June 6, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



343 



Hoffmann; "Drift Rocks of Central Ontario," by Professor A. P. 

 Coleman of "Victoria University; and "On the Density of Weak 

 Aqueous Solutions of Certain Sulphates," and "On a Test of 

 Ewing and MacGregor's Method of Measuring the Electrical Re- 

 sistance of Electrolytes," by Professor J. G. MacGregor. Those 

 in the section on geological and biological sciences included the 

 presidential address, ' 'Mesozoic and Tertiary History of the Rocky 

 Mountain Region of Canada," and "Glacial History of the Rocky 

 Mountain Region in Canada," by George M. Dawson; "Forami- 

 nifera and other Minute Organisms from the Cretaceous of Mani- 

 toba," by J. B. Tyrrell; "On Fossil Plants from the Similkameen 

 River and other Places in the Southern Interior of British Colum- 

 bia," by Sir William Dawson; "Descriptions of Some New or 

 Previously Unrecorded Species of Brachiopoda and Mollusca from 

 the Devonian Rocks of Manitoba," and "The Marine Invertebrata 

 of the River and Gulf of the St. Lawrence," by J. F. Whiteaves; 

 "Notes Stratigraphiques sur le Rocher de Quebec," par I'Abbe 

 Laflamme; "Illustrations of the Fauna of the St. John Group, 

 No. v.," by G. F. Matthew; "The Evidence of a Nova Scotia 

 Carboniferous Conglomerate," by E. Gilpin; and "Southern In- 

 vertebrates on the Shores of Acadia," by W. F. Ganong. 



— The fourth international congress on inland navigation will 

 be held in Manchester, England, on July 38 and following days. 

 The objects of the congress are, to promote the improvement of 

 inland navigation and of estuaries ; to direct attention to the eco- 

 nomical value of navigable water-ways; to examine, generally, 

 technical questions relating to the construction and working of 

 canals ; to receive the report of the International Statistical Com- 

 mission appointed at the last congress; and to take further steps 

 towards the collection of statistics bearing on inland navigation. 

 The three previous congresses were held respectively in Brussels, 

 Vienna, and Frankfort-on-the-Main. It is intended to have an 

 exhibition of plans, maps, and models relating to inland naviga- 

 tion. At the Frankfort congress a similar exhibition was held, 

 the most valuable contributions coming from the German Gov- 

 ernment, who spent $30,000 on their preparation. It is hoped 

 that these plans and models may be available for re-exhibition in 

 Manchester. All communications relating to the congress should 

 be addressed to the secretary, at Lombard Chambers, 46 Brown 

 Street, Manchester, England. 



—According to a work recently published by one of the state 

 foresters of Prussia, the entire forest area of Germany now 

 amounts to 14,000,000 hectares (34,596,000 acres). Russia has 

 300,000,000 hectares (494,238,620 acres) of forests; Austria-Hun- 

 gary, 19,000,000 hectares (46,9.53,000 acres) ; Sweden, 17,000,000 

 hectares (43,010,000 acres); France, 9,000,000 hectares (22,241,000 

 acres); Spain, 8,000,000 hectares (19,769,000 acres); Italy, 4,000,- 

 000 hectares (9,884,572 acres); and England, 2,471,000 acres. 

 The United States commercial agent at Mayence says that the 

 proportion of communal to state and crown forests in the differ- 

 ent states of Germany is as follows: Prussia, 1,355,000 hectares 

 of communal and 2,423,000 state forests; Bavaria, 388,000 and 

 941,000 respectively; Wurtemburg, 190,000 and 193,000; Hesse, 

 90,000 and 67,000; Baden, 259,000 and 93,000; and Alsace-Lor- 

 raine, 195,000 and 151,000 hectares. In Saxony and in the other 

 states of the empire, with the exception of Saxe-Meiningen, about 

 one-half of all the forests are state or communal property, consid- 

 ering the possessions of the crown as a species of state property; 

 and these are all subject to a well-regulated permanent adminis- 

 tration and supervision under state control, while the older forests 

 in many of the states are not under any public control. It is 

 stated, in the work referred to above, that there are 9,100,000 hec- 

 tares (22,487,400 acres) of coniferous, and 4,800,000 hectares (11,- 

 800,000 acres) of foliaceous, trees in Germany. Of the coniferous 

 trees, it is stated that a greater part are on a soil adapted only to 

 such growth, and on which nothing else can be cultivated. Of 

 the coniferous trees. 8,000,000 hectares (7,413,000 acres) are of 

 the fir kind, and 6,000,000 hectares (14,826,800 acres) pines. The 

 greater part of the pines are in the mountains, preponderating in 

 the Hartz Mountains, the Riesengebirge, the Erzgebirge, in the 

 Thuringian forests, in the Verm, in the Vosges Mountains, in the 

 Black Forest, in the so-called Bavarian Alps, in the Bavarian 



Forest, and in the Franconian, Jura, and Fichtel Mountains. 

 The pines are mostly on level tracts, and more than half of them 

 are on soil unfit for the successful cultivation of useful timber. 

 The 4,800,000 hectares of foliaceous trees are principally made up 

 of beeches. 



— Dr. Max Buchner, who has spent a year and nine months in 

 Australia, Japan, China, and Manila, has returned to Munich, 

 Germany. He carried back a valuable scientific collection for the 

 Ethnographical Museum, of which he is the director. 



— An annual prize of fifty dollars, for a period of three years, 

 has been offered by a member of the Baltimore bar to that mem- 

 ber of the Johns Hopkins University who shall make the best 

 contribution to institutional or legal history. The field is not re- 

 stricted to American or English laws and institutions, but is ex- 

 tended to the history of early society. Papers should be handed 

 to Dr. Herbert B. Adams before Feb. 1, 1891. 



— The Draper medal was awarded to Professor H. A. Rowland 

 by the National Academy of Sciences at its April meeting in 

 Washington. The medal is given every two years for original 

 investigations in the department of astronomical physics. Pro- 

 fessor Rowland was awarded the medal for his work in spectrum 

 analysis, the perfecting of diffraction gratings for producing 

 spectra, and his investigations of the solar spectrum. 



— In connection with the report of the United States Eclipse 

 Expedition to West Africa, under the direction of Professor D. P. 

 Todd, a work of very great importance to navigators is to be un- 

 dertaken; namely, the preparation of a set of daily weather-maps 

 of both oceans from October to May inclusive, the entire period of 

 the cruise of the United States Steamship "Pensacola." The 

 United States Hydrographic Office calls attention to the impor- 

 tance of this subject, and the exceptional opportunity that is pre- 

 sented for utilizing the data already at hand, together with such 

 additional data as may be contributed for this purpose by various 

 government offices and individual navigators. The scheme deter- 

 mined upon consists in the preparation of a weather-map for each 

 day at noon, Greenwich mean time, from Oct. 1, 1889, to May 31, 

 1890, inclusive, for the entire area between latitude 70° north and 

 60° south, longitude 20° east and 100° west. In addition to the 

 Greenwich noon observations that are kept regularly for the Hy- 

 drographic Office by nearly two thousand voluntary observers, it 

 is earnestly desired that other navigators of these waters, within 

 the limits of time and place mentioned above, forward to that 

 office such data from their log-books as may be useful in this con- 

 nection, selecting those observations that come nearest to noon, 

 Greenwich mean time, and stating as many details as possible re- 

 garding wind, weather, state of the sea, and velocity and set of 

 currents. Data from land stations are also very important, es- 

 pecially such as are not accessible in any published records. To 

 make this great undertaking a success, however, there must be 

 further and cordial co-operation among the nations interested in 

 the meteorology of this vast area, and among navigators of every 

 nationality. It has long been the desire of the Hydrographic 

 Office to commence the publication of a pilot chart of the South 

 Atlantic and west coast of South America, and the present under- 

 taking will furnish an admirable basis for this work. The "Pilot 

 Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean" has won a place for itself in 

 the esteem of navigators generally, without regard to nationality, 

 and it is intended to publish the result of the present investigation 

 in such form, and with such wide distribution, as well to repay 

 every one who contributes to its success. Reports handed to any 

 United States consul, or to the commanding officer of any United 

 States naval vessel, will be transmitted free of all expense to the 

 observer, and in each case due credit will be given in the pub- 

 lished report. 



— A new catalogue of electrical testing apparatus has just been 

 issued by James W. Queen & Co., Philadelphia. This catalogue 

 is believed to be the most complete in its special field of any yet 

 published in this country. We shall call attention in this and 

 early issues to their new resistance-boxes, portable testing-pieces, 

 and photometers for use in electric-light comparisons, The cata- 

 logue will be sent by the firm to any interested. 



