February 22, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



141 



Paris Ecole des Beaux Arts. Diplomas will be issued to members 

 of the normal, decoration, metal, wood-carving, and cabinet draw- 

 ing-classes who have previously passed a season in one of the 

 drawing-classes, and have shown satisfactory progress. 



— A technical laboratory for special instruction in dyeing and 

 bleaching, says Nature, has just been opened in connection with 

 University College, Dundee. This technical portion of the chemi- 

 cal department consists of a completely fitted dye-house, a labora- 

 tory, and a museum for technical samples, more especially con- 

 nected with the textile industries of the district. Practical instruc- 

 tion in the dye-house was begun by Professor Percy Frankland last 

 week. 



— It is well known that the aurora has a period of eleven years 

 corresponding to that of terrestrial magnetism and of sunspots. 

 It has recently been proved that the magnetical phenomena have a 

 period of twenty-six days. This fact suggested to Mr. J. Liznar 

 the plan of attempting to find a corresponding period in the 

 frequency of the aurora. He subjected the hourly observations of 

 the polar stations at Bossekop, Jan Mayen, and Fort Rae, in 1882-83, 

 to an investigation, and found a very distinct period of this length, 

 the maxima and minima of which corresponded exactly to those 

 of the magnetic period. From this fact Mr. Liznar concludes that 

 the connection between aurora and terrestrial magnetism is still 

 closer than has been heretofore supposed. 



— The tenth session of the International Congress of Anthro- 

 pology and Prehistoric Archaeology will meet in Paris Aug. 19-26. 

 The programme, subject to additions, is as follows: (i) "The 

 Erosion and Filling-up of Valleys and the Filling-up of Caves in 

 their Relation to the Antiquity of Man ; " (2) " The Periodicity of 

 Glacial Phenomena ; " (3) " Art and Industry in Caves, and the 

 Value of Paleontological and Archsological Classification when 

 applied to the Quaternary Epoch;" (4) "Chronological Relation 

 between the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages ; " (5) " Relations be- 

 tween the Civilizations of Hallstadt and the Other Danubian Sta- 

 tions and the Civilization of Mycenae, Tirynthus, Issarlik, and the 

 Caucasus ; " (6) " A Critical Discussion of the Skulls and Quater- 

 nary Bones described in the Last Fifteen Years, with an Examina- 

 tion of the Ethnological Elements Characteristic of the Stone, 

 Bronze, and Iron Ages in Central and Western Europe;" (7) 

 "The Light which Ethnographical Survivals can throw on the 

 Social State of the Early Populations of Central and Western 

 Europe ; " (8) " How far can Archseological or Ethnographical 

 Analogies be used to support Hypotheses in Regard to Race Con- 

 nections or Prehistoric Migrations ? " 



— The council of the Royal Meteorological Society, says Nature, 

 have arranged to hold at 25 Great George Street, Westminster (by 

 permission of the council of the Institution of Civil Engineers), on 

 March 19-22 next, an exhibition of instruments connected with at- 

 mospheric physics invented during the last ten years, especially 

 those used for actinic and solar radiation observations. The ex- 

 hibition committee invite the co-operation of all who may be able 

 and willing to send contributions. The committee will also be 

 glad to show any new meteorological instruments or apparatus in- 

 vented or first constructed since last March, as well as photographs 

 and drawings possessing meteorological interest. 



— Germania, a quarto fortnightly journal for the study of the 

 German language and literature, edited by A. W. Spanhoofd, has 

 just been published at Manchester, N.H. 



— Leif Erikson is the title of a new journal to be published 

 weekly at Chicago, under the editorial management of Miss Marie 

 A. Brown, to prove, among other things, that the Norsemen dis- 

 covered America, and that Columbus was an impostor. 



— It is reported from north central Norway and Sweden, so 

 says Nature, that wolves are very numerous this winter. They 

 have re-appeared in districts where they have been unknown for 

 many years. 



— A new magazine for the blind, in raised Braille type, will 

 shortly make its appearance in London under distinguished patron- 

 age. It will contain original articles and reprints of literary matter 



of a high class, by the best authors of the day, politics being ex- 

 cluded. 



— Brentanos have opened a branch at No. 430 Strand, London, 

 which they intend to make " the headquarters of Americans in Eu- 

 rope, as is already the case with their house in Paris, by offering 

 them all possible facilities for keeping fully informed of the doings 

 of American authors and publishers." 



— The German Government has granted, according to Nature, 

 the sum of ^27,500 to repair the building of the University of Ber- 

 lin, and to erect new lecture-rooms, staircases, and corridors, and 

 for the heating and lighting apparatus. The government has also 

 given ^36,500 to the Natural History Museum, besides ^2,500 for 

 books. A further sum of £1,000 is to be devoted to the purchase 

 of physical apparatus and an anatomical cabinet. 



— We have received a specimen copy of the Interpretor, an in- 

 ternational review for universal language, edited, with assistance of 

 numerous linguists of different nationalities, by Karl Lentre (Leip- 

 zig, Flossplatz 310). It appears monthly, and the subscription price 

 is 50 cents half-yearly. The movement for a world-speech has now 

 entered a new phase of evolution. Whereas formerly only persons 

 of very limited capacity of judgment in linguistic matters have taken 

 up VolapUk, the idea of a national artificial speech is now gaining 

 ground more and more among linguists, who examine VolapUk and 

 other similar attempts critically and scientifically. This procedure, 

 however, does not suit the Volapiikists, who opine that the faults 

 and failings of a system, do no harm if only the invention itself can 

 be used. This standpoint is, however, quite untenable, for a lan- 

 guage which cannot bear the test of scientific criticism is not likely 

 to possess qualities insuring its lasting success. The Interpretor, 

 published in English, German, and French side by side, is to be a 

 central organ for scientific criticism in the department of world- 

 speech, and will also furnish to those who have as yet kept aloof 

 from this movement an opportunity to form a judgment as to the 

 characteristics of Volapiik. contrasted with those of a real world- 

 speech gradually to be evolved. The articles in the first number 

 are conceived in this sense. The Interpreter is likewise well- 

 adapted, by the way, for the pursuance of studies in German or 

 French. Specimen copies may be had of the publisher, in Ameri- 

 ca, of E. G. Hethorn, New York, P. O. Box 2571. 



— The following are from the table of contents of the March 

 number of The Chautauquan : "Gossip about Greece," by J. P. 

 Mahaffy of Dublin University ; " Alcibiades." by Thomas D. Sey- 

 mour of Yale University ; " Greek Art," by Clarence Cook ; " Color 

 in the Animal World," by the Rev. J. G. Wood ; " Industrial and 

 Social Effects of the Sewing-Machine," by Ernest IngersoU ; " The 

 Care of Criminals," by the Hon. Z. R. Brockway, general superin- 

 tendent of New York State Reformatory ; " The Commercial Rela- 

 tions of American Countries," by Professor A. D. Morse of Amherst 

 College ; " Embezzlers and Defaulters," by John Habberton ; " The 

 Italians in the United States," by C. L. Speranza of Columbia Col- 

 lege ; " The Gladstone Fortune," by C. DeVarigny ; " Water-Sup- 

 ply for Small Towns," by John S. Billings, M.D., surgeon United 

 States Army. 



— We learn from Nature that Professor Fitzgerald and Mr. 

 Trouton have been conducting experiments confirmatory of Hertz's 

 magnificent work. Lately, using parabolic mirrors after the man- 

 ner Hertz recently described, they have observed the phenomenon 

 of the polarization of radiations by reflection from a wall three feet 

 thick. They observed long ago, and exhibited publicly at the 

 opening meeting of the Experimental Science Association last 

 November, that stone walls are quite transparent to these radia- 

 tions, as they should be, and consequently should not reflect radia- 

 tions polarized perpendicularly to the plane of incidence at a certain 

 incidence. This is what has been observed, and it has been 

 decided that the plane of polarization is the plane of the magnetic 

 disturbance. They next tried reflection from sheets of glass, and 

 obtained no results ; but, as Mr. Joly suggested, the experimenters 

 were practically observing the black spot in Newton's rings, for the 

 sheet of glass was much thinner than a wave-length, which is about 

 thirty centimetres. Some rough observations at various incidences 

 from the wall seem to show interference at some and not at other 

 incidences due to the same cause as Newton's rings. 



