38o 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 328 



render a binocular examination possible. They also made the 

 measurement of refraction in the eye both simple and exact. 



— We learn from Nature that the extraordinary meeting of the 

 Sociae Geologique de France, which will be held this year in Paris, 

 beginning on Aug. 1 8, promises to be one of great interest. During 

 the week devoted to the meeting, the collections in Paris will be 

 Visited, and there will be a series of excursions to places of interest 

 within easy reach of that city. In the week following the meeting, 

 excursions will be made to more distant localities ; among others 

 to the Auvergne and Brittany, — that to the former district under 

 the guidance of M. Michel-Levy, and that to Brittany conducted 

 by M. C. Barrois. Arrangements will be made with the railway 

 authorities for a reduction of fifty per cent upon the fares ; but, in 

 order to secure this advantage, the names of persons intending to 

 attend must be sent to the secretaries of the society before July i. 

 British geologists, and especially fellows of the Geological Society 

 of London, are cordially invited to be present. 



— Professor W. A. Henry, writing in Agricultural Science of 

 some weeds that are beco.ming troublesome in Wisconsin, says, 

 " On the great plateau along the eastern flank of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains grows Solanum rostratum, a homely, harmless sort of plant. 

 The naturalist knows it to be the original food-plant of the Colo- 

 rado potato-beetle {Doryphora lo-lineaia). In the year 1S72 or 

 thereabouts the beetle, coming across the uncultivated strip of 

 eastern Colorado and western Kansas, found a new food-plant in 

 the common cultivated potato, and spread with marvellous rapidity 

 over the country. Solanum rostratum also comes into the fields 

 to conquer, and has spread on cultivated lands in Texas and Mis- 

 souri, where, with greatly increased size, it proves a troublesome 

 weed. Last summer Mr. L. H. Pammel, one of our agricultural 

 graduates, now professor of botany in Iowa Agricultural College, 

 found this plant growing at Watertown, in this State. It is fol- 

 lowing up the potato beetle. Will it spread over as large an area 

 as its old acquaintance ? " 



— The annual congress of the German Pomological Society will 

 be held this year at Stuttgart, between the 22d and the 30th of 

 September. 



— In 1887 a spot-disease was observed on cucumbers near 

 Geneva, N.Y., which almost ruined the crop. Professor Arthur, 

 s,a.ys Garden and Forest, •pror\o\aices\i a parasitic fungus similar 

 to one which has been disfiguring peaches in Indiana, detracting 

 from their beauty and hindering their growth. The cucumber- 

 spot did not appear at Geneva in 1888, although it seems an ag- 

 gressive fungus. It has been named Cladiosporiicm cuciimeriuin. 

 The fungus on peaches has only been recorded before as occur- 

 ring in southern Austria, where it was named C. carpophibim. 

 No remedies for either disease have yet been tried so far as known, 

 but both of them threaten to become dangerous pests. 



— A writer in the London St. James Gazette objects strongly to 

 the use of footnotes in books, and particularly criticises Mr. Bryce's 

 recent work on this account. He says, " Except for the purpose 

 of relieving the text of references, the footnote has no proper place 

 in any book that deserves to be called a book. It is at best a kind 

 of purgatorio, to which an author consigns such remarks as he 

 thinks unworthy of admitting to full honors, and yet has not the 

 courage to cast out altogether. But there is hardly a page of Mr. 

 Bryce's book without footnotes, and hardly a footnote which might 

 not well have been incorporated in the text. Often, indeed, the 

 footnote contains the very ' plum ' of the page." 



— According to a report lately issued by the Russian Depart- 

 ment of Indirect Taxation, there were, in 1887, 2,775 distilleries in 

 Russia, chiefly engaged in producing spirits from fruit. Compared 

 with the preceding year, the number of these distilleries increased 

 by 483; that is, about 21 per cent. This branch of industry is 

 principally concentrated in the Caucasus, where it is rapidly be- 

 coming extended. The province of Elizabethpol takes the first 

 place with 1,265 distilleries, then follows Tifiis with 491, Baku 

 with 465, Erivan with 218, and the territories of Koutais and Da- 

 ghestan with 108. Among the 2,775 distilleries in question, the 

 industrial establishments, properly so called, amount to the num- 

 ber of 260. The product of the distilleries amounted in 18S7 to 



39,924,903 degrees of alcohol, which yielded to the treasury a sum 

 of 924,805 roubles in excise and other duties. 



— By order of the French minister of public instruction, the In- 

 ternational Congress of Elementary Education will be held at Paris 

 from Aug. 11 to Aug. 18, on the occasion of the Universal Exhibi- 

 tion. The following are the chief questions for discussion : i. Un- 

 der what form and to what extent can professional (agricultural, 

 industrial, commercial) instruction be given in the elementary 

 schools of the lower and higher grades and in training-colleges ? 

 2. How far should women be employed in elementary education as 

 teachers, heads of schools, and inspectresses ? 3. What are the 

 functions and the organizations of the practising schools attached 

 to training-colleges and institutions of a like character ? 



— The students of the ancient University of Genoa, says The 

 Educational Times, must be singularly unlike " our young barba- 

 rians all at play " on the banks of the Isis and Cam. The Italian 

 students actually desire a competent professor of mathematics, 

 vigorously protest against the fitness of the existing professor, and 

 in general meeting assembled came to the conclusion of demanding 

 by telegraph from the minister of education the appointment of a 

 new professor. In our ancient universities, the honor students 

 find it a serious waste of time to attend college lectures, and so 

 they desert the lecture-hall for the rooms of their private tutor. 

 The ordinary pass student is also quite indifferent as to the quality of 

 his lectures. He also, like the honor student, seeks the aid of the 

 private "coach " to pull him through his examinations. To think 

 of them in open meeting discussing the proper filling of a profes- 

 sorial chair is simply impossible. The Genoese students are of a 

 very different temper. The education minister taking no notice of 

 their singular demand, the whole body of students joined the 

 mathematical men in a general strike, and declined to attend any 

 lectures. Thus the university is closed until this odd dispute is 

 composed. 



— In 1887 the population of Bulgaria amounted to 3,154,375, or 

 31 inhabitants to the square kilometre. The population of the 

 principal communes was distributed as follows : Philippopolis, 33,- 

 412; Sofia, 30,428; Rustchuk, 27,198; Varna, 25,256; Shumla, 

 23,161; Slivno, 20,893 ; Zagora, 16,039; Tatar Bazardjik, 15,659; 

 Vidine, 14,772; Plevna, 14,307; Sistov, 12,482; Silistria, 11,414; 

 Tirnova, 11,314; and Kustendjs, 10,689 inhabitants. As regards 

 nationalities, the population of 1887 was composed as follows: 

 Bulgarians, 2,326,250; Russians, 1,069; Servians, 2,142; Turks, 

 607,319; Greeks, 58,338; Jews, 23,546; Gypsies, 60,291; Ger- 

 mans, 2,245 '. French, 544 ; and 80,074 persons belonging to other 

 nationalities. 



— The University of Munich has been celebrating the ninety- 

 ninth birthday of its famous professor. Dr. Ignatius DoUinger. 

 For sixty-three years Dr. DoUinger has filled the chairs of ecclesi- 

 astical history and canon law. As a poUtician in the Bavarian 

 parliament, and as leader of the Catholic party in the German 

 parliament at Frankfort, he has played a conspicuous part. 



— Floating exhibitions seem to have taken, at least so far as 

 Germany is concerned. The German Export Company has de- 

 cided, says London Engitieering , to apply the sum of ^250,000 

 (5,000,000 marks) to the building, equipment, and working of a 

 very large steamer, which is to serve as a floating exhibition. The 

 vessel in question will be called " Kaiser Wilhelm," and the prin-^ 

 cipal dimensions are as follows : length, 564 feet; breadth, 66 feet ; 

 depth, 46 feet ; so the question is not of a small craft. The steamer 

 is to have four engines, entirely independent of each other, and four 

 propellers. She is to be fitted in exceptionally good style. The 

 expenses for a two-years' tour are calculated at ;^i 57,000, while the 

 takings for hire of room and profits on sale are expected to reach 

 ^^363,000, leaving the very handsome profit of more than /j200,ooo. 

 The steamer will, according to the present arrangements, be ready 

 to start in the spring of next year. A previous undertaking of a 

 similar nature, the steamer " Gottorp," despatched from Hamburg, 

 is understood to have given a satisfactory result. Not only are 

 German goods being shown in many different parts of the world, 

 but the staff accompanying the steamer has ample opportunities for 

 studying in each place the various local and special requirements, 



