January 29, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



185 



in Siam ; these are very rarely equal to the 

 Burmese, yet they are fine stones, and, although 

 generally much lower in price, a single stone 

 sold for more than $1,000 ; (3) the great profu- 

 sion and beauty of the opal and the large de- 

 mand for these stones, which were produced in 

 greater quantity, finer quality and at a some- 

 what lower cost than ever before from the 

 fields at Fermoy, Queensland, and in the new 

 locality at White Cliff", in New South Wales. 



The article by Dr. Dabney in the issue of this 

 Journal for January 15th, pointing out the ad- 

 vantages of a National Department of Science, 

 was prepared at the suggestion of Hon. Gardi- 

 ner G. Hubbard, who wrote to Dr. Dabney as 

 follows : 



1328 COXNKCTICUT A.VE., 



"Washington, D. C, January 3, 1897. 

 Dr. Charles A. Dabney, Jr., WasMnglon, D. C: 



Dear Sir: My attention has been called at differ- 

 ent times during the past year to the great number 

 of scientists employed by the government and the 

 large amount of appropriations. I have also observed 

 that the same subject seemed to be treated often un- 

 der two and sometimes under three departments, 

 thus leading to needless duplication of labor. 



I know that your attention has been somewhat 

 called to this subject. I, therefore, venture to ask 

 you, if your time will permit, to prepare an article 

 for publication, which shall bring out fully all these 

 facts, and also suggest a remedy which Tvould seem 

 to be the placing all this scientific work under one 

 department. I know of no one better fitted than 

 yourself to perform this work and am sure that it will 

 be carefully and correctly done. 



Very truly yours, 



Gardiner G. Hubbard. 

 Hon. Charles W. Dabney, Jr., 



Assistant Secretary of Agriculture. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



The New York Court of Appeals has decided 

 the Fayerweather will case by affirming the 

 judgment of the lower court. The residuary 

 estate, now amounting to more than $3,000,000, 

 will consequently be divided equally among the 

 twenty colleges named in the will. The follow- 

 ing institutions will each receive more than 

 $150,000: Amherst, Bowdoin, Dartmouth, Wil- 

 liams, Yale, Columbia, Hamilton, Lafayette, Lin- 

 coln, Maryville, Marietta, Adelbert, Wabash, 



Park, Wesleyan, Rochester, Cornell, Virginia, 

 Hampton, and the Union Theological Seminary. 



A number of professors of the University of 

 Berlin have asked permission from the Senate 

 to inaugurate a system of university extension 

 lectures. It appears, however, that there is 

 considerable opposition to the plan in Germany, 

 in part because it is supposed that many univer- 

 sity professors might favor the views of social 

 democracy. 



According to the new Prussian Budget pro- 

 fessors in the University at Berlin will re- 

 ceive an increase of salary of $500 Marks, and 

 smaller increases in salary are granted to pro- • 

 fessors in the other Prussian universities and to 

 teachers in the schools. 



Mr. Harold Heath has been appointed fel- 

 low in biology and Mr. J. M. Mathews fellow 

 in chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania, 



Dr. E. Wiechert, decent at the University 

 of Konigsberg, has been promoted to a pro- 

 fessorship. Dr. Willstatter, of Karlsruhe, has 

 qualified as decent in chemistry in the Univer- 

 sity at Berlin. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



SIMPLIFIED SPELLING. 



To THE Editor of Science : In a book no- 

 tice sent to you to-day you will observe two in- 

 stances of the innovation in spelling proposed 

 by Funk & Wagnalls. Instead of ' grouped ' 

 and 'addressed,' I have written ' groupt ' and 

 'addrest.' Unless special instructions are 

 given, your compositor and proof-reader will 

 ignore my attempt at reform and print these 

 words according to the prevalent fashion. Of 

 this I cannot complain, for it is certainly the 

 privilege of a journal to unify its pages in the 

 matter of spelling. Neither am I disposed to 

 criticize Science for not joining in the spelling- 

 reform movement, for it would be unwise for a 

 journal with its own battles to fight to incur the 

 odium which attaches to rational spelling. The 

 prejudices in favor of irrational spelling are so 

 strong and prevalent that they cannot be op- 

 posed without a certain measure of sacrifice on 

 the part of the opponent. Nevertheless, it 

 seems to me that Science may, without harm 

 to itself, allow such of its contributors as have 



