20 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 53 



of Bartels, who maintains that the educa- 

 tion, physical and mental, of woman, how- 

 ever high it may be, should be always 

 aimed to fit her for the duties of the family 

 circle only. 



This conclusion will not be in the least 

 acceptable to the ' advanced ' women of the 

 day, nor to those sociologists who see in 

 woman's present condition, not the model 

 of the future, but a survival from a barbaric 

 past. D. G. Beinton. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 EXPERIMENT STATIONS FOR ENGINEERING. 



A MOVEMENT is iu pvogTess looking to the de- 

 velopment at tlie ' land-grant colleges ' of the 

 several States, of a system of mechanical engi- 

 neering ' experiment stations, ' on much the 

 same basis as the existing agricultural experi- 

 ment stations organized under the Hatch bill 

 of 1887. It is anticipated that the outcome 

 will be the organization of such stations in all 

 the agricultural and mechanical colleges of the 

 country, in which the agricultural experiment 

 stations have been successfully organized and 

 operated. The purpose of the movement is to 

 secure the promotion of engineering research, 

 and of the development of the scientific facts 

 and principles which are of most value to the 

 mechanic arts and to the profession of engineer- 

 ing. The headquarters of the central ofHce to 

 which all will report is thought likely to be the 

 Bureau of Steam Engineering of the Navy De- 

 partment; that being the largest, most impor- 

 tant and most generally suitable of the govern- 

 ment bureaux to take cognizance of such work 

 as is comtemplated. A Department of Me- 

 chanic Arts was proposed years ago, probably 

 earlier than the Department of Agriculture, but 

 the importance of the former has not been as 

 promptly or as fully recognized as that of the 

 latter, and nothing has yet been done in that 

 direction. Should such a department be 

 founded, it will naturally become the center of 

 the work of mechanical engineering experi- 

 ment stations. The present movement has its 

 origin among Southern colleges, and members 

 of the engineering profession who desire to see 



the encouragement of Southern industries 

 through scientific method, and its earliest ex- 

 pressions is found in the papers of Prof. Aldrich 

 of the West Virginia University, on engineer- 

 ing research. 



THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



Natural Science states that the changes at the 

 British Museum (Natural History) on the re- 

 tirement of the Keeper of Zoology, Dr. A; 

 Giinther, are as follows: Prof. Sir W. Flower 

 assumes the ofiice of Keeper of Zoology in 

 addition to his post as Director, without ad- 

 dition of salary ; Dr. Bowdler Sharpe becomes 

 Assistant Keeper of Vertebrata, his department 

 consisting of Messrs. Thomas Boulenger, and 

 Grant ; Mr. Edgar A. Smith, Assistant Keeper 

 of Invertebrata, associated with Prof Jef- 

 frey Bell, Mr. Pocock and Mr. Kirkpatrick ; 

 Dr. A. G. Butler, the head of the Entomologi- 

 cal Department, with his juniors, Messrs. 

 Waterhouse, Kirby, Gahan Heron, Austen, 

 Hampson, and a new Assistant appointed to fill 

 the vacancy. Mr. Pocock becomes a first-class 

 Assistant. Changes have also been begun in 

 the galleries. The larger fishes will be slung 

 up to the roof, so as not to cumber the valuable 

 floor space, and a more definite arrangement 

 will be made of fishes ; similar alterations are 

 contemplated iu the reptile gallery, where sev- 

 enteen crocodiles have for many years enjoyed 

 palatial quarters on the floor. The public gal- 

 lery of birds will gradually be improved on the 

 plan adopted already is one of the bays, and in 

 the mammalian gallery certain arrangements 

 are contemplated which will show the finer 

 specimens to great advantage. The Trustees 

 have recently purchased for the Department of 

 Geology important series of fossils selected 

 from the collections of the Rev. P. B. Brodie, 

 Rowington, Warwick, and of the late Mr. 

 James W. Davis, Chevinedge, Halifax. Mr. 

 Brodie's collection includes a large number of 

 type specimens described by various authors ; 

 and all of these are included in the British 

 Museum selection except those in his unique 

 cabinet of fossil insects, which he still retains. 

 The collection of the late Mr. Davis contains 

 some very fine fishes from the Lower Lias of 

 Lyme Regis and a large number of ft-agmeutary 



