December 10, 1886.1 



SCIENCE, 



535 



one reservoir to the next, where the supply is re- 

 plenished by means of a quickly adjusted tap- 

 ping-pipe which connects the reservoir with the 

 tanks. A similar system, differing in details, was 

 projected some years ago, but without tangible 

 results. 



— Vol. xviii. of the Tenth census of the United 

 States (' Social statistics of cities,' part i., by G. E. 

 Waring, jun.) treats of the principal cities of the 

 New England states, and of New York, New 

 Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, to the total 

 number of 53. Part ii. will describe the principal 

 cities of the rest of the United States. The char- 

 acter and scope of the work may be seen in the fol- 

 lowing list of subjects, in accordance with which 

 each city is treated more or less fully : history ; 

 site, elevation, topography, climate, and tributary 

 country ; means of communication ; streets, pave- 

 ments, and public parks ; sewei'age, water and 

 gas supply ; police, fire, and health departments ; 

 schools, churches, and cemeteries ; hospitals, 

 penal and reform institutions ; etc. At the pres- 

 ent time, when the movement of our population 

 toward cities is so rapid, and the problems of 

 municipal drainage, water-supply, paving, etc., so 

 press for a solution, the value of this compilation is 

 apparent. The volume is freely illustrated with 

 maps showing past as well as present conditions. 

 The historical maps of Boston are especially 

 worthy of notice. 



-^ Vol. XX. of the Tenth census of the United 

 States (' Statistics of wages, necessaries of life, 

 trades societies, strikes and lockouts,' by J. D, 

 Weeks), though long delayed, makes a very 

 timely appearance, as its contents throw a flood 

 of light upon the condition of the laboring classes, 

 and will doubtless aid in the solution of the ques- 

 tion, ' Do strikes pay ? ' It appears that dm-ing 

 the year 1880 there occurred 762 strikes or lock- 

 outs. Of these, details were obtained regarding 

 only 22Q, or less than one-third. As a consequence 

 of these 226 strikes and lockouts, there was a loss 

 in wages of $3,711,097. If the same proportion 

 carries through the others, there was a direct loss 

 to the laborer of nearly $12,000,000, or fully one 

 per cent of the total wages paid. This takes no 

 account of industries which were broken up or 

 driven away in consequence of such strikes. An 

 examination of the comparative tables of wages 

 does not indicate that the results in raising wages 

 have been commensurate with this loss. 



— According to the vital statistics of Germany 

 for 1885, 4,091 males and 1,209 females committed 

 suicide. The methods of self-destruction were as 

 follows : hanging, 3,567 ; drowning, 1,177 ; shoot- 

 ing, 611 ; poison, 232 ; cutting their throats, 112 ; 



throwing themselves under railroad trains, 77 ; 

 throwing themselves from heights, 49. 



— Captain Gager of the steamship Louisiana 

 reports to the U. S. hydrographic office at New 

 Orleans, that, on his last trip from New York to 

 that port, he found an almost entke absence of 

 current in the Gulf Stream. Captain Gager 

 states that this has generally been his experience 

 when the water in the Mississippi was unusually 

 low, and connects the absence of Gulf Stream 

 current with this fact. This is not unusual after 

 a strong northerly wind. 



— The Boston medical and surgical journal 

 says, that, in estimating human character, the ear 

 affords a better criterion than any of the other 

 features. An ear which presents no well-defined 

 elevations and depressions indicates sejfishness and 

 want of delicacy of perception. The possessor of 

 a thick, well-shaped, highly tinted appendage, set 

 well forward, is usually ungrateful, grasping, and 

 lacking in depth of feelings. A thin ear indicates 

 keen susceptibility ; and an ear that projects from 

 the head, alertness. A broad ear is more coarsely 

 practical. The perfect ear is one which lies close 

 to the head, and is gracefully rounded with pretty 

 curves, strong lines, and firm, delicately tinted 

 cartilage. 



— Numerous instances have been recorded of 

 late in the medical journals, of the complete re- 

 union of portions of fingers which had been cut 

 otf from the hand, in some cases by the knife, and 

 in others by the axe. In one case a man, in cutting 

 kindlings for the morning fire, accidentally cut off 

 the end of his thumb. He had gone from the 

 place some twenty feet, when he returned, picked 

 up the end, wiped it and replaced it, binding it in 

 its original place as nearly as possible. The 

 wound united ; and the finger is now as good as 

 ever, save that its sensibility is somewhat dimin- 

 ished. In another case a boy chopped off the 

 ends of three fingers. He was seen by a physician 

 three or four hours after the accident. The ends 

 of the fingers had been found in the snow, and 

 were brought to him. He attached them, and 

 two of the three united. 



— A physician, in a letter to the Medical record, 

 nan-ates a case in which one of his patients, who 

 is suffering from dyspepsia accompanied by the 

 eructation of gas, burned his hair, eyebrows, and 

 mustache by the ignition of some of the gas as it 

 came from his mouth, while at the time he held a 

 lighted match in his hand. 



— At a recent meeting of the New York patho- 

 logical society a case was reported in which a 

 negro child, which died at the age of two months. 



