Jdly 20, 1883.) 



SCIENCE. 



91 



PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS. 

 Ohio Wesleyan nniversity, Delaware, 0. 



AtUUUons to the museum. — The increase to the 

 collectiDiis for the year amounts to 9,202 specimens. 

 The aim of the curator is not to build up a great 

 museum, but one of great educational value, which 

 shall in time contain every specimen needed to ex- 

 plain the facts of natural history as presented in the 

 text-books of the department. All purchases and 

 solicited exchanges are for this end, and even the vol- 

 unteer exchanges are turned in this direction as far 

 as practicable. W. F. Falconer has given an exten- 

 sive collection made at the phosphate beds of Charles- 

 ton, S.C. An elephant's tooth in this collection 

 measures ten by fourteen inches, and weighs twenty- 

 nine pounds. 



Prof. R. E. Call of Nebraska, a most enthusiastic 

 naturalist, spent the summer of 1882 on a collecting 

 trip through Georgia. The museum joined with oth- 

 er institutions in defraying his expenses, and sharing 

 the results. Although all the material has not been 

 distributed, over five thousand specimens have been 

 received, and a large number of new and valuable 

 species. 



The U. S. fish-commission has presented a collec- 

 tion illustrating the marine fauna of the New Eng- 

 land coast. It contains nearly one hundred Species, 

 many of which were obtained by dredging at depths 

 as great as two hundred fathoms. 



Collections of importance have also been received 

 from the late Mr. C. R. McClellan, a former assistant, 

 and from Revs. J. M. Barker of Mexico, and H. Man- 

 sell of India, and the Brothers Willis, recently re- 

 turned from a tour of the world. 



The shelves in all the cases are overcrowded; and 

 at least twenty-five thousand specimens are packed 

 away in boxes and <lrawers, awaiting study, and room 

 in which to display them. The erection of one or 

 more new ca^^es is required. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The summer courses of instruction in chemistry, 

 offered to teachers by Harvard university, opened 

 July 0, in the chemical laboratories of Boylston hall, 

 and will continue six weeks. The course in general 

 and descriptive chemistry is taken by twelve persons, 

 the course in qualitative analysis by ten, and quanti- 

 tative analysis by five. There are also eight persons 

 who are engaged on advanced quantitative analysis, 

 organic chemistry, and original research. Lectures 

 are given twice a week on general chemistry, dailv on 

 qualitative analysis, and twice a week on quantitative 

 analysis. The laboratories are open daily from 8 a.m. 

 to P.M. The following states are represented: 

 Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, 

 Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Geor- 

 gia. Of the thirty-five persons mentioned above, five 

 are women, and eight are continuing their work from 

 former courses. As in previous years, these courses 

 are under the direction of Ur. C. F. Mabery. 



— Upon the death of Charles Darwin, last year, 

 the advocates of evolution in the Paris anthropo- 

 logical society org.anizcd a Conference annuelle trans- 

 /oniiiste, in which one of their number who is a 

 specialist shall set forth the manner in which the 

 doctrine of transforniism has aflecled his department 

 of research, and also the arguments which his studies 

 have furnished for the substantiation of the doctrine. 

 The opening lecture of the course was delivered by 

 M. Mathias Duval, upon the mutual relations of 

 evolution and the embryology of the eye, and is 

 published in the Revue scientifiqut for May 12. The 

 first part of the discussion is an attack upon the 

 doctrine of special creation and final causes. It 

 does not seem to have come to the notice of our 

 French colleagues, that the doctrine ol special crea- 

 tion, like all other doctrines (evolution, for instance), 

 has modified itself from time to time by the increase 

 of knowledge. " These admirable appropriations 

 of an organ to an end,'" says M. Duval, "are ex- 

 plained by the gradual perfecting of a mechanism, 

 which, setting forth from simple and elementary 

 adjustments, develops, by heredity and selection, 

 the forms that are more and more advantageous to 

 the individual. Upon the question whether embry- 

 ology confirms this theory, it is proposed to examine 

 the successive forms which the eye presents in the 

 animal series, and the successive stiiges of its de- 

 velopment in man or the higher vertebrates. In 

 other words, the phylogeny will first be questioned, 

 and afterward the ontogeny, of the nlohe oculaire, to 

 see whether these two series of facts are a repetition 

 the one of the other." Briefly passing over the 

 unicellular forms, and those in which the eye is un- 

 differentiated, the author commences his more spe- 

 cial investigation with the tunicates and araphioxus, 

 from which point the argument is conducted with 

 great precision, and is well illustrated. 



— The French academy of sciences proposed as a 

 subject for one of its 1882 prizes the following: "To 

 find the origin of the electricity of the atmosphere, 

 and the causes of the great development of electrical 

 phenomena in storm-clouds." .Several memoirs were 

 received by the academy; but no one of them was 

 adjudged worthy of the prize, although a reward and 

 encouragement of a thousand francs was granted to 

 one of the competitors. The academy, therefore, 

 continues the above as one of the prize subjects for 

 1885. Memoirs will be received up to June 1, 1885. 

 Each must be accompanied by a sealed envelope con- 

 taining the name and address of the author. The 

 envelope will not be opened unless the memoir is 

 successful. The value of the prize is three thousand 

 francs. 



— The sixth .innual convention of American libra- 

 rians will be hold in Buffalo, Aug. 14 to 17. The 

 opening address will be delivered by the president, 

 Justin Winsor. Excursions will be made down the 

 Niagara River, and. at the close of the session, to 

 Niagara Falls. Further details may be obtained 

 from Mr. John N. Lamed, Young men's library, 

 Buffalo. 



— The Smithsonian institution will soon publish 



