SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVI. No. 407 



cases may be specially mentioned. In each of them an appro- 

 priation of a part of the sum required would have been made ; but 

 in one (in our own country) an active and honored friend of the 

 science undertakes the whole, and in the other (in France) the 

 generous M. Bischoffsheim, already known as the founder of the 

 great observatory at Nice, ignoring political boundaries and the 

 comparative selfishness of patriotism, came forward and gave 

 *,he entire sum required. It is to be hoped that the above named, 

 and other foreign institutions, will obtain more important aid 

 from neighbors when these become aware how highly the work 

 of their scientists is appreciated in this country. The replies not 

 enumerated above are confidential, and cannot be mentioned ex- 

 cept by the permission of the writers; but they have placed Pro- 

 fessor Pickering in possession of important information regarding 

 the present needs of astronomers. In several cases a skilful 

 astronomer is attached to a college which has no money for astro- 

 nomical investigation. He has planned for years a research Ln the 

 hope that some day he may be able to carry it out. A few hundred 

 dollars would enable him to do this, and he offers to give his own 

 time, taken from his hours of rest, if only he can carry out his 

 cherished plan?. 



Such valuable results could be attained by the expenditure of a 

 few thousand dollars, that no opportunity should be missed to 

 secure this end. Fortunately, the number of persons in the United 

 States able and willing to give liberally to aid astronomy is very 

 large. It is hoped that some of them may be inclined i;o consider 

 the case here presented. The income derived from a gift of one 

 hundred thousand dollars would provide every year for several 

 cases like those named above. A few thousand dollars would pro- 

 vide immediately for the most important of the cases now requir- 

 ing aid. The results of such a gift would be very far-reaching, and 

 would be attained without delay. Correspondence is invited with 

 those wishing to aid any department of astronomy, either in large 

 or small sums, by direct gift or by bequest. 



HEALTH MATTERS. 



Small-Pox Extinct in Ireland. 

 Not a single death from small-pox was registered in Ireland 

 last year, says the Medical Record. From this scourge, at all 

 events, " the distressful country '' appears to be gradually freeing 

 itself. Over the last ten years the average annual number of 

 deaths was a hundred and thirty, but this average is due to the 

 more serious state of things prevailing in the early stages of the 

 decade. Since l^^^Z there has only been one year in which the 

 number of deaths from smallpox was as high as fourteen. That 

 was in 1887. In IS'^-^ there were but four deaths from small pox 

 .registered in Ireland; in 1886, two; in lb84 there was only one; 

 in 1888 there were three; and, as above stated, in 1889 there was 

 not one. 



BOOK-EEVIEWS. 



Dragon-Flies versus Mosquitoes. Studies in the Life-History of 

 Irritating Insects, their Natural Enemies, and Artificial 

 Checks by Working Entomologists. With an introduction by 

 Robert H Lamborn. Ph.D. New York, Appleton. 13". 



This neat little volume contains the three prize essays elicited 

 by Dr. Laniborn's circular of July 15, 1889, addressed to the work- 

 ing enioraologists of the country. The first prize ($150), as Dr. 

 Lamborn mforms us in his introduction, was awarded to Mrs. C. 



B. Aaron of Philadelphia; the second and third prizes, amounting 

 to S30 and $30 respectively, were divided equally between Mr. A. 



C. v\eeks and Mr. W. Beutenmuller, both of New York. The 

 essays were to trfat of the best methods of destroying mosquitoes 

 and house-flies v\jith special regard to the agency of dragon-flies. 



Taking into consideration the fact that the essays were to be for- 

 warded at the expiration of eighteen weeks from the time the 

 circular was distributed the three contributions must certainly be 

 regarded as most creditable to their authors We believe that Dr. 

 lianiborn, at the time of distributing his circular, could have had 

 no conception of the time required to accomplish any thing of prac- 

 tical or theoretical importance on a difficult entomological question. 



Large portions of the essays are, as was to be expected, devoted to 

 old and well established facts in regard to the life-histories, meta- 

 morphoses, and morphology of the mosquito, fly, and dragon-fly. 

 These descriptions will be read with interesc by all lay readers, 

 whose ignorance of the wonderful life-histories of our most com- 

 mon insects is as glaring as it is inexcusable. But. besides these 

 trite facts, Mrs. Aaron and Mr. Beutenmilller have contribute'd some 

 points of interest to the specialist. Such are, for instance, Mrs. 

 Aaron's account of her experiments in killing mosquito larvae and 

 pupae with petroleum, and Mr. Beutenmiiller's carefully prepared 

 preliminary catalogue of the described transformations of the 

 Odonata of the world. 



Dr. Lamborn's idea of artificially rearing dragon-flies for the 

 purpose of exterminating flies and mosquitoes seems to have met 

 with little favor from the three contributing entomologists. Mr. 

 Weeks concludes that "any attempt to destroy flies and mos- 

 quitoes by the artificial propagation of dragon-flies or any other 

 insect would be impossible, unadvisable, and impracticable." 

 Various methods of destruction other than odonat culture are pro- 

 posed by Mrs. Aaron and Mr. Beutenmiiller, such as sprayed 

 petroleum (for the larvse and pupas), flushing and grading of 

 land, cultivation of fungoids, the employment of attracting-lamps 

 in the neighborhood of marshes, the rearing of fish and the en- 

 couragement of waterfowl where fresh water is abundant. It is 

 to be regretted that the circular did not elicit some work on the 

 distribution and systematic study of our North American Culicidce, 

 a branch of difiterology in which no work of any real value has 

 been done; but this could hardly have been expected from the 

 brief time allotted for competition. 



The three essays are followed by a letter on dragon-flies as mos- 

 quito hawks on the Western Plains, by Mr. C. N. B. Macauley, 

 and a brief article on the extermination of mosquitoes (reprinted 

 from the North American Review. September, 1889), by the well- 

 known arachnologist, Professor H. C. McCook. The work is pro- 

 vided with nine plates, one of which is colored, a useful index, and 

 an extended bibliography to Mrs. Aaron's essay. 



Manual Training in Education. By C. M. Woodward. (Con- 

 temporary Science Series.) New York, Scribner. 13°. 

 $1.25. 



This book contains an exposition of what manual training is, 

 and also an elaborate and somewhat vehement defence of it. The 

 author is director of the manual-training school of Washington 

 University at St. Louis ; and the scheme of manual exercises pre- 

 sented in this book is derived in the main from his own practice. 

 Mr. Woodward, however, is by no means disposed to confine 

 manual training to such special schools, but wants to make it 

 compulsory on all the school- children in the country. His argu- 

 ments are those with which our readers are already familiar. He 

 advocates manual exercises partly as a means of promoting indus- 

 trial efficiency and thereby helping the rising generation to earn 

 their daily bread, and partly as a means of intellectual culture. 

 The former argument is much the more efl'ective, and the addi- 

 tion of the latter is by no means an advantage. The plea for 

 manual training on the ground that it promotes intellectual cul- 

 ture is very flimsy, and the sooner it is abandoned the better. 

 The present writer has had more than twenty years of manual 

 training and practice in various branches of work from farming 

 to organ-playing, but not a particle of intellectual benefit has he 

 derived from it. As for the culture of the perceptive faculties, 

 about which so much has been said, that is best obtained by the 

 observation of human nature and human life, which are to most 

 persons the chief objects of interest ; and this observation goes on 

 spontaneously without the help of teacher or school. What may 

 be the merits of manual training as a preparation for regular in- 

 dustry, and how far its adoption in the public schools is justifiable 

 on that ground, are questions into which we shall not enter here. 

 That special technical schools like that presided over by Mr. 

 Woodward are useful, there can be no doubt; but the success of 

 such schools composed of picked pupils proves nothing as to the 

 expediency of compulsory manual training for all pupils. Mean 

 while those who wish to know what manual training is, and what 

 can be said in its favor, will find this book a help. 



