May 4, 1S83.] 



SCIENCE. 



375 



of the extensive moors of north-western Germany, 

 and a summai-y of its worli up to tlie present time. 

 This is followed by five papers, in which some of its 

 investigations are recounted in detail. Tlie subjects 

 of these papers are : a geographical description of the 

 moors of north-western Germany and the Netherlands 

 (by Lalfeld), the Kehdinger moor (by Virchow), the 

 behavior of insoluble phosphates in moor-soils (by 

 Fleischer), the influence of certain salts on the action 

 of peat upon phosphates (by Kissling), materials for 

 manuring and improving moors (by Fleischer). This 

 is the first detailed account of the work of the station 

 which has appeai'ed. 



— The Franklin democrat of Brook ville, Ind., priuts, 

 March 1, an account of the work of the Brookville 

 society of natural history for the year ending Febru- 

 ary, 1S83, by the secretary, Amos W. Butler. The 

 active members increased in that period from fifteen 

 to twenty-six. 



— The building of the ice-palace at Montreal this 

 winter has recalled to notice {Symon's monthly meteor- 

 ological journal, February) an account, by Prof. G. 

 W. Kraft, of that built at St. Petersburg in 1740. 

 Tlie most remarkable part of Professor Kraft's state- 

 ment is, that an ice-cannon was made, and tliat a 

 bullet fired from it, with a charge of a quarter of a 

 pound of powder, penetrated a plank two inches thick 

 at a distance of fifty paces. 



— An excellent resume of the present condition of 

 our knowledge of fossil insects, extending over more 

 than thirty pages, is given by Charles Maurice in the 

 Annales of the Societe ge'ologique clu Nord., vol. ix. 



— The Amateur naturalist is the title of a miniature 

 paper of four pages, published monthly at German- 

 town, Philadelphia, entirely by boys. Its fifth and 

 sixth numbers contain a brief abstract of a lecture 

 on the cobblestone, given by Dr. H. Carvill Lewis 

 before the Leidy association on Dec. 6. 



— Mr. J. H. Barth of Leipzig will issue an "In- 

 ternationale zeitschrift fur allgemeine sprarhwissen- 

 schaft" in semi-annual parts, under the editorial 

 care of F. Techmer. Tlie staii includes such names 

 as Lucien Adam, C. von der Gabeleiitz, A. S. Gat- 

 schet, R. Lepsius, F. A. March, Frederick Miiller, 

 Max Miiller, G. Oppert, F. Pott, Leon de Eosny, A. 

 H. Sayce, H. Steinthal, Jules Vinson, and William 

 Dwight Whitney. Tlie review is to be organ of no 

 school, but will aim to foster real progress in every 

 line of linguistic research. The subject will be pre- 

 sented in three aspects, — the anthropological, the 

 psychological, and the historical. Under the first 

 the whole range of ancillary sciences will be brought 

 under contribution ; such as the physiology and 

 pathology of the vocal organs and the ear ; the 

 optical phenomena of writing, mimicry, gestures, and 

 writing for the blind ; and the relationship existing 

 between speech and its transcription. Upon the 

 psychological side will fall all questions of the rela- 



tion of articulation, vocal sounds, roots, word^, and 

 syntax, to the science of mind. Finally, the history 

 of philology will include both the phylogenetic devel- 

 opment of language as a whole, and the ontological 

 development of speech in each individual from in- 

 fancy to maturity. If the weight of great names 

 and a great undertaking will insure success, no doubt 

 the Zeitschrift will become a permanent part of our 

 linguistic literature. 



— At a recent meeting of the Philadelphia academy 

 of natural sciences. Prof. H. C. Lewis showed a sup- 

 posed stone implement recently dug up in that city. 

 It is described as an oblong i-ectangle in shape, six- 

 teen and a half inches long, nearly four inches wide, 

 and in thickness varying from a lialf-inch at tlic edge 

 to one and a half inches at the centre. It is ground 

 to a smooth cutting-edge at the two extremities. It 

 is rectangular in section, the sides forming right an- 

 gles with the faces. The sides are parallel with each 

 other; but the faces are undulating surfaces, on one 

 of which is a prominent longitudinal ridge an incli 

 and a half in width. Each end of the implement 

 appears to have been smoothly ground to form a 

 square, even cutting-edge, an equal amount of grind- 

 ing having been done on either side. The implement 

 is as unusual in shape as it is in size. It is double 

 the length of ordinary celts, and was possibly a lap- 

 stone of some kind. The implement, if such it should 

 prove, would be the first that has been found in the 

 Philadelphia gravel, and would be of great interest 

 in its bearing upon the antiquity of man on the Dela- 

 ware. 



— Dr. D. W. Prentiss has been invited to deliver a 

 course of lectures in connection with the department 

 of materia medica of the National museum. The 

 course will consist of eight lectures, and will be illus- 

 trated by specimens and other material from the col- 

 lections. 



— At a meeting of the Society of arts of the 

 Massachusetts institute of technology, April 12, Mr. 

 A. F. Hill presented a paper on the Crystallization 

 of iron and steel, illustrated by specimens and photo- 

 graphs. 



— At the meeting of the Biological society of Wash- 

 ington, April 13, the following communications 

 were made: Prof. L. F. Ward, Hybrid oaks of the 

 District of Columbia; Mr. B. F. Johnson, Observa- 

 tions on the climbing of snakes; Prof. C. V. Riley, 

 Remarks on the bag-worm (Thyridopteryx ephemerae- 

 formis); Mr. F. W. True, The tape- worm and other 

 parasites in the eggs of the domestic fowl ; Dr. Thomas 

 Taylor, Living parasitic mites in the lungs, cavities, 

 and tissue of domestic fowl; Mr. N. P. Scuddcr, The 

 muskrat (Fiber zibethicus) in captivity. 



— Prof. A. Hall, on taking the chair of the mathe- 

 matical section of the Washington philosophical so- 

 ciety, April 11, read a short address on the practical 

 value of the higher mathematics. Mr. C. H. Kum- 



