IS83.] 



SCIENCE. 



605 



assistant professor of astronomy : Robert U. Harri- 

 son, Harold Wliiting, Charles E. Faxon, and Edward 

 Burgess, instructors in anatomy, physics, botany, and 

 entomology, severally; O. W. Huntington, assistant in 

 chemistry, G. T. Hartshorn in organic chemistry, 

 and G. ^Y. Perkins in biology; and Dr. C. S. Minot, 

 lecturer in embryology. The establishment of ten 

 fellowships in the Lawrence scientific school, witli 

 an annual income of five hundred dollars each, is 

 recommended by the corporation. 



— The subjects to be presented at the Society of 

 arts of the Massachusetts institute of technology the 

 coming season will embrace a wide range of scientific 

 and practical topics, arrangements having already 

 been made as follows: — 



Oct. 11, Professor Edward S. Morse of Salem spoke 

 on Japanese pottery; Oct. 25, Professor 'William 

 H. Brewer of Xew Haven read a paper on the evo- 

 lution and breeds of domestic animals, as illustrated 

 in swine; Xot. 8, Mr. Thomas Gaffield of Boston 

 will read a paper on glass and glass-making. 



At the subsequent meetings, the arrangements for 

 which have not yet been definitely made. Dr. 

 Charles S. Minot of the Harvard medical school 

 will probably speak on some biological sub- 

 ject; Capt. D. A. Lyle, U.S.A., on the rise, 

 progress, and methods of the U. S. life-saving 

 service; Mr. Chauucey Smith of Boston, on 

 the influence of inventions; Mr. R. B. Forbes, 

 on the rigging of ships; and Major C. W. Ray- 

 mond of the U.S. engineers will speak on Bos- 

 ton harbor. Various mechanical contrivances 

 of interest will also be exhibited. 



— A very valuable work on German meteor- 

 ological bibliography has been prepared by Dr. 

 Hellman. It contains a bibliography proper, 

 limited to German authors, and also historical 

 notices upon meteorological observations, and 

 the progress of the science in that country. 



— A free course of popular lectures upon zoology, 

 specially intended for teachers and students, will be 

 given by the Cincinnati society of natural history on 

 Friday evenings, commencing to-day. The follow- 

 ing is the programme : Oct. 19, Introduction, The 

 study of zoology, by Prof. J. Mickleborough ; Oct. 20, 

 The human skeleton as compared with that of other 

 animals, by Prof. J. Mickleborough; Nov. 2, The 

 trochilidae, or humming-birds, by Charles Dury; 

 Nov. 9, Fish fauna of Cincinnati, by Dr. D. S. Young; 

 Nov. 16, Comparative anatomy of the nioUusea, by 

 Prof. A. G. Wetherby; Nov, 23, The mollusca from 

 an evolutionary stand-point, by Prof. \. G. Weth- 

 erby; Nov. 30, Some curious insects, by Charles 

 Dury; Dec. 7, Practical manipulation of the micro- 

 scope, by Dr. J. H. Hunt. 



When this is completed, a second course of equal 

 length will be given on geology and mineralogy, the 

 special topics of which will be announced later. 



— Active movements are making to supply, as far 

 as possible, the losses sustained by the Indiana state 

 university in its recent fire. Wlien the first meeting 

 of the board of trustees was held, about a week after 

 the fire, .Monroe county was prepared to guarantee 



fifty thousand dollars; and this, with over twenty- 

 seven thousand dollars' insurance, gave the officials 

 great confidence. No definite action, however, was 

 taken, until a recent meeting of the trustees at In- 

 dianapolis, when it was decided to purch.ase a larger 

 tract of land, just east of the city of Bloomington, 

 much more favorably located than before, and to 

 erect at once two fire-proof buildings, one of which 

 can be used for the present for the liter.ary depart- 

 ment, and the other for the scientific department, 

 museum, and library. Later, another building will be 

 added, to which the literary department will be trans- 

 ferred, when the scientific department will occupy 

 one of those now to be built, and the other will be 

 given wholly to the museum and library. 



For the present the university will occupy tlie old 

 building, which w.as saved. It is reported that the 

 trustees have in view the purchase of some valuable 

 collections and a good library. 



— A correspondent of La Nature gives a sketch, 

 which we reproduce, of a group of French soldiers, 

 as they appeared when resting on their marches in 



Algeria, when they were obliged to stop on marshy 

 land, and had nothing upon which to rest. The 

 .soldiers seated themselves each on the knees of the 

 one behind, and were arranged in a circle, so that 

 there was no end man. The correspondent vouches 

 for having often seen the operation. La Xature 

 recommends the collegians to try the experiment in 

 efiuilibrium when they return from their vacations, 

 — advice which it would hardly do to transmit to 

 Americans. 



— Trouvelot h.as made an examination of the sky 

 near the place of the sun at the May eclipse, for the 

 purpose of rediscovering, if possible, the red star 

 which he saw at that time, and suspected to be an 

 intra-mercurial pl.anet. 



In the re-examination, he used a teles'cope of the 

 same aperture and power as at the eclipse. He found 

 again, without trouble, his two ' white stars,' and 

 identified them as forty-one Ariel is and e Arietis. As 

 to ' the brilliant star of a pronounced red,' he says he 

 could not find it, and that it is certain that no star of 

 that magnitude and color now exists near the position 

 assigned, nor even within a distance much greater than 

 it is permissible to attribute to the probable error. 



