January 24, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



57 



Rowland prize, to Mr. James D. Schuyler, for a paper on the con- 

 struction of the Sweetwater dam, near San Diego, Cal. An im- 

 portant report was submitted by the committee on impurities in 

 domestic water-supply. In the opinion of the committee, the or- 

 ganization to inquire into the sources of impurities in drinking- 

 water, and the methods of remedying them, should be a national 

 one, and the work should properly be taken up by the American 

 Society. The committee recommended that all printed informa- 

 tion on this subject should gradually be collected and catalogued, 

 and that the society should own and maintain a complete collec- 

 tion of such literature. The report was accepted. On the i6th 

 about four hundred members of the society and invited guests paid 

 a visit to the government torpedo station at Willet's Point, the 

 Brooklyn navy yard, and other points of interest. The officers of 

 the society for the ensuing year are as follows : president, William 

 P. Shinn ; vice-presidents, A. Fteley, Mendes Cohen ; secretary and 

 librarian, John Bogart ; treasurer, George S. Greene, jun.; direc- 

 tors, Charles B. Brush, Theodore Voorhees, Robert Van Buren, 

 William Ludlow, William G. Curtis. 



— The American Society for Psychical Research, after existing 

 for five years, with its headquarters in Boston, and publishing some 

 six hundred pages of " Proceedings," at last, for pecuniary reasons, 

 terminated its corporate existence on Jan. 14. The English society 

 of the same name is heir to its documentary possessions, and is to 

 keep Dr. Richard Hodgson, late secretary of the American society, 

 as its own secretary in America. A majority of the associates of 

 the American society have joined the English society, forming the 

 nucleus of an American branch. Professors S. P. Langley of 

 Washington, H. P. Bowditch of Boston, and W. James of Cam- 

 bridge, are appointed vice-presidents of the Society for Psychical 

 Research in America ; but, apart from their advisory functions, 

 there is no " organization " here, — a circumstance which \v\]\ 

 doubtless contribute to economy and efficiency of work. It is to be 

 hoped that a solid moral and pecuniary support to the society may 

 be extended from this country. The annual assessment of Ameri- 

 can associates is three dollars. They receive for this the published 

 "Proceedings," which appear quarterly, and the monthly "Jour- 

 nal," printed for circulation in the society only. Those who wish 

 may become full " members " of the English society, with voting 

 and other privileges, by the annual payment of ten dollars. Meet- 

 ings of the branch will-be held periodically for the readings of pa- 

 pers and discussion. Those who desire to join the society or to 

 obtain information should address the secretary, R. Hodgson, No. 

 5 Boylston Place, Boston. 



— In accordance with the intention of its honored founder, the 

 trustees of the Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, propose to pro- 

 vide adequate theoretical and practical instruction for young men 

 desirous of becoming gardeners. It is not intended at present that 

 many persons shall be trained at the same time, nor that the in- 

 struction so planned shall duplicate the excellent courses in agri- 

 culture now offered by the numerous State colleges of the country, 

 but that it shall be quite distinct, and limited to what is thought to 

 be necessary for training practical gardeners. Scholarships, not 

 exceeding six in number, will be awarded by the director of the 

 garden, prior to the first of April next. Applications for scholar- 

 ships, to receive consideration, must be in the hands of the direc- 

 tor not later than the first day of March. During the first year of 

 their scholarship, garden pupils will work at the practical duties of 

 the garden nine or ten hours daily, a(?cording to the season, the 

 same as regular employees of the garden, and will also be expected 

 to read the notes and articles referring to the subject of their work, 

 in one or more good journals. In the second year, in addition to 

 five hours' daily work of the same sort, they will be given instruc- 

 tion and will be required to do thorough reading in vegetable- 

 gardening, flower-gardening, small-fruit culture, and orchard-cul- 

 ture, besides keeping the run of the current papers. In the third 

 year, in addition to five hours of daily labor, they will be instructed 

 and given reading in forestry, elementary botany, landscape-gar- 

 dening, and the rudiments of surveying and draining, and will be 

 required to take charge of clipping or indexing some department 

 of the current gardening papers for the benefit of all. In the fourth 

 year, besides the customary work, they will study the botany of 



weeds, garden vegetables, and fruits, in addition to assisting in the 

 necessary indexing or clipping of papers, etc., and will be taught 

 simple book-keeping, and the legal forms for leases, deeds, etc. 

 The course for the filth year, in addition to the customary work, 

 will include the study of vegetable physiology, economic entomology, 

 and fungi, especially those which cause diseases of cultivated 

 plants ; and each pupil will be expected to keep a simple set of 

 accounts pertaining to some department of the garden. In the 

 sixth year, in addition to the manual work, pupils will study the 

 botany of garden and green-house plants, of ferns, and of trees in 

 their winter condition, besides the theoretical part of special gar- 

 dening, connected with some branch of the work that they are 

 charged with in the garden. From time to time, changes in this 

 course will be made, as they shall appear to be desirable, and the 

 effort will be made to give the best theoretical instruction possible 

 in the vaiious subjects prescribed ; but it is not intended to make 

 botanists or other scientific specialists of garden pupils, but, on the 

 contrary, practical gardeners. Applications for scholarships, and 

 any inquiries regarding them, are to be addressed to William Tre- 

 lease, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Mo. 



— The Mexican Government, according to the Engineering and 

 Mining Journal, has issued a decree fixing June 30, 1890, as the 

 date for the definite withdrawal from circulation of worn coin and 

 of the coins known as reales, medios, cuartillas, and tlacos. Hold- 

 ers of such coins may before such date exchange them at their 

 nominal value for decimal currency at the National Bank in the 

 City of Mexico, or at its agencies throughout the republic. The 

 mints will recoin the old money into decimal pieces. After the 

 date fixed for the exchange of the old coinage at its nominal value, 

 it may still be exchanged at the mints; which, however, will only 

 redeem it according to its weight and fineness, and not according 

 to the value stamped on it. From and after July i, 1890, all com- 

 mercial transactions must be effected on a decimal basis, infrac- 

 tions of this rule being punished by a fine of tv.'enty-five dollars for 

 the first offence and fifty dollars for every subsequent offence. 

 Notaries, in drawing up contracts, are forbidden to mention the 

 coins of the old system, even for the sake of greater clearness, on 

 penalty of a fine of from fifty dollars to one hundred dollars. Any 

 one who, after June 30, shall attempt to pass a coin of the ancient 

 system will incur the same penalties as those awarded for passing 

 illegal coinage. 



— The Mexican Government, says ihe Econamis/e Franfais,ha.s 

 recently undertaken an inquiry into the internal condition of the 

 country. The following are some of the results obtained by the 

 inquiry : The population of Mexico has increased during the period 

 comprised between the years 18S0 and 1888 by 1,487,701 persons ; 

 that is to say, 185,962 annually, or an average increase of 2 per 

 cent. The revenue, which amounted in 1880 to $21,936,165, 

 reached the figure of $32,126,508 in 1888, —an increase of $10,- 

 190,343. Landed property in Mexico was valued in 1880 at $366,- 

 055,052, and at $473,519,871 in 1888. At the end of -1880 there 

 were 15 railway lines in working, with a length of 655 miles. At 

 the end of the year 1888 the lines numbered 47, with a total length 

 of 5,063 miles. In 1880 there were 10,501 miles of telegraph line. 

 In 1888, the telegraph system, including the coast cables, com- 

 prised 27,704 miles. The number of telegrams despatched by the 

 Federal Government lines, which amounted in 1880 to 381,607, ex- 

 ceeded 671,000 in 1888. Postal business showed a great increase : 

 the number of letters and newspapers carried in 1880 amounted to 

 5,788,182, and in 1888 to 27,390,288. From the establishment of 

 the mint, up to the year 1888, the amount of gold coined repre- 

 sented a value of $112,671,000; of silver, $2,194,111,828 ; and of 

 copper, $5,940,338 ; making a total of $3,312,723,266. During the 

 economic year 1886-87, the value of the imports into the Republic 

 was $52,252,275; and of the exports, $49,191,930. As regards 

 public instruction, the progress is very marked:- the number of 

 schools, which in 1880 was only 8,535, rose in 1888 to 10,726, while the 

 number of scholars increased during the same period from 435,935 

 to 543,977. Finally, lighthouses have been established in the ports 

 of Vera Cruz, Coazacoalcos, Alvarado, Frontera, Celestun, Sisal, 

 Tampico, Campeche, and Progreso in the Gulf of Mexico, and at 

 Guaymas and Mazatlan on the Pacific. 



