Dkcembeb 7, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



895 



report gives descriptions of 204 specimens 

 added to the physiological series of the mu- 

 seum, and also of various preparations added 

 to the pathological series. The library con- 

 tains more than 50,000 volumes, and is being 

 increased at the rate of about 1,000 volumes a 

 year. It is particularly rich in the transactions 

 of societies and in periodicals, relating not only 

 to medicine and surgery, but also to accessory 

 sciences. The library includes a collection of 

 portraits of members of the medical profession. 



We learn from Nature that a private con- 

 ference was recently held at the Board of Trade 

 to consider the protection of the delicate in- 

 struments in use at Kew and Greenwich Ob- 

 servatories from magnetic disturbance, through 

 the working of tramways and railways in the 

 metropolis by electricity. Sir Courtenay Boyle 

 presided, and among the ofiBcials of the Board 

 of Trade present were Mr. F. J. S. Hopwood, 

 Sir Thomas Blomfield and Mr. Trotter. The 

 observatories and kindred public departments 

 were represented by Mr. Christie (the Astrono- 

 mer-Royal), Professor Riicker, Mr. Glazebrook 

 (Director of the National Physical Laboratory), 

 Lieutenant-Colonel Eaban (Director of Works 

 at the Admiralty), Admiral Sir W. J. Wharton 

 (Hydrographer to the Admiralty), and Profes- 

 sors Ayrton and Perry. Among those who at- 

 tended as representatives of the railway and 

 tramway interests concerned were Mr. George 

 White (chairman) and Mr. J. C. Robinson (engi- 

 neer) of the London United Tramways Com- 

 pany, Sir Benjamin Baker and Sir W. Preece. 



Mb. E. C. Oliver of the mechanical engi- 

 neering department of the University of Illinois, 

 has succeeded, with the advice of Professor 

 Breckenridge, in perfecting an automatic re- 

 cording machine which records automatically 

 different data with regard to the speed and 

 power of engines. The recorder can be ap- 

 plied to either gas or steam engines or to a 

 dynamometer car, and is capable of taking any, 

 one or all, of eight readings by means of ink 

 pens on an endless roll of paper. The recorder 

 gives faithfully the speed of the engine, the 

 number of the horse power exerted, the rate of 

 the occurrence of the explosions and the number 

 of revolutions per minute of a gas engine. 



Me. Hughes, United States Consul at Co- 

 burg, reports that in Coburg and neighboring 

 parts of Germany considerable attention is be- 

 ing paid to electrical appliances that can be 

 used on the farm. Near Ochsenfurt, in Bavaria, 

 a company, composed of land owners and small 

 farmers, has been organized for the establish- 

 ment of an electrical system for use on their 

 farms and in villages. The power is to be gen- 

 erated by steam and water and the current to 

 be distributed from a central station to the 

 places at which it is wanted. Sub-stations are 

 to be established at given points, with the 

 necessary apparatus for connecting with the 

 farm or other machinery and also for lighting 

 purposes in the houses, oflSces, roads and vil- 

 lage streets. 



The Dutch cabinet submitted to the States 

 General, on November 14th, a new bill propos 

 ing to drain the entire Zuyder Zee. 



The field work of the Division of Forestry of 

 the Department of Agriculture, which has been 

 carried on in many parts of the country by 

 parties of different sizes since last May, has 

 now been largely completed for 1900. This 

 summer's work was carried on in New York, 

 Tennessee, Missouri, Colorado, South Dakota, 

 Arkansas, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Cali- 

 fornia, a number of tree-planting States of the 

 Middle West and, in a small way, in other 

 States besides. Much new and valuable infor- 

 mation has been collected, and a very large 

 number of surveys has been made, of the re- 

 sults of which it will soon be possible to make 

 practical use. The work which has thus been 

 going on in the field consisted of making forest 

 surveys and of gathering measurements and in- 

 formation about growth, stand, reproduction, 

 etc. Much of it, as that in the Black Hills 

 Forest Reserve, in the Adirondacks, and on the 

 tract of the Sawyer & Austin Lumber Company 

 in Arkansas, is preparatory to the preparation 

 of what are called ' working plans,' or plans for 

 the management and utilization of given tracts 

 of timber. These are based not on any general 

 rules, but on a thorough knowledge of the 

 peculiarities of the forest on each tract, of the 

 market and transportation facilities of the re- 

 gions in which they are situated, and of the 



