10 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VIII., No. 178 



paratus employed in the examination of air for 

 micro-organisms, by Dr. Percy Frankland ; and 

 a remarkable collection of gems, by Mr. Bryce 

 Wright. Photographs of celestial phenomena 

 and microscopic sections of devitrified rocks were 

 exhibited in the lime-light-lantern, and demon- 

 strated by Mr. Norman Lockyer, Mr. Common, 

 and Mr. Rutley ; and the United telephone com- 

 pany had established temporary communication 

 with the Savoy theatre, where ' The Mikado' was 

 being performed. 



The annual meeting of the Marine biological 

 association was held on June 8, Professor Huxley, 

 the president, in the chair. The council's report 

 mentioned a small increase in the number of 

 members during the year, and the progress that 

 has been made with the plans for the new labora- 

 tory at Plymouth, which will be commenced 

 immediately. It is hoped that it may be in work- 

 ing order by the autumn of next year. Much 

 interest is taken in it by the residents of Plymouth, 

 one of whom, hearing that the council of the 

 association were contemplating the omission, for 

 pecuniary reasons, of certain desirable features in 

 the building, has generously offered to provide the 

 five hundred pounds necessary for the purpose. 



A large amount of valuable zoological work has 

 been recently carried out by the Liverpool marine 

 biology committee, which was established some 

 two years ago. The shallow water off the coast 

 of North Wales and round the Isle of Man has 

 been systematically explored with the dredge, 

 with the following very gratifying results : 

 whereas only 270 species of marine invertebrates 

 were known from this neighborhood before 1853, 

 913 species are recorded in the report of the 

 Liverpool committee. Of these, 285 were not 

 previously known in the locality ; 16 are new to 

 British seas ; while 7 species and 3 varieties are 

 new to science. W. 



London, June 14. 



JSOTES AND NEWS. 



The Lackawanna institute of history and 

 science, recently founded at Scranton, Penn. . has 

 taken steps for the purchase and preservation of 

 the two great glacial pot-holes found in the Lacka- 

 wanna valley at Archbald. An ilkistration of one 

 of these pot-holes was published in Science for 

 Dec. 19, 1884. The second one has not yet been 

 cleared out, but will be cleared by the Lackawanna 

 society. These holes are described by Professor 

 Branner in his recent paper upon the glaciation of 

 the Wyoming and Lackawanna valley. 



— The destructive effects of poisoning by phos- 

 phorus are narrated in a paper read at a recent 



meeting of the Ohio state medical society by a 

 physician whose practice has been large in one of 

 the most extensive match-factories of that state. 

 He finds that the head of each match contains 

 about a seventieth of a grain of phosphorus, and 

 that the injurious results of the process are most 

 marked among those who work in the dipping and 

 packing rooms. The affection is a disease of the 

 bones of the jaw known as necrosis. In some it 

 appears within two years after they enter the 

 factory ; in others its appearance is more delayed. 

 Operatives with unsound teeth are the most sus- 

 ceptible. He recommends that only persons pos- 

 sessing sound teeth be employed in these two 

 rooms ; that thorough ventilation be provided in 

 all parts of the factories ; that the operatives be 

 not permitted to eat their meals within the factory 

 or with soiled hands ; and, finally, that mouth- 

 washes of the alkaline carbonates be freely used. 



— O. P. Jenkins was elected, June 23, professor 

 of biology, and curator of the museum at DePauw 

 university, Greencastle, Ind. 



— The Sanitarian records an instance of flies 

 acting as sanitary inspectors. In one of the rooms 

 of a residence in an eastern city, offensive odors 

 were detected, but their exact source could not be 

 located. The carpets were raised, and a carpenter 

 engaged to take up the entire floor. At this 

 moment a friend who chanced to come in, sug- 

 gested that an appeal be made to the instinct of the 

 fly. Two blue-bottles were brought from a neigh- 

 boring stable, and the doors and windows of the 

 room closed. The flies soon settled upon one of 

 the cracks in the floor, and, when the boards were 

 raised at this point, a decomposed rat was found. 



— The Japanese disease beri-beri, or kakke, is 

 now regarded as a contagious disease, having for 

 its cause a microbe. The infection enters through 

 the intestinal canal, and locates itself at this part 

 of the economy. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



♦♦* Correspondents are requested to he as brief as possible. The 

 writer's name is in all cases required as proof of good faith. 



The flight of the flying-fish. 



The question, among naturalists with whom I have 

 been associated, as to whether or not the flying-fish 

 flaps its wings during its flight, was at first a great 

 surpi-ise to me. My years of sea-service, without 

 hearing a single doubt upon this point, had been ex- 

 clusively among seafaring men, who are generally 

 positive : naturahsts seldom are. Nevertheless, asso- 

 ciation with the former teaches one that their ' opin- 

 ion ' on a subject is, as a rule, a confirmed belief. 



In the region of the Cape de Verde Islands, where 

 a very large species of flying-fish is abundant, it is 

 easy to observe the beating of the creature's wings ;; 



