20 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVIII. No 440 



entirely Tanishes, because the flaccid heart is always slightly dis- 

 torted by the chest-wall even when the cardiograph is not pressed 

 against it. Dr. Haycraft further shows that the sinuosities, which 

 always appear to a greater or less extent on the cardiogram, are 

 not due to peculiarities in the action of the heart, but are instru- 

 mental in their origin, being caused by oscillations which result 

 from the inertia of the cardiograj)h. 



— Writing to the editor of Insect Life, Mr R. J. McGuire, of 

 Rosedale, Miss., says: "Inclosed please find an insect, the name 

 and habits of which you \Till oblige me by giving. I found it on 

 a willow tree in a swamp on Island 73, in the Mississippi, belong- 

 ing to Arkansas. I was hunting deer, and being tired lay down 

 under a small willow to rest. After lying there a few moments 

 the air suddenly became filled with little drops of water, as if rain 

 or mist were falling. I got out from under the tree, and as soon 

 as I moved the mist ceased. I stood a short distance away and 

 watched, and gradually came closer, and after watching for half 

 an hour I discovered this little bug on a twig. When I first saw 

 it, it was perfectly quiet, but soon put its head to the limb and 

 immediately minute drops of fluid began to be ejected from the 

 rear end of its body, which extended past or even with the ends 

 of its wings, but since its death it has shrivelled to its present 

 length. The leaves of the tree on which I found it were pierced 

 in thousands of places, and the mist from the tree was thick; but 

 this bug was not on a leaf, but on a small limb. I could find no 

 other insects on the tree, but know there were hundreds. The 

 one I caught slipped around the limb very much as a squirrel 

 would, and I had difficulty in catching it. It made no effort to 

 fly. The natives of the island called the tree a weeping tree, and 

 are very superstitious about it." Replying, the editor sajs: " The 

 insect which you send is one of the so-called leaf-hoppers, which 

 has been frequently referred to in print on account of its habit of 

 ejecting honey dew and causing the phenomenon of so-called 

 ' weeping- trees.' The scientific name of the one which you send 

 is Proconia undata.'' 



— The following appointments from among the graduates of 

 Johns Hopkins" University have Tecently been made: J. William 

 Black, to be professor of history at Georgetown CJollege, Ky. ; 

 Charles C. Blackshear, associate professor of chemistry. Woman's 

 College of Baltimore; Bsnjamin L. Bowen, associate pnifessor of 

 the Romance languages, Ohio State University ; Edwin G. Conklin, 

 professor of biology. Ohio Wesleyan University; Paul J. Dashiell, 

 instructor in organic chemistry, Lehigh Univer.=iity ; Alfred Emer- 

 son, professor of archeeology, Cornell University ; Charles H. 

 Haskins, assistant professor of history. University of Wisconsin ; 

 George L. Hendrickson. professor of Latin. University of Wiscon- 

 sin : Francis H. Herrick, Professor of biology, Adelbert College ; 

 William H. Hobbs, assistant professor of mineralogy and metal- 

 lurgy, and curator of the geological museum. University of Wis- 

 consin ; Arthur L. Kimball , professor of physics, Amherst College ; 

 Oliver P. Jenkins, professor of physiology and histology, Stanford 

 University ; James C. Johnston, Loomis fellow in pathology, Uni- 

 versity of the City of New York; James E. Keeler, professor of 

 astro-physics and director of the observatory at Allegheny City, 

 Penn., James T. Lees, professor of Greek, University of Nebraska; 

 Henry P. Manning, assistant professor of mathematics, Brown 

 University; W. D. McClintock, assistant professor of English 

 literature, University of Chicago; Dice McLaren, director and 

 agriculturist, Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station; J. 

 Leverett Moore, associate professor of Latin, Vassar College; 

 Ernest M. Pease, professor of the Latin language and literature, 

 Stanford University ; George Petrie, professor of history, Alabama 

 Agricultural and Mechanical College; George M. Riohai-dson, as- 

 sistant professor of inorganic chemistry, Stanford University ; 

 Edward B. Rosa, professor of physics, Wesleyan University; 

 Edward A. Ross, professor of political economy, Indiana Uni- 

 versity; William T. Sedgwick, professor of biology, Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology; Robert B, Steele, professor of Latin. 

 Illinois Wesleyan University ; Bernard C. Steiner, instructor in 

 history, Williams College; William D. Taylor, professor of civil 

 engineering, University of Louisiana ; Edward P. Thompson, 

 professor of mathematics, Westminster College, Penn. ; Henry A. 



Todd, Professor of Romance languages, Stanford University; 

 William H. Tolman, instructor in history. New York City ; Fred- 

 erick J. Turner, professor of history, University of Wisconsin ; 

 Stephen B. Weeks, professor of history and political science, 

 Trinity College, N. C; Langdon Williams, instructor in history, 

 Chicago, 111.; Arthur B. Woodford, assistant professor of political 

 economy, University of Pennsylvania. 



— The following appointments have recently been rr^ade in the 

 Johns Hopkins University: Maurice Bloomfield, now associate 

 professor, to be professor of Sanskrit and comparative philology; 

 William Hand Browne, now librarian and associate, to be associate 

 professor of English literatui'e; James W. Bright, now associate, to 

 be associate professor of English philology ; Professor C. T. Winches- 

 ter to be one of the lecturers on the Donovan foundation for 1891-93; 

 Professor R. C. Jebb to be the lecturer on the Percy Turnbull 

 memorial foundation for 1891-92; Rev. W. M. Taylor and Rev. 

 R. S. Storrs to be the Levering lecturers in 1891-93; Nicholas 

 Murray, now in charge of the publications, to be librarian ; J. S. 

 Ames, now assistant, to be associate in physics; C. H. Chapman, 

 now instructor, to be associate in mathematics; Hermann S. Ber- 

 ing to be associate in electrical engineerin.g; John E. Matzke to 

 be associate in the Romance languages; W. W. Randall to continue 

 as assistant in chemistry; Christopher Johnson, Jun., now fellow, 

 to be instructor in Semitic languages; E S. Lewis, now fellow, 

 to be assistant in Romance languages; C. C. Marden, now of the 

 University of Michigan, to he assistant in Romance languages; 

 W. S. Symington, Jun , to be assistant in Romance languages; 

 Hermann Schoenfeld, of Columbian University, to be instructor 

 in German; George H. Nuttall to be assistant in bacteriology and 

 hygiene; Edward Renouf to be a member of tlie standing com- 

 mittee on the gymnasium and ii;s secretary; J. B. Crenshaw to 

 the charge of the gymnasium; G. P. Dreyer to continue in the 

 office of senior demonstrator of physiology; Theodore Hough to 

 continue as junior assistant in the biological laboratory: C. L. 

 Poor, lately a fellow, and now of the College of the City of New 

 York, to be instructor in mathematics; C. A. Smith to be assistant 

 in English; W. A. Scott to be assistant in history; Thomas H. 

 Morgan to hold, for another year, the fellowship in biology 

 founded as a memorial of the late Adam T. Bruce; Edwin G. 

 Conklin to occupy the table allotted to this university in the United 

 States marine laboratory at Wood's HoU. 



— Dr. Buchan read a paper before the Royal Society, London, 

 May 18, on the barometer at Ben Nevis observatory, in relation to 

 the direction and strength of the wind (Nature, June 18). In 

 arranging the results. Dr. Buchan has referred the directioia of 

 the wind to sixteen points of the compass, although the observa- 

 tions are actually made with reference to the thirty-two points. 

 The readings of the barometers at the high-level and the low-level 

 stations, when reduced to sea-level, exhibit marked differences 

 dependent upon the direction of the wind. The investigation ex- 

 tends over the period of nine months commencing in August, 1890. 

 During that time, all the very high winds have been from the east- 

 south east and the south-east, these being the directions in which 

 the wind blows freely along the top of the mountain to the obser- 

 vatory. In eleven cases the wind from these directions attained a 

 speed of 120 miles an hour or more; and the (reduced) barometer 

 at the high-level station read about one-sixth of an inch lower 

 than the instrument at the low-level station. In no other direc- 

 tion was a higher velocity than 70 miles an hour noted ; and in the 

 directions from west to north north-west, east, and east-north-east, 

 the velocity was never greater than 30 miles an hour. With 

 northerly winds the instruments at the top of the mountain record 

 a much lower speed than that which, from observations of the 

 drift of the clouds, is seen to be reached at a small height above 

 the top of the mountain. The cause of this comparative calm 

 immediately at the top is the impact of the air upon the face of 

 the cliff which lies to the north of the observatory. The stream 

 lines are thus suddenly deflected upwards. In such eases the de- 

 pression of the barometer is about three times as great as that 

 which occurs with an equally strong wind from other directions, 

 and indicates the formation of a region of low pressure around 

 the observatory. .-V peculiar result which is observed with other 



