September 4, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



311 



Mr. Samuel H. Eanck, of the Enoch Pratt 

 Free Library, Baltimore, calls our attention to 

 articles in the students' journals of Franklin 

 and Marshall (College, advocating the use of 

 metric units in college athletics. This is an 

 excellent idea, as very few things would tend 

 more quickly to familiarize the public with the 

 units, and owing to the probable extension of 

 international contests the students of our col- 

 leges might favorably consider the plan. 



Reference was recently made in these notes 

 to the fact that the decimal system of numera- 

 tion had its origin in man's having ten fin- 

 gers. According to the Bevue Scientifique the 

 Bihliographie generate de V astronomie calls at- 

 tention to the fact that this was suggested by 

 Aristotle {Prohlemata) and that there are lan- 

 guages in which five and hand are expressed by 

 the same word. It is certainly unfortunate, so 

 far as envimeration and measurement are con- 

 cerned, that man did not originally have twelve 

 fingers. 



We may reply to Mr. Josephson's letter (see 

 page 315 below) that we have already published 

 a large number of contributions regarding scien- 

 tific bibliography and should be glad to have 

 others of equal value. The Journal is fortu- 

 nate in having on its editorial committee Dr. G. 

 Brown Goode, of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 and Dr. John S. Billings, head of the New York 

 Consolidated Libraries, both of whom are emi- 

 nent authorities on the subject. Dr. Billings 

 and Prof. Newcomb (also of the editorial com- 

 mittee) were the delegates from the American 

 government to the recent Bibliographical Con- 

 ference in London. 



The New York Evening Post states that 

 Prof. C. W. Dodge, of the biological depart- 

 ment of the University of Rochester, has asked 

 the trustees to make an appropriation for the 

 establishment of a biological laboratory at 

 Hemlock Lake, a small lake thirty miles south 

 of Rochester, from which it obtains its water 

 supply. He proposes to make a complete bio- 

 logical survey of the lake and to utilize the 

 services of the expert students in his depart- 

 ment for the work. 



According to the Electrical World there were 

 about 200 delegates present at the International 



Congress of Electricians which was opened in 

 the Aula of the Geneva University, on Tues- 

 day, August 4th. M. Turrettini presided and pa- 

 pers were read by Dr. Weitlishbach, on 'Tele- 

 phonic Disturbances caused by Electric Trac- 

 tion ;' by M. Hospitaller on ' Magnetic Units ;' 

 and by M. Andre Blondel on ' Photometric 

 Units.' Among the subjects discussed was the 

 question of transmission of power over long dis- 

 tances, and practical exhibitions of its trans- 

 mission were made at the exposition. 



The War Department has sent to Paris for a 

 set of the Bertillon instruments, and a thorough 

 examination will be made into the system of 

 identification with a view of introducing it into 

 the United States army. 



A MOUND has been explored at McKee's 

 Rocks, near Pittsburg, by Mr. Thomas Harper 

 and found to contain stone and bone imple- 

 ments and skeletons which are said to be of 

 special interest and will be deposited in the 

 Carnegie Museum. 



Siberian exiles are supposed to suffer pecu- 

 liar hardships, bvit the St. Petersburg corre- 

 spondent of The Lancet states that last year an 

 old peasant named Ivan Kouzmin was reported 

 to have traveled from Moscow to Kief at the 

 age of 140. He was said to be in good health ; 

 he had formerly been a coachman to Count 

 Sheremetief, but in 1840 was sent to Siberia, 

 where he spent fifty-four years, returning in 

 1894. His is not the only instance in which a 

 Siberian exile has survived to extreme old age. 

 Two years ago there was said to have died in 

 Samara one Lavrentii Efimof, who had attained 

 the age of 150. According to the newspaper 

 report of him he took part as a boy in the 

 famous Pugatchef rebellion in the reign of 

 Catherine the Great, and for his share in that 

 outbreak spent thirty years of his life in Siberia. 



It is reported in the daily papers that a cave, 

 said to be the largest in the world, has been 

 discovered near Hudson, Mo. In the Scientific 

 American of August 29th, Mr. H. C. Hovey 

 gives an interesting description of the cave dis- 

 covered by Mr. Pike Chapman in July of last 

 year ; this is one of a number of caves found in 

 the vicinity of the Mammoth Cave and appears 

 to be of considerable importance. It must be 



