138 



SCIElSrCE, 



[Vol. VIII., No. 184 



heaviest subsidized Frencli and German trans- 

 atlantic steamers possessed. He argued strongly 

 in favor of twin-screw propulsion, on which point 

 the discussion that followed mainly turned. The 

 views of the author were strongly supported by 

 Mr. H. White, chief constructor to the navy, who 

 stated that in 1878, on the basis of admhalty data, 

 he had said every thing in favor of twin screws 

 that Mr. John had stated in his paper. W. 



London, July 31. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



It may interest our readers to see the fol- 

 lowing table of percentages on which some com- 

 ments are offered in another part of the paper. 

 These percentages represent the proportion of 

 members from the region designated to the total 

 membership registered (exclusive of Europeans) 

 at the meetings of the American association for 

 the advancement of science during the last ten 

 years. 



— At the Buffalo meeting of the American 

 association it is proposed to devote especial atten- 

 tion to the study and discussion of the interesting 

 phenomena of the Niagara Falls and the gorge 

 below. On Friday, August 20, one or more pre- 

 liminary papers of an expository and suggestive 

 nature will be given, intended to prej)are the way 

 for a short field-study of the falls and the gorge, 

 which will occupy Saturday. Monday forenoon 

 AvUl be devoted to the discussion of the gorge and 

 the problems to which it gives rise. A new sur- 

 vey of the falls has been arranged for, so that a 

 considerable addition to the data for the computa- 

 tion of the rate of recession will be at command, 

 and it is expected that new observations in other 

 important lines bearing upon the chronology of 



the gorge will be presented, and will throw fresh 

 light upon the history of the formation and re- 

 cession of the faUs and upon the utility or un- 

 trustworthiness of the gorge as a geological meas- 

 sure of time. 



— Among the few local scientific societies of 

 the United States, the Wyoming (Penn.) historical 

 and geological society is especially to be com- 

 mended for its activity. The second volume of its 

 Proceedings, just published, contains, among other 

 historical papers, several of interest on the local 

 geology of the Wyoming valley. It would seem 

 that the scope of the society might very profitably 

 be widened so as to include other fields of scien- 

 tific research in natural history. 



— The ' Third annual report of the Wi ,consin 

 experiment station ' deals with a variety of sub- 

 jects, chiefly the results of experiments on crops, 

 feeding, the composition of food-stuffs, fertilizers, 

 etc., by Professors Henry and Armsby, together 

 with more strictly botanical papers by Professors 

 Trelea^e and Seymour. 



— The ' Report of the life-saving service for 

 1885 ' presents not a few facts of interest deserving 

 attention. One can only rightly appreciate the 

 great importance that this branch of the public 

 service has attained by the examination of the 

 results as given for the past year in this report. 

 The entire number of stations in operation was 

 203, of which 157 are on the Atlantic coast, 38 on 

 the lakes, and seven on the Pacific coast, with one 

 on the Ohio River at Louisville, Ky. The entire 

 expense for the support of these stations during 

 the year was less than $800,000, — not one-fourth 

 as much as the value of the actual property saved. 

 According to the report, there were 256 disasters 

 to documented vessels during the year within the 

 field of station operations. There were on board 

 these vessels 2,206 persons, of whom 2,196 were 

 saved, and only 10 lost. The estimated value of 

 the vessels was $3,519,550, and that of their car- 

 goes, $1,084,905, making the total value of proper- 

 ty involved $4,604,455. Of this amount, $3,352,- 

 760 was saved, and $1,251,695 lost. The number 

 of disasters involving the total loss of the vessels 

 was 56. Besides the foregoing, there were 115 

 disasters to smaller crafts, from which 231 per- 

 sons were saved, with the loss of only one life. 

 The total loss of life was the smallest ever reached 

 by the service, except in the year 1880, when but 

 nine persons were lost. During the fourteen years' 

 existence of the present service the total value of 

 property saved has amounted to over $35,000,000, 

 and there have been over 25,000 persons saved, 

 with only 457 lost out of all those endangered. 

 These figures seem almost incredible, and speak 



