66 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 54. 



the Royal Astronomical Society, and was a 

 member of the most important scientific so- 

 cieties. 



Alfred E. Beach died in New York on 

 January 1st. He was one of the proprietors of 

 the Scieniific American and had made several 

 important inventions, the best known of which 

 is that of pneumatic tubes adjusted for carrying 

 parcels and cars. The deaths are also an- 

 nounced of Robert F. Welsch, a writer of ich- 

 thyology; of Prof. A. P. Kostycher, of the 

 Russian Agricultural Department, known for 

 his investigations of soils and agricultural prod- 

 ucts; of Dr. A. V. Brunn, professor of anatomy 

 in Rostock, and of Dr. Ludwig Teichmann, form- 

 erly professor of anatomy in Cracow. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



A BILL to establish a National University at 

 Washington has been introduced in the Senate 

 and House of Representatives. It provides for 

 its government a board of sixteen regents, with 

 the President of the United States at its head, 

 and a University Council, embracing the board 

 and twelve educators, representing institutions 

 belonging to different States. 



A TELEGRAM to the Evening Post states that 

 Elon College, in North Carolina, has received 

 an endowment fund of $100,000 from a citizen 

 of New York City, whose name is not at pres- 

 ent made public. 



President Mark W. Harrington, of the Uni- 

 versity of Washington, writes that he proposes 

 to establish a department of terrestrial physics 

 and geography in the University, and will be 

 indebted to authors and publishers who will 

 send to the University publications relating to 

 these subjects. 



The N. Y. Medical Record states that the 

 Chicago College of Physicians and Surgeons is 

 making arrangements to amalgamate itself with 

 the University of Illinois 



It is stated that Mrs. E. G. Kelly, of Chi- 

 cago, will erect a chapel at a cost of §100,000 for 

 the University of Chicago, as a memorial to her 

 brother. 



Dr. Dock, of the University of Michigan, has 



been appointed professor of pathology and bac- 

 teriology at Jefferson Medical College in Phila- 

 delphia. 



We learn from the American Geologist that 

 Prof. W. I. Blake, of New Haven, Conn., has 

 accepted a professorship of geology and mining 

 in the University of Arizona. 



Dr. Hufner, of Tubingen, has been called 

 to the chair of physiological chemistry at Strass- 

 burg, vacant by the death of Hoppe-Seyler. 

 Dr. Julius Bauschinger, of Munich, has been 

 made associate professor of astronomy and 

 head of the bureau of calculations in Berlin. 



According to the Academische Revue the 

 number of students matriculated at the Uni- 

 versity of Berlin is 5368 : 486 in theology, 

 1812 in law, 1258 in medicine and 1812 in the 

 philosophical faculty. There are 776 foreign- 

 ers, 219 from America, 198 from Russia, 32 

 from Great Britain, 22 from France, etc. 40 

 women are admitted as auditors. 



COBBESPONDENCE. 

 THE THEORY OF PROBABILITIES. 



To THE Editor of Science : It is easier to 

 make true and misleading statements in the 

 subject of probabilities than anywhere else. 

 In this class I should be inclined to place the 

 remark made by Professor Mendenhall, near the 

 close of his article in your issue for December 

 20, regarding a deal in whist in which each of 

 four players had all the cards of one suit. He 

 says : 



"The chances against any other particular 

 distribution of the cards were just as great as 

 against this and * * * the result of every deal 

 of the cards is just as remarkable as this." 



To the first part of this statement it is of 

 course impossible to take exception ; the second 

 part seems to me misleading, if not untrue. To 

 take another case. The chances of my tossing 

 heads one hundred times running are precisely 

 those of my tossing the particular succession of 

 heads and tails that I do toss in any hundred 

 throws of a coin. But is the former case no 

 more remarkable than the latter ? It is so much 

 more remarkable that it at once arouses the 



