Skptkmbee 23, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



409 



October 12. Household Insects, L. O. Howard, 

 Ph.D. 



October 10. Marine Life, James E. Benedict, 

 Ph.D. 



October 26. Biology of the College Walks, Sylves- 

 ter D. Judd, Ph.D. 



November 2. Jack Rabbit. T. S. Palmer, M.D. 



November 9. German-American Pork Question. 

 Ch. Warden Stiles, Ph.D. 



November 16. Geographical Distribution of Ani- 

 mals and Plants, C. Hart Merriam, M.D. 



The seriousness of the recrudescence of the 

 plague seems to be scarcely appreciated, if we 

 may judge from the comparative silence of the 

 daily papers. Since August 6th the number of 

 cases in Bombay and throughout the Presi- 

 dency has greatly increased, no fewer than 

 2,300 deaths having occurred in the Presidency 

 during the last week regarding which news is 

 at hand. Plague is also epidemic in the Madras 

 Presidency and occasional cases occur in Cal- 

 cutta. 



Mount Vesuvius is in eruption more actively 

 than at any time since 1872. The central crater 

 and some seven new outlets are throwing out 

 lava and ashes. Imposing streams are flowing 

 down the mountain sides, burning the chestnut 

 woods at the base of Monte Somna, nearly 

 reaching the Observatory, and destroying part 

 of the railroad. Professor Tasconi, the Director 

 of the Observatory, does not expect, however, 

 that any serious damage will be done. 



The daily papers have published full details 

 of the destructive hurricane which on the night 

 of September 11th swept over the Windward 

 Islands and proved especially destructive at 

 St. Vincent and Barbados. The Weather Bu- 

 reau furnishes the following statement : "The 

 hurricane which created such destruction in 

 the West Indies on Sunday night was detected 

 at its inception on Saturday by the new West 

 Indian hurricane service of the Weather Bu- 

 reau of the Department of Agriculture. At 

 8 a. m. on Saturday morning observations on 

 the islands of Martinique and Trinidad gave 

 slight indications of a disturbance southeast of 

 the Windward Islands. At 12:40 p. m. a spe- 

 cial observation at Barbados indicated a fall of 

 nearly tV in the barometer during the preced- 

 ing two hours. This movement of the barom- 



eter at Barbados, taken in connection with the 

 whole atmospheric survey made four hours 

 previously, satisfied the forecast officer that the 

 hurricane would soon develop over the Wind- 

 ward Islands, although to the non-expert there 

 were no indications of a coming storm. Hur- 

 ricane warnings were immediately despatched 

 to all ports in the islands of Barbados, Marti- 

 nique, St. Kitts and St. Thomas, and they 

 were advised to prepare for a destructive storm. 

 Cable communication was perfect and the warn- 

 ings were promptly received. They were in- 

 formed that the hurricane would move from a 

 point south of Barbados, and that it would 

 travel slowly northwesterly, with wind increas- 

 ing to a hurricane velocity. Advisory mes- 

 sages were sent to Colon, Curafoa, San Do- 

 mingo, Trinidad and Santiago. A message 

 was also sent to Admiral V»'atson's fleet, lying 

 in the harbor of Caimanera, Cuba. How com- 

 pletely these warnings were verified by the 

 coming of the storm twenty-four hours later is 

 shown by the press despatches of this morning. 

 While the destruction of life and property has 

 been great, there is no question but that hun- 

 dreds, if not thousands, of lives and millions 

 of property were protected by the complete 

 warnings given by the United States. These 

 warnings were of profit to the commerce of all 

 nations. Without considering the saving in 

 human life, they have, from a commercial 

 standpoint, fully justified the President in ask- 

 ing for the necessary appropriation, and in 

 personally conducting the inauguration of a 

 complete and efficient meteorological service." 

 The Electric World quotes from the London 

 Electrician an application of wireless telegraphy 

 at a recent regatta, when Signor Marconi 

 demonstrated the adaptability of his system 

 to the transmission of press intelligence from a 

 steam launch in motion. The yachting expert 

 on deck dictated his account of the races while 

 these were in progress, and a stream of dic- 

 tated ' copy ' descended below deck to Signor 

 Marconi, who sat in a cabin working his trans- 

 mitter, whence the ether waves carried the 

 news with a mimimum loss of time to a fixed 

 receiving station on shore. Arrived at this 

 point, the news was forwarded to the press 

 offices by telephone. It is stated that one edition 



