman, Biologist, Chicago ; Pro- 

 fessor Henry S. Williams, Paleontologist, New 

 Haven. 



The Berlin Academy of Sciences has elected 

 as Corresponding Members : Professor George 

 Ossian Sars,of Christiania; Professor Adolf Fick, 

 ofWiirzburg ; Professor Carl v. Volt, of Munich; 

 Professor Victor Hensen, of Kiel ; Professor 



