Jantjart 7, 1887.] 



SCIENCE. 



der the advice of England, for the relief of Emin 

 Bey. The Belgian papers state that his route will 

 he up the Kongo to Arouhuimi (the tributary re- 

 ferred to above), which empties into the Kongo 

 near the equator, some distance below Stanley 

 Falls. Mr. Stanley, on his last visit to the Kongo, 

 sailed up this river for some distance, and believed 

 it to be the outlet of the Welle. From the head of 

 navigation on the Arouhuimi, the route is east to 

 Wadelai. Only about two hundred miles are said 

 to be unexplored. The country is inhabited by 

 peaceful negroes, food is easily obtained, and dif- 

 ficulties are less than by the other route. 



A cable from England states that Mr. Stanley 

 will sail for Zanzibar, and go directly to Albert 

 Nyanza, through Massai Land ; but we may well 

 doubt this information, for although Mr. Stanley, 

 in crossing the Dark Continent, went by Victoria 

 Nyanza, he took a route south of the one now pro- 

 posed ; and he is much better acquainted with the 

 Kongo route. It is possible that Mr. Stanley may sail 

 to Zanzibar, remain there long enough to procure 

 kroomen and porters, and sail with them to the 

 Kongo, and thence up that river to the Arouhuimi. 



The need of Emin Bey for relief appears from 

 his letter, dated, Dec. 31, 1885, received in England 

 Oct. 28. This letter brings the only news re- 

 ceived ' from him in three years. He writes that 

 he almost despairs of receiving succor from the 

 north, for he has heard nothing from Cairo or 

 England since April, 1883 ; that he is without 

 stores and clothing ; and that his ammunition is 

 nearly exhausted. With the enthusiasm of a 

 scientific man, he adds that he has worked with 

 ardor at the formation of a grand collection, 

 chiefly zoological, including skulls of the differ- 

 ent tribes of negroes and of the chimpanzee, 

 skeletons of various animals and two of the Akka 

 of different sexes ; and he will endeavor to com- 

 plete it during his sojourn there. He promises to 

 keep his post as long as possible, trusting, that, if 

 Egypt still governs the Soudan, she must send re- 

 lief in time. If the Soudan has been abandoned, 

 he will move southward with his troops, until he 

 is relieved by the government or has placed his 

 people in safety. " With the exception of the hu- 

 man skulls, I have saved all my collection, and will 

 not abandon them until the last. Formerly I re- 

 ceived two or three times a year letters and news- 

 papers. Alas ! it is so no longer. I strive by 

 every means to sustain my own courage and that 



1 Since this article was .written, we have read another let- 

 ter from Emin Bey, dated July 7, 1886, and then his province 

 was in complete safety and order. These letters show that 

 the necessaries of life are not wanting ; hut how long he 

 can maintain himself depends upon the strength of the 

 Mohammedan army under the new mahdi on the north, 

 and of the army of the negroes from Uganda on the south. 



of my people. God has certainly protected and 

 sustained me hitherto, and I have confidence, 

 that, with his help, all will go weU in the fu- 

 ture." 



He adds, '' I have secured for a collection 



of shells from Lake Albert, which I will send by 

 the missionaries at Uganda, and which I hope will 

 reach him safely. — Emin Bey." 



STANDARD TIME AND MEASURES. 



At the recent annual meeting of the American 

 metrological society, letters were read from W. 

 F. Allen, secretary of the general time conven- 

 tion, and from Sandford Fleming of Ottawa, 

 Canada, from which, as they contain consider- 

 able information, we quote somewhat liberally 

 below. 



Mr. Allen stated that he is at present engaged 

 in quite an extensive correspondence with a view 

 to bringing about the adoption of standard time 

 by those cities which still adhere to local time. 

 This movement has already resulted in success in 

 two instances. In Belfast, Me., eastern time was 

 adopted on Dec. 15, 1886, the clocks being set 

 twenty-four minutes slow ; and in Pittsburg, 

 Penn., where an ordinance was passed adopting 

 eastern standard time from Jan. 1, 1887, when 

 the clocks were set twenty minutes fast. It is 

 probable that the legislature of Maine will pass a 

 law at its coming session making eastern time the 

 standard for the state. Correspondence with the 

 superintendents of public schools in a number of 

 the cities of Ohio has developed the fact that a 

 strong feeling in favor of the adoption of standard 

 time exists in that state, from which favorable 

 action is likely to come in the near future. The 

 twenty-four o'clock scale is in use upon the Cana- 

 dian Pacific railway west of Winnipeg, upon the 

 Manitoba and north-western railway, and upon 

 the Idaho division of the Union Pacific railway. 

 It is proposed to adopt it soon on all the divisions 

 of the Union Pacific railway. Under instructions 

 from the general time convention, Mr. Allen is 

 preparing, and will shortly issue, a circular asking 

 the views of the leading railway officials on the 

 subject of the general adoption of this scale for 

 employees' time-tables and advertisements. 



Mr. Fleming bore especially on the benefits to be 

 derived from the twenty-four hour system, which 

 has been put in practice on at least two thousand 

 miles of railway. For the past six months the 

 railway stretching from Lake Superior through 

 Canada to the Pacific coast has been operated on 

 the twenty-four hour system . ' ' The towns and vil- 

 lages along the line," writes Mr. Fleming, "have 

 with great unanimity accepted the change, and 



