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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 336 



SCIENCE 



A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



PUBLISHED BY 



N. D. C. HODGES, 



47 Lafayette Place, New York. 



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NEW YORK, July 12, i£ 



No. 336. 



CONTENTS: 



Electric Motors in Printing-Of- 



Who are the American Indians ? . . 



Notes and News 



Editorial 



A World's Exhibition in New York. 

 — Professor Mendenhall the New 

 Superintendent of the Coast Sur- 



Master and Workmen. 



The Transmission of Energy by 



Compressed Air 



Health Matters. 



The Mortality in the City of New 



York for 1888 



Contagious Consumption 



Preventing Tuberculosis by Mili- 

 tary Orders 



Pasteur's Method 



Professorships of Hygiene 



Electrical News. 



New Form of Gas-Battery 



Education in the United States ... 

 A Theoretical and Practical Trea- 

 tise on the Strength of Beams and 



Girde 



The Beginners' Book in German. 



The A B C of Electricity 



Among the Publishers 



Letters to thk Editor. 



Queries 



A MOVEMENT IS ON FOOT to celebrate the four-hundredth an- 

 niversary of the discovery of America by a world's exhibition to be 

 held in this city. The time before 1892 is considered short for the 

 satisfactory organization of such a vast undertaking ; but, as the 

 suggestion meets with general approval, it is likely to be carried 

 forward to success. As to the location to be chosen, considerable 

 discussion has begun, many opposing a proposal that the buildings 

 should be erected in Central Park. This opposition argues, and 

 as it appears justly, that the use of the park for such a purpose 

 would interfere with its legitimate use as a pleasure-ground for at 

 least a year, and that the injuries inflicted on the grounds could 

 not be effaced in ten years. Some spot farther up on the island 

 is more likely to be chosen, — a spot which, with the means of 

 rapid transit which already exist, and which could be added to 

 without much outlay, would be of easy access. We look forward 

 to a rapid and satisfactory development of the plans for the ex- 

 hibition ; although, of course, as Americans do not seek any but a 

 home market for their goods, the main stimulus of such a fair is 

 not so strong as with Europeans. 



On July 9 the President appointed Professor T. C. Menden- 

 hall superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey. Professor 

 Mendenhall was born in Ohio in 1841. From 1873 to 1878 he was 

 professor of physics at the Ohio State University at Columbus. In 



1878 he went to Japan, where he organized a physical department 

 in the University at Tokio, as well as a weather bureau for the 

 country. On his return to this country, in 1881, he again assumed 

 the chair at Columbus, and in 1882 started the Ohio Weather Bu- 

 reau. In 1884, Professor Mendenhall was called to Washington to- 

 take charge of an electrical branch of the Signal Office, and during 

 his stay in the government employ also busied himself in develop- 

 ing a system of earthquake observations in the United States. 

 Since 1886 he has been president of the Rose Polytechnic School 

 at Terre Haute, Ind. In the new work Professor Mendenhall has- 

 undertaken, his many friends will wish him all success. 



The last Congress legislated Mr. F. M. Thorn, the late superin- 

 tendent of the Coast Survey, out of office at the close of the fiscal 

 year. It provided, in an appropriation bill, that he should be ap- 

 pointed by the President, " by and with the advice and consent of 

 the Senate." The proposed change of the law was submitted to 

 Mr. Thorn by the Senate sub-committee on appropriations, and his 

 opinion was requested as to the advisability of its enactment. He 

 replied that he regarded as entirely unobjectionable the require- 

 ment that the superintendent should be appointed " by and with the 

 advice and consent of the Senate," and that he had no personal in- 

 terest in it whatever. His resignation was written on March 6, 

 but was withheld at the suggestion of Senator Allison until April,, 

 when it was sent to the President. On June 22 Mr. Thorn di- 

 rected the attention of the President and Secretary Windom to the 

 law requiring the appointment of a superintendent to be made at 

 the beginning of the fiscal year. He has not since discharged any 

 of the duties of the office. Although Mr. Thorn was not a scientific 

 man, Uke all of his predecessors, yet it is believed, that, as a result 

 of his excellent executive ability, the forces of the office have been 

 so employed during the past four years as to greatly increase their 

 efficiency. 



MASTER AND WORKMEN. 



The greatest interest attaching to the Petit-Bourg Works, for 

 the manufacture of light railway material, twenty miles from 

 Paris, is to be found in the relations that exist between the master 

 and workmen. As described in Engineering, a system of almost 

 military discipline prevails everywhere. With the exception of a 

 small number of hands, all work is paid for by the piece, and every 

 thing that fails to pass a rigid inspection is condemned at the ex- 

 pense of the men. The hours of the work are long, — fourteen 

 hours a day, — and Sunday 15 only observed as a holiday after two 

 o'clock. Yet the men are contented and prosperous, and are the 

 first to stifle and exclude the spirit of discord which too often pre- 

 vails in the factories of adjoining communes. Workmen are al- 

 ways eager to obtain service at Petit-Bourg, and, once there, are 

 loth to quit it. The secret lies in the fact that the men like to be 

 governed, and that their material welfare is always carefully 

 studied. Comfortably fitted up dwellings are provided for the un- 

 married men, in which they can rent a well-furnished bedroom for 

 I J pence a day, or for i\ pence if two live together. Then a clean 

 and attractive restaurant is close at hand, where well-cooked meals 

 are furnished at prices just sufficient to pay expenses. Married 

 men are not allowed to use this restaurant, but they can purchase 

 and take home with them their meals at a somewhat lower price, 

 so that all the expense and trouble of cooking is saved them. In 

 this restaurant a separate room is provided for the use of the fore- 

 men, the scale of charges being the same ; and a general shop is 

 attached, where every thing can be purchased at the lowest possible 

 rate. For those men who wish to save the expense and trouble of 

 going to the restaurant at meal-times, a range of ovens is provided 

 within the works, and placed under the charge of a superannuated 

 employee, whose duty it is to receive the food brought by the men, 

 and have it comfortably prepared when the breakfast or dinner 

 hour comes. The men are paid monthly, and are allowed to open, 

 credits to fixed amounts with the restaurant and shop, the balance 

 due to them being paid at each settlement. Pay-day is celebrated 



