240 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 321 



SCIENCE 



A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



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NEW YORK. March 29, iS 



No. 321. 



CONTENTS: 



The Submerging Monitor Cruiser : 



ToBiN Bronze : 



-A Largs Electric-Current Con- 

 ductor i 



A Meteorological Exhibition : 



The Hornig Direct-Power Steer- 

 ing System c 



Platinum ; 



The History of Porphyritic 

 Quartz in Eruptive Rocks.... : 



Ethnology. 



The Man of Spy : 



Beans cultivated in Prehistoric 



Arizona . . : 



Electrical News. 



Electrical Lines of Force ; 



Arc-Lamp for Incandescent Cir- 



Dy 



amo-Designing 235 



The Magnetic Action of Displace- 

 ment Currents in a Dielectric 235 



Tatents on Alternating-Current 

 Transformers 235 



■ The Tesla Alternating-Current 



Electnc Motor 235 



■ The Birmingham Electric Locomo- 



The Dimensions of Electrical Units 236 

 A New Dynamo ^6 



Notes and News 236 



Book-Reviews. 

 Profit Sharing between Employer 



and Employee 238 



Deductive Logic 23S 



Botany for Academies and Colleges. 239 

 A History of Eighteenth Century 



Literature. 239 



Insects Injurious to Fruits 239 



Editori.\l 240 



The Treatment of Insane Criminals 

 in New York. — New Projects for 

 Polar Explorations. 

 The Women's Anthropological 

 Society of America 



Mrs. A nita Newcoinb McGee 240 

 The " Excelsior Classes " in Aus- 

 \. 



Among the Publishers 243 



Letters to the Editor. 

 The Soaring of Birds 



Wni. H, Pickering 245 

 Definition of Manual Training 



J. E. Clark 246 

 Curves of Literary Style 



H. A. Parker 246 

 The Velocity of Storms as related to 

 the Velocity of the General At- 

 mospheric Movements 



H. Helm Claylon 246 

 The Robinson Anemometer Factor 



C. F. Marvin 248 



The PRACTICE which has existed in the State of New York 

 ■since 1864 of confining insane pe/sons charged with crime at the 

 Auburn State Asylum for Insane Criminals has seemed to many 

 to be in need of revision. Senator Pierce has introduced into the 

 Legislature a bill to discontinue the practice. In addition to this 

 measure, others affecting the lunacy laws are before the Legislature 

 'ioT its consideration. One of these provides for the appointment 

 of six commissioners to revise all the laws of the State relating to 

 lunacy ; another, if passed, will substitute a commission for the one 

 ■existing commissioner ; still another measure provides for the care 

 of the dependent insane in State rather than, as is now the practice, 

 in county institutions. This latter bill seems to us to be by far the 

 most important of all those which have been introduced during the 

 ■present year. Under this law the State will be divided into dis- 

 tricts by a board, to be constituted of the president of the State 

 Board of Charities, the State commissioner in lunacy, and the State 

 ■comptroller. After this board shall have established the insane 

 districts, they are to file with the secretary of state the boundaries 

 of the same, and the number of pauper insane people within each. 

 In each of these districts suitable buildings and accommodations 

 are required to be erected, either on new sites or on the site of 

 some asylum already in existence. To these asylums, indigent and 

 pauper insane are required to be sent for maintenance, instead of 



being retained in county asylums. There are sixty counties in the 

 State, and as many insane-asylums. Under the proposed law, this 

 number would be reduced to ten. It would be possible to estabUsh 

 a uniform system of treatment in institutions managed by a State 

 board, which it would be next to impossible to effect under the 

 county system. The proposed plan would put a stop to the abuses 

 which are believed to exist in some of the present institutions, and 

 is, for this and many other reasons, supported by the medical pro- 

 fession and laymen who are familiar with the disadvantages of the 

 present system. 



Recently some new projects of polar explorations have 

 been made. Since the failure of the British Government to sup- 

 port the scheme of the Australian colonies, little has been done re- 

 garding the proposed Antarctic expedition. At present, according 

 to the Jo2ir7ial of the Royal Geographical Society, a scheme is on 

 foot for the furtherance of Antarctic exploration by private enter- 

 prise. A New Zealand colonist (a Norwegian) has gone to Europe 

 for the purpose of taking out with him a number of Norwegians 

 who have been accustomed to fishing. In one or two steamers, 

 the gentleman referred to intends to send out these Norwegians, 

 under proper command, accompanied by one or more scientific 

 men, with suitable equipment, for the purpose of exploring the An- 

 tarctic region, with the ultimate object of establishing a whale- 

 fishery on an extensive scale. If at all practicable, a party will be 

 left during a whole year on Victoria Land, or other suitable place, 

 in order that the conditions of the region may be thoroughly inves- 

 tigated. 



On the other hand, various plans of continuing Arctic researches 

 are on foot. It is stated that a movement has been started in Nor- 

 way for the despatch, in the summer of 1890, of an expedition 

 which will try to reach the north pole; and it is proposed to offer 

 the leadership to Dr. Nansen, who will probably return from 

 Greenland in a few weeks. The intention is that an attempt should 

 be made to reach the pole by way of Franz-Josef Land, — a route 

 which is advocated by some of the most competent authorities on 

 Arctic explorations. Skz, which have played so prominent a part 

 in the Nordenskiold and Nansen Greenland expeditions, would no 

 doubt again prove of service. The Geographical Society of Bremen 

 is about to send out an exploring expedition to the Spitzbergen Sea, 

 the main object being inquiries into the zoology of this region. The 

 scientists of this expedition will be Dr. W. KUkenthal, the well- 

 known zoologist, and Dr. A. Walter. The party will start from 

 northern Norway. 



THE WOMEN'S ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF 

 AMERICA.' 



On June 8, 1885, ten intellectual women of Washington met to 

 form a scientific society. The idea was a novel one and hazard- 

 ous, in that only one of the participants had ever done scientific 

 work ; to wit, Mrs. Tilly E. Stevenson. In her mind the plan of a 

 woman's anthropological society was conceived ; and to her en- 

 ergy, ability, and fostering care are due its birth and larger growth. 



At the time of organization the objects of the society were stated 

 to be, " first, to open to women new fields for systematic investiga- 

 tion ; second, to invite their co-operation in the development of the 

 science of anthropology." They present constitution declares that 

 " the object of this society shall be to promote anthropology by en- 

 couraging its study and facilitating the interchange of thought 

 among those interested in anthropologic research, and by arranging 

 and preserving systematically all information relating to it, and also 

 by holding regular meetings for its discussion." 



It is often asked why there should be two anthropological socie- 

 ties in Washington. Speaking for ourselves, we have no desire to 



^ General report of the recording secretary, Mrs. Anita Newcomb McGee, read 

 before the society at Washington, D.C., Feb. 25, 1889. 



