4M 



SCIENCE. 



[N. Si Vol. n. No. 41v 



eluding equipment, dogs and provisions, 

 had been safelj' landed on Franz Joseph 

 Land, on September 7, 1895. Two days 

 later ice closed round the ' Windward ' and 

 she was frozen in for the winter. The crew 

 remained on the ship, but joined in the ef- 

 forts of the explorers (who took up their 

 abode in treble-walled Russian log houses 

 which they had brought with them from 

 England) in procuring fresh meat for food. 

 When the ship left the explorers they were 

 starting on their journey northward with 

 good hopes of being able to explore success- 

 fully the unknown polar regions. 



The Dominion Medical Association held 

 its twentj'-eighth annual convention under 

 the presidency of Dr. W. Bayard, on August 

 28th. 



The Rev. Dr. Williamson, professor of 

 astronomy in Queens Universitj% died on 

 September 27th, in Kingston, Ontario, at 

 the age of 87 yeai-s. 



Me. Ephraim W. Bull, the well-known 

 agriculturalist, died on September 26th, at 

 the age of 89. 



Experiments in marching have been re- 

 cently undertaken by students of medicine 

 in the Friedrich Wilhelm Institute in Ber- 

 lin, at the request of the German War 

 Office. The results as reported in The 

 British Medical Journal are as follows : The 

 rnarches performed varied from 22 to 33 

 miles in length and were undertaken in all 

 weather. The weights carried were from 

 48 to 68 pounds. A march of 25 miles 

 undertaken at a temperature of 60° F. had 

 no ill effect even if continued for some days 

 consecutively, but under the same condi- 

 tions at a temperature of 70° F. it neces- 

 sitated a rest of at least ten houi-s in the 

 twenty-four. A load of 68 pounds cai-ried 

 25 miles produced grave physiological dis- 

 turbance and necessitated a comi^lete rest 

 on the following day, but if the distance 

 were reduced to fifteen miles 60 pounds 



could be carried day after day in ordinary 

 summer weather without injurious effects. 



A letter written to the American Ma- 

 chinist states that the new rule allowing 

 inventors six months instead of two years 

 time in which to prosecute an application 

 for a primary examination went into effect 

 April 15, 1895. Pending cases will be af- 

 fected as though the last office decision 

 were upon that date ; therefore, all appli- 

 cations wdiich were pending before that 

 date should be amended or argued before 

 October 15, 1895. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 

 The fifth annual Report of the U. S. Com- 

 missioner of Education, Dr. William T. 

 Harris, for the year ending l^ovember 30th, 

 1893, states that the entire number of pu- 

 pils in the schools and colleges of the United 

 States was 15,083,630, 22.5 % of the popu- 

 lation, an increase of 370,697 over the pre- 

 vious year. The number of pupils enrolled 

 in the public schools was 13,510,719, an in- 

 crease of 1.92 %. The average attendance 

 showed an increase of 3.45 %. The at- 

 tendance for each child was only during 

 about one-fifth of the year. 122,056 men 

 and 260,954 women were employed in teach- 

 ing. The number of schoolhouses was 235,- 

 426, valued at §398,435,039. It is stated 

 that the value of school propertj^ and the 

 common school expenditure have more than 

 doubled during the preceding twenty years. 

 The report contains statistics of public high 

 schools, professional educational institutions 

 and normal schools, and includes a review 

 of sj^stems of education iu foreign countries; 

 reports of the luteruatioual Congress of 

 Education at the World's Fair ; criticisms 

 on American education by representatives 

 of the German government at Chicago; a 

 report on American technological schools 

 by Professor Riedler, of the Royal Polytech- 

 nicum at Charlottenburg, neai- Berlin, and 



