240 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 59. 



injurious insects, and that to prevent such in- 

 troduction horticultural quarantine officers 

 should be stationed at various Southern ports, 

 and that in addition an agent of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture should be sent to study the 

 injurious insects in Mexico, Central America 

 and the West Indies. 



Peof. S. W. Holman, of the Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology contributes to the De- 

 cember number of The Philosophical Magazine 

 an article on galvanometer design in which he 

 concludes that it is practically useless to wind 

 turns within a distance of about one-quarter of 

 the needle-length of the coil centre, and that to 

 increase sensitiveness the needle must be made 

 as short as is consistent with torsion of suspen- 

 sion. Those who describe sensitive galvanom- 

 eters, and especially instrument makers in cata- 

 loguing are urged to present the data. 



d = deilexion in mm. Tvith scale at 1 metre from 

 galvanometer. 



e = current in amperes producing that deflection. 



g ^= the galvanometer resistance as connected up 

 when d is observed. 



t =^ the time of single swing of the needle when c 

 is measured. 



The Board of Health of New York City has 

 passed a resolution providing that all dealers in 

 milk must secure a license from the Board, and 

 licenses will only be granted to those whose 

 dairies have been properly inspected. 



We have received the first number of The 

 Technical Journal, a bi-monthly publication 

 adopted as the official organ of the Alumni As- 

 sociation of the Hebrew Technical Institute. 

 Mr. Max Loewenthal, 248 East 78th St., is the 

 editor and publisher. 



The British Medical Journal states that inocu- 

 lation of the virus of small-pox was practiced 

 in Russia in very early times, the system hav- 

 ing probably been introduced into the Caucasus 

 fi-om Greece or Turkey, the Tcherkesses adopt- 

 ing the habit of protecting their women from 

 the disfigurements of 'natural small-pox. The 

 method used was pricking in the virus else- 

 where than on the arm. In China, on the other 

 hand, the practice was, and still is, to some de- 

 gree at least, to insert moist small-pox crusts in 

 the nostril, even to blowing the virus up the 



nostril. Queen Catherine of Russia was inocu- 

 lated in 1768, and very many followed her ex- 

 ample, especially those near the Court; and as 

 early as 1772 government facilities for securing 

 inoculation were given, free operations being 

 inaugurated in St. Petersburg, Kazan, and even 

 Irkutsk, in Siberia. 



The investigations carried on by the geologi- 

 cal department in the University of Wisconsin 

 during the autumn quarter were as follows: 

 By C. R. Van Hise : A final revision of Princi- 

 ples of pre-Cambrian North American Geology, 

 a manuscript of about 500 pages of typewritten 

 material, to appear in the 16th Annual Report 

 of the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey; 

 a final revision of a report upon the Marquette 

 iron -bearing district of Michigan, about 1,000 

 pages of typewritten manuscript and 40 maps, 

 to be published as a monograph with accom- 

 panying atlas by the TJ. S. Geological Survey. 

 By Wm. H. Hobbs: A study of material col- 

 lected in connection with an investigation of 

 the structural geology of portions of Litchfield 

 county, Conn., and Berkshire county, Mass., to 

 be published in a report of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey. With C. K. Leith, a study of ancient 

 volcanic rocks from areas in the Fox River 

 valley. By J. Morgan Clements: Continuation 

 of an investigation on the pre-Cambrian vol- 

 canics of the Michigamme district. By S. 

 Weidman and E. R. Bucklej^ : A study of the 

 geology of the vicinity of Wausau, Wis. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



ACCOBDING to the fifth edition of Minerva 

 the attendance of students at the beginning of 

 last year at the thirty largest universities in the 

 world was as follows: 



1. Berlin 8,652 



2. Vienna 6,714 



3. Madrid 5,829 



4. Naples 5,040 



5. Moscow 4,118 



6. Budapest 3,892 



7. Munich 3,561 



8. Athens 3,331 



9. Harvard 3,290 



10. Oxford 3,256 



11. Manchester 3,000 



12. Leipzig 2,957 



13. Edinburgh 5,924 



14. Cambridge 2,893 



15. Prag 2,859 



16. St. Petersburg. .2 ,804 



17. Michigan 2,772 



18. Kijew 2,417 



19. Pennsylvania ...2,400 



20. Turin 2,355 



21. Yale 2,350 



22. Minnesota 2,171 



