258 SCIENCE. 
Important acquisitions by purchase have been 
made during the year, among which special 
mention may be made of the Norman collection 
of marine invertebrates and land and fresh- 
water shells (first instalment, consisting of over 
26,000 specimens); a complete skeleton of an 
aboriginal Tasmanian, a race now extinct; a 
specimen of the rare mollusc Pleurotomaria 
beyrichii from Japan, the only living specimen 
yet discovered ; an entire specimen of the rare 
elasmobranch fish, Squatina alifera, from the 
lithographic stone of Nusplingen ; a valuable 
and unique collection of fossil insect remains 
formed by the late Rev. P. B. Brodie (4,700 
specimens) ; the Piper collection of fossils from 
all the strata of the Ledbury Tunnel (1,806 
specimens) ; and a selection from the late Rev. 
T. T. Lewis’s collection of old red sandstone 
fishes, &c., of historic interest as having been 
specially studied and referred to by Sir Roderick 
Murchison. The number of separate presents 
reported as having been received during the 
year by the several departments of the Museum 
was 1,610, as compared with 1,622 in the pre- 
ceding year. Many of these comprised a large 
number of individual specimens. 
UNIFORMITY IN SIZE OF PAGES OF SCIEN- 
TIFIC PUBLICATIONS. 
A COMMITTEE of the British Association for 
the Advancement of Science was appointed in 
1896 to secure, if possible, uniformity in the 
pages of scientific transactions and journals. 
It has already issued one report on the subject, 
and now, in a circular letter, strongly recom- 
mends that there should be but two standard 
sizes, octavo or quarto form, with the following 
dimensions, as issued with pages uncut : 
1. Standard Octavo Size.—Pages 14 by 22 cm., or 53 
in. by 8} in. 
From stitching to outer margin of letterpress, 12 
em., or 43 in. 
Height of letterpress including running headline, 
18 em., or 7 in. 
Limits: pages not less than 14 by 21.5 cm., or 53 
in. by 83 in. eg 
Letterpress not more than 12.5 cm., or 4j in., from 
stitching, and 18.5 cm., or 7} in., high. 
2. Standard Quarto Size.—Pages 22 by 28.5 cm., or 
82 in. by 11} in.; letterpress 18.5 cm., or 7} in., from 
[N. S. Vou. X. No. 248. 
stitching to outer margin of letterpress, and 21.5 cm., 
or 813 in., high. 
Limits : pages not less than 21.5 by 28 em., or 83 
in. by 11 in. 
Letterpress not more than 19 em., or 7} in., from 
stitching, and 23 cm., or 9 in, high. 
In order to secure satisfactory binding to- 
gether, the printed area should be small enough 
not only to escape being cut into, but also to 
leave a reasonably large margin, and the paper 
used should be large enough always to reach to 
the cut edge of a bound volume. Plates should 
be folded within the standard sizes so as not to 
be injured when the edges of the book are cut 
in the binder’s press. It is also recommended 
that every article should always begin at the 
top of a right-hand page, even if that involves 
a blank left-hand page, so that a paper can be 
extracted from a journal without mutilating 
one or the other. 
We fear that these recommendations can 
scarcely be carried out in the United States. 
A majority of our leading scientific journals are 
of a size almost exactly intermediate between 
the standard octavo and standard quarto forms. 
The convenience of this size seems to be indi- 
cated by the fact that it has been chosen by the 
committee for the publication of their report 
STANDARD MEASURING INSTRUMENTS. 
THE Committee of Standards for Instruments 
of Measure, of the American Chemical Society, 
consisting of Messrs E. E. Ewell, chairman ; 
Louis A. Fischer, H. P. Talbot, C. E. Line- 
barger and G. E. Barton, have drawn up a re- 
port which has been adopted by the Council. 
This is as follows: 
Your committee, to which you have assigned 
the duty of making a study of the means by 
which the American Chemical Society can 
hasten the adoption of uniform systems of 
graduation, definite limits of accuracy, and 
standard methods for using all forms of meas- 
uring instruments employed in chemical labora- 
tories, beg to make the following preliminary 
report : 
The committee was promptly organized by 
correspondence after its members had been no- 
tified of their appointment by the proper officer 
of the Society. After much discussion the com- 
