OCTOBER 8, 1897. ] 
public domain. Fortunately, the climate of 
southeastern Alaska is so humid that forest fires 
are rare and never very destructive, and repro- 
duction is sure and rapid. These forests, there- 
fore, even with American methods, will not soon 
or easily be destroyed; and here and to the south- 
ward, along the coast ranges and islands of 
British Columbia, through nine degrees of lati- 
tude from Cross Sound, at the north of Chicago 
Island, to the Straits of Fuca, is now the greatest 
continuous body of coniverous timber in the 
world, almost unmarked as yet by the axe, safe 
from fire and of easy access, from which the 
world will be able to draw great stores of ma- 
terial when the Redwoods and Douglas Spruces 
of the South have fallen, and the south-Atlantic 
and Gulf-shore pineries are only dim memories.’’ 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 
THE attendance at the American colleges and 
universities will be larger this year than ever 
before. The numbers given at present are 
subject to revision, but nearly all institutions re- 
port the largest entrance classes ever recorded. 
At Harvard the Freshman class will be over 500. 
At Yale the academie Freshmen number about 
350 (a slight decrease as compared with last 
year), and the Freshmen in the scientific de- 
partment about 175. At Pennsylvania nearly 
200 Freshmen were registered, about 35 more 
than last year. The entrance class at Prince- 
ton will number over 300. 
THE colleges for women—Bryn Mawr, Vassar, 
Wellesley, Smith and others—also report an 
increased attendance. It is noteworthy that 
there are in the United States 139 colleges and 
universities exclusively for men and 162 ex- 
elusively for women. 
If is now stated that the estate of the late 
Henry M. Pierce will yield $750,000 to each of 
the five legatees, which include Harvard Univer- 
sity and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 
By the will of the late Dr. Antoine Ruppaner 
the Harvard Medical School will receive $10,- 
000, to be called the Dr. Ruppaner Fund. 
Mr. H. H. HUNNEWELL has given $5,000 
towards the endowment of the Surgical Labora- 
tory of the Harvard Medical School. 
THE Rey. Dr. Eliphalet Nott Potter, formerly 
SCIENCE. 
561 
President of Union College and of Hobart Col- 
lege, has accepted the presidency of the Cosmo- 
politan ‘ University’ (Correspondence School). 
Dr. HAns ReEvscu, director of the geological 
survey of Norway, has been appointed for 
1897-98 to the Sturgis-Hooper professorship 
of geology in Harvard University, left vacant 
since the death of Professor J. D. Whitney a 
year ago. Dr. Reusch will lecture on Vulcan- 
ism during the first half year, treating vol- 
canoes and eruptive rocks in general; earth- 
quakes and movements of the earth’s crust. 
In the second half year he will lecture on the 
Geology of Northern Europe, and its relations 
to general geology. The third hour of each 
week will be set apart for seminary work. Inthe 
spring Professor Reusch proposes to take part in 
the instruction of advanced students in the field. 
In addition to a number of assistants, the 
following instructors have been appointed at 
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology : 
Carl H. Clark, S.B., in mechanical engineering; 
Frederick A. Hannah, §.B., in mechanical en-' 
gineering; Charles M. Spofford, §.B., in civil 
engineering. The following promotions have 
also been made: Arthur A. Noyes, 8.B., Ph.D., 
associate professor of organic chemistry ; Frank 
A. Laws, 8.B., assistant professor of electrical 
measurements; Harry M. Goodwin, S.B., 
Ph.D., assistant professor of physics. 
DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 
RESULTS FROM THE HIGHEST KITE FLIGHT. 
To THE EDITOR OF ScrmENcCE: Aided by a 
grant from the Hodgkins Fund of the Smith- 
sonian Institution, the Blue Hill Observatory 
is endeavoring to obtain meteorological records 
in the free air at heights exceeding 10,000 feet, 
and on September 19th such records were ob- 
tained at the highest level which kites are 
known by the writer to have attained. 
The flight in question was conducted without 
mishaps by my assistants, Messrs. Clayton, 
Fergusson and Sweetland. On the day men- 
tioned, the sky was clear and the wind blew 
from the south in gusts of from 20 to 35 miles 
an hour. The Richard baro-thermo-hygro- 
graph, which weighs three pounds and was sus- 
pended 130 feet below two large kites of Mr. 
