August 17, 1S83.] 



SCIENCE. 



20!) 



familiar with the various methods of hanleninc;, 

 cutting, and staining. Pathological structures are 

 now carefully studied. This includes the study of 

 iudaiiiiuation and its results, the study of diseased 

 organs and tissues, and of the non-inflammatory 

 Jiew formations. 



Emhryology. — A study of the development of 

 the chick, including microscopic sections of the 

 same. 



Urinalysis. — A course of six weeks in the 

 chemical analysis of the urine, including the use of 

 the microscope in determining the character of the 

 various deposits and crystals. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Dr. H. Newell Martin, professor of biology in 

 Johns ilopkins university, has been appointed 

 Cruonian lecturer of the Royal society of London 

 for the current year. The Croonian lecture was 

 founded by Lady Sadlier, in fulfilment of a plan of 

 her former husband, Ur. Croone, one of the founders 

 and the first registrar of the Royal society. By her 

 will, made in 1701, she devised "one-fifth of the 

 clear rent of the King's-Head Tavern, in or near Old 

 Fish Street, Loudon, at the corner of Lambeth Hill, 

 to be vested in the Royal society, for the support of a 

 lecture and illustrative experiment on local motion." 

 For many years past there has been no formal delivery 

 of the lecture. The council of the Royal society 

 select from the papers presented to them <iuring the 

 preceding twelve montliS that one dealing with ani- 

 mal motion which they think most noteworthy, and 

 publish it as the Croonian lecture, sending to the 

 author the sum derived from Lady Sadlier's bequest. 

 The amount of money is trivial, but the appointment 

 as Croonian lecturer is a highly prized distinction. 

 The paper by Professor Martin, which is to be printed 

 as the Croonian lecture for 18S3, is on the Effect of 

 changes of temperature on the beat of the heart. 

 It is interesting to note that the first Croonian lecture, 

 delivered by Ur. Stuart in 1738, was on the Motion 

 of the heart. 



— Nature of Aug. 2 prints the following telegram 

 from the Swedish party which wintered at Spitzber- 

 gen, and was last heard from in October. "Cape 

 Thordsen, July 4, 18S3. This message will be for- 

 warded to-morrow to Capt. Startschin, with the boat 

 fetching our first mail this year. The wintering of 

 the expedition has in every respect been attended 

 with succesH, particularly as the scientific researches 

 have lhrou'j;hout been carried on exactly in accord- 

 ance with the regulations formulated by the Inter- 

 national polar commission. Ilydrographical and 

 magnetic studies have also been pursued on the ice 

 in the Ice Fjord, as well as parallax measurements 

 of clouds, and observations as to the temperature of 

 the air, the snow, and the earth. The winter has, on 

 the whole, been mild; the greatest cold occurring on 

 Jan. 2, when the thermometer registered 35..')° C. 

 below freezing-point. Storms have been few. Since 

 September last the following buildings have been 



erected: a hut on a mountain at an elevation of 

 270 metres, containing the anemometer and the wind- 

 fan, which were read by a self-registering electrical 

 ai)paratus; two astrommiical observatories; another 

 magnetic hut; a bath-hou^e, a forge, and a wood 

 storehouse. The dwelling-house and working-room 

 have also been enlarged. The following game was 

 shot during the winter: 61 ptarmigans, 9 reindeer, 

 18 wild geese, 20 foxes, and some wild fowl. With 

 continuous labor, plenty of foo<l and drink, and 

 frequent baths, the members of the expedition have 

 throughout enjoyed excellent health. Descriptions 

 of the nature of our labor and life here during the 

 wintering will follow." 



— The new biological laboratory of the Johns Hop- 

 kins university, which will be opened next Septem- 

 ber, has been especially ciuistructed with reference 

 to providing opportunity for advanced work in ex- 

 peritnental physiology. It contains two large rooms 

 for general advanced work in animal physiology, in 

 addition to others specially designed for work with 

 the spectroscope, with the myograph, for electro- 

 physiological researches, and for physiological chem- 

 istry. It also contains a special room constructed 

 for .advanced histological work, and well supplied 

 with apparatus and reagents, a room for micro- 

 photography, and rooms for advanced work in ani- 

 mal morphology. 



Prof. C. H. F. Peters of Clinton, N.Y., announces 

 to Harvard college observatory the discovery of a 

 new planet by him on the night of Aug. 12. Its 

 position at time of discovery was as follow?: Aug. 

 12, 13 hours, 49 minutes, 27 seconds, Clinton mean 

 time; right ascension, 21 hours, 20 minutes, 48.17 

 seconds; declination, south, 12 degrees, 29 minutes, 

 8.2 seconds. The daily motion of the object is —36 

 seconds in right ascension, and in declination 20 

 minutes and 30 seconds south. It is unusu.ally bright 

 ■ for an asteroid, being of the ninth magnitude. 



— The Nation for Aug. 2 calls attention to a very 

 interesting feature of the table of ages (table XI, II.) 

 in the compendium of the tenth census. The table 

 exhibits an .tstonishing preponderance of persons 

 whose age is a 'round number,' i.e., a multiple of 

 five or ten. One of the instances mentioned is, that 

 while, iiccording to the table, there are 1,091,324 

 persons at the age of ;50, there are only ti21,8.J2 per- 

 sons of 29 years, and only 492,:)3o persons of 31 years. 

 There is a less powerful but still very marked and 

 constant attraction to even numbers as compared 

 Willi odd: for example, 42 claims 4."iS,»49, while 43 is 

 content with :J84,2.V.l; 47 is credited with :>I9,")I2, but 

 48 with 400.540. These are from the table of aggre- 

 gates for the United States. The pectdiarities are, of 

 course, much more strongly marked in tlie columns 

 referring to the cla-ises and localities where there is 

 most ignorance. Thus the nund)er of the colored 

 females in Mississippi who are put down as 30 years 

 of .ige is 10,619, while the years immediately preced- 

 ing and following are given only 2,253 and 1,2.'!6 

 reNpectively. 



The writer of the interesting note in the Nation 

 attributes the phenomenon to conjectural statements 



