3i6 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVI. No. 409 



SCIENCE: 



A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



PUBLISHED BY 



N. D. C. HODGES. 



47 Lafayette Place, New York. 



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Vol. XVI. NEW YORK, December 5, 1890. No. 409. 



CONTENTS : 



Notes on the Habits op Some 

 Common English Spiders 



C. V. Boys 309 

 The Production of Immunity 



prom Disease 310 



Special Planting for Honey 



A. J. Cook 811 

 The Relation of Ground Water 

 to Disease 312 



Health Matters 

 A Faster in the Seventeenth 



Century 313 



Deafness for High Notes 313 



Summer Drinks 313 



Antiseptics among the Ancient 



Greeks 313 



Notes and News 314 



Review of the Work op the 

 "Pilot Chart"' 316 



Letters to the Editor. 

 On the Geology of Quebec City 



Henry M. Ami 317 

 The Education of the Deaf 



B. Engelsman 317 

 Book-Eeviews. 

 Are the Effects of Use and Dis- 

 use Inherited ? 317 



Higher Education of Women in 



Europe 318 



Longmans' School Geography for 



North America 318 



Handbook of Commercial Geog- 



A Smaller Commercial Geog- 

 raphy ; 



Warren's New Physical Geog- 

 raphy : 



The Life of John Ericsson I 



Among the Publishers 319 



REVIEW OF THE WORK OF THE "PILOT CHART." 

 With the December number the eighth year of this publication 

 begins, the first number having appeared in December, 1883. The 

 various changes and improvements that have been made in the 

 chart since that time are strikingly shown by a comparison be- 

 tween a late copy and that first issued. The most conspicuous 

 additions are the following: steam and sailing routes; region of 

 equatorial rains; table of barometer normals and percentage of 

 probable calms for each 5°-square; storm diagrams, with brief 

 rules for action to avoid a hurricane ; cautionary and storm signals 

 in use along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States; the 

 tracks, names, and date.s of derelicts; list of dangerous obstruc- 

 tions to navigation along the coast, and of charts published and 

 cancelled during the preceding month ; regions of observed and 

 predicted fog. Besides these additions and other less striking 

 ones, the greater portion of the forecast raeteorologic data has 

 been thoroughly revised, and brought up to date; while the review 

 is now pre()ared with very much greater accuracy and complete- 

 ness, owing to the far greater number of observers who now send 

 in regular reports to the United States Hydrograpbic OfBce, and 

 the hearty approbation and support received from masters of ves- 

 sels of every nationality. 



During the last three years, especial efforts have been made to 

 publish promptly, and make practically useful to navigators, the 

 results of the many reports that are made, thus giving to each and 

 «very observer the benefit of the combined experience of hundreds 



of observers, and at the same time securing a wide and inter- 

 national circulation for data relating to the ocean. In this attempt 

 two objects have been kept in view by the Hydrograpbic Office, — 

 first, to give, in clear, practical form, as much late and important 

 news as possible to navigators, and to aid them by every means in 

 their power in lessening the dangers of the sea and increasing the 

 safety and success of commerce; second, to attract the interest 

 and attention of other classes of people to the life and duties of 

 the officers and men of the navy and mercantile marine, and thus 

 to insure a fair hearing and some attention and sympathy in any 

 reasonable effort to improve the status and prospects of seafaring 

 men and others directly interested in commerce. That these 

 efforts have been successful to some extent, seems to be indicated 

 by the support that their work has received from masters, owners, 

 and agents, as well as from the public generally; and numerous 

 quotations might be made from home and foreign reviews, and 

 from public and private statements by recognized authorities, 

 showing general recognition of the fact that this publication has 

 achieved success in a new and untried field, and has been credita- 

 ble to the United States. Not the least of the valuable results that 

 have been achieved is the general recognition of the benefits to be 

 derived from the use of oil in preventing heavy seas from breaking 

 onboard vessels, —a result universally attributed to the reports 

 that have been published on the "Pilot Chart." 



The subject of derehcts at sea, and the danger therefrom to 

 commerce, has been emphasized in the same way; and some 

 authorities are of the opinion that the recent marine conference 

 owed its inception largely to the interest caused by the continued 

 publication of such data. 



A feature of the "Pilot Chart" that deserves special mention 

 is the occasional publication of a supplement devoted to some sub- 

 ject of immediate importance. This plan was first tried in Sep- 

 tember, 1887; and since that time several supplements have been 

 issued, each of which has attracted much favorable attention, and 

 has been widely quoted. The following is a complete list of those 

 published thus far : — 



September, 1887, West Indian Hurricanes. — Diagrams and test 

 explaining the circulation of the wind in a hurricane, with brief 

 rules for action. 



December, 1887, Transatlantic Steamship Routes for Decem- 

 ber. — The plan for steamer-routes recommended in order to avoid 

 collisions, with a brief discussion of the winter storm-belt of the 

 North Atlantic. 



March, 1888, Water-Spouts off the Atlantic Coast of the United 

 States during January and February, 1888. — Positions of water- 

 spouts plotted on a small chart, with reports quoted in full, and a 

 discussion of the subject. 



August, 1888, Derelicts ani Wreckage in the North Atlantic. — 

 A history of the great log-raft, with a complete list of reports 

 .received from vessels that sighted the logs as they spread over the 

 ocean, together with a graphic record of the drifts of the most 

 notable derelicts. 



February, 1889, The Derelict American Schooner "W. L. 

 While." -An account of the transatlantic voyage of this notable 

 derelict vessel, with all reports received, and a chart showing the 

 track of the vessel and the general drift of Atlantic currents. 



October, 1889, The St. Thomas- Hatteras Hurricane of Sept. 

 3-13. 1889. — Ten small charts, with accompanying text, illustrating 

 the progress of this great hurricane from St. Thomas to our coast 

 north of Hatteras, with a complete hst of vessels from which re- 

 ports were received in time for use in this connection. 



During 1890 no supplements have been issued, but a large num- 

 ber of reprints in black and white have been made of the various 

 diagrams and pj in ted matter accompanying the chart. These have 

 been widely circulated and republished, notably by the New York 

 Herald, the Boston Post, and the Liverpool Journal of Commerce,. 

 to which papers the Hydrograpbic Office feel especially indebted 

 for valuable assistance and support. 



It is proposed to publish with the Janu-ary chart a supplement 

 devoted lo the subject of ice in the North Atlantic during the sea- 

 son of 1889-90. This will contain charts showing the positions and 

 dates of icebergs and field-ice reported during the past season (per- 

 haps the most notable ice season on record), for which the data at 



