400 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 329 



Lick Astronomical Observatory was the result of a large private 

 donation. At Madison, Wis., the Washburn Observatory was 

 largely the gift of the citizen whose name it bears, and citizens of 

 Michigan erected and furnished the Detroit Observatory at the 

 University of Michigan. The donation of Gov. Pillsbury, however, 

 seems to be the first of importance to a State university in behalf 

 of what are generally known as natural sciences. 



— A correspondent of the Revue Scientifique vouches for the 

 following story : For about twenty years he was in the habit of 

 visiting two or three times each year a farm where was kept a flock 

 of geese, numbering from thirty to thirty-five in the early part of 

 the winter, and in the spring four or five, left for breeding pur- 

 poses ; these also generally being killed a few months later, after 

 the new broods had attained their growth. In the month of July, 

 1862, on a feast day, the farmer and his men being absent, the 

 geese were forgotten, and were attacked by dogs, which killed the 

 most of them. The next evening at twilight the farmer thought 

 they must have been attacked a second time. He found them fly- 

 ing about in their pen, much frightened, but the dogs were nowhere 

 to be seen. The next day this terror re-appeared at the same 

 hour, as it did on the following day and from that time on. The 

 correspondent of the Revue had forgotten this fact, when, ten years 

 later, he chanced to be on the farm one evening, and heard the 

 cackling of the apparently frightened geese. When he asked for 

 an explanation, he was told that this had been kept up from the 

 time they had been attacked by the dogs, that there had been no 

 repetition of the attack, and that the flock had been renewed in 

 the mean time at least three times. If this story is well authenti- 

 cated, we have a case of the transmission of terror to the third 

 generation in a family of geese. 



■ — Loss and gain of nitrogen, M. P. P. Deherain has deter- 

 mined by the experiments carried on at Grignon from 1875 to 1889, 

 according to Nattire. A general survey of the results of these ex- 

 periments leads to the conclusion that all soils containing consider- 

 able quantities of nitrogen in combination, say two grams to the 

 kilogram, lose, if cultivated without manure, far more nitrogen than 

 is absorbed by the crops, but in proportions varying according to 

 the nature of those crops, — more with beet root, less with maize 

 grown for fodder, still less with potatoes and wheat. But when 

 the ground has thus been impoverished, no longer containing more 

 than 1.45 or 1.50 grams to the kilogram, the loss ceases, and the 

 ground begins, on the contrary, to recover a certain proportion of 

 nitrogen, the gain being much greater on grass-grown than on 

 tilled lands. 



— The Swiss Federal Council has invited the European govern- 

 ments to be present at a conference to be held in Berne next Sep- 

 tember. The object of the conference is international legislation 

 in regard to labor. The council suggests the following points for 

 the consideration of the conference : the prohibition of labor on 

 Sunday, or at least rest on one day out of seven ; a fixed minimum 

 age for the admission of children into factories ; the maximum 

 length of a day's labor for young working-people ; the prohibition 

 of the employment of young men and women in pursuits especially 

 injurious to the health or dangerous ; and the restriction of night- 

 work for young men and for women. 



■ — To-morrow the first working detachment of the Nicaragua 

 Canal Company will leave this port for Greytown. The party is 

 in charge of Lieut. Usher, United States Navy. A large number 

 of friends interested in the success of the enterprise has been in- 

 vited to accompany the expedition down the bay to wish it bon 

 voyage. 



— It is proposed to hold an international novelties exhibition in 

 the Great Central Hall, London, commencing May 29. The ex- 

 hibition, according to the prospectus, has been undertaken for the 

 purpose of introducing and bringing before the public the many 

 meritorious novelties in the arts, sciences, and manufactures which 

 have been invented and produced in recent years, not alone in 

 Great Britain, but also on the Continent and in the United States. 

 The Central Hall contains 26,000 superficial feet floor-space, and 

 is situated in the very heart of London. The hall is lavishly dec- 

 orated, and has been designed with special attention to the re- 



quirements of an exhibition. Of the space at the disposal of the 

 executive, 5,000 superficial feet have been guaranteed to the com- 

 missioners representing the exhibition abroad, who are now select- 

 ing the most recent and eligible inventions and novelties produced 

 in their respective countries. A certificate has been obtained from 

 the Board of Trade, protecting any unregistered patents and de- 

 signs which may be shown at the exhibition. 



— A new adulteration of coffee has been recently discovered in 

 Germany. M. Stutzer of Bonn states that this artificial coffee is 

 made from burnt farina, afterwards agglutinated by the aid of dex- 

 trine or some similar substance. In Cologne there are two factories 

 which turn out these coffee-beans. 



— The fourteenth annual meeting of the American Association 

 of Nurserymen will be held in Chicago on June 5 and 6. The pro- 

 gramme shows that addresses on an unusually wide range of topics 

 may be expected from speakers well qualified to give instruction. 

 These meetings have proved of great value, both from an educa- 

 tional and from a business point of view, and the nurseryman who 

 neglects to attend them fails to live up to his privileges. 



— Engelmann of Leipzig has undertaken the republication of a 

 number of classical memoirs under the editorship of Professor W. 

 Ostwald of Leipzig. The first memoir is the well-known paper of 

 Helmholtz on " The Conservation of Energy," first published in 

 1847. Other memoirs of Jauss and of Dalton will follow at an early 

 date. The title of the series is " Die classiker der exacten Wis- 

 senschaften." 



— The Council of the Geological Society of America recently 

 held a meeting at Washington, according to TJie American Geolo- 

 gist. Nominations for fellowship were made to the society of 

 about fifty candidates, all of whom had expressed a desire for elec- 

 tion. Professor C. H. Hitchcock was designated to make arrange- 

 ments for an excursion from Toronto, and another attempt is likely 

 to be made in favor of the Huronian region. He was instructed 

 to correspond with the local committee at Toronto, and with the 

 officers of the Canadian Survey. The programme of the meetings 

 of the society at Toronto was ordered to be independent of that of 

 the association. The committee on revising the constitution held a 

 meeting, and decided on several important matters relating to the 

 constitution. The committee on plan of publication, through Mr. 

 W. J. McGee, secretary, made a voluminous report embodying facts 

 concerning the manner and success of publications by various lead- 

 ing scientific societies in Europe and America. This committee 

 will render a final report, making recommendations of its conclu- 

 sions to the council at its next session, probably at Toronto. 



— Work has just begun on a new building for the Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology, Boston. The building, which is to include 

 five stories and a basement, will measure 148 by 50 feet, being 

 built of brick with sandstone trimmings. It will be designed after 

 the order of mill-construction, and will cost about $70,000. The 

 basement and the greater part of the first two floors are to be 

 occupied by the department of mechanical engineering. Cotton 

 machinery, hydraulic testing-machines, shafting tests, and testing- 

 machines for the strength of materials, are to be put in here. The 

 light-running machinery is to be located on the second floor, and 

 above this the department of civil engineering is to be situated. 

 The new building will probably be completed about the first of 

 next winter. 



— According to an English provincial paper, a Mr. Cash, a board 

 schoolmaster, and Mr. Pringle, a solicitor, were out photograph- 

 ing, and a plate was exposed on a river- view near Ipswich. When 

 the plate was developed, " there was plainly revealed, in the fore- 

 ground of the picture, the figure of a woman apparently floating 

 upright in the water, as it is declared that drowned bodies some- 

 times will, after immersion for a certain length of time. The face 

 and head are clearly outlined ; the arms are hanging straight by 

 the side of the body, which is clad in ordinary female attire, and is 

 visible to the waist ; and the portrait generally appears to be that 

 of a tall and comely young woman." The schoolmaster and solici- 

 tor, apparently thinking there was some peculiar phantom in the 

 river invisible to the eye, but able to impress the plate, took a chief 



