Febbuaet 11, 1887.] 



SCIENCE, 



131 



industries,' Dr. H. C. Adams ; ' The fiscal problem 

 of all nations,' Prof. J. C. Zachos ; 'Neglected 

 factors in social reform,' Rev. Dr. A. H. Bradford ; 

 ' English socialism, especially co-operation, and 

 the Christian socialistic movement,' Dr. E. R. A. 

 Seligman ; ' Heredity and opportunity,' Dr. Lester 

 F. Ward ; ' Criticism of Seligman's paper,' Mr. 

 Edward King ; ' The land question as presented by 

 Mr. Henry George,' Professor Molina ; Discussion 

 of Dr. Adams's paper of April 8 ; ' Karl Marx's 

 theory of value,' Mr. Ewald Langerfeld ; Discus- 

 sion continued of Dr. Ward's paper of June 10 ; 

 ' The demands of labor,' Mr. Edward King ; ' Free 

 competition vs. state socialism,' Mr. Justus O. 

 Woods ; ' The moral aspect of the economic ques- 

 tion,' Prof. Thomas Davidson ; ' A practical view 

 of protection,' Mr. Robert P. Porter; 'The basic 

 law of ownership,' Mr. Edward G. Clark; 'The 

 cause and cure of crime,' Mr. W. M. F. Round ; 

 ' The economic heresies of Mr. Henry George,' Mr. 

 George Gunton. The papers generally were very 

 meritorious, and several of them were published 

 in the leading periodicals and journals, and others 

 in pamphlet form. The institute has thus aided 

 in elucidating social topics which are commanding 

 so general and pressing public attention. One 

 member of the institute lias successfully organized 

 two popular classes for the systematic study of 

 social economics, and others are being formed. 

 Three or more of the members are preparing books 

 on this subject for publication. Those who have 

 followed carefully the papers and their discussion 

 bear emphatic testimony to then* usefulness. It 

 is worthy of remark that the result of the discus- 

 sions has been favorable to conservative opinion, 

 and proves that healthful social progress will 

 come through a more general and better under- 

 standing of the principles underlying social eco- 

 nomics. The discussion of the papers has taken 

 sometimes too much the form of debates, in which 

 the contention seemed rather for victory than 

 truth. Disputants have not always confined them- 

 selves to the topic discussed, but have disputed 

 with each other points not involved in the 

 papers. 



— Strenuous efforts are being made to induce 

 the legislature of the state of New York to enact 

 the amendments to the present tenement-house 

 law of the city of New York, which were pre- 

 pared by the tenement-house commission of 1885. 

 The act provides that every tenement shall have a 

 dry cellar, good drainage, ample water-supply, 

 and a janitor ; owner's name to be registered ; a 

 semi-annual inspection by the board of health, 

 and an annual report ; free winter baths ; electric 

 lights in tenement district ; and cutting through 

 Leonard Street to open up the Mulberry Street 



'bend.' Petitions are now being circulated in be-^ 

 half of this law. The citizens of Brooklyn are also 

 moving in the matter of tenement-house reform, 

 the law in that city being practically the same as 

 it was twenty years ago, and the tenement-houses 

 lacking many of the improvements which are to 

 be found in New York. The amended ordinances 

 which were forwarded to the common council of 

 Brooklyn nearly two years ago still remain vm- 

 acted upon, apd efforts are now being made to 

 have them adopted by that body. For this pur- 

 pose a meeting has been called by the commissioner 

 of health, of builders, architects, physicians, and 

 philanthropists, to consider and revise these or- 

 dinances before their final adoption. 



— Mr. H. C. Russell, government astronomer 

 for New South Wales, and late president of the 

 Royal society of that colony, gave an account in 

 his last presidential address of certain oscillations, 

 or Seiches, as the Swiss call them, in the waters of 

 Lake George (New South Wales), as determined 

 by the record of an automatic evaporation gauge. 

 The lake is about eighteen miles long, five wide, 

 and fifteen or twenty feet deep : its oscillations 

 have an amplitude of from two to six inches, and 

 are of two periods ; the longer being two hours 

 and eleven minutes, the shorter one hour and 

 twelve minutes. In most cases the motion is con- 

 nected with the passage of thunder-storms ; but at 

 other times it seemed to arise from the repeated 

 and well-timed impulses of a less apparent force. 

 For example : on one occasion, when the lake was 

 very quiet, the water suddenly rose an inch, and 

 fell again within thirty minutes ; then it rose an 

 inch and a half, and fell two inches in three-quar- 

 ters of an hour ; next it rose two inches, and fell 

 three and a half inches in an hour ; finally it rose 

 three and three-quarters inches in forty minutes, 

 and so started a series of pulsations which settled 

 down to two-hour intervals, and lasted twenty 

 hours. 



— The Society of arts, England, offers two gold 

 and four silver medals for the best motors suitable 

 for electric-light installations, to be competed for 

 in London next May or June. The motors will be 

 divided into two classes, — those in which the 

 working agent is produced (steam and gas en- 

 gines), and those in which the working agent 

 must be supplied (steam, gas, and hydrauHc en- 

 gines). 



— The following is a copy of a note found by 

 Mr. J. C. McClure on the south side of Nantucket, 

 Jan. 29, 1887 : "This bottle was thrown overboard 

 from schooner Emma L. Cottingham, July 20, 1886, 

 in latitude 41° 06' north, longitude 69° 08' west. 

 Any person finding this will confer a favor by 



