April 4, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



2 1 7 



just as they are by dance-music, and irregular action is pre- 

 vented. The words which the stammerer finds most diflBcult 

 when in society, he will find easy enough, especially in poetry, 

 when reading aloud in his chamber. I do not think that he 

 should practise on these words except when alone and in the 

 most calm way : he needs rather to read naturally as it comes, 

 to forget that he stammers, and, by practice of natural reading 

 and speaking aloud when alone, to educate the just co-ordina- 

 tion of the nerves, etc. I found it best to walk to and fro in 

 my chamber while reading aloud." 



JAMAICA INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1891. 



We again would call attention to the international exhibition 

 which will be held in the Island of Jamaica in January, 1891, un- 

 der the auspices of the Government of Jamaica. The exhibition 

 building, shown in the illustration, is 511 feet long, ^ith a tran- 

 sept 174 feet in length. The breadth across nave and aisle is 81 

 feet, and the height is 59 feet 



In \iew of the very considerable and increasing trade between 

 the United States and the West Indies, the committee have ap- 

 propriated a large space for American exhibits, and consider this 

 an opportunity which those who are interested in introducing 

 American manufactures and extending the export trade of the 

 United States should not fail to take advantage of. No charge 



ment provided, so that those who attend may combine relaxa- 

 tion with profitable work. 



— The following notes on icebergs and field-ice in the North 

 Atlantic have been prepared principally from information ob- 

 tained by Ensign Hugh Rodman, U.S.N. , during his I'ecent tiip 

 to Halifax and St. John's. By January the body of the ice in- 

 terfered seriously with transatlantic navigation, and its general 

 southern limit was found in latitude 45° north, longitude 48°' 

 30 west. By February it had reached latitude 42° 30' north, 

 longitude 49° 30' west, and at present it is in latitude 41° 30' 

 north, from 50° to 56° west. This extreme southern position, in 

 January, is about two mouths in advance of the average. The 

 Dundee whalers that passed last summer in Greenland waters 

 reported, on their arrival home in October and November, a very 

 open season in the Ai-ctic, with more bergs than had been seen 

 in previous years. By August and September these bergs had 

 reached the coast of Labrador, and were seen in great numbers 

 in their regular southerly rh-ift in the Arctic current. This: 

 would account for their appearance near the transatlantic routes 

 in December and January. The past winter has been the most 

 severe, both as to temperatures and winds, that has been ex- 

 perienced for year's in Labrador and Newfoundland. Ice in the 

 Gulf of St. Lawi-ence has rendered navigation in those waters 

 impossible, and the outflow to the southward through Cabot, 

 Strait has sent large fields of heavy ice in almost a continuous 

 stream to the southward and westward since January. Much of 



JAMAICA 1M"ERMATI0>;AL exhibition Bl'ILUlNG, 



will be made for space in the exhibition buildings, nor will duties 

 be levied on any of the exhibits unless sold in the island. The 

 geographical position of the island and the salubrity of the cli- 

 mate will undoubtedly attract a large number of visitors from the 

 neighboring islands and South and Central America, as well as 

 from the United States. There is constant and regular commu- 

 nication by steam between New York and Jamaica, and the 

 island is also connected with the United States by cable. In ad- 

 dition to the present accommodations for visitors, a large hotel 

 has been recently erected and opened near the exhibition grounds, 

 under American management. The railroad system of the 

 island, which has been recently taken over by an American com- 

 pany, is rapidly being extended. The regulations of the commit- 

 tee, and full information as to the mode of shipment, rates of 

 freight, and marking of exhibits, and all other particulars as to 

 the scope and object of the exhibition, will be furnished by the 

 secretary to the committee for the United States. Thomas Amor, 

 280 Broadway, New York. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The next annual meeting of the American Society of Mi- 

 croscopists will be held in Louisville, Ky., Aug. 13 to 15 

 inclusive. There is such activity on the part of the officers of 

 the society, and such interest has been shown by many Southern 

 microscopists, that a large meeting is quite assured. An in- 

 teresting programme will be perfected and a pleasant entertain- 



this ice is four or five feet in thickness, rough, rafted, ancl close- 

 ly packed. Field-ice, especially when rough, is more affected 

 by wind than by cun-ent, while with bergs the reverse is the case. 

 From this it is evident that the drift of the bergs could have been 

 foretold some months ago, had early reports been received ; while 

 the drift of field-ice can best be predicted by telegraphic or other 

 reports that come in promptly to a central office, where weather- 

 chai-ts are at hand to indicate the force and direction of the wind. 

 Following the ice made on the Labrador and Newfomidland 

 coasts comes the Arctic field-ice, heavier and more dangerous; 

 than the former, and its aiTival is daily anticipated. The quan- 

 tity of field-ice to the southward of 44° north will probably grow- 

 less from this time on, though vessels entering the fields should 

 keep a sharp lookout for heavy, deep-blue, low-floating pieces of 

 ice, called ' ' gi-owlere, ' ' that appear as fragments of bergs, or 

 the advance pieces of Arctic ice : these mingle with the coast- 

 fields at this time, and aj-e especially dangerous, as they are hard 

 to distinguish. Through the exertions of the Hydrographic Office, 

 co-operation has been effected with the lighthouse service of New 

 foundland, from whicli monthly reports of ice and weather will 

 hereafter be obtained; with the sealing fleet, which will prob- 

 ably first sight Arctic field-ice ; with a number of whalers who 

 spend each summer in the Arctic ; and with the Labrador and 

 Newfoundland fishing-fleet. From these sources, and with a 

 hearty co-operation of masters of vessels sighting ice at sea, 

 there seems to be no reason why, in future, the position of the 

 ice cannot be predicted by the Hydrographic Office with still 

 greater accuracy than hitherto. 



