April 15, 1887. ] 



8CIENCB. 



361 



distances to windward, or in calm weather at 

 great distances in any direction ; and that even 

 powerful perfume may not overcome this odor. 

 Yet a single sheet of brown paper, when stepped 

 upon instead of the ground, and afterward re- 

 moved, was sufficient to prevent his dog from fol- 

 lowing his trail. 



— Some of the features of shorthand-writing, 

 synchronous-multiplex telegraphy, and type-writ- 

 ing, are combined in a system of steno-telegraphy 

 invented by M. G. A. Cassagnes of Paris. In 

 recent experiments over a wire running from Paris 

 to Orleans and back, messages were sent at the 

 rate of two hundred words a minute, that being 

 the highest speed attainable by a nimble-fingered 

 operator. By means of an automatic transmitting 

 apparatus, using a strip of paper previously per- 

 forated, as in some of the systems of telegraphy 

 already in vogue, seventeen thousand words per 

 hour were sent over a line 650 kilometre sin length, 

 the messages being automatically printed by the 

 receiving instrument. 



— The general assembly of German teachers 

 will be held this year at Gotha on May 31 and June 

 1 and 2. 



— The German teachers of modern languages, 

 having doubtless seen how successfully a similar 

 scheme is vvorking in France, asked the chancel- 

 lor to establish travelling scholarships for advanced 

 students of modern languages. Bismarck replied 

 that the matter was not one for the imperial gov- 

 ernment to attend to, but should be brought be- 

 fore the educational atUhorities of the various 

 German states. 



— The gymnasial curriculum in Hungary, hav- 

 ing proved faulty, is to be altered. A commis- 

 sion appointed to devise means of iinproveuient 

 recommend that Hungarian literature, at present 

 confined to the highest class, be taught in the 

 two highest classes ; the teaching of geography, 

 hitherto restricted to the lowest classes, to be car- 

 ried higher up and preceded by a course of politi- 

 cal geography ; German to be taught less theoreti- 

 cally, and more with a view to acquiring the 

 language practically. The teachers in the gym- 

 nasia are recommended to raise the standard of 

 their teaching, and not to allow the pupils to go 

 into a higher class so easily as at present. This 

 evil prevails chiefly in the confessional schools, 

 where the teachers draw part of their salary from 

 the school fees. The government is recom- 

 mended, in the report, to alter this system of pay- 

 ment. 



— A dinner in behalf of the American school 

 of classical studies at Athens was given April 14 

 at the Hotel Brunswick. The object of this dinner 



was to afford to the founders of the school an op- 

 portunity of bringing its purposes and methods 

 conspicuously before the public, and to quicken 

 the interest of many who now know of it only by 

 repute. 



— The excursion committee of the Appalachian 

 mountain club present the following preliminary 

 announcement, subject to possible changes : April 

 30, Monk's Hill, Kingston ; May 14, May walk, 

 Wissahissick Pond ; May 28-30, Mount Grace 

 (Warwick), and Greenfield, Mass.; June 17 and 

 18, Monadnock and Dublin, N.H.; July 1-9, 

 Crawford House ; Aug. 20-30, Ktaadn. 



— The following schedule gives the location of 

 the vessels in the coast-survey service' and a brief 

 summary of their work : the steamer Gedney (F. 

 H. Crosby commanding) and the schooner Eagre 

 (C. P. Perkins commanding) have begun work in 

 Long Island Sound, and will make an extended and 

 systematic series of current observations in the 

 waters of the sound ; the steamer Bache, in com- 

 mand of Lieut. J. F. Moser, is at work on the 

 coast of Florida ; the Endeavor, in charge of Lieut. 

 D. D. V. Stuart, is now engaged on current ob- 

 servations off the coast of Louisiana ; the Blake, 



,in command of Lieut. J. E. Pillsbury, U.S.N. . is 

 taking deep-sea soundings in the Gulf Stream ; the 

 Patterson is now at Mare Island navy-yard, Cali- 

 fornia, and will probably start for the working- 

 grounds in south-east Alaska, about the first of 

 May, in command of Lieut.-Com. Charles M. 

 Thomas, who relieves Lieut.-Com. A. S. Snow ; 

 the steamer McArthur is at Oakland, Cal., in com- 

 mand of Lieut. J. C. Burnett, preparing for work 

 on the coast of Oregon and Washington Territory ; 

 the schooner Earnest, in command of Lieut. 

 Charles T. Forse, is fitting out for work in Puget 

 Sound, Washington Territory. 



— U.S. Consul Goodwin ol Annaberg, Germany, 

 in a recent report on oyster-culture in Germany, 

 states that the experiments of transporting and 

 breeding American oysters have proved quite unsuc- 

 cessful in all cases, and entirely so in most instances. 

 Professor Mobius of the University of Kiel, who 

 has made many experiments, expresses the opinion 

 that American oysters would never spawn in Ger- 

 man waters. Mr. Fedenser, a citizen of Schles- 

 wig, who takes great interest in the subject of 

 oyster-culture, however, has not abandoned the 

 attempt. He is of the opinion that American 

 oysters can be successfully raised in Germany, and 

 he has planted two hundred and fifty barrels of 

 selected breed oysters in the vicinity of Schlei- 

 miinde. 



— Nebraska has just come into the line of states 

 distinguished by having state boards of health. 



