730 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 123. 



duce the subject into University College, 

 London. A committee, including Mr. Francis 

 Galton, Professor Carl Pearson, Professor C. A. 

 Schaflfer and others, has been formed and sub- 

 scriptions are invited for the purchase of ap- 

 paratus and the establishment of a lectureship. 

 In an interesting historical sketch of the 

 University of Minnesota, Professor C. W. Hall 

 describes an important adjunct of the scientific 

 work of the University — the Geological and 

 Natural History Survey of the State. This was 

 organized in 1872 and placed under the direc- 

 tion of the Board of Eegents. The original 

 cost of this work was $1,000 per year ; this was 

 soon increased to $2,000, and in 1875, and sub- 

 sequently, 38,643 acres were turned over to the 

 Regents to be disbursed in accordance with the 

 law ordering the Survey. This land, at the 

 minimum price of $5.00 per acre, for which it 

 could be sold, will eventually enable the Re- 

 gents to realize over $200,000. The cash ap- 

 propriations which the State has at various 

 times voted for the maintenance of this work 

 amount at date to $50,000, not including cost 

 of printing. The Survey is comprehensive in 

 its scope. The fields of investigation named in 

 the original act are geology, botany, zoology 

 and meteorology. Two maps, a geologic and 

 topographic, were also provided for ; the latter, 

 on approval, to become the official map of the 

 State. A museum was also contemplated, which 

 should exhibit to the people of the Common- 

 wealth, in an orderly and scientific way, its nat- 

 ural resources as discovered by the Survey. 

 The geological exploration of the State was 

 first prosecuted. Botany, zoology, meteor- 

 ology and topography are to follow in order, 

 unless economy and efficiency can be secured 

 by joint operations. The results of these in- 

 vestigations thus far available are to be found 

 in a series of annual reports covering almost a 

 quarter of a century of geologic work ; three 

 volumes on the final report of the geology of 

 State ; two brief reports of the State Zoologist, 

 accompanied by a study of the birds of Minne- 

 sota, by Dr. P. L. Hatch, and a synopsis of the 

 Bntomostraca of Minnesota, by C. L. Herrick 

 and C. H. Turner ; one report of the State 

 Botanist, containing an exhaustive review of 

 the Metaspermse of the Minnesota river valley ; 



a series of bulletins, containing geological, 

 botanical and zoological papers, besides many 

 scientific papers from less comprehensive fields 

 of study. 



The Electrical World reports on a recent com- 

 munication by M. d'Arsonval to Jiiie Societe 

 Internationale des Electrioiens concerning the 

 therapeutic and physiological effects of high 

 frequency currents. He showed the powerful 

 inductive effects which can be obtained with 

 these currents. A striking experiment consists 

 of placing three lamps in tension and allowing 

 the current to pass through the body. These 

 currents cause no sensations, and a man placed 

 in a circuit does not feel that he is traversed by 

 the currents which brilliantly illuminate the 

 lamps. The principal results of this electrifica- 

 tion are an augmentation of the oxidations in 

 the organism and an increase in the produc- 

 tion of heat. A subject who, under ordinary 

 conditions, eliminates 17 to 21 liters of carbonic 

 acid per hour throws off' 37 liters after having 

 been submitted to this action. High-frequency 

 currents do not act solely upon the surface of 

 the body, but also profoundly upon the interior. 

 All of these results have been obtained upon a 

 number of subjects by MM. Apostoli and Char- 

 rin. M. d'Arsonval cited, in closing, the ac- 

 tion exercised upon microbes and bacteria by 

 these currents. The microbes and bacilli are 

 modified, and the toxines are killed and trans- 

 formed to vaccine. MM. d'Arsonval and Char- 

 rin hope by this m.ethod to arrive at a direct 

 treatment for the interior of the bodies of 

 patients suffering with zymotic disease, and ex- 

 periments to this end have begun. 



We are extremely glad to note that the tariff" 

 bill, as amended by the Senate Finance Com- 

 mittee, includes the following additions to the 

 free list : 



Books, maps, music, engravings, photographs, etch- 

 ings and charts, printed more than twenty years 

 before the date of importation ; all hydrographie 

 charts and scientific hooks devoted to original soientifio 

 research, and publications issued for their subscribers 

 by scientific and literary associations, or publications 

 of individuals for gratuitous private circulation, and 

 public documents issued by foreign governments. 



Books printed exclusively in foreign languages for 

 the blind. 



