284 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIX. No 485 



4yapHO(pay OS := Flesh consuming. Anasarca. 



SapS-KoS = Flesh. Sarcophagus. 



" HUKCov na XayoS" 



«a«o?= Bad, evil. Cacodyle — cachectic, cacexy — cac- 

 oethes, cacophony. 



TTfAayo? = The Sea. Archipelago. 



After this study of English, Latin, and Greek, the student 

 can understand without difficulty the technical terms of 

 every science in every modern language. He is also able to 

 trace the derivation and meaning of new terms which are 

 constantly formed in every department of knowledge. 



He possesses the key by which he can acquire two modern 

 languages in the time otherwise required for one; he enjoys 

 a deeper insight into the spirit of all literature; he has a 

 systematic knowledge of sufficient Latin and Greek to enable 

 him to continue alone his reading of the classics if he has 

 the time and taste so to do; he has increased and perfected 

 the vocabulary of his own language, which, in very great de- 

 gree, is a measure of mental development, and which possesses 

 an intrinsic value almost beyond estimation. 



This course is relatively easy, since the pupil- makes use, 

 through every step, of a large vocabulary which he has in 

 great measure already at his command. After he has once 

 learned the inflections, he makes rapid progress in compre- 

 hending the simpler forms of construction. He soon recog- 

 nizes at a glance important "stems" in English words, even 

 when they are disguised, as in microbe and autobiography, 

 in telescope and episcopal, and in chylopoetic and poetry. 



A vast majority of pupils in our high schools drop their 

 studies at the end of their second year. They have spent so 

 much time in struggling with an absolutely strange vocabu- 

 lary and idioms that they have learned very little English 

 and still less Latin and Greek. By the plan here advocated, 

 they will have made progress in their own language and 

 acquired considerable knowledge in the ancient languages — 

 an excellent foundation for further study in any field. They 

 will have stored their minds with many beautiful sentences, 

 epigrams, mottoes, and gems of thought. 



This course will not materially conflict with any method 

 which a teacher may prefer. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



At a meeting of the Botanical Club of Washington, held 

 April 23, 1892, a committee was appointed to consider and report 

 upon the questions of a botanical congress and botanical nomen- 

 clature. At a special meeting, called May 7, this committee 

 presented a report, which was unanimously adopted by the Club, 

 to the effect, that, while favoring the final settlement of disputed 

 questions by means of an international congress, they do not regard 

 the present as an opportune time, but that they recommend the 

 reference of the question of plant nomenclature, first, to a repre- 

 sentative body of American botanists; they suggest the considera- 

 tion, by such a body, of the following questions, among others : 

 The law of priority, An initial date for genera. An initial date 

 for species. The principle "once a synonym always a synonym," 

 What constitutes publication ? The form of ordinal and tribal 

 mames. The method of citing authorities. Capitalization ; that they 

 recognize the Botanical Club of the A. A. A. S. as a representa- 

 tive body of American botanists, and commend to that body, for 

 discussion and disposal, the subject of nomenclature as set forth 

 in these resolutions. The report was signed by Lester F. Ward, 

 Geo. Vasey, F. H. Knowlton, B. T. Galloway, Erwin F. Smith, 

 Geo. B. Sudworth, Frederick V. Coville. 



— M. Faure has recently invented a process of producing alu- 

 minium, according to Engineering, by means of which he hopes 

 to reduce its price to about 8d. or 9d. a pound. Briefly speaking, 

 his proposed method consists in obtaining, in a cheap manner. 



aluminium chloride and decomposing it electrically. This decom- 

 position can be effected with a smaller potential difference than can 

 that of the fluoride most frequently used for preparing aluminium 

 by electrolysis, and at the same time a valuable bye-product is 

 formed in the chlorine liberated. It is said, however, that there 

 are considerable difliculties in the way of making the proposed 

 process a commercial success. 



— Opinions are being expressed by scientific workers in India, 

 says Nature, in favor of the making of systematic experiments 

 with snake poison. The Committee for the Management of the 

 Calcutta Zoological Gardens are constructing, from private sub- 

 scriptions a snake-house with the most modern improvements, 

 which will contain specimens of all the principal poisonous snakes 

 in the country. If the necessary funds were available, arrange- 

 ments could be made to fit up a small laboratory in connection 

 with the snake-house, for the purpose of conducting inquiries of 

 all descriptions bearing upon the pathology of snake-bite and 

 cognate subjects, and in future there would be no difficulty in 

 arranging for the carrying out of any special experiments that 

 might be required. It is understood that Dr. D. D. Cunningham, 

 F.R.S., President of the Committee, would in that case be willing 

 to take an active part in organizing and promoting such inquiries 

 and carrying out such experiments, including the testing of the 

 various alleged remedies for snake- bite, which are from time to 

 time brought to notice. 



— Captain Bower of the Indian Staff Corps has arrived at Simla 

 from China, after a very remarkable journey across the Thibet 

 Tableland, according to Nature. He had with him Dr. Thorold, 

 a sub-surveyor, one Pathan orderly, a Hindoostani cook, six cara- 

 van drivers, and forty-seven ponies and mules. The Calcutta 

 correspondent of the Times, who gives an account of the journey, 

 says that Captain Bower, leaving Leh on June 14, crossed the 

 Lanakma Pass on July 3, avoiding the Thibetan outpost placed 

 further south. Journeying due east, he passed a chain of salt 

 lakes, one of which, called Hor-Ba-Too, is probably the highest 

 lake in the world, being 17,930 feet above the sea. Gradually 

 working to the south-east, the explorer saw to the north a mag- 

 nificent snowy range, with a lofty peak in longitude 83° and lati- 

 tude 85°. After many weeks' travel over uplands exceeding 

 15,000 feet in height, where water was scarce and no inhabitants 

 were to be seen, the party on Sept. 3 reached Gya-Kin-Linchin, 

 on the northern shore of Tengri Nor Lake, in longitude 91" and 

 latitude 31°. This is within a few marches of Lhassa, and two 

 officials from the Devi Jong, or temporal governor of Lhassa, met 

 him here and peremptorily ordered him to go back. But he re- 

 fused to return, and a compromise was effected, guides and ponies 

 being provided on his agreeing to make a detour to the north in 

 order to reach the frontier of Western China. He reached Chi- 

 amdo on Dec. 31, only just succeeding in getting off the tableland 

 before winter set in. He struck Bonvalot's route for a few miles 

 when marching to Chiamdo. The country about this town is very 

 fertile and well wooded. Three thousand of the monks of Chi- 

 amdo, who lived in fine monasteries, threatened to attack the 

 party, but were deterred on learning that they carried breech- 

 loaders. Captain Bower arrived at Tarchindo, an outpost on the 

 Chinese frontier, on Feb. 10. The distance covered from Lanakma 

 to Tarchindo was over 2,000 miles, all of which, save a few miles, 

 has now been explored for the first time. The route for thirteen 

 consecutive days lay over a tableland 17,000 feet high. Captain 

 Bower is engaged in writing a report and completing his maps. 



— " Of late years a considerable, and perhaps a disproportionate, 

 amount of attention," says Lancet, " has been devoted to the scien- 

 tific explanation of the state of unconsciousness. The public, as 

 well as the professional, mind has been treated ad nauseam to 

 discussions on hypnotism. The relations of trance and sleep to 

 each other and to various phases of disease have elicited their 

 share of logical ingenuity and of research. Quite recently again 

 an allied condition — -that of the numbed sensation consequent 

 upon shock, such as that experienced in falling from a height — 

 has attracted attention, though, beyond the assurances of some 

 who have survived this experience that dread and pain are alike 

 absent, we have no certain proof of the existence or the essential 



