554 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 431. 



disease is common the ash never grows to he 

 a very large or very old tree. It is said that 

 in Forest Park, St. Louis, nearly all of the 

 white ash trees are diseased. Susceptihility 

 to the disease, mode of entrance of the para- 

 site, the microscopic changes of the wood, and 

 remedies, are discussed in this huUetin. Five 

 excellent plates serve to make the matter 

 plainer than is possible by text alone. 



Charles E. Bessey. 

 The University or Nebraska. 



THE BRAIN OF SILJESTROM. 



The brain of Professor Per Adam Siljes- 

 trom, of Stocldiolm, has recently been de- 

 scribed by Eetzius.* Siljestrom was an emi- 

 nent physicist and pedagogue who died in 

 1892 at the age of seventy-six. He was con- 

 nected with the Paul Gaimard Polar Explora- 

 tions, and is best known for his valuable re- 

 searches on Mariotte's law, and for his efforts 

 in behalf of the reformation of the school 

 systems in Europe. Most of his work in this 

 line was done subsequent to his visit to the 

 United States in 1849-50, where he studied 

 the various school systems and published his 

 views. His intellectual abilities are spoken 

 of as having been of the highest order. 



Eetzius adds his description of this brain 

 to those of the astronomer Hugo Gylden and 

 the mathematician Mme. Sonya Kovalewski. 

 Siljestrom's brain weighed 1,422 grams and 

 is splendidly developed. Its convolutions are 

 particularly rich in the frontal and parietal 

 association areas, and it appears in most re- 

 spects more complex than do those of Gylden 

 and Kovalewski. The brain shows that spe- 

 cial order of normal asymmetry so typical of 

 the higher brains. As in Gylden's and Ko- 

 valewski's brain, the right Sylvian fissure 

 proper is shorter (47 mm.) than the left 

 (58 mm.), and the marginal gyre shows a 

 similar complexity; these features are of in- 

 terest in their possible relation to the mathe- 

 matical abilities of these persons. 



A small abscess o'f the size of a hazelnut 

 involved the right subfrontal gyre. 



E. A. S. 



* Biologische Vntersuchungen, Neue Folge, X., 

 1(102 (Stockholm). 



THE NEW ALGOL VARIABLE. 



The Algol variable, 4.1903, recently discov- 

 ered by Mme. Ceraski, proves to be an object 

 of unusual interest. The Carnegie grant has 

 enabled an examination of the photographs, 

 taken with the Draper telescopes, to be made. 

 This has shown that the star has a period of 

 1.3574 days = 1<1 8^ 34^.7, and a range of 2.4 

 magnitudes. About half an hour before min- 

 imum, the rate of diminution in light amounts 

 to between two and three magnitudes an hour, 

 and is probably greater than that of any other 

 star yet discovered. A minimum was pre- 

 dicted here, and was observed photographically 

 and photometrically, 1903, March 19^ W^ 24:-^, 

 G. M. T. 



Edward C. Pickering. 



Harvard College Observatoey, 

 March 24, 1903. 



SCIENTIFIC POSITIONS UNDER THE 

 GOVERNMENT. 



The Civil Service Commission announces 

 that on May 5, 1903, an examination will be 

 held for the position of assistant physicist. 

 The subjects and weights are : 



1. Education and experience 50 



2. Thesis (each eompetitor will be required to 



present a thesis of not less than 2,000 nor 

 more than 2,500 words on some subject 

 appropriate to the line of work indicated 

 by the special subject of the examination 

 below which he proposes to take; thesis 

 to be prepared prior to date of examina- 

 tion and to be given to examiner on that 

 date. In preparation of thesis, com- 

 petitor may consult such books or publi- 

 cations as he desires, but the thesis must 

 be entirely his own composition and must 

 be accompanied by an aiBdavit t6 this 

 effect) 20 



3. Any one, and only one, of the following four 



subjects : 



(o) Magnetic testing and research and the 

 absolute measurement of electrical 

 quantities, such as currents, resist- 

 ances, capacities, inductances, etc. 



(6) Electrical testing and photometry. 

 This includes the testing of instru- 

 ments used for the measurement of 

 both direct and alternating currents, 

 of the various switchboard, portable, 



