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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 349 



subscribed the sum of $108,000, to be expended as an emergency 

 fund during the next three years. In addition, a new building, 

 given by Mr. Eugene Levering of Baltimore, is now going up. A 

 lectureship in literature has been endowed by a gift of $20,000. By 

 the death of John W. McCoy the university inherits at once his 

 choice library of 8,000 volumes, and is the residuary legatee of his 

 estate. The exact amount to be received from this source cannot 

 yet be ascertained, but the most prudent estimates place it above 

 $100,000, exclusive of the library. This gift is free from conditions. 

 It is safe to say that within six months the Johns Hopkins Univer- 

 sity has received from these various sources nearly $300,000, and 

 other gifts are expected. The national character of the institution 

 is a strong reason why its work should receive important aid from 

 a distance. It will thus be seen that no consideration need be 

 given to alarming rumors, as the present efficiency of the univer- 

 sity is assured for the next three years. 



— By the will of Mr. John W. McCoy, who died in Baltimore 

 Aug. 20, 1889, the Johns Hopkins University is made the residuary 

 legatee of his estate. His large and valuable library is also left to 

 the university. His art collection is bequeathsd to the Peabody 

 Institute. A fuller statement as to this valuable gift will be subse- 

 quently made. 



— President Hall of Clark University, Worcester, Mass., in an 

 official statement, thus defines the furictions of docent in the uni- 

 versity : " The highest annual appointment is that of docent. 

 This rank and title is primarily intended as an honor to be award- 

 ed to those worthy of more permanent and lucrative positions, as 

 professors or assistant professors in colleges. It may be bestowed 

 without examination upon a few men who have advanced beyond 

 the requirements of a doctorate, and who satisfy the authorities of 

 the university by a thesis, a public address, or in any other way, of 

 both their scientific attainments and their teaching ability, and, if 

 necessary, may be accompanied by a salary. Docents may be 

 provided with individual rooms ; and special apparatus may be pur- 

 chased for their research if desired and approved. They may also 

 be equipped and sent on scientific expeditions. While they will be 

 expected during some part of the year to deliver a limited number 

 of lectures on some special chapter of their department, their time 

 will usually be reserved for study and research in a way best 

 adapted to qualify them still more fully for academic advancement. 

 It is believed that by the existence of such a select body of men of 

 guaranteed scientific training, ability, and approved power to teach, 

 the difficulties under which college trustees sometimes succumb in 

 selecting suitable men for the professors may be diminished, and 

 that otherwise this new academic grade will aid in raising stand- 

 ards of scholarship in colleges, and encouraging scientific research." 

 The work of the university has begun. The professors and in- 

 structors in the departments of mathematics, physics, chemistry, 

 biology, and psychology met their students Monday, Oct. 7. The 

 following lectures were delivered : by Dr. Bolza, in mathematics, 

 Oct. 8 ; by Dr. Cook, in psychology, Oct. 7 ; by Dr. Sanford, in 

 psychology, Oct. 8. Dr. Donaldson gave an introductory lecture 

 on Oct. 9 in the neurological laboratory. 



— In the Michigan Engineers' Annual, which is the report of 

 the proceedings of the Michigan Engineering Society, of January, 

 1889, Professor M. E. Cooley, M.E., of Ann Arbor, gives the fol- 

 lowing experience on the value of covering steam-pipes : " The 

 benefits of covering steam- pipes to prevent radiation are strikingly 

 illustrated by the following example : The Thomson-Houston 

 electric-light plant in Ann Arbor has about 60 feet of 7-inch pipe, 

 connecting the boiler with the engines, and two large steam-drums 

 above the boilers. In March, 1887, the steam at the far end of this 

 pipe was tested to determine the amount of entrained water, the 

 pipes and drums at the time being uncovered. An average of nine 

 experiments gave 31.01 per cent of moisture. In June of the same 

 year, after the pipes were covered with magnesia sectional cover- 

 ings, the quality of the steam was again tested, the average of five 

 experiments giving 3.61 per cent moisture. The tests were made by 

 the same men, from the same connections, and in the same manner. 

 The pipes and steam-drums in March were subjected to a draught, 

 which, of course, aided the condensation. Enough water passed 

 into the cylinders to retard the engines, producing a disagreeable 



noise. In June the weather was warmer, and the pipes and steam- 

 drums were well protected. The quality of steam at the boilers, 

 was tested in June, and showed about 3 per cent of moisture- 

 Assuming that 100 indicated horse-power were being developed at 

 the time, and that each horse-power required 30 pounds of steam per 

 hour, we would need 3,000 pounds of steam. If the steam is as- 

 sumed to have 25 per cent entrained water, due to condensation in 

 the pipes and connections, then 4,000 pounds steam will need to be 

 produced in the boilers, or 1,000 pounds more than necessary. To 

 produce this steam will require about 125 pounds of good coal per 

 hour, or 1,000 pounds per day of eight hours. One-half ton per 

 day, at $3 per ton, for 300 days, equals $450, which, at 6 per cent, 

 pays the interest on $7,500. The actual cost of the covering, put 

 on complete, probably did not exceed $150. 



— The deepest bore-hole in the world, claimed at different times 

 for a number of places, is, according to latest accounts, at Schlade- 

 bach, a small German village near Leipzig. It measures 1,748.4. 

 metres, or about 5,735 feet. The time expended in boring to this 

 depth amounted to six years, at a cost of $52,500. A peculiar ex- 

 perience encountered in connection with this and other deep holes 

 in different parts of Germany is, according to Uhland's Wochen- 

 schrift, that the observed temperatures, while steadily increasing 

 with the depths, show a smaller ratio of increase in the lower 

 strata. 



— In a recent issue of the Centralblatt der Baimerwallung, at- 

 tention is directed to the fact, observed in some of the streets of 

 Frankfort-on-theLMain, Germany, that the asphalt pavement in the 

 immediate neighborhood of large gas mains is rapidly destroyed 

 by escaping gas, deep cracks being formed. This has been found 

 to be particularly marked at places where the underlying layer of 

 beton was imperfect, due to interruption of the work over night 

 while laying. If this is true, it furnishes an additional reason for 

 preventing that escape of gas from the mains in New York City 

 which has already given so much trouble by explosions in subways 

 and sewers. 



— How many of the engineering works of the nineteenth century 

 will there be in existence in the year 6000 ? Very few, it is feared, 

 and still less those that will continue in the far-off age to serve a 

 useful purpose. Yet there is at least one great undertaking con- 

 ceived and executed by an engineer, which, during the space of 

 four thousand years, has never ceased its office, on which the life 

 of a fertile province absolutely depends today. We refer to the 

 Bahr Joussuf, — the canal of Joseph, — built, according to tradi- 

 tion, by the son of Jacob, and which constitutes not the least of the 

 many blessings he conferred on Egypt during the years of his pros- 

 perous rule. This canal took its rise, as given in Engineering, 

 from the Nile at Asiut, and ran nearly parallel with it for nearly 

 two hundred and fifty miles, creeping along under the western 

 cliffs of the Nile valley, with many a bend and winding, until at 

 length it gained an eminence, -as compared with the river-bed. 

 which enabled it to turn westward through a narrow pass, and enter 

 a district which was otherwise shut off from the fertilizing floods 

 on which all vegetation in Egypt depends. The northern end 

 stood seventeen feet higher than low Nile, while at the southern 

 end it was at an equal elevation with the river. Through this cut 

 ran a perennial stream, which watered a province named the 

 Fayoum, endowing it with fertility and supporting a large popula- 

 tion. In the time of the annual flood a great part of the canal was 

 under water, and then the river's current would rush in a more 

 direct course into the pass, carrying with it the rich silt which takes 

 the place of manure, and keeps the soil in a state of constant pro- 

 ductiveness. And this, with the exception of the tradition that 

 Joseph built it, can be verified to-day, and it is not mere supposi- 

 tion or rumor. Until eight years ago, it was firmly believed that 

 the design has always been limited to an irrigation scheme larger, 

 no doubt, than that now in operation, as shown by the traces of 

 abandoned canals and by the slow aggregation of waste-water 

 which had accumulated in the Birket el Ouerun, but still essentially 

 the same in character. Many accounts have been written by Greek 

 and Roman historians, such as Herodotus, Strabo, Mutianus, and 

 Pliny, and repeated in monkish legends or portrayed on the maps 

 of the middle ages, which agreed with the folk-lore of the district. 



