60 
done. The task will be a difficult one, even if 
Captain Sverdrup succeeds in taking the Fram 
through the difficult ice navigation which is 
generally found between the Greenland and 
American shores. Still, as we know from 
Hall’s experience, there are years when the 
passage is quite clear, and if the conditions are 
favorable the Fram may succeed in reaching 
82° N. without difficulty. Dr. Nansen is also 
anxious that Captain Sverdrup should examine 
what has been called the ‘paleo-crystic ice,’ 
about which there has been so much discussion, 
and as to the origin and real character of which 
there is considerable doubt. An attempt will 
be made to discover how far one must travel 
from land with dogs and sledges before meet- 
ing with ice more like that in which the Fram 
drifted. 
COMMISSIONER HERRMANN, of the General 
Land Office, has formulated, for the approval of 
the Secretary of the Interior, Regulations for 
the Forestry Reserves of the United States, 
following the recommendations of the Com- 
mittee of the National Academy, published in a 
recent issue of this JoURNAL. Attention is 
called to the danger of forest fires and to the 
law providing for punishment by fine or im- 
prisonment, not only for willfully setting fire 
to any timber on the public domain, but also for 
letting fires burn unattended near any timber. 
The recommendations would allow prospecting 
and the development of mineral resources, and 
land for school houses and churches are pro- 
’ vided. The construction of wagon roads and 
irrigating canals is permitted. The pasturing of 
live stock is allowed, except of sheep in regions 
where the rain fall is limited. Owners of mines 
and settlers resident within the forest reserves 
are permitted to take firewood, fencing and 
building material when they have not a suf- 
ficient supply on their own claims. Provision 
is also made for the sale of timber when this 
will not interfere with the value of the forests. 
Instructions are issued to all special agents of 
the Interior Department regarding the preven- 
tion of injury and depredations. It is further 
provided that lands more useful for mining or 
agricultural purposes may be eliminated from 
the forest reserves and restored to the public 
domain. Subject to the surveys now being 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Voz. VI. No. 132.. 
made by the Geological Survey, portions of the 
suspended reserves may be restored to public 
entry, and other portions of the public domain 
may be included in them. 
AN article in the London Times entitled ‘On 
the Trail of a Ghost,’ regarding an alleged 
haunted house in Perthshire, Scotland, has been 
followed by numerous letters on the subject. 
Two of these, one by Professor John Milne, 
offer the plausible explanation that the noises 
are of seismicorigin. Perthshire is acenter for 
British earthquakes. As early as 1840 the 
British Association appointed a committee to 
investigate the Perthshire earthquakes, and 
instruments were established in the parish 
church at Comrie. As many as 465 shocks 
were noted there between 1852 and 1890, and 
sounds may be heard when no movement can 
be either felt or recorded by an ordinary seis- 
mograph. Mr. Milne suggests that ‘‘ The So- 
ciety for Psychical Research when on bogey- 
hunting expeditions might possibly find that 
the suggested use of tromometric apparatus 
might not only lay home-made ghosts, but 
would furnish materials of value to all who are 
interested in seismic research.’’ 
WE learn from Industries and Iron that the 
Lachine Rapids, Hydraulic and Land Company, 
organized in 1895, touse the great energy of 
the Lachine Rapids, near Montreal, will soon 
complete its installation. There will be about 
eighty-six turbine wheels shortly in operation, 
and twelve dynamos making 175 revolutions 
each with a generating pressure of 4,400 volts. 
The electric energy will be carried by overhead 
wires as far as the outskirts of Montreal, and 
then passed underground until it reaches the 
substation in the city. 
THE supply bill passed at the recent session 
of the New York Legislature contained an item 
appropriating $10,000 for the medical depart- 
ment of the University of Buffalo to investigate 
the causes, nature and treatment of cancer. 
Governor Black vetoed this appropriation with 
the statement: ‘‘I cannot approve a proposed 
policy which requires the State to engage in an 
investigation of the causes of various diseases 
with which the human family is afflicted. I 
think that the interest of the people themselves 
