 L£DITORIAL NOTES, 
Dr. G. F. NEEDHAM, Washington, D. C., 
sends us his Pamphlet (third edition), ‘ Fig 
Culture at the North,” in which he seems to 
show conclusively, that the people of the 
Middle and Northern States, by using the 
proper means, can grow figs of as good qual- 
ity, and in abundance,at the North, as at the 
South, that is, as fine as the imported. 
WE have received of Dr. A. L. Child, of 
Plattsmouth, Nebraska, a copy of an elabo- 
rate report upon the Progress of the Seasons, 
Rainfall, Meteorology, &c., of that portion of 
the state, consisting of observations made and 
recorded by himself, 
Rev. S. B. BELL, of this city, has recently 
commenced the publication of a religious 
newspaper called the Mzd-Continent Presbyte- 
vian, into which he has introduced the novel 
feature of printing the communications of 
skeptics, infidels, and atheists, for reply. It 
is a liberal move and one which, if managed 
prudently and skillfully, will be productive 
of good, Dr. Bell is an earnest and zealous 
worker, and we wish him a full measure of 
success. 
CaPTaIN HowGaTe is having built at 
Washington a house, with double walls, win- 
dows and roof, for the use of the men to be 
colonized in the Arctic Regions. It is de- 
scribed as ‘‘a long one-story building that 
looks like a large livery stable, with a shed- 
like addendum at each gabled end. When 
finished it is to be taken to pieces, conveyed 
aboard ship and re-constructed when the 
home of the polar bear is reached,”’ 
THE cranium of Descartes is often adduced 
as an exception to the general rule that a 
‘great mind requires a large brain. This state- 
ment seems to have rested on no exact meas- 
urement, and Dr, de Bon resolved to test its 
accuracy. The result is that he finds the 
cubic capacity of Descartes’ skull to be 1,700 
centimeters, or 150 centimeters above the 
mean of Parisian skulls of the present time, 
my 95) 
IT is now ascertained that nearly two hun- 
dred years ago a Mr, Benjamin Allen discoy- 
ered and reported to the Royal Society of 
England that eggs had been found by him in 
eels, a fact supposed to have been shown only 
within the past year. 
THE Quarterly Report of the Kansas State 
Board of Agriculture for the first quarter of 
1880 is filled with the most useful statistics 
relative to industries, taxes, values, popula- 
tion, condition of crops, farm animals, mete- 
orology, &c., and shows that in their choice 
of Major’ Hudson, as successor to Alfred Gray, 
for Secretary, the action of the Board was re 
markably well taken, 
IT is impossible for us to thank ecch maga- 
zine and newspaper separately for kind, en- 
couraging worcs spoken in regard to the 
Review, so we tender them our thanks ex 
masse, and hope to reciprocate on all fitting 
occasions. 
AT the Ministers’ Convention, held here 
last week, Rev. A. C. Williams, of Lincoln, 
Nebraska, read an essay entitled, Do the 
Revealments of Science Contradict the Re- 
vealments of the Bible? and Rev. C. C. Kim- 
ball, of this city, one upon The Influence of 
Modern Science upon Belief in Miracles, 
which latter was followed by one upon the 
same subject by Rev. R. M. Tunnell, of Wy- 
andotte. These papers were ably written, 
and we hope to present them to our readers 
soon. Several other papers, more strictly 
clerical in their character, were read by other 
ministers. 
THE Boston Journal of Commerce, which is 
one of our best commercial exchanges, com- 
menced its fifteenth volume in Apri]. It is 
edited by Thomas Fray, Jun., under whose 
management it is rapidly gaining popularity 
as a reliable price current, an authority on 
mines and stocks, and a gazette of manufac- 
turing progress and business intelligence. 
