Apeil 16, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



619 



order that it may erect a horticultural hall in 

 London. 



According to the London Times Sir Claude 

 Macdonald has published, in China, a report 

 from Mr. Bourne, of the British Consular Ser- 

 vice there, on an extraordinary landslip on the 

 banks of the upper Yang-tsze, which has 

 created a new and dangerous cataract in that 

 river. Mr. Bourne describes the cataract as 

 being situated in latitude 30° 54' 30", and in 

 estimated longitude 109° 16', and about half a 

 mile above a small rapid called Tachang. It 

 is now much the worst rapid in the Yang-tsze, 

 over which junks can only go empty and even 

 so with the greatest danger. The rapid was 

 formed at 10 p. m. on the 30th of September 

 last by a landslip that occurred after 40 days 

 of rain. While the water was high the extent 

 of the obstruction was not apparent ; as the 

 river sank the rapid became impassable to up- 

 ward-bound junks, and remained so for about 

 a month. On the 4th of December the first 

 upward-bound junk was hauled over, and there 

 seems a great probability that as the river 

 drops further the rapid will become again im- 

 practicable to the upward traflBc. A block of 

 ground, measuring 700 yards north and south 

 by 400 yards east and west, has fallen down 

 from the slope of the mountain on the north 

 bank, a distance of 150 yards, reducing the 

 breadth of the river from 250 to 80 yards. 



In France the manufacture of matches is a 

 state monopoly and under state control, and in 

 view of the numerous cases of illness among 

 the workers and the many complaints which 

 have been made in the press the Minister in 

 charge has asked the Academy of Medicine to 

 draw up rules for the regulation of the govern- 

 ment factories. According to the Lancet, the 

 Academy has agreed to the following answer 

 being sent to the Minister: 1. It is necessary 

 to put a stop to the unhealthy conditions which 

 exist in many of the match factories in France. 

 2. The suppression of the use of white phos- 

 phorus is the only certain way of insuring 

 health to the workers in this manufacture. 3. 

 The employment of perfected automatic ma- 

 chinery is a costly matter and carries with it 

 the condition that all dangerous operations 



should be done under glass. 4. Until these 

 recommendations can be carried out as a whole 

 the present unhealthiness can be diminished by 

 thorough ventilation, short shifts for those men 

 working in the dangerous shops, careful selec- 

 tion of healthy hands, and periodical medifcal 

 inspection, with power to prohibit the labor, 

 either for a time or altogether, of anyone with 

 lesions of the mouth or whose general health is 

 impaired. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDVCAIIONAL NEWS. 



The Medical College of the New York Uni- 

 versity and the Bellevue Hospital Medical Col- 

 lege have been consolidated under the control 

 of the New York University. The enrollment 

 of students last year in the two schools was 

 1,057. 



The Sheffield Scientific School of Yale Uni- 

 versity receives $25,000 by the will of Mrs. 

 Sarah Van Nostrand. 



The department of natural history of Vassar 

 College will receive about $25,000 through the 

 settlement of the will of the late Jacob P. 

 Giraud. 



A BILL before the Texas Senate appropriates 

 for the State University $35,000 for 1897 and 

 $85,000 for 1898, and in addition $42,000 an- 

 nually for the medical department. 



The trustees of the Teachers' College have 

 appointed Mr. George P. Krapp associate pro- 

 fessor of the biological sciences, in conjunction 

 with Professor F. E. Lloyd. 



De. Beckenkamp, teacher in the Chemical 

 School at Miihlhausen, has been called to the 

 chair of mineralogy at Wiirzburg ; Professor 

 L. Claisen, of Aix, to the chair of chemistry at 

 Kiel. Dr. Gaupp has been promoted to an as- 

 sistant professorship of anatomy at the Uni- 

 versity of Freiburg. Dr. Boldinger has quali- 

 fied as decent in analytical chemistry in the 

 University of Amsterdam, and Dr. v. Buchka 

 as decent in chemistry in the Polytechnic In- 

 stitute at Charlottenburg. 



Prop. v. Keies, of Freiburg, has declined a 

 call to the chair at Berlin vacant through the 

 death of Du Bois-Reymond. 



It is proposed to take powers to transfer the 



