468 



sciui<rcE. 



[Vol. VIII. , No. 199 



programme are by Professor James of the Uni- 

 versity of Pennsylvania, and Professor West of 

 Princeton, — and followed by general discussion. 

 The meeting should be a valuable one, and we 

 trust it will be. It would be especially notable 

 should it prove to be the first step in bringing our 

 colleges and preparatory schools into frequent and 

 close conference in some oflScial manner. 



A CIRCULAR FROM PROFESSOR LESLEY, state 



geologist of Pennsylvania, announces that Mr. 

 C. A. Ashburner, who has in recent years acted 

 as geologist in charge, has resigned this position 

 for the purpose of associating himself with a com- 

 pany in Pittsburgh, that, among other projects, 

 proposes to undertake a systematic search for and 

 development of natural-gas fields for economic 

 uses. Mr. Ashburner's services on the state sur- 

 vey, especially in the anthracite region, are well 

 known and highly appreciated by American geolo- 

 gists, and it is fortunate that part of his time may 

 still be given to the completion of work at present 

 in hand. It is gratifying also to see that Mr. 

 Ashburner's geological studies have led him to so 

 practical and valuable a knowledge of the occur- 

 rence of natural gas, that his guidance in the 

 search for this new fuel is now needed by com- 

 mercial men who measure their good opinion in 

 high salaries, with which the pay for the more 

 purely scientific work of a geological survey, as 

 measured by legislative opinion, cannot com- 

 pete. 



Pleuro-pneumonia, which has lately given the 

 authorities so much trouble and anxiety in Illinois, 

 is steadily advancing into other states. It is now 

 attacking herds of cattle in the counties of 

 Harvard, Clinton, Newton, Jasper, and Benton, 

 in the state of Indiana, and it is reported that in- 

 fected animals have been shipped to other counties. 

 The U. S. authorities have, in our judgment, been 

 very remiss in their duties in respect to contagious 

 pleuro-pneumonia. The increased prevalence of 

 this disease was brought to their attention some 

 years ago, and they were urged by sanitarians and 

 veterinarians alike to take the steps necessary to 

 its control and extinction ; but the appeals were 

 in vain. It will be found, we predict, before many 

 months have passed, that the government must 

 take the most radical steps if it expects to cope 

 with this disease, which has already cost the 

 country millions of dollars, and will doubtless cost 

 it as many more before its progress is stayed. 



Mr. Alfred Russell W^allace, D.C.L., who 

 read a paper before the National academy of 

 sciences at Boston recently, and who is to de- 

 liver Lowell institute lectures this year, should 

 need no introduction to American students and 

 scientists. Mr. Wallace shares with Charles 

 Darwin the honor of having discovered the laws 

 of the modification of species and of natural 

 selection. Mr. Darwin, in the introduction to his 

 'Origin of species,' refers to Mr. Wallace's work 

 in the same fields as his own. Mr. Wallace, how- 

 ever, is more conservative than the more ardent 

 Darwinians in his limitation of the scope of the 

 laws of natural selection. Mr. Wallace's princi- 

 pal writings, aside from his numerous special con- 

 tributions to the proceedings of learned societies, 

 are, ' Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro ' (1853), 

 ' Palm trees of the Amazon ' (1853), ' The Malay 

 Archipelago ' (1869), ' Contributions to the theory 

 of natural selection ' (1870), ' Miracles and modem 

 Spiritualists ' (1875), ' Geographical distribution of 

 animals ' (1876), ' Tropical nature' (1878), ' Island 

 life' (1880), 'Land nationalization' (1882), and a 

 work edited by him on Australasia, to which he 

 was also a large contributor. In 1885 Mr. Wallace 

 published an essay on ' Bad times,' ascribing them 

 to an excessive war expenditure, the increase of 

 speculation and of millionnaires, and to the de- 

 population of the rural districts. Mr. Wallace's 

 political and social opinions are not so authorita- 

 tive as those on subjects in the domain of natural 

 science. The socialists, anti-vaccinationists, and 

 Spiritualists all claim Mr. Wallace as one of them- 

 selves, though with how much reason we do not 

 know. 



The great attention that the phenomena of 

 hypnotism have attracted in France, owing doubt- 

 less to the prevalence of that nervously volatile 

 temperament necessary for a good hypnotic sub- 

 ject, has culminated in the establishment of a 

 monthly review, already referred to in Science 

 (Sept. 3, p. 207), devoted exclusively to this subject 

 {Revue de VTiypnotisme experimental et ihera- 

 peutique). The editor is Dr. Edgar Berillon, who 

 has gathered together a goodly array of collabo- 

 rators. ' Hypnotism is the order of the day : ' 

 thus says the opening editorial. Societies having 

 for their object the investigation of this side of 

 psychic life are flourishing ; many physicians (in 

 France) are employing it as a therapeutic agent, 

 especially in nervous diseases ; the question of 

 responsibility in this condition must be discussed 



