22 



SCIENCE. 



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



Lowell Institute in Boston will be delivered 

 upon Tuesdays and Saturdays in January, be- 

 ginning January 7th. He will also lecture at 

 Brown University and at the University of Illi- 

 nois. Letters addressed to the care of Columbia 

 College or of the Lowell Institute will reach 

 him. 



The one hundred and twenty-eighth Bulle- 

 tin of the United States Geological Survey is a 

 review of the Bear River formation and its 

 characteristic fauna by Charles A. White. The 

 author states that his object is the correction of 

 an essential error which has long prevailed 

 among geologists concerning the taxonomic po- 

 sition of one of the North American Cretaceous 

 formations; that is, its object is to present a 

 summary of the facts which show the entire 

 separateness from the Laramie formation of 

 that series of non-marine strata which has here- 

 tofore been known as the Bear River Laramie, 

 with which formation the Bear River series of 

 strata has long been confounded. To this end 

 the Bear River series is defined as a distinct 

 formation, stratigraphically, geographically and 

 paleontologically, and its taxonomic position is 

 stated in detail. 



M. Georges Lemoine reported to the Paris 

 Academy on December 2 that he had measured 

 the amount of decomposition caused by light in 

 solutions of ferric chloride and oxalic acid, and 

 had found the rate of decomposition to be ap- 

 proximately proportional to the intensity of the 

 light. We are not informed how the intensity 

 of the light was measured, but if the chemical 

 action of light can be used to measure luminos- 

 ity it would be an important photometric 

 method. The photochemical and luminous in- 

 tensity of light do not, however, remain pro- 

 portional when the wave-length is altered. 



In a recent work on" Meteorology in its rela- 

 tion to Hygiene, Dr. Van Bebbier states that 

 the average total number of hours of sunshine 

 per year is in England 1,400, in Germany 1,700, 

 In Italy 2,300 and in Spain 3,000. In a hun- 

 dred possible hours of sunshine there are in Lon- 

 don on the average 23 and in Madrid 66. 



At a recent meeting of the Paris Academy 

 MM. Troost and Ouvrard reported that they 

 could only discover faint or doubtfiil traces 



of the spectrum lines of helium in sea water or 

 in water from the Seine. It seems to follow 

 that the helium in the mineral springs of Can- 

 terets cannot be attributed to the air, but comes 

 from the rocks with which the water has been 

 in contact. 



Db. Fauvel, born at Amiens in 1830, a 

 specialist on diseases of the throat and nose 

 and the author of important works on these 

 subjects, died in Paris on December 17. On the 

 same day the death occurred of Dr. Vandermey, 

 professor of gynecology in the University of 

 Amsterdam. 



The British Medical Journal states that Dr. 

 A. J. Woitoff, professor of bacteriology in the 

 University of Moscow, recently fell a victim to 

 his devotion to scientific research. He infected 

 himself with a virulent culture while experi- 

 menting iu his laboratory, and died soon after- 

 wards of the eflfects of the accident. 



The life of Darwin, written by Prof. Wilhelm 

 Preyer, has been published by Ernst Hofmann, 

 Berlin. 



' The Earth's History,' by R. D. Roberts, of 

 Cambridge University, and ' The Realm of Na 

 ture,' by Hugh B. Hill, are announced for pub- 

 lication by Charles Scribner's Sons. 



It is stated that the New York Pasteur In- 

 stitute has purchased a farm of about 200 acres 

 near Tuxedo Park to be used as an experiment 

 station. 



Dr. D. Morris, Assistant Director of the 

 Kew Gardens, delivered a lecture on ' The Rise 

 and Progress of the Royal Botanical Garden at 

 Kew, England,' at the American Museum of 

 Natural History under the auspices of the New 

 York Botanical Garden, on December 17th. 

 Dr. Morris has now gone to the Bahama Islands, 

 in order to investigate the cultivation of hemp 

 and other products of the islands. 



The British Medical Journal summarizes in 

 the issue of December 14th statistics which have 

 been collected by Widmark regarding blindness 

 in Scandanavia. These show that Denmark 

 had iu 1890 for every 10,000 inhabitants only 

 6.3 blind, Sweden 8.3, Norway 12.8, Finland 

 15.5. Compared to other European countries, 

 of which Portugal and Russia stand highest with 



