July 24, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



113 



He will be glad to hear from those who are in- 

 terested in the subject and are willing to join 

 the society. The subscription will be 5s. per 

 annum. 



Nature states that Mr. J. H. Maiden has been 

 appointed Government Botantist and Director 

 of the Botanic Gardens at Sydney, in succession 

 to Mr. Charles Moore, who has recently retired, 

 after a service, in these capacities, of nearly 

 half a century. 



Advices have been received from Tromsoe, 

 Norway, that Arnold Pike's steamer, Victoria, 

 has arrived there after having visited the aero- 

 naut, Herr Andree, at Dane's Island. The 

 erection of a balloon house had been begun, and 

 Herr Andree expected to be ready to start on 

 his voyage toward the north pole early in July. 

 Before starting, however, it was the intention 

 of the aeronaut to test his balloon thoroughly 

 by sending it up attached by ropes and by tele- 

 phone to the steamer Virgo, which vessel con- 

 veyed Herr Andree and his companions and 

 their outfit to Spitzbergen. On the way back 

 from Spitzbergen the steamer Victoria called at 

 Advent Bay on June 29th, where it was learned 

 that the members of the Martin-Conway party 

 and of the Swedish Geer-Knorring expedition 

 were well. At that time Advent Bay was full 

 of ice. Despatches from Irkutsk announce that 

 M. Hansen, the Norwegian trader, left that 

 town on June 1st for the north of Siberia. His 

 journey is primarily for trading purposes, but 

 he will also inquire into the truth of the recent 

 rumors regarding Dr. Nansen, and see if the 

 store of provisions left by Baron Toll in the 

 New Siberian Islands for Dr. Nansen is still in- 

 tact. M. Hansen's mission had been confided 

 to him by the Russian Imperial Geographical 

 Society. 



After having published some fifty volumes 

 in the series of ' Classics for Children, ' it is time 

 that Ginn & Co. should include a scientific selec- 

 tion. They have done well in choosing Gilbert 

 White's Natural History of Selhourne and in 

 securing an introduction from Prof. E. S. Morse. 

 It would not be possible to place a better book 

 in the hands of a boy of fourteen. Observers 

 of nature, such as White, Thoreau and Audu- 

 bon, seem to be lacking at the present time. 



Biology has perhaps become so extended and 

 complex that the amateur is discouraged, but, 

 as has recently been suggested by correspond- 

 dents of Nature^ boys do not now take an in- 

 terest in nature, and there is no large class from 

 which naturalists may be supplied. The growth 

 of cities, the preponderating interest in athletic 

 sports, and the study of biology in the labor- 

 atory, have lead the schoolboy away from con- 

 tact with nature. As Prof. Morse remarks, 

 collecting still goes on, but stamps are a poor 

 substitute for birds' eggs, butterflies, shells and 

 the like. Under these conditions nothing could 

 be more useful than a copy of The Natural His- 

 tory of Selhourne in every school and in every 

 home. 



A LARGE meteor is reported to have fallen in 

 the small mining town of Santos Eeis, Chihua- 

 hua, Mex. It made its descent at noon and 

 was accompanied by a report louder than that 

 made by a cannon. It struck the house of a 

 miner and demolished the building, killing two 

 children, and then buried itself in the ground 

 to a great depth. The stone will be sent to 

 the National Museum in the City of Mexico. 



M. Gabriel Colin, formerly professor of 

 physiology in the Veterinary School of Alfort, 

 has died at the age of 71. 



In The Journal of Mental Science for July, Mr. 

 John Turner gives some statistics dealing with 

 hereditary insanity, based on 1,039 cases in the 

 Essex County Asylum. It appears that daugh- 

 ters suffer most from insanity in the parents, 

 but that insanity in the father is more likely to 

 be hereditary. Thus 106 insane fathers had 

 117 sons and 138 daughters who were insane, 

 and 236 insane mothers had 113 sons and 182 

 daughters who were insane. The statistics 

 support Darwin's law of heredity, adult pater- 

 nal characteristics being more liable to be trans- 

 mitted to male offspring, and adult female char- 

 acteristics to female offspring. 



The annual chart prepared by Mr. David T. 

 Day, Chief of the Division of Mineral Resources, 

 shows that the products of the United States 

 for the year of 1895 were in nearly all cases in 

 excess of those of the preceding year. The 

 value of the products in 1894 was, however, 

 less than in any year since 1887. The total 



