436 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 360 



Hygiene and Sunday. 



Among the questions treated of at the recent congresses in 

 Paris, says the London Lancet, that of the observance of the sab- 

 bath as a day of rest was not the least interesting. The congress 

 on this subject was presided over by M. L^on Say, who remarked 

 that this rest, which several religions rendered obligatory, is a law 

 of nature, and consequently a law of hygiene, the excellence of 

 which has long been demonstrated, although it is not to be 

 found in all national codes. The resting on the Seventh day 

 is of biblical origin, and the custom of counting the days 

 by seven was formerly the rule among the most diverse races, 

 — in India, as among the Celts, in China as well as in Arabia. 

 Now that hygiene has become a positive science, it confirms the 

 moral and material necessity for a temporary rest on the seventh 

 day. 



Several reports were presented to the congress, and physicians, 

 professors, philosophers, and hygienists are in accord on this point. 

 All, without exception, support for workers of all classes and of 

 all ages a weekly day of rest, which should even be made obliga- 

 tory. It may here be noted that in 1881 this subject was opened 

 to competition by the Swiss Government for a prize, which was 

 awarded to Dr. Niemeyer of Leipzig. The subject was brilliantly 

 treated by Dr. Niemeyer, who observed that the dominical rest is 

 the first commandment of hygiene, which should be followed to 

 obtain a peaceful and continued amelioration of society, and in this 

 respect it is as much a rational institution as a religious one. 



The following is the summary of the conclusions as voted by the 

 great majority of the members of the congress : " Rest on Sunday is 

 possible in varying degrees in all industries. Sunday is the day 

 which best suits the employer and employed, both as regards the 

 individual himself and his family, and it is well that the day of rest 

 should be as much as possible the same for all. When the Sun- 

 day rest is impracticable for certain reasons, it should be replaced 

 by some other day, so that the workman may have fifty-two days' 

 rest in the year as equally divided as possible. This rest permits 

 man to produce considerably more and better work, inasmuch as 

 it contributes to maintain his zeal and to restore his physical 

 forces." 



Italian Sausages. — The excitement caused throughout Italy 

 by the detection of extensive frauds in the Bologna-sausage manu- 

 facture is spreading. Other cities, notably Florence, are demand- 

 ing an immediate inspection of the same articles of food as are 

 vended in Italian warehouses. The public, says the Nazione of 

 that city, are entitled to some such inquiry in their behalf as has 

 just yielded such startling results in Bologna. Instead of the pig's 

 flesh, popularly supposed to form the main ingredient in the Italian 

 sausage, horse-flesh is that which is really used, — horse-flesh 

 moreover, of more than dubious origin, taken from animals that 

 have died of infectious disease, and even that in an advanced state 

 of decomposition. According to the Tribuna, there has been col- 

 lusion between certain sausage-manufacturing firms and the veter- 

 inary authority, the latter winking at frauds which it ought to have 

 exposed. The new powers conferred by the Codice Sanitario, in- 

 deed, are finding material for their exercise in quarters hitherto 

 above suspicion ; in an industry, to wit, which has long been one 

 of the special boasts of Italy. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The municipality of Paris is considering the feasibility and 

 expediency of increasing the water-supply for that city by impound- 

 ing the head waters of the Vigne and Verneuil. This would ad- 

 mit of increasing the water-supply to fifty-five gallons per head per 

 day, the present supply being only twenty-two gallons per head per 

 day, besides giving a much purer water for domestic uses. 



— It may prove of interest briefly to describe a series of models 

 that have recently been loaned to the Johns Hopkins University by 

 E. H. Butler & Co. of Philadelphia. The set includes North 

 America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the United States, 

 and Pennsylvania. The models are the work of the Mindeleff 

 Brothers of the United States Geological Survey, who prepared 

 them expressly for the publishers. They have been used in illus- 



trating the geographies recently published by that firm. The 

 models surpass in elaborateness any that have hitherto been con- 

 structed, and, by agreement with the publishers, they remain the 

 only set, as no copies will be made of the present series. They 

 are made of plaster-of-Paris, and the approximate dimensions are 

 four feet by three feet and six inches. The land is represented in 

 buff on a blue ground, thus assuring a sharp outline to each con- 

 tinent and its accompanying islands. The mountainous portions 

 stand out in bold relief, so that the chief elevations and depressions 

 of the continents are clearly emphasized. The prominent river 

 courses, with their characteristic channels of broad valley or narrow 

 canon, are plainly shown. One of the most striking features in the 

 topography is the distinctness with which the chief drainage basins 

 are outlined. The extent of the Mississippi basin, for example,, 

 and the character of its topography are at once apparent. On the 

 enlarged relief of the United States more details are added than 

 were possible on the model of North America, while on that of 

 Pennsylvania the characteristic features of Appalachian topography 

 are plainly exhibited. The great importance of such models for 

 purposes of illustration in physical geography cannot be over-esti- 

 mated. The value of the entire set is not far from $2,000. Mr. J. 

 A. Shriver placed the sum of $175 ^t the disposal of the Geological 

 Department for the purchase of models and maps relating to physi- 

 cal geography. A set of thirty relief maps, designed by Professor W. 

 M. Davis of Harvard University, to illustrate the development of 

 the more prominent features in topography, has already been ac- 

 quired, and a second set, showing the associations of topography 

 with geological structure, prepared by Professor N. S. Shaler, has 

 been ordered. In addition to these, several maps relating to spe- 

 cial points in physical geography are in course of preparation. A 

 large model of a unique region in Pennsylvania, showing the effect 

 of valley carving on anticHnal and synclinal structure, is at present 

 under construction by a member of the Pennsylvania Geological 

 survey. 



— Emin Pacha, who received serious injuries from a fall soon 

 after reaching the coast, is now in fair way to recovery. 



— The slight improvements made from time to time in incan- 

 descent electric lamps tend mainly in the direction of giving them 

 a longer life. A lamp of the Woodhouse & Rawson make, as re- 

 ported from Taunton, England, is credited with a service of 10,608 

 hours before giving out. 



— The fifth annual meeting of the Indiana Academy of Science, 

 to be held at Indianapolis, Dec. 30 and 31, has been announced. 

 The officers and ex-ojfficio executive committee of the academy are 

 John C. Branner, president ; T. C. Mendenhall, Oliver P. Hay, 

 John L. Campbell, vice-presidents; Amos W. Butler, secretary; 

 Oliver P. Jenkins, treasurer ; David S. Jordan, John M. Coulter, 

 J. P. D. John, ex-presidents. The list of papers is as follows : 

 " Explorations of the United States Fish Commission in Colorado 

 and Utah," by David S. Jordan ; " Explorations of the United 

 States Fish Commission Steamer ' Albatross ' in the Pacific Ocean," 

 by Charles H. Gilbert; "Explorations of the United States Fish 

 Commission in Missouri," by Frank M. Drew and Louis Rettger ; 

 " Preliminary Note on the Fishes of the Sandwich Islands," by O. 

 P. Jenkins; " Description of a New Species of Rhinoptera from the 

 Gulf of California" (by title), by B. W. Evermann and O. P. Jen- 

 kins ; " Some Notes on Indiana Reptiles and Batrachians," by A. 

 W. Butler ; " Some Rare Batrachians," by W. S. Blatchley ; 

 " Fishes of Putnam County," by O. P. Jenkins ; " Some Habits of 

 the Crayfish," by C. W. Hargitt ; " The Occurrence of the Badger 

 in Indiana," by Amos W. Butler ; " Fishes in the Yellowstone 

 Park," by David S. Jordan ; " Notes on Some Fishes from the 

 West Coast of Africa, collected by Carl Stecklemann," by O. P. 

 Jenkins; "Morphology of Siphonophores," ,by Louis Rettger 

 " Notes upon the Economic Phases of Entomology and Ornithol- 

 ogy>" by C. W. Hargitt; "Observations on the Destruction of 

 Birds by Storms," by A. W. Butler ; " Notes on Indiana Butter- 

 flies," by Albert J. Woolman ; " Investigations on Relation be- 

 tween the Intensity of Stimulus and Re-action Time," by W. J. 

 Bryan ; " Incandescent Gas-Lighting," by W. DeM. Hooper ; 

 " Dangers of the Electric Circuit," by John L. Campbell ; " Appa- 

 ratus for the Determination of Power Consumption in Friction and 



