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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIX. No. 477 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The laboratory of experimental psychology of Coluictjia Col- 

 lege is established in four rooms, occupying the upper floor of the 

 president's house. These include rooms for instruction and re- 

 search, and a dark room for the study of vision. A collection of 

 apparatus has been secured at a cost of about $2,500, and this will 

 be further increased during the present year. The liberal regula- 

 tion recently adopted hy the trustees makes it possible for men of 

 science not connected with the college to use the laboratory and 

 appai'atus for special research. 



— Mr. George W. Field of Johns Hopkins University has been 

 appointed to the American table at the International Zoological 

 Station at Naples for three months, beginning Sept. 1. The table 

 is at present occupied by Professor Wilson of Columbia Univer- 

 sity. The Americans at the station in 1891 were Dr. C. W. Stiles, 

 Mr. W. L. Russell, and Miss Julia Piatt. 



— Steps have been taken towards the organization of Alumni 

 Associations of Johns Hopkins University in the North-west and 

 on the Pacific Slope. Preliminary meetings were held on Feb. 32, 

 at Madison, Wis., where nine graduates and fellows of the univer- 

 sity, members of the faculty of the University of Wisconsin, were 

 assembled, and at Berkeley, Cal., where eleven persons met. The 

 graduates naeetiug at Madison were: C. H. Haskins(Ph.D., 1890), 

 assistant professor of history; G. L. Hendrickson (A,B., 1887), prq- 

 fessor of Latin; H. W. Hillyer (Ph.D., 1885), assistant professor 

 of organic chemistry; W. H. Hobbs (Ph.D., 1888), assistant pro- 

 fessor of mineralogy and metallurgy; C. F. Hodge (Ph D., 1889), 

 instructor in biology; J. Jastrow (Ph.D., 1886), professor of ex- 

 perimental psychology; H. B. Loomis (Ph.D., 1890), instructor in 

 physics; F. J. Turner (Ph.D., 1890), professor in history; C. A. 

 Van Velzer (fellow, 1878-81), professor of mathematics. The 

 graduates meeting at Berkeley were: Henry Crew (Ph.D., 1887), 

 Lick Obserratory; F. G. Hubbard (Ph.D., 1887), instructor in 

 English, University of California; A. C. Lawson (Ph.D., 1888), 

 assistant professor of mineralogy and geology, University of Cali- 

 fornia; F. Lengfeld (Ph.D., 1888), instructor in chemistry. Uni- 

 versity of California; W. H. Miller (A.B., 1888), instructor in 

 mathematics, Leland Stanford, Jr. University ; E. M. Pease (fel- 

 Jow, 1884-85), professor of Latin, Leland Stanford Jr. University; 

 G. M. Richardson (Ph.D., 1890), assistant professor of chemistry, 

 Leland Stanford, Jr. University; C. H. Shinn (A.B., 1884), Niles, 

 Cal.; M. D. Stein (A. B., 1886), Oakland, Cal.; W. I. Stringham 

 (Ph.D., 1880), professor of mathematics. University of California; 

 H. A. Todd (Ph.D., 1885), professor of Romance languages, Leland 

 Stanford, Jr. University. 



— Until the present century the policy of Europe, in dealing 

 with crime and pauperism, was the best possible if the object had 

 been to propagate and increase them both. The States of the New 

 World'necessarily copied many of the methods of the old. Un- 

 fortunately, along with much that was true and wise, they copied 

 and perpetuated many old blunders. But with the advance of 

 modern thought, especially with the enormous widening of the 

 sphere of scientific knov\ ledge, have come new and better ways 

 of dealing with the defeciive, the criminal, and the pauper. To 

 spread abroad and make popular the better ways in charity and 

 reform is the object of the National Conference of Charities and 

 Correction, which meets annually in one or other of our great 

 cities, and will hold its Nineteenth Annual Session in Denver, 

 Col., next June. It combines the best philanthropy of all creeds 

 and all shades of political opinion upon the broad platform of 

 humanity. Its programme for the year has just been issued, and 

 is an interesting paper, its topics covering many of the social 

 problems of the time. The membership of this conference is 

 unique. It has no salaried officers and no selfish benefit to ofifer 

 to anyone, so its doors are open to all the world; whosoever will 

 may come in, on a footing of the most perfect equality. The fact 

 that you are interested in its work, makes you a member, and 

 entitles you to a seat and a voice in its discussions. Anyone de- 

 siring further particulars as to reduced railroad fare, hotel accom- 

 modations, etc., may address Alexander Johnson, secretary, In- 

 dianapolis, Ind., who will send circulars and answer inquiries. 



— During the past two years a large number of variegated 

 plants have been examined with reference to the presence of 

 parasitic fungi by Byron D. Halsted, New Brunswick, N.J., who 

 presented a paper before the Torrey Botanical Club Feb. 9. Atten- 

 tion was first called to the subject by a study of the foliage of a 

 variegated ash, which had its leaves badly spotted with a species 

 of Coniothyrium, while ordinary ash trees were free from the 

 same fungus. Some of the variegated plants, both of the hardy 

 sorts and those grown under glass, have been badly infested with 

 leaf blights. Of the former may be named the delicate and popu- 

 lar bedding plant called plantain lily (FunJcia undulata, var. 

 variegata), several sorts of variegated pelargoniums and alternan- 

 theras. Among the most affected of the tender plants of the 

 variegated class may be mentioned the Aspedistra lurida, var. 

 variegata, Ficus elastica, var. variegata, Abutilon Thomsoni, 

 Codiceum, sp. (crotons), Dieffenbachia, sp.. Hydrangea hortensis, 

 var. variegata, Phryiiium variegatura, Draccena, sp. , etc. There 

 seems to be no question that the variegated leaves are more sus- 

 ceptible, and that likewise the etiolated parts are the ones first 

 attacked. The absence of green in a leaf, from this it is to be in- 

 ferred, is a source of weakness, and upon this account the etiolated 

 tissue is less able to resist the attacks of the fungus germs. Speak- 

 ing generally, a variegated plant lacks capacity for the best work, 

 and the gardener, in propagating a variegation, no matter how it 

 may have originated, is propagating a weakened plant in so far as 

 it has its normal amount of chlorophyll reduced. The fact that 

 some sorts of the self-blanched celery have been found more sus- 

 ceptible to blights and decay bears directly upon this point. It is 

 a pity that so many of our choicest variegated plants blight easily; 

 it is, however, natural that they should do so. Even a fungus 

 parasite will take the line of least resistance. 



— At the last meeting of the Numismatic and Antiquarian So- 

 ciety of Philadelphia a number of the amulets recently presented 

 to the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania by Mrs. John 

 Harrison, who collected them during her recent journey in the 

 East, were exhibited. Among others was a small stamped metal 

 hand with a Hebrew inscription, worn by Jewish boys in Cairo 

 on their foreheads. The inscription reads : Ben Porath Josef, " a 

 young branch is Joseph " (Gen. xxii., 49), Shaddai, and ■' Jeru- 

 salem the Holy City." A green-stone talisman purchased at Jaffa 

 bore an inscription in Arabic of Cufic type, reading " God is High." 

 The hand gave rise to a discussion on the wide-spread use of the 

 extended hand as a magical symbol. In Japan such a hand is 

 frequently placed over the doorway as a charm, and its use in 

 America was commented upon. The folk-lore collection com- 

 prising charms, games and a variety of objects in the University, 

 receives constant accessions and is growing in interest. 



— The Bol. dell Instituto Geogr. Argentina, Tomo xii. Cuad. v. 

 y vi., contains a description of Tierra del Fuego by Dr. Polidoro 

 A. Segers, who took part in an expedition in 1886, and since then 

 has continued his observations during three consecutive years. 

 The northern part of the island, explored by MM. Kousson and 

 Willems, is covered with prairies, where no trees and few shrubs 

 are to be found (see vol. vii., p. 536). To the south, however, 

 of the line from Useless Bay to Cape Penas the surface is clothed 

 with forest, which gradually becomes more dense towards the 

 south. Here the coast is more rugged and the shore is encum- 

 bered by rocks, harboring large numbers of sea fowl and a variety 

 of molluscs. Fish also and seals are more abundant on the south- 

 ern coasts. This difference in the animal kingdom causes a cor- 

 responding difference in the mode of life of the natives. Whereas 

 in the north the Onas, or, according to Dr. Segers, Aonas, subsist 

 on the guanaco and the tucu-tucu, a small rodent, the natives of 

 the south, where these animals are seldom met with, are almost 

 entirely dependent on the sea for their living. They catch seals 

 with a decoy of seal skin stuffed with grass, which they draw 

 through the water by a thong, imitating at the same time to great 

 perfection the bellow of the animal. Birds they catch at night 

 by torch-light, letting themselves down the cliffs by ropes of 

 leather, and Ssh they take in nets made of sinews of the guanaco. 

 In their dress and customs the southern Onas resemble their 

 brethren of the north, with whom they are constantly at feud. 



