October i6, 1891.] 



SCIENCE. 



215 



pei-sistently transported to the equatorial plane of the corona; 

 in fact, the zodiacal light may be the accumulation at great 

 distances from the sun along this equator of such like mate- 

 rial. Photographs on a larger scale will be desirable for the 

 full development of the conclusions which may follow from 

 this study of the curved forms of the coronal structure. Pro- 

 fessor Schaeberle, however, considers that the coronal phe- 

 nomena may be satisfactorily accounted for on the supposition 

 that the corona is formed of streams of matter ejected mainly 

 irom the spot zones with great initial velocities, but smaller 

 than 382 miles per second ; further, that the different types 

 of the corona are due to the effects of perspective on the 

 streams from the earth's place at the time relatively to the 

 plane of the solar equator. 



Of the physical and the chemical nature of the coronal 

 matter we know very little.' Schuster concludes, from an 

 examination of the eclipses of 1882, 1S83, and 1886, that the 

 continuous spectrum of the corona has the maximum of 

 actinic intensity displaced considerably towards the red when 

 compared with the spectrum of the sun, which shows that 

 it can only be due in small part to solar light scattered by 

 small particles. The lines of calcium and of hydrogen do 

 not appear to form part of the normal spectrum of the corona. 

 The green coronal line has no known representative in terres- 

 trial substances, nor has Schuster been able to recognize any 

 of our elements in the other lines of the corona. 



(To be continued.) 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Recent additions to the stock of Geo. L. English & Co., tlie 

 well-known mineralogists, have been so extensive that they have 

 been compelled to issue a supplement to their "Catalogue of 

 Minerals." "Supplement A" contains 20 pages well filled with 

 descriptions of new specimens procured in different parts of the 

 world by the three collectors who have been at work during the 

 summer. 



— " As I went to the train one morning," writes a correspon- 

 dent of Nature, "I saw a brown retriever dog coming full speed 

 with a letter in his mouth. He went straight to the mural letter 

 box. The postman had just cleared the box, and was about 

 twenty or thirty yards ofE when the dog arrived. Seeing him, the 

 sagacious animal went after him, and had the letter transferred 

 to the bag. He then walked home quietly." 



— Dr. Loewenberg of Paris discusses the influence of sex in 

 what he calls the "lateralization " of ear disease. After referring 

 to the view generally held by otologists that the left ear is more 

 liable to be attacked alone, or to be attacked first and to suffer 

 more severely when both ears are affected, he says, according to 

 the British Medical Journal, that he has for a long time past been 

 struck with the fact that, while deafness is more common on the 

 left side in men, the same does not hold good in the case of women. 

 From statistics of 3,000 cases (not including diseases of the concha 

 and external meatus) which have come under his own notice, he 

 shows, in the first place, that the male sex is more subject to ear 

 disease than the female, there having been 1,790 of the former to 

 1,210 of the latter. Among those in whom only one ear was 

 affected there were 478 men and 311 womea. The right ear alone 

 was affected in 312 men and 167 women; the left alone in 266 men 

 and 144 women. Deafness existed in both ears in 1,074 men and 

 737 women. Among this number the right ear was the more deaf 

 of the two in 427 men and 340 women, the left in 647 men and 

 397 women. Deafness was equal on both sides in 238 men and 163 

 women. 



— The Ohio State University opened the fall term on Sept. 16, 

 with a more than usual increase of attendance. In the agricul- 

 tural and veterinary departments the number is over thirty per 

 cent larger than last year, and the increase of the various depart- 

 ments together is much larger than any previous year. This is 



probably due to the passage of the Hysell bill last year, which 

 brought the institution before the minds of the people, and also 

 put it beyond financial embarrassment. In addition to the nine 

 buildings now in use, the ground will be broken this fall for two 

 more large buildings, — one for the manual training school and 

 the other for the museum and library. Several full professors 

 have been added to the faculty, besides a number of assistants. 

 The School of Law, which is a new department, opened its first 

 session on Oct. 1, at the Franklin County Court House in Colum- 

 bus, where students will have unusual facilities for observing the 

 organization and working of courts, the actual progress of trials, 

 etc. The new school starts out in a way that promises prosperity. 

 The biological club held its first meeting of the term on Sept. 22, 

 when interesting reports of the summer's work were submitted by 

 the members. Several new members were elected, among them 

 W. A. Kellerman, professor of botany in the university, and 

 Professor F. M. Webster, entomologist at the Experiment Station. 

 Both are valuable acquisitions to the club, each having travelled 

 and done biological work both at home and abroad. 



— The monthly report of the State Geologist of Missouri states 

 that during September detailed mapping has been continued in 

 Henry and St. Francois counties, and, in the former, most excel- 

 lent progress has been made. In all, some one hundred and fif- 

 teen square miles have been covered. The mapping of the crys- 

 talline rocks in the south-east, and of the other geological forma- 

 tions in Webster, Greene, and Christian Counties has been actively 

 pushed, and nearly two hundred square miles have been com- 

 pleted during the month. Inspections of iron ore deposits have 

 been made in Reynolds, Texas, Wright, Douglas, Christian, 

 Taney, Greene, Lawrence, Franklin, Gasconade, Howell, Jasper, 

 and Laclede Counties. The results of this work so far indicate 

 that the extent of the limonite ores of the southern part of the 

 State is much greater than has been anticipated, and that there is 

 a promising outlook for the development of manganese ores in 

 this region. Inspections of lead and zinc deposits have been made 

 in Polk, Dade, Taney, Laclede, Phelps, Douglas, Marion, and 

 Franklin Counties. The quaternary deposits have been studied 

 in Cape Girardeau, St. Louis, Franklin, Marion, Pike, Lincoln, St. 

 Charles, Livingston, Chariton, Daviess, and Buchanan Counties. 

 Good progress has been made in the preparation of the report on 

 the paleontology of the State. Some two hundred and forty pages 

 of manuscript are already written, and arrangements are about 

 completed for the engraving of the plates to accompany the vol- 

 ume. The preliminary reports on the coal deposits of the State 

 is nearly completed, and much time has been spent during the 

 past month on the preparation of the manuscript and illustrations 

 for it, and the draughtinsr of detailed maps and sections prepara- 

 tory to engraving has continued uninterruptedly. 



— Queen & Co. , Philadelphia, will, in a short time, transfer their 

 entire plant, now located at 924 Chestnut Street, to the larger 

 building, 1010 Chestnut Street. The public of Philadelphia speak 

 of Queen's as "opticians," and comparatively few outside of the 

 professional world are aware of the magnitude of their business. 

 A brief description of each department may be of interest. De- 

 partment No. 1 is devoted to spectacles, eye-glasses, opera glasses, 

 field and marine glasses, and apparatus for oculists, including 

 ophthalmoscopes, trial glasses, perimeters, etc. Department No. 3 

 is devoted to instruments of precision required by engineers, archi- 

 tects, draughtsmen, students, and others. No. 3 is for microscopes 

 and all instruments which are allied to the microscope. From this 

 department comes the Microscopical Bulletin. No. 4 is one of the 

 most extensive and interesting. Here are to be found the various 

 apparatus required in the physical laboratories of schools and col- 

 leges. No. 5 is devoted to magic lanterns, or, in scientific terms, 

 apparatus for luminous projection, views, and accessory apparatus. 

 Spy-glasses, astronomical telescopes, [and solar transits are also in- 

 cluded. No. 6 includes meteorological instruments. This depart- 

 ment recently supplied the United States War Department with 

 the Boulange chronographs for determining the velocity of pro- 

 jectiles. No. 7 is the photographic department. Every effort 

 will be made to have this department attractive in the new build- 

 ing. Dark rooms for developing, etc., will be provided, and com- 



