Apeil 9, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



583 



XIX., Idealism and Realism ; XX., Dualism 

 and Monism ; XXI. , Knowledge and the Abso- 

 lute. 



New volumes in the Contemporary Science 

 Series, edited by Mr. Haveloek Ellis and pub- 

 lished in England by "Walter Scott and in 

 America by Charles Scribner's Sons, will in- 

 clude 'The New Psychology,' by Dr. E. W. 

 Scripture; ' Psychology of the Emotions,' by 

 Professor Th. Ribot, and ' Hallucinations and 

 Illusions,' by Mr. E. Parrish. 



The California Academy of Sciences an- 

 nounces important changes in its publications. 

 In addition to occasional extended mono- 

 graphs, the proceedings will be issued in several 

 wholly independent divisions or parts ; each 

 . division to be devoted to a single branch of 

 science, or to a group of closely related sciences. 

 There will be begun at once three divisions, 

 viz. : for geology, for botany and for zoology, 

 and from time to time such others as may be 

 demanded, and as the finances of the Academy 

 will permit. It is probable that a mathematico- 

 physical division will be added in the near 

 future. Papers will be issued separately and 

 will be distributed immediately. Each title 

 page will bear date of issue and the number in 

 the volume of the division to which the paper be- 

 longs. The divisions will be formed in volumes, 

 chiefly according to convenience, and with but 

 incidental reference to time, each volume con- 

 taining generally about 400 to 500 pages. The 

 Publication Committee, charged with the gen- 

 eral supervision of all publishing done by the 

 Academy, consists of Professor William E. Rit- 

 ter, Chairman, first Vice-President of the 

 Academy ; President David Starr Jordan, 

 President of the Academy, and Mr. G. P. Rix- 

 ford, Recording Secretary. This committee 

 will be supplemented by editorial committees 

 in the different departments, as now consti- 

 tuted. Professors Andrew C. Lawson and James 

 Perrin Smith in geology. Professors W. R. Dud- 

 ley and W. A. Setchell in botany, and President 

 David Starr Jordan and Professor William E. 

 Bitter in zoology. We find in the recent pro- 

 ceedings of the California Academy very im- 

 portant contributions to our knowledge of the 

 fauna, flora and geology of the Pacific Coast, 



and the subjects on which papers are expected 

 in the near future show great activity in sci- 

 entific research in California. 



According to the London Times Mr. H. N. 

 Thompson, Assistant Conservator of Forests in 

 Burma, in a recent report on the forests of the 

 Hukong valley and the Upper Namkong basin, 

 in Upper Burma, devotes a section to the pro- 

 duction of rubber in that region. It appears 

 that in the Hukong valley the rubber tree is 

 not a gregarious one ; sometimes a family group 

 of four or five trees may be seen, but, as a rule, 

 a mature tree is found every 200 or 300 yards 

 in the richer forests. When the tree is sur- 

 rounded by dense shade it grows to enormous 

 heights in order to get at the light, and some of 

 those examined by Mr. Thompson were the 

 largest trees of any species he had ever seen. 

 In the thick forest he found no seedlings in the 

 ground ; they were invariably growing at a 

 great height on other trees and sending their 

 roots down towards the ground, so that the 

 roots finally formed great supports on which 

 the main trunk rested, while the original tree, 

 on which the seedling was a parasite, was de- 

 stroyed. 



Reuter's agency reports that the Egyptian 

 Council of Ministers has approved of the ap- 

 pointment of Professor Forbes, the electrician, 

 to examine the Nile cataracts and prepare an 

 exhaustive report regarding the best methods 

 of utilizing the water power available for gener- 

 ating electricity. Professor Forbes will com- 

 mence his studies in the autumn. 



The report of the Meteorological Council to 

 the Royal Society for the year ended March 31, 

 1896, has been issued as a Blue-book. We 

 learn from the London Times that the report is 

 divided into four sections : (1) Ocean Meteorol- 

 ogy, (2) Weather Telegraphy, (3) Climatology, 

 and (4) Miscellaneous. With respect to weather 

 telegraphy and forecasts, it is stated that the 

 daily weather report appeared regularly, and 

 there was a regular display at the Meteorolog- 

 ical Office in London of the state of the weather 

 on British coasts. It is stated that of the total 

 number of forecasts 55 per cent, were complete 

 successes, 25 per cent, partial successes ('par- 

 tial' meaning 'more than half) 14 per cent. 



