April 12, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



287 



— The recent volume of the Meddeleber om Groenland contains 

 two papers of great importance, which shed an entirely new light 

 upon several ethnological questions referring to the Eskimo. The 

 first of these papers is a collection of tales and traditions from 

 Angmagsalik, on the east coast of Greenland, where the Danish 

 expedition under Capt. G. Holm spent a whole winter ; the second 

 is a discussion of the vocabulary collected at this place by Dr. H. 

 Rink. The tales are very much of the same character as those 

 collected in other parts of Arctic America. Some of them are 

 identical with tales from West Greenland and Labrador, while 

 others are mainly new combinations of parts of well-known tales 

 The vocabulary is particularly interesting, on account of the great 

 number of new terms for the most common objects. Most of these 

 terms are descriptive names, the word which is used in all other 

 dialects having become extinct. Thus, instead of " berry," the 

 East-Greenlanders say " that what is picked ; " instead of " hand," 

 " limb ; " for " tail," " end ; " instead of " mother," " origin ; " and 

 many others. Similar words are used by the Eskimo shamans of 

 other regions, but this is the only place where they have to a great ex- 

 tent superseded the common words. A great number of these words 

 may have come into use, when, after the death of a man, people 

 avoided mentioning him and his property ; but others may simply 

 have been taken from tales, and adopted for ordinary use. It is 

 remarkable, that, in consequence of this custom, the East Greenland 

 dialect has many features by which it differs from all other dialects. 

 This fact must be considered a proof of a long isolation of this 

 tribe. 



— Fred H. Whipple, Detroit, Mich., will issue in June a com- 

 plete directory of the electrical fraternity, including every person in 

 every branch of the trade, and proposes to supplement this monthly, 

 until the next annual number, with commercial reports embracing 

 the doings of the electrical world up to date. These reports will 

 be in the nature of confidential bulletins on the progress of the 

 business world, confined entirely to matters electric, and will be 

 sent only to annual subscribers. 



— It is stated that throughout Asia Minor there are splendid op- 

 portunities for the introduction of machinery, the field at present 

 being entirely unoccupied. There is a great abundance of water- 

 power in the country, although at present it can hardly be said to 

 be utilized. According to The Timber Trade Journal, there is 

 not a board of any sort, or even a plank or beam, ever sawed there 

 by any other power but that of the human hands : there is there- 

 fore a good opening for wood-working machinery. There ought 

 also certainly to be an opportunity for agricultural-implement 

 makers to introduce their products into Asia Minor, as such im- 

 plements as are at present in use there are of the most primitive 

 description. The spades and shovels are made of wood, each 

 being cut out of one solid piece of timber. The ploughs are also 

 of wood. Indeed, such implements cannot be called "ploughs" 

 at all, as they are only pointed sticks, which comparatively seldom 

 have even an iron-pointed cap upon the point which scratches, and 

 it is supposed to turn over the soil. Manchester supplies most or 

 perhaps all the cotton prints which are imported, and great quan- 

 tities of which are used for clothing, divans, bedding, and such like 

 purposes. 



— Messrs. Kelso & Co., Glasgow, we learn from Engineering, 

 have just completed the construction of the dynamometric appara- 

 tus in connection with the experimental tank being built at Spezzia 

 for the Italian Government. This tank is similar in general de- 

 tails to that constructed by the British Government at Gosport, 

 and by Messrs. William Denny & Brothers at Dumbarton, on the 

 principle of Dr. Froude. The experimental tank at Spezzia is 500 

 feet in length, which is 100 feet more than that at Gosport, and 

 the breadth is about 22 feet. The use of the tank is to determine 

 the form of ship which shall have the least possible resistance at a 

 certain speed, conforming to practical considerations, and to ascer- 

 tain the relation of power to speed with the form of ship under 

 consideration. The model having been constructed of paraflfine, 

 and faired by a specially designed machine, is tried in the tank by 

 means of a dynamometric apparatus to measure the resistance of 

 the models at varying speeds corresponding to the required speeds 



for the full-sized ship. The apparatus is mounted on a carriage, 

 which also supports the arrangement for measuring the rise and fall of 

 the bow and stern of the model in its progress through the water. 

 The chief novelty lies in the framework. The rails or platform on 

 which the apparatus runs at Messrs. Denny's tank, are suspended 

 by means of tie-rods from the joists of the tank ; whereas at the 

 new Italian tank the rails are placed at either side of the tank, 

 which allows of the framework being so constructed as to afford an 

 unobstructed view of the whole water behind, with the waves and 

 currents. For accurately recording on a revolving cylinder the 

 speed at which the model is running, electric arrangements have 

 been supplied, the current being from a battery of Leclanche cells, 

 carried on the lower table of the resistance truck. The circum- 

 ferential travel of the cylinder is a function of the speed of the car- 

 riage supporting it, and on it is also recorded the resistance dia- 

 gram, which is obtained by the extension of a helical spring at- 

 tached to the dynamometer. There is an automatic arrangement 

 for lifting and lowering the pens on the diagram and revolving cyl- 

 inders. It may be added that the dynamometer of Messrs. Denny's 

 tank was also supplied by Messrs. Kelso from plans by Mr. Froude. 



— According to a parliamentary paper, entitled " Statement ex- 

 hibiting the Moral and Material Progress and Condition of India," 

 an abstract of which appears in \h& Journal of lAe Society of Arts, 

 London, progress in education continues in India. The number of 

 schools and colleges rose in 1887 to 127,381, as compared with 

 122,643 in the year 1886, and the total number of scholars to 

 3,358,042, as compared with 3,339,061. Of this total, only about 

 150,000 were girls ; but the increase in the number of girl scholars 

 has, during the last three years, been in a much larger ratio than 

 the increase among the boy scholars. A new university was 

 opened at Allahabad in 1887, and India now possesses five univer- 

 sities, all of which hold examinations and grant degrees. The 

 number of candidates for admission to the universities rose from 

 13,254 in 1886, to 14,732 in 1887, and the number of admissions 

 from 4,231 to 6,224. The number of students who gained univer- 

 sity degrees in 1887 were 826 in art and science, 80 in medicine, 

 37 in engineering, and 193 in law. A large number of medical 

 students obtained diplomas as hospital assistants in 1887, besides 

 those who graduated in medicine. Of the Calcutta graduates in 

 arts during 1887, two were women. The number of secondary or 

 higher schools for boys has risen during the last five years from 

 3,933 with 215,731 pupils, to 4,160 with 404,189 pupils : during the 

 same period the secondary schools for girls have risen from 190 

 with 6,366 pupils, to 357 with 24,904 pupils. The most important 

 technical schools are the workshops at the great railways, at which 

 some hundreds of apprentices, many of them holding scholarships 

 or stipends from government or from local bodies, are learning me- 

 chanical engineering, smithy work, and carpentry. The number of 

 pupils at engineering colleges and at art schools is very small, but 

 the teaching of drawing and of surgery is being extended in most 

 provinces. Now that primary and secondary schools are mostly 

 under the control of municipal and local bodies, it is expected that 

 technical teaching in the special handicraft or manufacture of each 

 locality will be gradually increased. 



— The American Statistical Association possesses a statistical 

 library, the result of forty years' collection, which is designed as a 

 depository for statistical works of every nature. At present the 

 library is placed in rooms 31-33, Rogers Building, Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology, Boston. Its collection embraces not only 

 the publications of the LTnited States, but also many valuable re- 

 ports issued by statistical bureaus of foreign countries. It also 

 includes the very valuable statistical library collected by the for- 

 mer president. Dr. Jarvis, and bequeathed to the association upon 

 his death, in 1884. It is believed that the collection and preserva- 

 tion of reports which admit of a classification according to statis- 

 tical groupings, will be of great public service, and the association 

 earnestly requests a generous co-operation in still further enlarging 

 the library in such directions. Reports of vital and social statis- 

 tics, registration reports, census documents, municipal reports, 

 documents relating to public works, reports of trade, commerce, 

 taxation, finance, insurance, industry, labor, health, cririie, educa- 

 tion, and religion, are especially desired. 



