October 31, 1890.] 



bClENCE. 



249 



If the object of matrimony was only to produce human animals, 

 irrespective of their mental and spiritual nature, I should advo- 

 cate the prevention of the marriage not only of the deaf, but of 

 some other classes who labor under physical defects. But this is 

 not the case. A true marriage is upon a higher and holier basis 

 than this. Its essential element is in the affections of a pair 

 whose perfect union is necessary to their hajjpiness. The happiness 

 •of this pair I believe to be of more consequence to themselves and 

 to society than the possible or even probable inconvenience of 

 their offspring. I say inconvenience, for deafness is neither a 

 crime nor a disgrace; nor does it inflict any suffering on its sub- 

 ject. There vs-as a time when the deaf were considered but brutes, 

 and classed as idiots, and treated accordingly. That time, all 

 are thankful, is past; and in our time deaf persons often stand in 

 society the peers of any others, in all that makes true nobility of 

 character and manhood. In education, in mechanical skill, in 

 sesthetic culture, in artistic talent, in true refinement and taste, 

 they are oftentimes above the average of hearing people; and 

 somptimes the deaf member of the family is the one of all his kin- 

 dred most entitled to respect, because his deafness, having with- 

 drawn him from his surroundings, has placed within his reach an 

 education and culture that enables him to live on a much higher 

 plane than any of his relations enjoy, and than he would have 

 enjoyed if he had not been deaf. There is in society a vast 

 amount of practical ignorance concerning the deaf, which it 

 seems almost impossible to eradicate. This is one of the heritages 

 handed down from former times, when deafness was indeed a 

 great calamity, consigning its subjecc to perpetual infancy in law, 

 and to dense ignorance for life. But, as already stated, times 

 have changed; and what was once a calamity is now only a seri- 

 ous inconvenience. There are other inconveniences that descend 

 by heredity that we might quite as well combat through matri- 

 mony as deafness. Baldness is a physical defect that is often (in 

 fly-time and in cold weather, or when sitting in a draught, for in- 

 stance) a great inconvenience ; but who ever thought of classing 

 the bald-headed among the defective classes, or of regarding bald- 

 ness as a crime or disgrace? Neai-- sightedness is a physical defect 

 that is often very inconvenient; hut vs'ho ever thought to trace 

 the pedigree of bald or near-sighted people, to see if they might 

 -enter into wedlock? Philip G. Gillett. 



Jacksonville, 111., Oct. S2. 



Chalk from the Niobrara Cretaceous of Kansas. 



The chalk from the Niobrara cretaceous of Kansas has long 

 been known, but, so far as I am aware, little has been hitherto 

 discovered regarding its structure or formation. Professor Pat- 

 rick, some years ago, stated that it contained no microscopic or- 

 ganisms, but afterwards, with the aid of a very high power ob- 

 jective, found what he thought were organic remains. This is all 

 the more remarkable, as the chalk appears to be wholly composed 

 of organic forms, very readily visible under a comparatively low 

 power (a one-fifth or a one-sixth objective and a C eye- piece). 

 A ready way to detect them is by allowing a thin film held in 

 suspension in water to dry on a slide, afterward mounting In 

 balsam. I have examined a number of specimens, and find the 

 material composed of small elliptical disks, either with four de- 

 pressions or foramina, leaving ridges in the shape of a Greek 

 cross, or with one or two central depressions or nuclei. Scattered 

 among them are small slender rods, and occasionally a number of 

 these were seen attached to a central mass. I believe the disks to 

 be coccoliths (discoliihs), which occur abundantly in the white 

 chalk of England, and, at the present day, in deep-sea deposits. 

 The Kansas chalk, however, has always been thought to be a 

 shallow- sea deposit, — a belief strengthened by the abundance of 

 thick-shelled molluscan remains, such as certain Inocerami, Ru- 

 distes. etc. The Kansas chalk, unlike the English, shows no flinty 

 nodules. I shall make further examinations of material from 

 different regions of the outcrop, which varies not a little in its 

 physical and fosslliferous characters, and publish further results 

 of my investigations, with figures. S. W. Williston. 



University of Kansas, Oor. 24. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 



The Forest and Stream Publishing Company of New York 

 will issue at once the first number of a quarterly publication en- 

 titled " The Book of the Game-Laws," compiled by the editor of 

 Forest and btream, and containing all the laws of the United 

 States and Canada relating to game and fish. 



— Messrs. John Wiley & Sons announce for immediate publica- 

 tion Egleston's "Metallurgy," Vol. 11, 



— D. C. Heath & Co. have in active preparation for early publi- 

 cation "The American Citizen," by Rev. Charles F. Dole. It is 

 intended to provide a book suitable for the higher grades of the 

 grammar-school, as well as for high-schools and academies. 



— The Goldthwaite Geographical Exchange, New York, has 

 brought out a new edition, ba^ed on the 1890 census, of "Cram's 

 Standard American Atlas." Special attention is given in this 

 atlas to the railway systems, which are printed in separate colors. 

 The index is claimed to be very complete, giving not only the 

 location of the places, but also the means of reaching them by 

 rail, express, etc., and the banking facilities available. 



— Messrs. D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, have in preparation the 

 following additions to their valuable list of works on education: 

 (1) the authorized translation of Compayre's "Psychologie Ap- 

 pliquee a I'Education," in two volumes, — Vol. I., " Notions Theo- 

 retiques," a treatise on elementary psychology; Vol. II., "Appli- 

 cation," a practical application of the principles of psychology to 

 physical, intellectual, and moral education; and (3) the author- 

 ized translation of Compayre's " Cours de Morale Th6oretique et 

 Pratique." These lectures are all fully indexed, and each is fol- 

 lowed by a resume of its contents. 



— Three new Old South Leaflets have been added to the general 

 series published by D. C. Heath & Co., all of them devoted to 

 Indian subjects. The first is Coronado's "Letter to Mendoza in 

 1540," written probably from the Zuni peublo, describing his search 

 through New Mexico for the famous " Seven Cities of Cibola." 

 This English translation of Coronado's report has never been pub- 

 lished before except in the large and costly collection of Hakluyt; 

 and it is of special interest at this time, when the researches of 

 Frank Cushing and others have directed attention anew to the 

 Zuni country. The other two leaflets are John Eliot's " Brief 

 Narrative of the Progress of the Gospel Amongst the Indians of 

 New England," first printed in London in 1671, and Rev. Eleazer 

 Wheelock's " Narrative of the Original Design, Rise, Progress, 

 and Present State of the Indian Charity-School in Lebanon, Conn." 

 (1763). The establishment of this school was the most important 

 and interesting effort for the education of the Indians in New 

 England, in the last century; Dartmouth College, of which 

 Wheelock was the first president, being an outgrowth of the 

 school These papers are a valuable addition to the series of Old 

 South Leaflets, which now furnishes so many original historical 

 documents to our students at the cost of a few cents, Wheelock's 

 "Narrative" being No. 33 of the series Mr. Mead's historical 

 and bibliographical notes to the three new leaflets are full. 



— The result of the experiments at the Ohio State Agricultural 

 Station in the cultivation of different varieties of strawberries 

 shows that if we separate varieties of strawberries into two classes, 

 — viz. , those that continue a long time in bearing, and those that 

 have a short season, — we find that the most prolific fall into the 

 first class, while those that give small crops continue but a short 

 time In bearing: in other words, those that give the greatest 

 number of pickings during the season produce the largest crops. 

 It might seem that the aggregate crop would depend as much, or 

 more, upon the quantity of fruit ripe at each picking, as upon 

 the number of pickings; it would also seem that the varieties that 

 ripen slowly, and continue a long time in bearing, would be more 

 in danger of dry weather than those that yield their crop in a 

 short time: but such does not appear to be the fact. Nearly all of 

 the very early varieties continue but a short time in bearing, yield 

 but few pickings, and give short crops. The same is true, in a 

 more marked degree, of the extreme late sorts. They commence 

 to ripen late, but hold out little, if any, longer than the medium 

 varieties. The second early or medium varieties usually give more 



