September 3, 1886] 



SCIEJSrcE. 



211 



more lui satisfactory because the surgeons who 

 compete for these fellowships do not dare compete 

 for surgical fellowships. Upon the whole, they 

 are not learned enough to depend entu-ely upon 

 their surgical knowledge. They are neither en- 

 tirely surgeons nor completely anatomists. 



Preparations are being made for the celebration 

 of M. Chevreul's centenary on the 31st of the 

 present month. The National agricultural society 

 is to present him with a gold medal (he has been a 

 member for fifty years), and on the 1st of Septem- 

 ber there will be a festival tendered him by differ- 

 ent persons in the natural history museum. It is 

 not exactly known what will be done, but at all 

 events there will be an exhibition recalling all M. 

 Chevreul's works concerning coloring - matters, 

 dyeing, corps gras, candles, glycerine, dynamite, 

 porcelain, and colors. This exhibition is a very 

 good idea, and will meet with great success ; for, 

 among the public at large, the notions concerning 

 Chevreul's works are exceedingly vague and uncer- 

 tain. People all know he is very old, but they do 

 not know how useful he has been, and what ser- 

 vice he has rendered to science and industry. In 

 the evening a large dinner will be given, when the 

 ministers of public instruction and of trade will 

 assist, as well as delegates of the faculties and 

 learned bodies, and also delegates representing the 

 branches of industry that have been improved by 

 Chevreul's work. In my next letter I shall have 

 to resume the subject. Many professors and sci- 

 entists are remaining in Paris to assist at the cere- 

 monial, such as Pasteur, Fremy, Milne -Edwards, 

 Bertrand, Jansen, de Quatrefages, etc. 



Yesterday there started for the United States 

 quite a number of travellers of an interesting 

 nature, — a number of splendid horses bought at 

 the last ti'otting match at Nogent sur Mai"ne by 

 Americans from Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, 

 Michigan, Wisconsin, etc., for the purpose of 

 keeping up the Percheron breed in America. Your 

 countrymen, such as Messrs. Dunham, Degan, 

 Bowles, and many others, come every year at this 

 time to visit the Perche, and buy the best horses 

 they can find. The medium price is two thousand 

 dollars (ten thousand francs). The first horse so 

 exported crossed the Atlantic in 1839, with Ed- 

 ward Harris of New Jersey. The horses of that 

 breed are very much appreciated stiU. In 1851, 

 M. Fullington took across the ocean another horse 

 of the same breed ; he called it Louis Napoleon, 

 but his friends preferred naming it FuUington's 

 folly. The folly was profitable, however, and 

 the sons of Louis Nai^oleon are as much valued as 

 those of Phihppe EgaUte, as Harris's acquisition of 

 1839 was called. The Percheron stud book is very 

 well kept, only horses bom from Percherons in 



Perche can be recorded . M. M. Dunham , who was 

 here a few days ago, offers each of his stallions 

 some fifty amiable wives, and as each year he 

 buys some three hundred Percherons, one may 

 judge of the importance of his imnois stud. 

 This year some twelve hundred stallions are leav- 

 ing France for the States. 



The vacations have now begun : most of the 

 professors are out of town. M. Faye was some 

 days ago on the seashore at Villers ; Pi-ofessor 

 Vulpian is in his usual summer resort of Trou- 

 ville; others are scattered here and there, in 

 mountain or country, or travelling abroad. A 

 great many are in Nancy, for the meeting of the 

 Association for the advancement of science ; some 

 are in Germany or elsewhere, awaiting different 

 scientific meetings. It is a happy time for them, 

 and they enjoy a weU-deserved rest after a long 

 year's work. v. 



Paris, Aug. 11. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The report of the wide-spread earthquake comes 

 as we go to press. It is probable, that, on account 

 of the extent of coimtry over which the shock 

 was felt, it may be possible to arrive at valuable 

 estimates of the rate of propagation of earth-waves. 

 From Washington we learn that Professor Simon 

 Newcomb furnishes the following figures regarding 

 the earthquake : First shock occurred at 9:53:20 ; 

 second shock about 9:54:30 ; lasted until 9:59. 

 Major Powell is quoted as saying that there is a 

 line of weakness in the crust of the earth beginning 

 somewhere south of Raleigh, N.C., and extending 

 in a line along the tidewater, past Richmond, 

 Washington, Baltimore, and Troy, N.Y. ; that 

 this line of weakness is marked by a displacement ; 

 in some places this displacement being a flexure 

 in the rocks, in other places a fault ; and ia 

 the neighborhood of this displacement are found 

 the principal waterfalls which constitute the 

 water-power of the Atlantic slope. "It will be 

 interesting," he adds, "to discover the relations 

 of the point of origin of this earthquake to this 

 line of displacement or weakness." The officials 

 of the signal-service bureau report that four dis- 

 tinct shocks were felt there. The first began at 

 9:54, and lasted 40 seconds ; the second shock was 

 felt at 10:04, and was followed by another at 10:10, 

 and by another at 10:30. 



— The topographical work of the geological sur- 

 vey is progressing in a most satisfactory manner, 

 and the following summary is given of the results 

 attained up to the first of August. Mr. Natter's 

 party in Massachusetts have finished the Framing- 



