November 28, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



301 



these beetles will not attack plants if simple frames, consisting of 

 four pieces of boards nailed together, without a top of any kind, 

 are placed over the hills. This method was tried with a number 

 of frames ranging from four to ten inches in height. As antici 

 pated, the method was entirely unsuccessful, every plant of the 

 hills so covered being destroyed by the beetles. 



— The next mei'ting of the American branch of the Society for 

 Psychical Research wiU be held at the rooms of the Boston Society 

 of Natural History, corner of Berkeley and Boylston Streets, on 

 Tuesday, Dec. 3, at 8 p.m. The secretary will give an account of 

 some cases recently received or investigated, and make a report 

 of some sittings with Mrs. Piper in England, by Professor Oliver 

 Lodge, F. B.S. No admittance except by ticket, which may be 

 obtained by members or associates on application to the secretary, 

 Richard Hodgson, 5 Boylston Place, Boston, Mass. 



— The new building for the Philadelphia Polyclinic and College 

 for Graduates in Medicine will be ready Jan. 1, 1891, and will 

 provide accommodations for the Polyclinic, or college departments, 

 the Polyclinic Hospital, the Ladies' Aid Society of the Polyclinic 

 Hospital, the Polychnic Medical Society, and the Polyclinic Medi- 

 cal Library. Since 1882 post-graduate medical schools have been 

 established in New York, Chicago, Baltimore, Cincinnati, St. 

 Louis, New Orleans, and Boston. With the single exception of 

 the Johns Hopkins University, all occupy modified old buildings, 

 while this new building is especially adapted from a personal 

 knowledge of the requirements acquired in the old, long-estab- 

 lished, and largely endowed institutions of Europe, and arranged 

 by the architects, Messrs. Baker & Dallett. The special features 

 of this new structure are, first, that it has been built to meet the 

 requirements of combining in one institution all of the peculiar 

 advantages to be derived from those hospitals which are devoted 

 to the treatment of a single class of diseases, knovi'n as spe ial 

 hospitals; second, the building is arransied to facilitate carrying 

 out the essential character of j^ractical teaching, in which pupils 

 who are practitioners of medicine may be brought in classes, 

 which are always limited in number, into direct contact with the 

 patients. The building is constructed of brick and terra-cotta. 

 The system of heating is by indirect radiation. Incased steam- 

 coils are placed in the cellar, and there heat the pure air brought 

 in by conduits. Other conduits conduct the heated air to the 

 rooms and hallways. Ventilation is accomplished by substratum 

 suction. The exit registers are placed in the walls near the floors, 

 and in proper relation to the position of the hot-air registers. The 

 impure air is carried down to the air-tight ducts under the cellar 

 floor, and passes out above the roof through the high biick stack. 

 In the centre of this stack is a cast-iron pipe, tln-ough which 

 passes the gaseous products of combustion from the engine-room. 

 The constant heat in this iron pipe maintains an upward current 

 of air around it inside of the brick stack. This system is arranged 

 to permit the addition, at trifling expense, of an electrical or steam 

 blower, should this be found necessary. All the corners in the 

 building are rounded, to prevent the accumulation of dust and to 

 facilitate thorough cleansing. The elevator shaft, iron stairs, and 

 all toilet-rooms are placed in a practically detached building, 

 which gi-eatly enhances the sanitary condition. City gashas been 

 introduced throughout, but it is contemplated introducing an 

 electric-light plant as soon as funds can be obtained. Varnished 

 natural wood is used throughout the interior, paint being used on 

 the exterior only. The future success of this institution, which 

 is the only one of its kind in Pennsylvania, depends entirely upon 

 the financial support given to it by generous-hearted citizens. 

 It is a matter of experience that charitable and educational insti- 

 tutions are successful in proportion to their endowments. None are 

 .self-supporting. The higher medical education of the physician 

 aflfects the entire community, each and all being subject to illness 

 and accident, each and all desiring above all things a speedy re- 

 covery of health. This is materially aided by the Philadelphia 

 Polyclinic, which is the only post-graduate medical college and 

 hospital in Pennsylvania. The endowment of scholarships will 

 permit the awarding of the unique facilities of The Polyclinic to 

 deserving physicians of limited means, as, for example, medical 

 missionaries, or the extending similiar privileges to the medical 



stafif of the army and navy. The endowment of departments will 

 provide the elaborate and often expensive apparatus required by 

 all. The endowment of free beds increases the charitable work. 



— The proceedings of the twenty-third annual meeting of the 

 Kansas Academy of Science, held at Lawrence, Nov. 5, 6, and 7, 

 were as follows: Wednesday at 5 p.m. business meeting at the 

 Eldridge House, at 8 p.m. public lecture in Snow Hall by the re- 

 tiring president, Professor G. H. Failyer; Thursday at 9 a.m. and 

 3 p.m. meetings for the reading of papers in Snow Hall, at 8 p.m. 

 a reception to visiting members, tendered by the University Sci- 

 ence Club; Friday at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. meetings for the reading 

 of papers, at 8 p.m. an exhibition of lantern and microscopic slides 

 in the University Chapel. The following papers were read, some 

 being by title only : " Observations on the Nutation of Sunflowers," 

 and "Germination of Indian-Corn after Immersion in Water of 

 Different Temperatures," by W. A. Kellerman; "Periodicity in 

 Plants," and " Additions to the Flora of Kansas," by B. B. Smyth ; 

 "Plants of the Colorado Boundary," and "Notes on Southern 

 Kansas Plants," by M. A. Carlton ; " Equation of the Mean Monthly 

 21-Year Temperature Curve of Lawrence, Kan.," by E. C. Mur- 

 phy; "Annual Precipitation of Rain and Snow at Manhattan, 

 Kan., for the Past Thirty-two Years (Chart)," and "Mean Hourly 

 Velocity of Wind at Manhattan, Kan. (Chart)," by C. M. Breese; 

 " An Electrical Hygi'ometer," by L. I. Blake; "On the Relative 

 Sweetness of the Different Series of Alcohols," by E. E. Slosson; 

 "The Selective Power of the Sense of Taste," by E. H. S. Bailey ; 

 "The Sugars of Watermelons," by J. T. Willard; "Notes on 

 Sugar Beets," by G. H. Failyer and J. T. Willard; " Some Notes 

 on Kansas Meteorites, " by F. H. Snow ; ' ' Notes on Kansas Salt 

 Marshes," by Robert Hay; "Evidences of Prehistoric Man in 

 Labette County, Kan ," by W. S. Hill; "Notes on Some Fossils 

 of Lincoln County, Kan.," by D. S. Kelley; "A Comparison of 

 Preservative Fluids for Museum Use," by V. L. Kellogg and E. E. 

 Slosson; "Notes on Summer Birds of Estes Park, ColotBdo," by 

 V. L. Kellogg; "On the Skull of Discosaurus," by S. W. Williston; 

 "The Civilization of the Mound-Builders," by H. C. Fellow; 

 "Evolution of the Human Face," by A. H. Thompson; "Equal 

 and Unequal Taxation," by J. H. Carruth; " On the Valuation of 

 Mustard from an Estimation of its Sulphuretted Oil," by L. B. 

 Say re; "Notes on Kansas Minerals," by G. H. Failyer; "Analysis 

 of 'Feather Alum' from Colorado," by E. H. S. Bailey; "On the 

 Most Economic Process for the Manufacture of Iodoform," by S. 

 R. Boyce; " A New Siphoning Extraction Apparatus," by G. H. 

 Failyer and J. T. WiUard; " Radiation of Heat from Foliage," by 

 A. G. Mayer; " A New Fire- Screen," and " Notes on the Thermal 

 Resistance of Fire-Screens," by T. H. Dinsmore; " First Addition 

 to the List of Kansas Peronos Peracese," by W. T. Swingle; " Pre- 

 liminary Notice of Some Kansas Rolling Plants," by W. T. 

 Swingle and D. G. Fairchild; "Harmonic Forms," by B. B. 

 Smyth ; " On Certain Generic Characters of Tachinida," by S. W. 

 Williston; "The Flora of Cherokee County, Tex.," by Mrs. A. L. 

 Slosson; "Evolution in Leaves," by Mrs. W. A. Kellerman; 

 " Notes on the Grasses found in the Vicinity of Manhattan," by 

 W. A Kellerman and Bessie Little ; ' ' Note of the Precision of the 

 Solar Attachment," by F. O. Marvin; " Preparation for Scientific 

 Work," by T. H. Dinsmore; " Structure of the Kansas Chalk," by 

 S. W. Williston; " Notes on Sorghum Smuts," by W. A. Keller- 

 man and W. T. Swingle; " Notes on the Distribution and Ravages 

 of the Hackberry Knot," by W. A Kellerman; " Methods of Col- 

 lecting, Cleaning, and Mounting Diatoms," by Gertrude Crotty; 

 "The Union of Cuscuta Glomerata with its Host," by W. C. 

 Stevens; "On the Best Gun for Collecting Naturalist," by J. J. 

 Graham; "Note on the Occurrence of Mammoth Remains in 

 Franklin County, Kan.," by O. C. Charlton; "On the Action of 

 the Pasteur Filter on a Solution containing Bacteria." by L. E. 

 Sayre and V. L. Kellogg; "Differentials of Higher Orders than 

 the First," by E. Miller; "Certain Curves and Surfaces derived 

 from Surfaces of the Second Degree," by H. B Newson; " Camp 

 of Prehistoric People found near Wichita, Kan.," Iiy J. R, Mead; 

 "Experiments in 1890 for the Artificial Dissemination of the 

 Chinch Bug Disease," by F. H. Snow; " Note on an Insect found 

 in Flaxseed," by D, S. Kelley. 



