March '27. 19U3.] 



SCIENCE. 



515 



amphicyon nehrascensis and Protemnocyon 

 iiifiatus, the last two genera and species being 

 new. The author has a well-timed protest 

 against the establishing of phylogenetic rela- 

 tions between species widely scattered in time 

 and distribution. There is one feature about 

 this memoir which demands special attention, 

 and that is the date. This paper appears not 

 to have been distributed until February, 1903, 

 but the date on the cover is September, 1902, 

 an apparent antedating of four months. Mere 

 printing is not publication; an author may 

 print descriptions of new species by the score 

 and stack them away in the attic, but he can 

 not, in such a case, be considered as having 

 published descriptions of these species. In 

 the present instance if, prior to February, 

 1903, John Smith had published descriptions 

 of the two new species included in this memoir, 

 he would justly be the author of those species 

 in spite of the date on the cover of ' Oligocene 

 Canidse.' And yet the bibliographer, follow- 

 ing the title, will credit them as September, 

 1902. In these days of multitudinous publi- 

 cations it is highly important that they should 

 be correctly dated. 



The 'Eeport of the Public Museum of the 

 City of Milwaukee' for the two years ending 

 August 31, 1900, shows steady growth of the 

 institution, while the list of accessions testi- 

 fies to the interest of the citizens. The new 

 custodian, Mr. Henry L. Ward, expresses his 

 desire that the museum should become a 

 prominent educational factor in Milwaukee, 

 and various synoptical series have been com- 

 menced with this end in view. This partic- 

 ular province of a local museum is very apt 

 to be neglected and the mistaken effort made 

 to follow along the line of great and long- 

 established museums. A strictly educational 

 museum, unless it be the Children's Museum 

 of the Brooklyn Institute, has not yet been 

 attempted and there is a fine field open here 

 for some one. As Mr. Ward says, it is easy 

 to make such a collection so deep and tech- 

 nical and the labels so long that they are their 

 own undoing, but we should like to see a mu- 

 seum started with the education of the aver- 

 age visitor considered at the outset. 



F. A. L. 



BEDELL COMPOSITE TRANSMISSIONS. 



Professor Frederick Bedell has, for some 

 years past, been employing the electric light 

 and power transmission lines in telephony, 

 communicating freely wherever those lines 

 extend. He has recently effected an impor- 

 tant extension of his system of ' composite ' 

 transmission, utilizing a common system of 

 distribution for both light and power trans- 

 mission and for direct or alternating currents, 

 the latter of any desired frequency. Light- 

 ing, requiring a high frequency, and power, 

 demanding low frequencies, the one employ- 

 ing a single, the other a polyphase, system, may 

 be obtained from the same system of distrib- 

 uting wires. The non-interference of asyn- 

 chronous currents here finds its most valuable 

 illustration. The earlier use of such simul- 

 taneous asynchronous currents in multiple- 

 telegraphy and in Bedell's telephony is now 

 carried to its limit by systems of composite 

 transmission for light and power purposes. 



The Bedell system includes various methods 

 of simultaneous transmission of direct and 

 alternating currents or of alternating currents 

 of different frequencies. One method permits 

 the transmission of such currents both in the 

 high-tension primary mains and in the low- 

 tension secondary circuits. This arrangement 

 gives an advantage over usual dispositions in 

 the fact that low frequencies in the polyphase 

 circuit insures satisfactory performance of all 

 synchronous machinery, with low line-induct- 

 ance and improved regulation of e. m. f. and 

 a perfect balance of loads on the different 

 phases. 



With this system the motor loads may fluc- 

 tuate, even to the extent of operating the 

 circuit-breakers on the polyphase generators 

 and system, without affecting the lighting 

 system. The two systems of transmission 

 may be regulated separately and independently, 

 and it becomes practicable to adopt a higher 

 load for each than would be ordinarily per- 

 missible. The line drop on the lighting cir- 

 cuit may be compensated by compounding at 

 the generator and the power system of dis- 

 tribution is not limited in its applications 

 by the necessity of considering the working 

 of the lighting system. 



