460 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 332 



lines, relaxing no effort to make the discussions as interesting as 

 possible, but making no distinctive change in its polic)'. The 

 secretary's report shows during the past half-year twelve resigna- 

 tions, balanced by the accession of twelve new members. There 

 are at present seventy-one candidates upon the books. The num- 

 ber of gentlemen (104) is still considerably in excess of that of 

 ladies (76). The lecture committee does not make a formal report 

 till the fall meeting, but has reported informally that arrangements 

 are making which will result in a very interesting and brilliant pro- 

 gramme next winter. During the past season there has been a 

 preponderance of political topics, owing to the fact that two dis- 

 cussions had to be postponed on account of sickness and death. 

 Mr. Thomas Nelson Page will next season, however, deliver his 

 lecture on the new Southern literature, Richard Watson Gilder of 

 the Century to participate in the discussion. Mr. Bronson Howard 

 will also deliver his address on dramatic construction, Mr. A. M. 

 Palmer to be one of the other speakers. Hon. Seth Low has 

 agreed to address the club on the subject, " A Metropolitan Uni- 

 versity." Three evenings are thus definitely arranged for. There 

 may be also the postponed address from Mr. Frank J. Potter on 

 folk-music, and Mr. George Kennan on some phases of Russian 

 life. There are hopes of securing Sir Edwin Arnold and some 

 other very distinguished men. A most important matter is the 

 offer of Mr. Andrew Carnegie to furnish rooms for the club in his 

 new Music Hall, to be erected at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 

 57th Street. This very generous offer will enable the club, after 

 next season, to have permanent quarters. Meantime it is possible 

 that in the autumn there may be other plans to consider, in addi- 

 tion to this one ; but certainly the club will be obliged for the next 

 winter to occupy the assembly rooms at the Opera House, though 

 the effort will be made to get Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday even- 

 ings instead of Wednesday. 



— The headquarters of the National Electric Light Association 

 are now located at 18 Cortlandt Street, this city, to which place 

 members are requested to send all notices of change of address or 



■ business. The secretary of the association desires to correspond 

 with all present or prospective members manufacturing or dealing 

 in electrical apparatus or supplies, with a view to arranging for an 

 exhibition in connection with the summer meeting at Niagara Falls 

 in August. Negotiations have been consummated with several 

 railroad companies whereby visitors to that meeting will be enabled 

 to travel at reduced rates, and similar negotiations with other com- 

 panies are pending. A special limited vestibule train, for the ex- 

 clusive use of delegates to the meeting, has been provided. A 

 special car in this train will be reserved for gentlemen accompanied 

 by ladies. In connection with the proposed exhibition, it is stated 

 that the exhibit at the Chicago convention grew to so large propor- 

 tions, and the expense was so great, that both the exhibiters and 

 the executive committee took formal action before leaving Chicago, 

 discouraging a large exhibit at Niagara Falls. It is found, how- 

 ever, that some members of the association are members for the 

 sole purpose of making exhibits at the conventions ; others have 

 novelties brought out during the current half-year ; and some in- 

 sist on making an exhibit at any rate. It has been thought best, 

 therefore, to provide for an exhibit on a moderate scale, and a 

 number of rooms have been engaged in direct connection with the 

 Convention Hall. Indications are that the Niagara Falls conven- 

 tion will be a large one. There seems to be a prevailing sentiment 

 in favor of the attendance of the wives and lady friends of the 

 members, and special arrangements will be made for their comfort 

 and entertainment. 



— Mr. W. H. H. Beadle writes from Chemawa, Ore., to the 

 America7i Meteorological Journal, that as thunder is rare, and 

 by some said not to occur in Oregon, it may be noted for record 

 that at 11.53 A.M., standard time, April 22, peals of thunder and 

 the characteristic rolls and reverberations were heard to the east- 

 ward from this place, which is near Salem in the Willamette valley, 

 There was evidently a marked " low." It had rained heavily in the 

 morning, after tvifenty-four hours southerly wind, and had partially 

 cleared. The sun shone very warm, and a thunder-cloud, such as 

 is common in Michigan summers, passed across the eastern sky 

 from south to north. 



— A rather singular personal discussion is just now going on in 

 Vienna, over the new Court Theatre, which is very magnificent, 

 but which has the defect that the actors cannot be heard in it. 

 The architect is Baron von Hasenauer, one of the most distin- 

 guished architects in Europe, and the newspapers seem to have 

 been stimulated by his conspicuous professional position to lay a 

 good deal of blame on him for the bad acoustic quality of the 

 building. Naturally, Baron Hasenauer does not like this ; and his 

 friends have undertaken to defend him by explaining that the 

 plan of the structure is not due to him, but to the late Profes- 

 sor Semper, who prepared before his death the scheme which was 

 carried into execution by Hasenaur. This explanation, which has 

 probably some reason in it, far from allaying the trouble, has, as 

 it seems, stirred up Professor Hans Semper, the son of the great 

 architect, who demands an opportunity to demonstrate before a 

 jury of architects that the defects of the theatre arise from errors 

 in design and construction which do not exist in the original 

 plans, but were introduced by Baron Hasenauer. Which of the 

 disputants is right it is impossible to say ; and, in fact, in matters 

 of the acoustics of buildings, it is beyond the power of any person, 

 architect or not, according to The American Architect, to make 

 explanations that are of any value, beyond the most rudimentary 

 observations, for the reason that no one knows, beyond such sim- 

 ple observations, any thing about the causes which make a build- 

 ing hard to hear in, or the remedy for such a state of affairs if it 

 exists. Meanwhile, Baron Hasenauer's friends, including Baron 

 Hansen and many other architects of high distinction, have shown 

 their sympathy with him by presenting him with a eulogistic ad- 

 dress. 



— A device for secret writing by means of the type-writer is 

 mentioned in the Paper IVorld as a recent invention. It requires 

 two type-writers similarly adjusted. They are so constructed that 

 the types can be shifted from their normal position ; so that the 

 operator, striking the key in the usual way, really writes other let- 

 ters than those in his copy, forming a cipher copy. The receiver 

 adjusts his machine in an opposite direction, and writes from the 

 cipher copy, and his machine records the letters of the original 

 copy. The principle is very simple, says the Afec/ianical News, 

 and it at once suggests the possibility of applying the principle of 

 the combination lock to such a contrivance for all type-writers, so 

 that each owner of a machine can set it to any combination, which 

 only he and his correspondent should know. This must be feasi- 

 ble ; and, if the new invention is of any use at all, its usefulness 

 would be much increased by such a plan. 



— Attention has lately been called by the Philadelphia Press to 

 the peculiarly corrosive, and consequently destructive, effect of the 

 creosote of wood-soot upon chimneys, owing to the fact that the 

 creosote thus formed from the slow combustion of wood contains 

 so large a proportion of pyroligneous vinegar or crude acetic acid, 

 this acid being formed in large quantities when the combustion of 

 wood is slow ; many quarts, in fact, being condensed in cold 

 weather where a large wood-fire is very much checked, only a few 

 hours being required for such condensation. The acid in question 

 dissolves lime readily, carrying it away in solution, and in this 

 manner the mortar is frequently entirely removed from the tops of 

 chimneys in the country, new ones suffering in the same way as 

 the old, instances being numerous where the top courses of brick 

 in chimneys only two years old have become entirely without sup- 

 port other than that afforded by the sand with which the lime was 

 mixed. 



— The annual commencement of the University of Pennsylvania 

 — or rather its second yearly commencement, as the three medical 

 faculties held theirs earlier in the year — shows, says The American, 

 how much the old monotony of the single course in arts has been 

 broken of late years. Graduates in science, in biology, and in 

 finance, besides those of arts and of the law school, swelled the 

 number to 106. The Wharton School of Finance graduated a 

 strong class of young men deeply interested in the great public 

 questions which are the especial subjects of instruction in this 

 school. One of the class is Mr. Tamio Hayashi, who comes from 

 Japan to learn political economy of the genuine American type. 

 There are three of his countrymen in the class which graduates 



