December 6, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



769 



to the preparation of a maguetic map of the 

 earth. The expedition to Iceland has already 

 accomplished its task in a satisfactory manner, 

 and it is hoped that a map superior to any simi- 

 lar puhlication may be issued before 1900. 

 . The next International Medical Congress has 

 been postponed for one year and will be held in 

 Moscow in 1897. 



The paper by Prof. George M. Comstock on 

 ' A Course in Astronomy for Engineering Stu- 

 dents,' published recently in this journal (Vol. 

 II. p.502j, was read before the Springfield meet- 

 ing of the Society for the Promotion of Engi- 

 neering Education. 



Among the papers announced to be read at 

 an extra meeting of the Royal Society on No- 

 vember 28th were ' Mathematical contributions 

 to the theory of evolution ; III. Regression, 

 heredity and panmixia,' by Prof. Carl Pearson, 

 and ' Examination of gases from certain min- 

 eral waters,' by A. Kellas and Prof. Ramsay. 



An editorial article in the Lancet for Novem- 

 ber 23rd calls attention to the desirability of 

 testing the hearing as well as the eyesight of 

 school children. Weil found 35 per cent, of the 

 pupils in the schools in Stuttgart, and Moure 17 

 per cent, of those at Bordeaux, more or less deaf 

 in one or both ears. The degree of deafness is 

 very easily determined by requiring the child 

 to repeat words uttered at a measured distance 

 in a quiet room, and unilateral deafness by 

 closing one or other ear with the finger. Words 

 spoken in a conversational tone should be recog- 

 nized by those whose hearing is normal at a 

 distance of 15 to 20 meters. In many cases 

 deafness and related disorders may be cured 

 by medical or surgical treatment, and in any 

 case it is important that the deafness of a child 

 should not be mistaken for stupidity. 



Dk. Thomas Dwight's recent notes on the 

 Dissection and Brain of the Chimpanzee 

 ' Gumbo ' in the Memoirs of the Boston See. 

 Nat. Hist, contains numerous references to 

 other papers showing how large is the amount 

 of individual variation in this species. Although 

 several species of chimpanzee and gorilla have 

 been described it will be interesting to see how 

 they will stand the test of time and more mate- 

 rial. Unfortunately specimens of the large an- 



thropoids are seldom accompanied by full and 

 sufficient data and not improbably most, if not 

 all, of the species will prove to be subspecies. 

 The large apes seem subject to a large amount 

 of variation. Not only does the orang of Su- 

 matra differ from that of Borneo, though not 

 specifically, but the Bornean orangs differ among 

 themselves in size and color so that they have 

 been divided into three species, mainly on 

 points due to age or sex. Evidently there is 

 much work to be done before the exact status 

 of the large anthropoids can be considered as 

 definitely settled. 



At a meeting of the Engineering Association 

 of the South in Nashville, Tenn., November 13, 

 the retiring president, Prof. Wm. L. Dudley, of 

 Vanderbilt University, delivered an address on 

 ' The Development of Technical Education in 

 the United States. ' The following are the offi- 

 cers for the year 1895-96 : 



Hunter McDonald, President. 



W. G. Kirkpatrick, First Vice-President. 



J. J. Ormsbee, Second Vice-President. 



Lucius P. Brown, Secretary. 



W. M. Leftwich, Treasurer. 



Wm. L. Dudley, E. C. Lewis, H. D. Euhm, Jno. 

 B. Atkinson, Directors. 



In the November number of The Nineteenth 

 Century Mr. Herbert Spencer again criticises 

 Lord Salisbury's president's address before the 

 British Association in 1894. Lord Salisbury's 

 address has perhaps received more attention 

 than its scientific importance warrants, but 

 Great Britain is fortunate in having a Premier 

 who is competent to preside over its Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science and whose 

 address deserves scientific criticism. 



Leopold Voss has issued a new edition of 

 Kroll's Stereoskopische Btlder, to which new pic- 

 tures have been added by Dr. R. Perlia. The 

 series consists of twenty-six pairs of colored pic- 

 tures which may be united by the stereoscope. 

 In some of the slides the principal figure is the 

 same for both eyes while the details are differ- 

 ent, and in others two dilFerent pictures are to 

 be united, as for example a bird and a cage. 

 The pictures are recommended as useful in ex- 

 ercising the muscles of the eyes of children suf- 

 fering from strabismus, and in any case make a 



