480 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VIII., No. 199 



man have been issued by London publishers. 

 "Prescott has a well-established reputation, and 

 the brilliancy of Mr. Parkman's narratives will 

 assuredly make him a classical historian in Eng- 

 land as well as in America." 



— James M. Cattell, Ph.D., son of ex-President 

 Cattell of Lafayette college, has recently been 

 elected lecturer on i)sycho-physics at the University 

 of Pennsylvania. Dr. Cattell has been pursuing 

 his researches for some time past in Professor 

 Wundt's laboratory at Leipzig, and has formulated 

 his results in articles which have been published 

 in Philosopliische studien and in Mind. 



— The new volume of Triibner's 'English and 

 foreign philosophical library ' is ' Life and works 

 of Giordano Bruno.' It is now ready. 



— Students of psychology and of philosophy 

 generally, will be glad to know that Dr. Ferrier's 

 work on ' The functions of the brain ' has been 

 issued in a new edition. This new edition is es- 

 sentially a new book, since it has been almost en- 

 tirely rewritten, and now embraces the results of 

 the author's latest investigations, as well as a criti- 

 cal survey of the more inaportant physiological 

 and pathological researches on the functions of the 

 brain that have been published during the last 

 decade. The chapters on the structures of the 

 nerve-centres and the functions of the spinal cord 

 have been enlarged to such an extent that the 

 book is now virtually a complete treatise on the 

 central nervous system. 



— Volume viii. of Leslie Stephen's ' Dictionary 

 of national biography,' including names from 

 Burton to Cantwell, has been published. The 

 Bruces, Butlers, Campbells, Burns, Burke, Byron, 

 Mrs. Browning, Buckle, Caedmon, Cairns, and 

 Cairnes are among the most prominent subjects 

 treated. Volume ix. may be expected in Janu- 

 ary. 



— Investigations made by the editor of the 

 Academy in several hundred schools in every state 

 in the union give the following result as to the 

 methods of Latin pronunciation in use. Of the 

 institutions, 6 per cent use the continental system, 

 46i per cent the Roman, and 47^ per cent the 

 English. Some of these schools, however, are 

 very jarge, others quite small ; so that a compari- 

 son of the number of students trained in each 

 method seems preferable. Such comparison shows 

 3 per cent using the continental, 46i the English, 

 and 51^ the Roman. 



— A recent presidential decree in France regu- 

 lates the instruction in gymnastics in the lycees 

 and colleges for girls. The instruction must be 

 given by female teachers, who must have received 

 a certificate of aptitude from the proper authori- 



ties. Such teachers are to receive from 1,200 to 

 2,000 francs per year each, and may be required 

 to teach sixteen hours a week. They must teach, 

 at least twelve hours a week. 



— The English association for the improvement 

 of geometrical teaching, says Nature of Sept. 30, 

 has revised its ' Syllabus of elementary geometri- 

 cal conies,' and is about to publish the same, with 

 three figures lettered in accordance with the enun- 

 ciations of the Syllabus. The work will be inter- 

 leaved to allow of teachers and students supply- 

 ing their own proofs, and will, it is hoped, appear 

 in November. Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein are the 

 publishers. 



— The Bombay government, according to Nature 

 of Sept. 30, has issued a long resolution on the 

 subject of technical education, which is one of 

 special importance to India. The resolution lays 

 dovvn the outlines of the scheme which it favors 

 under three heads, — agriculture, art, and mechani- 

 cal industries. It proposes that the College of 

 science at Poonah shall be a central institution for 

 the teaching of higher agriculture, and that local 

 classes and schools shall be established throughout 

 the province under the supervision of district ofii- 

 cers and of the educational department. The 

 Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy school of art in Bombay is 

 to be the centre of government efforts for the 

 purpose of art-teaching, and a report is called for 

 as to the propriety of obtaining additional teach- 

 ing. The question whether a technological insti- 

 tute for mechanical industries shonld be established 

 is discussed at some length, and the government 

 expresses the opinion that the time for doing so 

 has not yet come. Meanwhile it is suggested that 

 the committee of the Ripon memorial fund should 

 form itself into an association for promoting tech- 

 nical education in Bombay City, the government 

 promising to give it the utmost possible aid. The 

 main dependence of other parts of the province 

 must be upon the high schools for elementary 

 science, and upon such institutions as may be 

 started by means of local efforts. The resolution 

 concludes by saying that the scheme is not aca- 

 demic, but that it is meant to enhance the well- , 

 being of the people at large by giving increased 

 employment to labor and capital, and by cement- 

 ing harmonious relations between them. 



— Dr. R. G. Eccles read a paper before the 

 pathological society of Brooklyn recently, in 

 which he gave the results of a long series of ex- 

 periments, extending over nine months, on the 

 value of the different pepsines in the market, and 

 in which he showed that some of the pepsine fur- 

 nished by reputable manufacturers was almost 

 valueless, and yet sold for a price considerably 



