November 2, 1888.] 



SCIENCE. 



215 



army of the United States continues to be higher than that of any 

 foreign armies, except the British and Italian. The principal 

 causes of deaths were pneumonia and shot-wounds. 



— Dr. William Osier, professor of clinical medicine in the Uni- 

 versity of Pennsylvania, has been appointed physician to the Johns 

 Hopkins Hospital, and professor of medicine in the Johns Hopkins 

 University. Dr. Osier took his degree in the McGill University, 

 Montreal. He subsequently studied in London, Berlin, and Vienna, 

 and in 1885 was appointed Gulstonian lecturer in the Royal Col- 

 lege of Physicians, London, and in 1886 Cartwright lecturer in the 

 College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. 



— Prof. Simon Newcomb has gained great benefit from his so- 

 journ at Chelsea Hospital, and has now gone to Asheville, N.C., 

 accompanied by his daughter, for the purpose of enjoying the fresh 

 mountain air there. 



— Major J. W. Powell, at the meeting of the Philosophical So- 

 ciety of Washington last Saturday, read a paper on ' The Laws of 

 Corrasion,' explaining their methods of operation under various con- 

 ditions ; Prof. E. B. Fernow also read a very important paper on 

 ' The Influence of Forests upon Quantity and Frequency of Rains.' 

 The full text of the former, which is a very important discussion of 

 a law first definitely announced by Major Powell in his letter to the 

 New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, and a full abstract of the 

 latter, will be published in early issues of Science. 



— The wisdom of the policy of Surgeon-General Hamilton in 

 establishing a camp of refuge for persons fleeing from points in- 

 fected with yellow-fever is amply vindicated by the record of Camp 

 Perry. The following despatch from Dr. Hutton, who is in charge 

 of the camp, gives some interesting facts : " Oct. 20: To-day com- 

 pletes two months at Camp Perry ; 810 refugees from infected 

 points have been received ; 721 have been discharged ; 25 cases of 

 fever developed ; i death Sept. 9; not a case contracted in camp. 

 Our 60 unacclimated employees, 5 of whom have been two months 

 in fever-camp, not a single case of fever of any kind among them. 

 Not a known case of fever reported from the 721 cases discharged 

 and scattered to all parts of the country. In view of these facts, 

 how any sanitarians can consider Camp Perry as an infected place 

 is incomprehensible. Drs. Faget and Posey of New Orleans, 

 Guiteras, and Geddings give this their emphatic indorsement." 



— Messrs. James W. Queen & Co., Philadelphia, have just issued 

 a new catalogue of chemical apparatus. In this they have omitted 

 reference to old and obsolete forms, and endeavored to make a 

 catalogue the most complete and useful ever issued in this country. 

 The catalogue will be mailed to any address on the receipt of fifty 

 cents. The firm has added to its manufacturing facilities, and is 

 prepared to make all kinds of scientific apparatus. Their facilities 

 for making platinum ware are especially to be noted. 



— The autumn meeting of the American Oriental Society in 

 Philadelphia, Wednesday, Oct. 31, was the first to be held in that 

 city, the society accepting at its May session the invitations ex- 

 tended on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania and the Oriental 

 Club of Philadelphia. On Wednesday, at 3 o'clock P.M., the society 

 met in the chapel of the University of Pennsylvania ; and on 

 Thursday morning and afternoon, in the hall of the Historical So- 

 ciety. The following is a list of the papers read : ' Report on the 

 Exhibit of Oriental Antiquities of the Cincinnati Exposition,' by 

 Cyrus Adler ; ' On a New Testament Manuscript, Peshito Version, 

 dated A.D. 1206, with a Text of the Traditions of the Apostles,' 

 by Isaac H. Hall ; ■ A New Vedic Text on Omens and Portents,' 

 by J. T. Hartfield ; ' Qualitative Variations, in the Calcutta and 

 Bombay Texts, of the Mahabharata,' and ' On the Later Puranas 

 (in Sanscrit Literature).' by E. W. Hopkins ; ' A New Reference in 

 the Avesta to " the Life-Book" Hereafter," by A. V. W. Jackson ; 

 ' On Transposed Stems in the Babylonian Talmud.' by Marcus 

 Jastrow ; ' On a Fragment of the Grammatical Works of Abu 

 Zakarijjah Hajjug,' and ' On Symbols of the Sun-God and the 

 Word Ktiduru,' by Morris Jastrow, jun. ; ' On a Samaritan Hebrew 

 Manuscript in the Library of Andover Seminary,' by George F. 

 Moore ; ' On Rome Assyrian and Babylonian Royal Prayers.' and 

 ' The Pantheon of Assur-banipal,' by D. G. Lyon ; ' Remarks on 



the Arabic Dialect of Cairo," by C. H. Toy ; ' The Babylonian 

 Caduceus,' and ' A Babylonian Cylinder from Urumia,' by William 

 Hayes Ward ; ' Note on the Arch of Chosroes,' by Talcott Wil- 

 liams. Reports were read on ' The Collection of Oriental Antiqui- 

 ties recently deposited in Washington,' by one of the curators of 

 the National Museum; and on 'The Recent Purchase of Cunei- 

 form Tablets for the University of Pennsylvania," by a member of 

 the Chaldean Exploration Party. 



— The Colorado Ornithological Association has been re-organized 

 under the title of ' Colorado Biological Association.' Its objects 

 are the detailed investigation and recording of the fauna and flora 

 of Colorado, recent and fossil. Annual reports and special bulle- 

 tins will be issued. The former are to contain a full bibliography of 

 the published records for the State during the year. Mr. T. D. A. 

 Cockerell of West Cliff, Custer County, is secretary of the associa- 

 tion. 



— Benjamin B. Chamberlin, who has recently died, was born at 

 Keeseville, Me., March 13, 1831. He was the son of the Rev. 

 Parmalee Chamberlin, a Methodist clergyman, formerly well known 

 in New York. After leaving school, he was apprenticed to Ben- 

 jamin J. Lossing, then an engraver in New York, and subsequently 

 went to Cincinnati to embark in business for himself. About 1865 

 he returned to New York. While in Cincinnati he turned his at- 

 tention to collecting, his first hobby being medallions ; and after his 

 return to New York he took up the study of minerals, making a 

 specialty of collecting those of New York and vicinity. For this 

 work he had exceptional facilities, as the Fourth Avenue improve- 

 ment was then in progress, and blasting was going on in many 

 parts of the city now built over. He leaves one collection at the 

 Nyack Library. His foreign collection he sold recently to Mr. 

 Edward Pearson for the new school at Cloudland, N.J. He had 

 been ailing for some years, but his death, which occurred at the 

 home of his brother-in-law, Mr. E. H. Cole, at Nyack, on Oct. 13, 

 was very sudden. At noon he had a severe hemorrhage, and at 

 half-past two passed away, almost without a struggle. The cause 

 of his death is believed to have been rheumatism of the heart. He 

 was buried at Nyack Cemetery, Oct. 16. 



— Mr. John Gilmer Speed has become the editor of The Ameri- 

 can Magazine. Mr. Speed was for several years managing editor 

 of the New York World, before it was purchased by its present 

 proprietor. Since then he has spent much time in foreign travel, 

 and has also been a frequent contributor to the magazines and 

 newspaper press. He has written a life of John Keats, and edited 

 his letters and poems. In conducting the magazine, it is Mr. 

 Speed's purpose to make it all that its name implies, — an illus- 

 trated monthly, representative of American thought and life. 



E. and F. N. Spon announce as in preparation, ' A Treatise on 

 Masonry Construction,' by Ira O. Baker; 'Metallic Alloys,' by W. 

 T. Brannt ; ' Notes in Thermo-dynamics and Steam-Engine Experi- 

 ments,' by Prof. C. H. Peabody ; and ' A Practical Treatise on Mod- 

 ern Printing Machinery," by F. J. F. Wilson and D. Grey. A. 



& C. Black, Edinburgh, will publish this month the twenty-fourth 

 and concluding volume of the ' Encyclopedia Britannica,' which 

 has been under way nearly ten years. A general index to this 

 encyclopedia is also in press, and may be looked for some time 



next year. Arrangements are being made, it is reported, with 



the sanction of the German Emperor, for the publication of an 

 English translation of the ' Reminiscences of Ludwig Schneider," 

 who was for twenty-six years the reader, secretary, and confiden- 

 tial friend of the Emperor William. Schneider's diaries were regu- 

 larly revised by the Emperor every year, and his book is a work of 

 great interest and importance. He accompanied the Emperor 

 throughout the campaigns of 1866 and 1870-71, and one of the 

 most interesting passages is his Majesty's own account of the 

 battle of Rezonville. Much of the genuine value of the Atlan- 

 tic lies in the terse, clean-cut, and vigorous articles on American 

 history by John Fiske, the latest of which is entitled ' The Eve of 

 Independence." Mr. Fiske's historical articles are worthy of the 

 highest praise. Lillie B. Chace Wyman continues her ' Studies of 

 Factory-Life ; ' Miss Murfree, her serial stor)' entitled ' The Despot 

 of Broomsedge Cove ; ' and William Howe Downes, his papers on 

 ' Boston Painters and Paintings.' William Roscoe Thaver con- 



