June i6, 1893.] 



SCIENCE. 



335 



they seem smaller, and since distant objects also seem smaller, 

 they will seem more distant. 



There are two objections to this explanation. 1. The accom- 

 modation is for the distance of the real object, as is proved by 

 the distinctness. Why, then, should the object seem farther? 

 2. Again, distant objects seem smaller only because their retinal 

 images are smaller; but this is not so in the case under considera- 

 tion. 



In justification of his view, Mr. Bostwick says that "in monoc- 

 ular vision an object appears distant or near according as the eye 

 is fixed respectively on something nearer than it or something 

 beyond it." I am familiar with the fact here referred to, but in 

 this case the appearance of greater or less distance is so imperfect 

 that it can hardly* be called estimate. It may seem farther or 

 nearer almost at will. It is a matter of fancy, not a sober cer- 

 tainty of rational judgment. In fact, there is no ground for form- 

 ing any judgment. 



Although Mr. Bostwick speaks of his estimate of the distance 

 of the phantom as ''distinct," yet I cannot but think that, for 

 want of complete dissociation of the axial and focal adjustments 

 the image is not quite sharp; and that, if he got the same sharp, 

 realistic image which I get, he would see the distance as I see it. 

 Of course, there is no disputing about how things seem to differ- 

 ent observers any more than there is about tastes; but neverthe- 

 less, there are some things which are normal and reducible to 

 intelligible law, and some not. Mr. Bostwick's case may be ab- 

 normal, but I think probably not. I well know how illusive 

 binocular phenomena are. He will, I am sure, pardon me for 

 thinking that with more practice in experiments of this kind he 

 will come to see things as others see them. 



Joseph LeConte. 



Berkeley, Cal., May 27. 



A Rain of Fishes. 



DtmiNG a recent thunder-storm at Winter Park, Fla., a number 

 of fish fell with the rain. They were sunfish from two to four 

 inches long. It is supposed that they were taken up by a water- 



spout from Lake Virginia, and carried westward by the strong 

 wind that was blowing at the time. The distance from the lake 

 to the place where they fell is about a mile. 



Thomas R. Baker. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 

 Macmillan & Co have published a brief biography of the 

 late English anatomist, William Kitchen Parker, written by his 

 son, T. Jeffery Parker. It begins with an account of his birth 

 and early life on his father's farm, and then of his schooling and 

 his apprenticeship, first to an apothecary and afterwards to a 

 surgeon. With his strong inclination for biological studies, it was 

 natural that he should choose medicine as his profession ; but it 

 is evident, as indeed his biographer admits, that he had no great 

 love for his profession and only moderate success in the practice 

 of it His prime interests in life, apart from his family, were 

 two things not often found in conjunction at the present day, 

 science and Wesleyan religion; and he seems to have been equally 

 devoted to both and to have found no incongruity between the 

 two. In biology he was largely self-taught; but a few discern- 

 ing friends saw that he was capable of important original work, 

 and assisted him in the prosecution of such work. He became a 

 member of the Zoological Society and afterwards a fellow of the 

 Royal Society ; but the position that proved the most useful to 

 him was the Hunterian professorship of anatomy and physiology 

 in the Royal College of Surgeons, because it not only gave him 

 the opportunity to lecture on his favorite subjects, but also added 

 to his otherwise moderate income. His principal scientific work, 

 his researches on the skull, is described at some length in this 

 book, and there are briefer notices of his other studies and a bibli- 

 ography of all his published works. His principal fault as a sci- 

 entific writer, his son thinks, was his complicated style; his 

 topics being arranged in a disorderly way and his sentences 

 hastily constructed. Yet biologists will doubtless echo the 

 words of the Royal Society that he was "an unworldly seeker 

 after truth . . . whose beneficent influence will ever be felt in 

 a wide-spreading and advancing science." 



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Beware of Substitutes and Imitations. 



Exchanges. 



[Freeof charge to all, if of satisfactory character. 

 Address N. D. C. Hodges, 874 Broadway, New York.l 



For sale. — Wheatstone Bridge wire, made to 

 order, new and unused. Price, SIO. W. A. Kobbe, 

 Fortress Monroe, Ya. 



For sale or exchange.— One latest complete edi- 

 tion of Watt's Dictionary of Chemistry, in fair con- 

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 EneyciopEedia Britannica, almost new. Will sell 

 cheap for cash or will exchange for physical or 

 chemical apparatus. Address Prof. W. S. Leaven- 

 worth, Ripon College, Ripon. Wis. 



Exchange. — One celestial, one terrestrial globe, 

 one lunatettis and charts, celestial maps, diagrams 

 and ephemeris from 1830 to 1893, astronomical 

 works, all in good condition. Will sell cheap or ex- 

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 St., New York. 



The Rev. A. C. Waghorne, New Harbor. New- 

 foundland, wishes to sell collections of Newfound- 

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For sale.— J. D. Dana's Report on Crustacea of 

 the U. S. ExploriDg Expedition under Charles 

 Wilkes. Text and plates well bound in three vol- 

 umes, half morocco, S"5. Samuel Henshaw, Bos- 

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For exchange — I wish to exchange cabinet skins 

 of Californian birds or mammals for any book on 

 the following list, books if second-hand to be in 

 good order. Manual of Vertebrates, fifth edition, 

 D. S. Jordan; Nests and Eggs of North American 

 Birds, Oliver Davie; Marine Mammals of the West 

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Minerals for exchange— John HoU. Rollo, Wil- 

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For sale or exchange. — Johnson's Universal Cyelo- 

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 Will sell cheap for cash or would exchange for 

 typewriter. Address W. J. McKom. Mason. Mich. 



I have 500 microscopic slides to exchange in lots 

 to suit. Want Kodak, first-class fleld-glass or 

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Wants. 



WANTED. — Second-hand copy of Ehrenberg's 

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WANTED, as principal of a flourishing technical 

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THE undersigned desires specimens of North 

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\ COMPETENT TEACHER of botany in college 



CAN any one inform me as to the age to which 

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 Edward D. Webb, 1.32 "vT, Eighty-first St., New York. 



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