March 9, 1SS3.] 



scii:nce. 



157 



has collected the Crioceras simplex, as Darwin did, 

 besides other cretaceous fossils, several of them new 

 to science. He found the southern extremity of the 

 Cordilleras to be formed wholly of cretaceous strata, 

 mainly of neocomian age. The strata are very com- 

 plicated, and recalled to his mind the neocomian of ■ 

 the French Alps, near Escragnolles (Var. ). 



— An entertainment fund has recently been en- 

 dowed in the Philadelphia college of physicians by 

 Dr. S. Weir Mitchell. The income is to be used, 

 under the direction of a standing committee, to de- 

 fray the expenses of occasional receptions, at which 

 refreshments suited to the dignjfied character of the 

 society are to be i^rovided. It is proposed to issue 

 invitations not only to members of the college and 

 other physicians, but also to laymen who may be 

 identified with the intellectual welfare of the city. 



; — We regret to learn that Mr. Alexander Murray, 

 director of the Geological survey of Newfoundland, 

 owing to illness and old age, is obliged to relinquish 

 field-work, and to retire altogether, his medical ad- 

 viser having recommended him to go to a milder 

 climate. Mr. Murray is one of the pioneers of Ameri- 

 can geology, having commenced as the first and 

 only assistant on the Geological survey of Canada 

 when it was organized in 1842, and then as director 

 of the survey in Newfoundland since 1864. His as- 

 sistant, Mr. J. P. Howley, will continue the survey 

 of the island. 



— There has been an unusual awakening in scien- 

 tific circles in Cincinnati this winter; a polytechnic 

 school has been organized; a state forestry association 

 formed, with its headquarters in Cincinnati; and 

 courses of popular lectures on chemistry, zoology, 

 botany, and history, have been given at the Afternoon 

 school in popular science and history. 



— The students of the Institute of technology in 

 Boston propose to place in the entrance-hall of the 

 building a bronze tablet in memory of the late Pro- 

 fessor William B. Rogers. The committee in charge 

 of the matter recommend that it be peculiarly a stu- 

 dent memorial, and that the sum required for its 

 erection be raised by contributions from the stu- 

 dents exclusively. 



— Dr. F. G. Hahn gives a favorable review of A. 

 Penck's Schwankwnrjen des meeresspiegels {Ausland, 

 1883, 91). The review calls attention to previous sug- 

 gestions by Bruchhausen, Stokes, and others, of un- 

 evenness of the sea-surface caused by continental 

 attraction, and thinks that the departure of the 

 ocean's surface from the theoretic spheroid may be 

 as much as 1,000 or even 1,500 metres. 



— According to official returns, there were in 

 Australasia in 1880, 75,237,917 sheep, 8,104,786 cattle, 

 1,206,100 horses, 1,026,898 pigs. Forty-seven per cent 

 of the sheep were owned in New South Wales. 



— Dr. Ritzema, in the ' Versleg van den landbouw 

 in Nederland,' highly compliments the work of the 



entomological division of the Department of agri- 

 culture. 



— The ninth and tenth parts of the GeologUche 

 tabellen und durchschnitte of the St. Gotthard tunnel 

 have appeared. 



— At the meeting of the Biological society of 

 Washington, March 2, Prof. O. T. Mason gave a paper 

 on the Human fauna of the District of Columbia, 

 which was an exceedingly interesting review of the 

 constitution of the population of the district, the na- 

 tionalities represented, the percentage of crime and 

 disease in each nationality, etc., derived from a study 

 of the records of the census, the health-office, and the 

 police-service. Dr. M. G. Ellzey read a paper on 

 Hybrid sterility. 



— At the meeting of the Boston society of natural 

 history, March 7, Prof. G. Fred. Wright of Oberlin 

 read a paper on the Glacial phenomena of Ohio, and 

 Prof. A. Hyatt proposed for the whole range of the 

 sciences which directly treat of the earth and its 

 products, whether organic or inorganic, the term 

 ' Physiognosy. ' 



— No work upon anthropology of recent date has 

 invaded a more unworked field, or has cultivated its 

 area with more thoroughness, than Col. Mallery's 

 'Sign language.' The most flattering notices have 

 appeared in many of the foreign journals ; and a trans- 

 lation into the German language has been made by 

 Agnes Brauer, bearing the title: Forschungen und 

 anregungen iiber die zeichensprache der Indianer 

 Nord-Amerikas. Von Garrick Mallery. Uebersetzt 

 von Agnes Brauer. Mit Anmerkungen von Wilhelm 

 Keil. Sonderdruck aus den Mittheilungen des vereins 

 fiirerdkunde zu Halle, a.-S., 1882 (Halle a-S., 1882). 



— At the meeting, yesterday, of the Society of arts 

 of the Massachusetts institute of technology, Mr. H. 

 A. Hill described the Cummer steam-engine, and Mr. 

 F. C. Childs exhibited and described the new and 

 sensitive electro-thermostat of the Automatic fire- 

 alarm association. 



— The 47th Congress included in its appropriation 

 bills several items for the U. S. geological survey. 

 They amount in total to $341,140, and are available 

 during the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1883. This 

 is $82,700 greater than the appropriation for the cm-- 

 rent fiscal year. 



— Dr. H. O. Marcy has again brought to public 

 notice the researches of Ercolani on the placenta, by 

 publishing in the Annals of anatomy and surgery for 

 November, 1882, a well written abstract of a part of 

 the results of the Italian embryologist. Under the des- 

 ignation of " A unity of anatomical and physiological 

 modality in all vertebrates," he also renews the famil- 

 iar comparison between the absorption of food by the 

 blood-vessels from the yolk and from the placenta. 



— With the current number the Quarterly journal 

 of microscopical science assumes a new dress. An 

 enlarged page and better paper permit an improve- 



