756 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 99. 



Journal (April 10, 1896), by Prof. John Dan- 

 iel. It was at the time regarded as extraordin- 

 ary by others working with the Kontgen rays, 

 but has since been fully confirmed. Cases of 

 loss of hair, of finger nails and of dermatitis 

 have been reported, and physicians making use 

 of the rays should be careful that the time of 

 exposure is not too long and that the vacuum 

 tubes are not brought too near the body. 



It is stated in Electricity that Herr Dormann, 

 of Bremen, has succeeded in photographing ob- 

 jects, by Rontgen's method, through iron plates 

 22 centimeters thick. He has already taken 

 more than fifty such photogi-aphs. 



In their reports of the recent elections the 

 daily papers almost failed to notice that the 

 forestry amendment to the Constitution of the 

 State of New York was defeated. This amend- 

 ment permitted the leasing of small plots and 

 certain exchanges and sales of land, and its de- 

 feat is gratifying to those interested in the for- 

 est preserve. Even the placing of the reser- 

 vation under a system of scientific forestry 

 management, as advocated by Garden and For- 

 est, seems questionable. Part of the preserve 

 might be so treated, if it were possible to de- 

 pend on the good faith of the management, but 

 there are many reasons, some of them of con- 

 siderable scientific importance, for allowing 

 part of the preserve to remain as primeval 

 forest. 



The Nation says: "The recent adverse de- 

 cision of the Court of Appeal at Rouen in the 

 now famous case of scientific plagiarism, 

 Cremieux-Jamin vs. Lombroso, reinforces a 

 good idea that comes from Prof. Michael Foster, 

 Secretary of the Royal Society. Prof. Poster 

 suggests an international organization of scien- 

 tific men for the purpose of registering at fre- 

 quent intervals the results of contemporary in- 

 vestigation. Such a body would serve not only 

 to protect the investigator from prosecution, but 

 also to prevent him from going over ground al- 

 ready trodden. For the world of science at 

 large, it could perform a valuable service by 

 discriminating what has become common pro- 

 perty from what is still in the possession of the 

 original author." The Nation may know of 

 some plan other than that of the recent Inter- 



national Bibliographical Conference. But it is 

 not evident what 'valuable service' a body 

 would perform ' by discriminating what has be- 

 come common property from what is still in 

 the possession of the original author.' 



Oedam, the head Sundanese gardner in the 

 Botanic Gardens of Buitenzorg, Java, has just 

 been decorated, by the government of Nether- 

 lands India, with the Zilveren Ster van Ver- 

 dienste (Silver star of merit), as a tribute to 

 over 50 years of faithful service in the Gardens. 

 The decoration services and the presentation 

 address in Malay, by Director Treub, took 

 place on the 16th of September, with all the 

 befitting ceremony so agreeable to the natives. 

 This is the first time the silver star, which is 

 strictly designed for native civil employes, has 

 been accorded to one of the native gardeners. 

 Every botanist visiting the Gardens comes to 

 know and appreciate the value of this old man's 

 astonishing knowledge of tropical plants. His 

 acquaintance not only with the scientific and 

 native names of the plants, but his acute sense 

 of their natural relationships has made his ser- 

 vices of inestimable value. He is a member of 

 one of those native families from which the 

 Gardens have drawn so many of their best col- 

 lectors and gardeners. His father occupied the 

 position of chief overseer or mandor of the 

 coolies under the directorship of Dr. Teys- 

 mann, and his son has already fitted himself to 

 fill the position of chief gardener, or mantri, on 

 his father's retirement. This is probably the 

 highest tribute ever paid to Sundanese botani- 

 cal intelligence. D. G. F. 



In a recent paper on the distribution of cer- 

 tain mammals in New England and northern 

 New York, Mr. C. F. Batchelder notes the di- 

 rect connection between agriculture and the dis- 

 tribution of the red-backed mouse (Evotomys 

 gapperi), a species eminently characteristic of 

 the Boreal zone. This species is chiefly found 

 in New England in sphagnum swamps, and as 

 these are drained the animal is deprived of the 

 territory suited to its needs. In Cape Cod of 

 late years the cedar swamps have been stripped 

 of their trees and turned into cranberry bogs to 

 such an extent that, if this industry should in- 

 crease but a little more, there is every proba- 



