NOVKMBEB 23, IS&J. 



SCIENCE. 



697 



idea of percentages of living species of fossil niollusca 

 upon which they were founded; and post-tertiary, 

 quaternary, and recent are founded on the assumed 

 existence of a great break comparable to that sepa- 

 rating the secondary from the primary or tertiary 

 periods, which is now known not to exist. The 

 author proposed a classification of the tertiary period 

 in Europe by an appeal to the land mammalia, and 

 since that time his definition has been foimd to apply 

 equally well to the tertiaries of Asia and the Ameri- 

 cas and to the late tertiaries of Australia. He stated 

 that the forms of life in the rocks have changed at a 

 very variable rate, and in direct proportion to their 

 complexity of organization; the lower and simpler 

 having an enormous range, while the higher and 

 more complex have a much narrower range, and are 

 more easily affected by the change in their environ- 

 ment. 



— The proposed discussion on the possibility of 

 establishing a universal time by selecting a meridian 

 common to all nations has given rise to many sugges- 

 tions more or less valuable. One of these, published 

 in the Journal of the society of arts, is, that ' the 

 simplest way of expressing this universal time would 

 be by using Roman figures; while the civil time would 

 be expressed by Arabic numerals, followed by a large 

 H for the morning hours, and a small one for those 

 of the evening. In fact, the hour would be ex- 

 pressed in a manner similar to that in use among 

 the Russians for designating the old and new style 

 in dates. In the same manner as they say l(i/2S 

 June, the railway time-tables would say. Arrival at 

 Paris, XXIII./Ioii. 24 m. ; departure from Paris, XVI. 

 40 ra./4 h. 04 m.; departure from St. Petersburg, 

 VIII. 10m./9H. 28 m. 



— At the meeting of the French academy of 

 sciences, held Oct. A, M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards 

 reported the foundation of a new laboratory of marine 

 zoology at Marseilles. It is to be under the direction 

 of Professor Marion, of the Marseilles faculty of sci- 

 ences. 



— The periodicity of drought and floods in the 

 Rhine district, and its connection with sun-spots, 

 aurorae, and the magnetism of the earth, is dealt 

 with in a work by Professor Paul Ileis of Maintz, just 

 published by Messrs. Quandt and Handel of Leipzig. 

 The volume is entitled ' Die periodische wiederkehr 

 von wassersnoth und wassermangel.' 



— In Austria, as well as in Germany and England, 

 systematic efforts are being made to settle the ques- 

 tions as to the contagiousness and heredity of tuber- 

 culosis. A circular has been sent to eight thousand 

 medical men in Austria, re<{uesting them to give 

 particulars of any cases which they consider to have 

 proved the contagiousness of the disease, and also to 

 give the particulars of cases of supposed heredity, and 

 of any cases in which complete cure is believed to 

 have been etTected. The determined international 

 effort which is being made to cope with this fell 

 disease must be regarded as one of the results of 

 Koch's discovery of the Bacillus tuberculosis. 



— At a recent meeting of the French entomologi- 

 cal society, Dr. Laboulbene instanced a case in which 



dipterous larvae had been vomited by a woman thirty- 

 nine years old, under the care of Dr. E. Pichat of La 

 Rochelle. Specimens of the pupa, and of the fly 

 hatched from them (Curtoneura stabulans Fall.), 

 were exhibited to the society. The woman had 

 been troubled for some days with bronchitis and 

 very fetid breath, and finally, after a severe attack 

 of coughing, vomited twice. Dr. Pichat afterward 

 found in the basin used a hundred to a hundred and 

 fifty of these larvae; and the circumstances as related 

 by him leave no serious doubt of their source, though 

 he was not present during the vomiting, but only 

 called immediately after it. 



This larva, according to LaboiUbfene, is well known, 

 and is ordinarily found in decomposing animal and 

 vegetable matter, in mushrooms, etc., and has also 

 been reared from caterpillars and hjTnenopterous 

 larvae. 



The possibility of the existence of such flies (Mus- 

 cariae) in the human body was formerly generally 

 accepted, but has lately been denied by Davaine. 

 Experiments have proved, says Dr. Laboulbi;ne, that 

 such larvae, introduced into the stomach of animals 

 by a fistula, have been discharged alive in the excre- 

 ment, one, two, or even three days later. 



— At the meeting of the Engineers' club of Philadel- 

 phia, Nov. 3, Mr. Charles II. Haswell presented 'Notes 

 upon roads, streets, and pavements;' Mr. E. A. Gei- 

 seler read an illustrated paper upon ' Tides, and New- 

 ton's theory of them ; ' Mr. Allen J. Fuller spoke of 

 the ' Effect of frost upon fire-plug casings,' — a paper 

 which will be noticed next week under the 'sum- 

 mary.' Professor Haupt also exhibited a 'History 

 of the manual arts, or the inventions of human wit,' 

 published by Mr. Herringman, London, 1661. The 

 secretary read the following account from the Mexi- 

 can national of Laredo, Tex., of a bridge construction 

 by Mr. C. A. Merriam : "On the sixth day of Sep- 

 tember (the anniversary of loss of bridge last year) 

 the Mexican national railroad-bridge was carried 

 away by high water. On Monday the lOtli the first 

 pile was driven for the new structure, which was 

 completed on the 23d ; and trains are now running 

 regularly. This is pretty quick work, — the erection 

 of a bridge six hundred feet long in seven days." 



The secretary narrated his experience on behalf of 

 the club, and read extracts from correspondence, etc., 

 with the custom-house, through the stupendous in- 

 scrutability of the management of which the Trans- 

 actions of the society of engineers of London, and of 

 the Institution of civil engineers of Ireland, are 

 charged with duty; and all the other foreign societies 

 upon the exchange list of the club are a(Jmitted free. 



— Scandinavia, published in Chicago, is the title 

 of a journal devoted to the interests of Scandinavian 

 life, past and present. It is printed in English, and 

 is intended to keep the American public informed as 

 to the movements, both in politics and literature, 

 among the people of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. 

 The first number is dated November, 1883. 



— Lindstriim has published in the Jiihang to the 

 Swedish academy's Handlinrjur an annotated index 

 to the generic names applied to the corals of the 



