196 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 85. 



control of the authorities. The report dated 

 July 11th says that dviring the week before last 

 fresh outbreaks occurred iu sixty-nine different 

 places, and last week in eighty-seven. During 

 the seven days up to the first instant, 1,200 

 deaths were reported, and in the following six 

 days 1,700 deaths.- So far 8,069 deaths have oc- 

 curred from the present outbreak, and it is 

 feared that these figures will be largely in- 

 creased before the disease runs its course. 



Mrs. Todd is contributing to the N. Y. 

 Evening Post and The Nation a series of letters 

 describing the eclipse expedition to Japan under 

 the direction of Prof. Todd. She states that the 

 imperial government has given free transporta- 

 tion for the party and instruments on all the 

 railways and steamboats. It appears that in 

 addition to the parties from England, France 

 and America, the eclipse will be observed from 

 Esashi by Prof. Terao, of the Tokyo observa- 

 tory. 



Mr. Ritchie, the President of the Board of 

 Trade, has stated in the British House of Com- 

 mons that he will introduce a bill dealing with 

 the metric system during the present session. 

 There will be no time to proceed with it, but 

 its introduction will give an opportunity for 

 consideration and discussion during the recess. 



Prof. J. Milne writes to the London Times, 

 calling attention to the fact that seismographs 

 in Italy and the Isle of Wight showed the 

 commencement of a disturbance at 8 p. m. on 

 June 15th (the day of the earthquake and tidal 

 wave in Japan), which reached a maximum the 

 following morning. Prof. Milne considers that 

 this illustration of the reliability of instrument 

 records is an indication of the value of the earth 

 messages which would be obtained at a geody- 

 namic observatory, which, it is hoped, may 

 sometime or other be established in Great Brit- 

 ain. 



The third International Congress of Psychol- 

 ogy met in Munich from the 3d to the 7th 

 of August. Of the 174 papers, the following 

 were presented before the general sessions in 

 addition to an address of welcome by the 

 president: ' Pain,' by Charles Eichet; 'Crim- 

 inal Responsibility,' by Franz von Liszt; 'On 

 the Localization of the Emotions,' by Gui- 



seppi Sergi; ' On the Association Centers of the 

 Brain, with Anatomical Demonstrations,' by 

 Paul Flechsig; 'The Theory of Sensation,' by 

 Franz Brent ano; ' The Psychology of Genius,' 

 by Frederic W. H. Myers; ' A Genetic Study 

 of Primitive Emotion,' by G. Stanley Hall; 

 '■ A New Method of Testing Mental Ability and 

 its Application to School Children,' by Herman 

 Ebbinghaus; 'Individual Psychology,' by Al- 

 fred Binet; 'On Memory for Sensations,' by 

 W. von Tschisch, ' The Conception of the Un- 

 conscious in Psychology,' by Th. Lipps. 



The Report of the Parliamentary Committee 

 appointed to consider matters of pressing need 

 to Ireland has been recently issued. The prin- 

 cipal recommendation contained in the report 

 is for the creation of a department of agricul- 

 ture and industries, to consist of a minister and 

 a council representing these respective interests. 



The Prince of Wales has presented to the 

 Natural History Branch of the British Musevim 

 the remains of the large male Indian elephant 

 which was brought home by him on his return 

 from India in 1876, and placed in the gardens 

 of the Zoological Society, Regent's park. 

 ' Jung Perchad ' was one of the finest and 

 largest of Indian elephants ever brought to 

 England, and now forms the central and most 

 conspicuous object in the great entrance hall of 

 the Natural History Museum at South Kensing- 

 ton, where it was placed recently. 



Natural Science states that Mr. E. A. Fitzger- 

 ald leaves England in September for Chili, to 

 explore the summit of Aconcagua, 23,200 feet. 

 It is stated that the sum of nearly £4,000 has 

 been spent in preparation for the scientific 

 work of the expedition. 



The University of Edinburgh has conferred 

 the degree of Doctor of Laws upon Francis A. 

 Walker, President of the Massachusetts Insti- 

 tute of Technology. 



Prof. Chas. D. Walcott, director of the U. 

 S. Geological Survey, has been detained in 

 Washington by oflBce duties. He recently com- 

 pleted and submitted to the Secretary of the 

 Interior the Annual Report of the Survey for 

 the fiscal year 1895-96, which he anticipates 

 will be published with less delay than has 

 marked the issue of the previous volumes of the 



