May 2, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



273 



and the condition and speed of the vessel. There must be stated, 

 also, the position and character of the apparatus for the use of oil, 

 the amount of oil used per hour, and the kind of oil used, accord- 

 ing to the temperature of the water. 



As stated above, each of these three competitions closes Jan. 31, 

 1891, by which time all reports must have been handed in to the 

 Chamber of Commerce, Bordeaux, France. The published pro- 

 gramme makes no specifications as to the nationality of the com- 

 petitors or the language to be used, and the competition is there- 

 fore understood to be open to any one, subject only to the rules 

 stated above, which should be carefully adhered to. The Hydro- 

 graphic Office will gladly receive and forward any reports offered 

 in competition, whether sent to Washington or handed in at any 

 branch hydrographic office. 



It will be noticed that it is the desire of the Bordeaux Chamber 

 of Commerce to encourage the use of oil by masters of vessels, 

 and the prizes are offered with this end in view. Eeports are 

 wanted regarding actual trials undertaken and reported as de- 

 scribed above. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



A PIECE of crown glass forty inches in diameter and two 

 inches and a half thick has been shipped from Paris to Clark 

 Brothers of Cambridge, Mass. It is intended for a forty-inch ob- 

 ject-glass of a telescope for the University of Southern California, 

 exceeding in size the Lick telescope. About two years' careful 

 labor will be required to convert the rough glass into a finished 

 lens. 



— At a recent meeting of the American Meteorological Society 

 in Washington, resolutions were adopted favoring the recognition 

 of the eminent services of American electricians by perpetuating 

 their names in tlie nomenclature of electrical units. In the names 

 of units thus far adopted the names of Americans, such as Frank- 

 lin and Joseph Henry, have not been recognized. It is proposed, 

 as a beginning, that at the electrical conference to be held in this 

 country in 1892 the name of Henry, or some modification of it, 

 be given to the unit of self induction, he having been the first to 

 investigate that phenomenon, and his investigations having been 

 more complete than those of other electricians before or since. 



— A special aim of those connected with the Wharton School 

 of Finance and Economy at the University of Pennsylvania has 

 been for some time past the securing of a complete series of the 

 laws of all countries. Such an undertaking it requires scores of 

 years to complete. In this department, however, the Wharton 

 School library has already made a good beginning. There has 

 been presented to it a set of the Prussian Statutes at large, in- 

 cluding the years 1806 to 1886. There are to be found all the 

 laws of the new German Empire, from its creation in 1866 down 

 to 1886; a collection of works on German constitutional and ad- 

 ministrative laws; and a work upoH the public administration of 

 Austria, by Ulbricb. 



— Professor Edmund J. James, of the University of Pennsylva- 

 nia, will present a paper before the American Academy of Politi- 

 cal and Social Science on a new system of passenger fares. He 

 will show that the railways of the United States, by their failure 

 to adopt a reasonable and simple system of tariffs for passenger 

 traffic, have prevented that development of this branch of their 

 business which could have been expected, considering the natural 

 tendency of Americans to travel. England has, relative to her 

 population, nearly four times as many passengers on the railroads 

 as the United States, though the character of the American peo- 

 ple gives good reason to suppose that we should naturally have 

 twice as many as England. 



— The committee having in charge the interests, in this country, 

 of the forthcoming Jamaica International Exhibition are working 

 vigorously to insure a good representation of our manufactures 

 and products. They have secured specially low freight rates for 

 exhibits, and have made arrangements whereby exhibition goods 

 will be returned free of freight from Jamaica, by the line on 

 which they were shipped, on production of the outward bill of 

 lading. Space will be reserved for empty cases, and all exhibits 



will be conveyed from the wharf to the building free of charge. 

 Exhibiters of apparatus requiring the use of water, gas, or steam, 

 should state, on applying for admission, the quantity considered 

 necessary. Those who wish to show machinery in motion must 

 state the rate of speed at which the machine is to be driven. 

 Motive power to the extent of 100 horse-power will be provided 

 by the commissioners free of charge, but all counter-shafting, 

 pulleys, and connections with main steam-pipe, must be provided 

 by the exhibiters. The motive power will be under the direct 

 control of the commissioners. Applications for space can be sent 

 to the committee up to June 12, or to Kingston up to July 1, and 

 goods will be received in this city from Aug. 20 to Nov. 15, 1890. 

 The despatch, transmission, unpacking, removal of empty cases, 

 fitting up and erection of exhibits, must be done by private 

 agents. A list of those prepared to act as such, both here and 

 through their representatives in Kingston, will be furnished upon 

 application to the committee. 



— The latest of the Johns Hopkins University Studies in His- 

 torical and Political Science is a pamphlet on " Spanish Coloniza- 

 tion in the South-west," by Frank W. Blackmar. The subject of 

 which it treats is much less familiar to the maes of historical 

 readers than the English and French colonization of the Atlantic 

 coast and the Mississippi valley, and yet in its bearings on the 

 history and the legal systems of California and New Mexico it is 

 of great importance. Hence Mr. Blackmar's monograph will be 

 of use. He begins with a general account of Spanish policy, with 

 a somewhat lengthy comparison between Spanish and Roman 

 colonies, which has little bearing on the subject in hand ; but after 

 this introductory matter he gives a careful and interesting de- 

 scription of the different kinds of colonies established by the 

 Spaniards in the South west, with some account of the minute 

 laws and regulations framed by the home authorities for their 

 government. The most interesting chapter is that on the mission 

 system, which tells the story of the settlements of converted 

 Indians under the control of the priests, which formed so marked 

 and unique a feature of Spanish control in the South-west. Alto- 

 gether this is one of the best monographs of the series to which 

 it belongs. 



— We have received several numbers of "The Humboldt Li- 

 brary," a series of pamphlets issued by the Humboldt Publishing 

 Company of this city. They are reprints of foreign works in 

 clear type and on good paper, and are sold at the low price of 

 fifteen cents each; double numbers, thirty cents. Some of those 

 now before us, as, for instance. Mill's "Utilitarianism," are so 

 old and familiar as to call for no remark ; while others are of 

 more recent composition. Mr. S. Laing's "Modern Science and 

 Modern Thought," which is probably familiar to many of our 

 readers, is an attempt to see how much of Christianity can be 

 reconciled with physical science and historical criticism. It is 

 written in a thoughtful and reverent spirit, but does not contain 

 much but what is now the common property of minds that have 

 been trained in scientific thought. Another of the pamphlets 

 contains Mr. David G. Ritchie's essay on " Darwinism and Poli- 

 tics" and Professor Huxley's well-known paper on " Administra- 

 tive Nihilism." Mr. Ritchie's work is chiefly a criticism of th& 

 doctrine of the " struggle for existence " as applied to social life. 

 He. of course, admits the fact of such a struggle, but insists, in 

 opposition to Spencer and his followers, that it is our duty to 

 regulate it in accordance with reason and right, and that it is 

 wrong to let the struggle proceed in human life and society in the 

 same unmoral way as it does among the brutes. So far we agree 

 with Mr. Ritchie, but we are sorry to have to add that his remedy 

 for the ills of life is socialism. Professor Huxley's paper, as is 

 well known, is an able argument for extended activity on the part 

 of the State, but without any tendency of a socialistic character. 

 Professor A. Schaffle's " Quintessence of Socialism," translated 

 from the German, is a careful, and we think very correct, state- 

 ment of the practical aims of the State socialists. It is written 

 by an opponent of the system, but is eminently fair as well as 

 thoroughly studied and carefully expressed, while the author's 

 criticisms are pointed and sometimes profound. The work is well 

 worth readmg by all who are interested in the subject. 



