144 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XII. No. 294 



The amount of mud thrown out by the volcano is beyond all cal- 

 culation, as all the streams reach from the top to the bottom of the 

 mountain, a distance of four or five miles. There was no lava 

 thrown out. The greatest number of lives lost was on the north- 

 eastern side, on account of that side of the mountain being the 

 location of several hot-springs resorts, and owing to the fact that 

 the first discharge ran down on that side. At Nagasaki, a small 

 hamlet near the volcano, a great number of lives were lost by a 

 flood, which it appears was occasioned by the damming-up of the 

 creek on which the hamlet is situated. The darkness which oc- 

 curred at the time of the explosion extended for some ten or fifteen 

 miles, and very small particles, like mist, fell much further. 



— The sealer • Jason,' says Nature, has arrived in Norway from 

 the Greenland coast, and reports that the expedition under Dr. 

 Fridtjof Nansen, which is to cross Greenland from east to west, 

 left that ship on July 17 in latitude 65° 2' north. An ice-belt about 

 ten English miles in width separated the ship from the shore, but 

 it is believed that the members would have no trouble in crossing 

 this, the floes being large. Dr. Nansen intended to land in the 

 Sermilik Fiord, which is inhabited. Previous attempts at landing 

 had failed on account of rain and fog. 



— Paper relief-maps for teachers of geology and phj'sical geog- 

 raphy, designed by Prof. William M. Davis of Harvard College, for 

 use in his lectures to students and teachers, are advertised by J. H. 

 Emerton, 11 St. James Place, Boston, Mass. Being made of paper, 

 they are much lighter and stronger than plaster relief-maps, weigh- 

 ing only one or two pounds each, so that they can be held in the 

 teacher's hand, hung on the wall, or used in any position desired. 

 They are large enough to be seen across the largest school-room, 

 — about three feet long, a foot and a half wide, and from two to 

 four inches high. The development of a river in a plain is shown 

 in five maps ; the development of rivers in a broken country, in 

 three maps ; a river traversing a mountain (Uintah Mountains), in 

 two maps ; the development of zigzag ridges (Appalachian Moun- 

 tains), in two maps ; the changes in the rivers of a country, caused 

 by glacial drift (Canadian drainage), in two maps ; river-terraces 

 (New-England drainage), in three maps ; changes in the position 

 of divides, in three pairs of maps ; and a volcano series, in six 

 maps. 



— The New York Mineralogical Club took excursions, Sept. 8, to 

 Inwood, N.Y., and Saturday, Sept. 15 (probably the closing trip of 

 the season), to Hoboken, N.J. 



— 'We have received the prospectus of the Massachusetts Society 

 for promoting Good Citizenship, and also a list of works on civil 

 government which its committee on reading recommend. The 

 object of the society is declared to be, " to disseminate a knowl- 

 edge of the principles of good citizenship, and to promote the ob- 

 servance of the duties imposed thereby," and especially to encour- 

 age the study of political history and political philosophy. With 

 this end in view, a committee has been appointed to examine the 

 various text-books and other works on political science, and give 

 the results of their examination to the public. The first of their 

 reports is now before us, and is a description and criticism of works 

 on the national and state governments of this country. The judg- 

 ments of the committee are thoroughly independent, and, so far as 

 we can judge, judicious. They evidently do not mean to recom- 

 mend a worthless book ; and their comments on the various works 

 examined by them cannot fail to be useful both to teachers and to 

 private students. Persons wishing to join the society may address 

 the secretary, C. F. Crehore, M.D., 87 Milk Street, Boston. 



— The|October number of The Chautauqtidn contains ' Gossip 

 about Greece,' by J. P. Mahaffy of Dublin University ; ' Greece 

 and Modern Civilization,' by Herbert B. Adams and William P. 

 Trent of Johns Hopkins University ; ' Solon, the Athenian,' by 

 Thomas D. Seymour of Yale University; 'Greek Mythology,' by 

 James Baldwin ; ' The Circle of the Sciences,' by Prof. A. P. Cole- 

 man of Victoria University; 'Philanthropy,' by Prof. Richard T. 

 Ely of Johns Hopkins University ; ' The Policy of Russia in the 

 East,' by C. K. Adams, LL.D., president of Cornell University; 

 • Memories of Professor Baird,' by G. Brown Goode of the National 

 Museum; 'Yucatan,' by J. Hendrickson M'Carty, D.D. ; 'Engi- 



neering Feats in the West,' by Ernest IngersoU ; 'Mound-Making 

 Ants of the Alleghanies,' by Dr. H. C. McCook ; ' On a Bronze 

 Buddha at Washington,' by Charles de Kay ; and ' The Possibilities 



of Culture,' by Bishop H. W. Warren, LL.D. The September 



Cosmopolitan was published this month on the loth. Besides its 

 principal attractions, is ' The Adventures of a Lion-Tamer,' a 



graphic story of Barnum's trainer of wild beasts. Prof. Arthur 



T. Hadley's article in Scribner's for October, on ' The Railroad in 

 its Business Relations,' will throw much light on the questions of 



rates, pooling, and government control. The publishers of 



Worcester's dictionaries, J. B, Lippincott Company of Philadelphia, 

 announce that they have ready an entirely new edition of their ' Ac- 

 ademic Dictionary.' While this book is a revision of their well- 

 known ' Academic Dictionary,' so many new features have been 

 introduced that it was found necessary to reset the type entire. 

 The ' New Academic ' presents as a new feature the etymology of 

 words. In orthography great attention has been paid to usage, 

 analogy, and etymology in deciding disputable points. In pronun- 

 ciation the book not only gives the preference of Dr. Worcester,, 

 but exhibits at the same time that of the leading lexicographers. 

 The same publishing firm also announce a new edition of 

 the ' United States Dispensatory.' The revision has been thor- 

 ough, and not merely the addition of a supplement. More than 

 one-third of the book, or nearly eight hundred pages, is entirely 

 new matter, while the whole work has been rewritten. The 

 ' National Formulary ' has been incorporated. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

 The Corean Potter's Wheel. 

 The Corean potter's wheel consists of a circular table from two 

 to three feet in diameter and four to six inches thick, made of heavy 

 wood so as to aid in giving impetus to it when revolving. In gen- 

 eral appearance it is not very unlike a modeller's table. This ar- 

 rangement is sunken into a depression in the ground, and revolves 

 easily by means of small wheels working on a track underneath, 

 the table being pivoted in the centre. The wheel is operated 

 directly by the foot, without the aid of a treadle of any kind. The 

 potter sits squatting in front of the wheel, his bench or seat on a 

 level with it, and space being left between his seat and the wheel 

 to facilitate his movements. With his left foot underneath him, he 

 extends his right foot, and strikes the side of the wheel with the 

 bare sole of the foot, causing it to revolve. P. L. JouY. 



Washington, Sept. 12. 



Poison-Apparatus of the Mosquito. 



My former notes on this subject {Science, Aug. 26, 1887 ; Pro- 

 ceedings of the American Association, 18S7) require amendment 

 in the following respects : (l) the poison-fang is smgle, being in 

 fact the hypopharynx, as was suspected by Dimmock ; (2) the 

 paired branches of the poison-duct run backwards into the pro- 

 thorax ; (3) the secreting-glands are in two paired systems, one 

 system on each side in the prothorax. Each system consists of 

 three trifoliate glands, the mid-gland being poisonous, and the 

 lateral ones salivary; the three ductules uniting into the branch of 

 the poison-duct of its own side. The other details are as before 

 described. G. Macloskie. 



Princeton College, Sept. 15. 



AnsTwers. 



36. Double Fruit. — A note in Science of Sept. 7 prompts 

 me to say that in 1851 I resided on a lot in this city on which was 

 a large number of fruit-trees, including peaches and plums of 

 several varieties each, with cherry and apple trees. The crop of 

 fruit was very large, and specimens of double fruit were very com- 

 mon on all the trees, including peaches, plums, cherries, and apples. 

 Many of them were but slightly attached at the stem ; others, two 

 perfect specimens, attached through their whole length. In the 

 garden double cucumbers were common. Doublets of the same 

 kind were common in the market that season. I cannot answer as 

 to the blossoms, having noticed nothing peculiar about them except 

 their abundance. John J. Janney. 



Columbus, 0., Sept. i6. 



