314 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVI. No. 409 



was also put into use as a haemostatic. Tar was highly praised 

 for its antiseptic virtues, and was either applied in the form of a 

 dressing or directly poured upon the wound. Besides these, many 

 aromatics and bitters were in daily usage, among which were 

 thyme, rosin, asphaltum, etc., used as dressings or in the form of 

 plasters. Galen was acquainted with catgut, and advised the use 

 of non-putrefying substances for sutures. Professor Anagostakis 

 declares that all this was not empiricism, but an antiseptic method 

 founded upon some knowledge of the principles governing the 

 healing of wounds. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 At the meeting of the American Naturalists, Dec. 31, 1890, at 

 Boston, the topic will be " The Inheritance of Acquired Charac- 

 teristics." It will be presented from several points of view by 

 the following speakers: Professor H. F. Osborn, W. H Brewer, 

 W. K. Brooks, W. G. Farlow. 



— From the first of January, Dr. Richard Andree, 27 Leopold- 

 strasse, Heidelberg, will be the editor of Globus, which was founded 

 nearly thirty years ago by his father, recently deceased. 



— A quaint custom, dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, known 

 as payment of " wrath silver," was recently observed atKnightlow 

 Hill, a tumulus between Rugby and Coventry, England. It con- 

 sists of tribute payable by certain parishes in Warwickshire to the 

 Duke of Buccleuch. The silver has to be deposited at daybreak 

 in a hollow stone by representatives of the parishes, the penalty 

 for default being forfeiture of a white bull with a red nose and 

 ears. The representatives afterwards dined together at the duke's 

 expense. 



— In the Meteorologische Zeitschrift for October, M. Nils Ekholra 

 gives an account of a method on trial at the Meteorological Office 

 of Stockholm, which seems likely to throw some light upon what 

 has hitherto been a difficult matter to deal with; namely, the de- 

 termination of the p.ath taken by storms. He calculates, from the 

 telegraphic weather reports, tables of the density of the atmos- 

 phere, and constructs from the data synoptic charts of this 

 element, and finds that they give a better clew to the movements 

 and oiigin of cyclones than the usual method of a comparison of 

 the isobars and isotherms alone. He finds, as stated in Nature, 

 that storms move in the direction of the warmest and dampest 

 air, parallel to the lines of equal density, leaving the rarer air to 

 the right hand. A few empirical rules are quoted from about a 

 liuDdred cases which have been investigated. 



— Ginn & Co. announce to be ready Dec. 20, "Good- Night 

 Poetry," by Mr. W. P. Garrison. The idea of this book is that " the 

 thoughts and feelings that are in the mind as it bids the world 

 good-night have the hours that follow for undisturbed working 

 on the quality of the brain. For moral culture, these last minutes 

 are decisive. We must gain them for what is true and good; and 

 poetry is the voice they will hear most willingly." 



— At the eighth congress of the American Ornithologists' Union, 

 held at the United States National Museum, Washington, Nov. 

 18-30, the papers read were as follows: •• The American Ornithol- 

 ogists' Union— A Seven Years' Retrospect," an address by the retir- 

 ing president, by J. A. Allen ; " Seed-Planting by Birds," by Walter 

 B. Barrows; "Phalaropes at Swampscott, Mass.," by William A. 

 Jeffries; "The Birds of Andros Island, Bahamas," by John I. 

 Northrop; "Remarks on a Few Species of Andros Island Birds, 

 collected by Dr. Northrop," by J. A. Allen; "An Experimental 

 Trial of a New Method for the Study of Bird Migration," by Haro' 

 Oordon White; " A Study of Bird-Waves in the Delaware Valley 

 during the Spring Migration of 1890," by Witmer Stone; "Our 

 Present Knowledge of the Neotropical Avifauna," by Frank M. 

 Chapman; " The case of Colaptes auralus and C. cafer," by J. A. 

 Allen; "Observations upon the Classification of the United States 

 Aocipitres, based upon a Study of their Osteology,"' by R. W. 

 Shufeldt; ^'Sorae Observations on the Breeding of Dendroica 

 vigorsii at Raleigh, N.C.," by C. S. Brimley; "The Trans-Appa- 

 lachian Movement of Birds from the Interior to the South Atlantic 

 States, viewed Chiefly from the Standpoint of Chester County, 

 S.C," by Leverett M. Loomis; " A Further Review of the Avian 

 Fauna of Chester County, S.C," by Leverett M. Loomis; "Some 



Bird Skeletons from Guadalupe Island," by Frederic A. Lucas; 

 " The Present Status of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker," by E. M. 

 Ha^brouok; "Some Notes concerning the Evening Grossbeak," 

 by Amos W. Butler; "Owls of lUinois," by W. S. Strode; "The 

 Spring Migration of the Red Phalarope, Crymophilus fulicarius," 

 by Harry Gordon White; "On the Tongue of Humming Biids," 

 by Frederic A. Lucas; "Instinct, Intuition, and Intelligence," by 

 C. F. Amery; "The Habits of the American Golden Plover in 

 Massachusetts," by George H. Mackay; "Correction to Revised 

 Catalogue of the Birds of Kansas," by N. S. Goss; " Second Oc- 

 currence of the White-Faced Glossy Ibis, Plegadis Guarauna, in 

 Kansas," by N. S. Goss; and "Remarks on the Primary Faunal 

 Divisions of North America," by C. Hart Merriam. 



— The Scottish Geographical Magazine for November is author- 

 ity for the statement that a submerged city has been discovered 

 between Grado and Pola in Istria, which very likely will prove to 

 be the ruins of the town of Cissa, mentioned by Pliny and Deci- 

 mus Secundinus as situated upon an island of the same name. 

 The position of its site being doubtful, considerable interest has 

 frequently been evoked by attempts to identify it, which, how- 

 ever, have hitherto failed. A diver who has examined the newly 

 discovered remains reports that the walls of buildings and streets 

 can be clearly traced, and that he followed a sea-wall for a hun- 

 dred feet, and might have been able to proceed along it for a 

 greater distance had not the apparatus which supplied him with 

 air prevented his further progress, while the depth of water be- 

 yond the wall forbade any attempt to examine its frontage. No 

 signs of doors or windows were observed ; but these, he considered, 

 were blocked up and hidden by debris and marine growths. 

 Further investigations are to be carried out, which, it is hoped, 

 will do much to clear up the mystery that has so long hung over 

 Cissa, its position, and ijs fate. 



— Mr. T. Tuhlin has recently published in the Nova Acta of the 

 Royal Society of Sciences of Upsala a paper on the nocturnal tem- 

 perature of the air at different heights up to twenty-four feet, 

 from hourly observations taken during the winters of 1887 and 

 1888, in the grounds of the Upsala Observatory. The observations 

 were made mostly while enow lay upon the ground, with ther- 

 mometers both with and without screens, and were intended to 

 form a sequel to the series made by Mr. H E. Hamberg during 

 the summer season. The first part of the paper, according to Na- 

 ture of Nov. 20, contains a resume of the experiments made since 

 1778. The following are some of the chief results arrived at in 

 the second part of the paper. The decrease of temperature by 

 radiation from unprotected thermometers over snow remained al- 

 most constant at heights above half a metre. During clear nights 

 the temperature increased with height, from two or three hours 

 before sunset until two hours after sunrise; and the lower the 

 temperature, the greater was the increase. During cloudy or 

 foggy nights the temperatures at different heights were nearly 

 equal; but, if the clouds were high and thin, the increase of tem- 

 perature with height was only slightly hindered. The surface of 

 the snow was found to be colder than the surrounding air. 



— The movement for better roads which is so prevalent in 

 many States has resulted in Pennsylvania in the appointment of a 

 road commission by the legislature and governor, to investigate 

 the road laws and formulate a better system. With the same end 

 in view, the committee on better roads, a committee of citizens of 

 Philadelphia, offered, through the University of Pennsylvania, 

 prizes amounting to $700, for the best papers on road making and 

 maintenance, embodying the engineering, economic, and leaisla- 

 tive features of the problem. A large number of contributions 

 were received and referred by Dr. William Pepper, provost of the 

 university, to a board of adjudicators appointed by him, composed 

 of Alexander J. Cassatt, C.E., chairman; William Sellers, M.E. ; 

 Joseph M. Wilson, C.E. ; William H. Wahl, Ph.D.; Thomas M. 

 Cleeman, C. E. ; Hon. Wayne MacVeagh; and Professor Lewis M. 

 Haupt, C.E., secretary. During the examination of the papers, 

 and until the awards were made, their authors remained entirely 

 unknown to the board, which, after due consideration, awarded 

 the 6rst prize, of $400, to Henry Irwin, B.S., C.E., assistant en- 

 gineer Canadian Pacific Railway, Montreal, Canada; the second 



