808 
and a few corrections), which was issued by the 
University of California in 1888, and from the 
annual publications of the Lick Observatory 
(printed in the American Journal of Science, the 
Publications of the Astronomical Society of the 
Pacific, the Bulletins of the United States Geo- 
logical Survey) since that date. The annual 
records referred to have been compiled by 
Messrs. Holden, Keeler and Perrine from ob- 
servations at Mt. Hamilton, and from miscel- 
laneous reports of earthquake shocks. They 
have been thoroughly sifted and revised in the 
present work, which is believed to contain all 
trustworthy data on the subject of Pacific coast 
earthquakes since 1769. 
In a monograph entitled ‘A revision of the 
American Lemnaceae occurring north of Mex- 
ico,’ printed in advance from the Ninth Annual 
Report of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Mr. 
C. H. Thompson, in continuation of his studies 
of ligulate Wolffias, published in the Highth Re- 
port, has now brought together, in’concise form 
and with good keys, a synopsis of the entire 
Order Lemnaceae, as represented in our 
flora, each species, in addition to a good de- 
scription, being represented by excellent fig- 
ures illustrating its habit and structural details. 
The paper should stimulate increased study of 
this interesting group of aquatics, the smallest 
of flowering plants. 
WE understand that subscriptions toward the 
purchase of the paleontological collections of 
the late Professor Cope for the Philadelphia 
Academy of Natural Sciences are far from 
reaching the needed sum. A recent issue of 
the Philadelphia Ledger contains an editorial 
urging the importance of securing these collec- 
tions. It remarks: 
““The public spirit of the citizens of this city 
should not make it possible for the collections to 
be taken elsewhere, as they embrace many of 
the specimens on which Professor Cope based 
his original descriptions, and this type material 
is simply priceless, since it cannot be duplicated. 
If through the liberality of those interested in 
the progress of science the Academy of Natural 
Sciences be placed in possession of this material, 
that institution will then have in its museum 
the type collections of Leidy and Cope, two of 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Vou. VI. No. 152. 
the greatest authorities on the monsters of the 
pre-historic world.’’ 
SIMULTANEOUSLY with the starting of the rail- 
road at Buluwayo, says the New York Tribune, 
comes the news of the discovery of coal in large 
quantities in the immediate neighborhood of 
the place, the prospectors having been able to 
ascertain that the coal fields in question cover 
an immense area, extending, indeed, to the 
Zambesi river. It is this discovery, destined to 
play so great a réle in the commercial and in- 
dustrial development of the southern portion of 
the Dark Continent, that has led Cecil Rhodes 
to decide to continue the railroad without 
delay to the Zambesi river, which will then be 
in uninterrupted railroad communication with 
the Cape. Apart from their commercial im- 
portance the coalfields may contain fossils of 
great scientific interest. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 
A NEW University was opened at Jassy, Rou- 
mania, on November 2d, addresses being made 
by the king and by the queen of Roumania. 
By the will of the late Julia Bradford Hunt- 
ington James a trust fund left by the late Ralph 
Huntington was released, and it appears that 
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and 
the Boston Museum of Fine Arts will each re- 
ceive about $100,000. 
THE Root Hall of Science and the Benedict 
Hall of Languages of Hamilton College were 
dedicated on November 16th. The buildings 
are both of stone and each cost about $30,000. 
The Hall of Science is the gift of Mr. Elihu 
Root, of New York, in memory of his parents, 
his father having been professor of mathematics 
in Hamilton College. His brother, Oren Root, 
now holds the same chair. 
ARRANGEMENTS are being made to build a 
science hall at Ripon College, costing $30,000. 
Five subscriptions of $2,500 have already been 
received. 
ROCKFELLER HALL, the new recitation build- 
ing given to Vassar College by Mr. John D. 
Rockfeller, at the cost of $100,000, was dedi- 
cated on November 19th. Dr. G. Stanley 
