May 4, 1SS3.] 



SCIENCE. 



377 



phates. The size of their particles -was measured 

 microscopically; and they were also treated with 

 neutral ammonium-citrate solution, in the manner 

 customary in fertilizer analyses. I'rom fifteen to 

 twenty-five per cent of the total phosphoric acid 

 proved to be soluble in this reagent, but no very 

 marked increase of solubility was observed as the 

 result of very fine grinding. 



The bulletin on kainite consists chiefly of a sum- 

 mary of German and American experience in its use, 

 going to show, that, with even moderate caution, it 

 may be used with as much safety and advantage as 

 the refined potash salts now so largely employed. 



— The last of the Washington free scientific lec- 

 tures was delivered by Dr. Eobert Fletcher on March 

 31. The weather being unusually bad, the audience 

 was small. As a whole, the lectures have been re- 

 markably well attended; and the interest displayed 

 will doubtless encourage the societies to undertake 

 another coirrse next year. It is a prevailing opinion, 

 that groups of three or four lectures upon the same 

 subject, delivered in the evening, would meet the 

 needs of the people better than the schedules hitherto 

 provided. 



— A new magnetic and meteorological observatory 

 is soon to be established at Hong Kong: and Dr. W. 

 Doberck goes from Col. Cooper's observatory, Markru, 

 Ireland, as its director. 



— Among the good works performed by the Mus^e 

 Guimet appears the Revue deVMstoire des religions, 

 published under the direction of M. Maurice Vernes, 

 aided by distinguished collaborators in various coun- 

 tries. The journal has reached its sixth volume, and 

 shows no signs of decay. The last number received 

 contains papers on the following subjects: Islamism 

 as a universal religion, by A. Kuenen ; Aeneas be- 

 fore the time of Virgil, by J. A. Hild; The religions 

 of non-civilized peoples, by A. Eeville; The legend 

 of Alexander among the Mussulmans, by M. Decour- 

 demanche; and A course of instruction in the history 

 of religion, by Paul Bert. 



— Henry T. L. Brown of Sydney, Cape Breton, 

 has been appointed director of the geological survey 

 of South Australia. Mr. Brown has a long acquaint- 

 ance with the geology of Australia, having already 

 been government geologist of western Australia, 

 and assistant on the geological survey of Victoria 

 and New South Wales. Besides, he was assistant of 

 Mr. Selwyn in the geological survey of Canada during 

 the years 1874-7-5. 



— We regret to learn the death of Geoi'ge W. Stow, 

 director of the geological survey of the Orange Free 

 State, South Africa. Mr. Stow died at the end of 

 last year, at a coal-mine near Heilbron, where he 

 had discovered an important coal-basin. Heilbron 

 is near Smithfield, Orange River. No one has done 

 so much towards elucidating the geology of southern 

 Africa as Mr. Stow. His ' Geological notes upon 



Griqualand West,' and his ' Coal and iron in South 

 Africa ' are both standard works. 



— Tlie third German geograi^hers' congress, assem- 

 bled at Frankfurt-a.-M. from March 29 to April 8, lis- 

 tened to addresses by Wissmann, on his journey across 

 Africa; Eatzel, on polar exploration; Buchner, on 

 the ethnography of south-western Africa; Pechuel- 

 Losche, on the lower course of the Kongo; Giinther, 

 on the latest studies of the earth's form; Toula, on 

 the geological exploration of the Balkan peninsula; 

 and Penck, on the influence of climate on the form 

 of the earth's surface; besides several others, chiefly 

 devoted to methods of geographic instruction. In 

 connection with the meeting, there was a geographic 

 exhibition, of which the catalogue contains 1,100 

 numbers, and fills 92 pages. Different styles of map- 

 j)ing were very fully illustrated; and there was a good 

 representation of atlases, globes, wall-charts, and geo- 

 graphic works. 



— Dr. B. A. Gould of Cordoba, Argentine Kepub- 

 lic, now on a visit to this country, exhibited to the 

 Eoyal astronomical society, March 9, a number of 

 photographs of star-clusters in the southern heavens. 

 There were, beside these clusters, four stars suspected 

 to have an appreciable annual parallax. Dr. Gould 

 stated that the observations for his zone-catalogue 

 (105,000 in number) were completed in 1875; but the 

 subsequent reductions had given a great deal of trou- 

 ble, as his staff was limited, and he had been obliged 

 to enlist into the service everybody he could find who 

 had had sufficient education to be of use. " I have 

 had bakers, shoemakers, printers, carpenters, brick- 

 layers, and school-masters, sailoi's and engine-drivers. 

 Of course, the degree of accuracy was sometimes 

 questionable, and I have been obliged to do every 

 thing in duijlicate." Dr. Gould hopes that in a 

 year's time the zone-catalogue, in two volumes, with 

 74,600 stars, will be published. The zones extend 

 only from the tropic to within ten degrees of the 

 south pole. Dr. Gould is also engaged upon a gen- 

 eral catalogue of about 34,000 stars, their positions 

 being determined with the highest degree of accuracy. 

 This catalogue includes every part of the southern 

 hemisphere; and the work is so far advanced that 

 eighteen months more will suffice to complete it. 



— An examination of the Waterville meteorite of 

 1826 shows, according to Dr. M. E. Wadsworth, that 

 it is a slag that had long lain partly buried in sandy 

 soil, and could not have been, as claimed, a freshly 

 detached meteorite. 



— The philosophical society of Washington, at its 

 meeting held April 21, was addressed by Capt. 

 William H. Dall, on Glaciation in Alaska, and by 

 Professor Franklin B. Hough, on the Cultivation of 

 the Eucalyptus on the Roman campagna. 



— We are glad to announce that the United States 

 is at last rejpresented in the international zoological 

 station at Naples. Thanks to the liberality and 



