April 15 1887. J 



SCIENCE. 



363 



— Much progress is being made in Scotland 

 toward the development of a university extension 

 scheme similar to that described in a recent number 

 of Science by Mr. Oscar Browning. 



— On account of failing healtli, Professor 

 Tjndall has resigned his position at the Royal 

 institution. 



— The article on the French lyc6e, which ap- 

 peared in this journal for Feb. 18, was, by an 

 oversight, not ci edited to the Canada educational 

 monthly, as it should have been. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



*^*The attention of scientific men is called to the advantages 

 of the correspondence columns of SCIENCE /or placi7ig promptly 

 on record brief ^jreliminary notices of their investigations. 

 Twenty copies of the number containing his communication 

 zoill be furnished free to any correspondent on request. 



The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant loith 

 the character of the journal. 



Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. The 

 ivriter's name is in all cases required as proof of good faith. 



The rudimentary metacarpals of bison. 



In Science for Feb. 18 Dr. D. D. Slade notes the 

 fact that the skeleton of aurochs in the Museum of 

 comparative zoology has rudiments of the second 

 nietacarpals, while the rudimentary fifth metacarpals 

 are wanting. Dr. Slade will, I trust, pardon me for 

 saying that the deduction he would make from this 

 fact is not quite clear to me. If he considers it an 

 individual peculiarity, I heartily agree with him ; 

 but, if he concludes from the evidence presented by 

 this one skeleton that the arrangement of the rudi- 

 mentary metacarpals in Bison bonasus differs from 

 that of Bison americanus, I desire to protest most 

 emphatically against any such inference. 



Just now, by the efforts of Mr. Hornaday, the U. S. 

 national museum has provided itself with a goodly 

 number of skeletons of Bison americanus. Exami- 

 nation of four or five of these shows that in every 

 case rudiments of the second and fifth metacarpals 

 are present, the second being always the smaller of 

 the two pairs. As these are all in situ, there can be 

 no mistake in the matter. Our mounted skeleton of 

 Bison americanus has only the fifth metacarpal 

 present, but this is because the others have (or at 

 least one of them has) been lost. There is a well- 

 defined articular facet present for the second right 

 metacarpal, but none for the left, although this may 

 none the less once have been present. 



The skeleton of aurochs in the national museum 

 bas, as Dr. Slade notices, the second and fifth meta- 

 carpals present. That, as iibw mounted, the inner 

 metacarpal on one leg is larger than the outer, proves 

 nothing, as a transposition may readily have been 

 made by the preparator ; and no one knows better 

 than the writer how easily such a mistake may be 

 made. 



Until a far greater number of skeletons of aurochs 

 have been examined, it would seem the safer course 

 to assume that Bison bonasus, in the matter of its 

 metacarpals, makes no departure from the usual 

 order of things found in the Bovinae, and that the 

 Cambridge specimen is merely a case of individual 

 variation. Feedekic A. Lucas. 



Washington, D.C., April 10. 



The Bellville meteor. 

 Messrs. A. S. Barnes & Co., publishers of school 

 text-books, have just received the following letter, 

 which is copied verbatim et literatim, and published 

 for the public good : — 



"April 1 1887 

 ' ' Bellville ohio 

 ' ' Gents sir to you 

 We read & hear a great deal of Meteors what thay^are 

 i went To see one that fell last fall In november i 

 saw it the papers That it is found hundreds of Peo- 

 ple went to see it is a curiosty Thair is no print yet 

 discribed Its facts yet as when you see it With the 

 naket eye that some Astronomy aught to have it For 

 the benifit for his books It is a curious stone it is the 

 oddes Shaped stone that ever was by man Or all that 

 i talked with that seen it i asked Mr Phiel how Far 

 him & his son was from it When it fell he told me 

 about 4 rods he says it made The earth shake and a 

 Trementous scmel of sulpher It shocked him he 

 went to Worke and dug it out and Took it town it 

 raised the Accitement a greate many people Told me 

 that thay would paid him 50 cts for to see but he 

 left it Public for all to see it some said he aught to 

 travil with It and put on exbition but He says that 

 dont suit for he haint got gab enough for That 

 business that will do some One ells he says if he can 

 find out .P. T. Barnums address he Is going to rite to 

 him and Try to sell it to him and Take it with his 

 show for he can make money with it i asked him 

 what he would Take for it he said he might take be- 

 twen 2 or 3 hundred dollars Mr Barns That would 

 suit you in your Great store if you Gents would 

 Have that meteors in your store Thair would thou- 

 sands of people Would stop and see it and Pay 25 or 

 50 cts to se it i Must clos for it is almost Train time 

 for i going to Kanses if you want to rite about the 

 meteor or get some one ells Address 

 A. B. Pniel, 

 Bellville Kichland 

 County ohio 

 ' ' For he will give the full Particulars of it 

 " Yours Truly from 

 Wm. H. Beam." 



A sensitive wind-vane. 



The importance of the sensitive wind-vane ques- 

 tion may justify still further trespass upon the space 

 which you allot to correspondence. I am obliged to 

 Mr. Curtis for calling my attention to Mr. Osborne's 

 sensitive vane, as I did not know of it before. 



On reading Mr. Osborne's paper, however, I find 

 that his plan was essentially different from mine, in 

 that he applied a liquid damper to the registering- 

 apparatus, and not to the vane itself. In my opinion, 

 there is a decided advantage in controlling the mo- 

 tion of the vane. If it be allowed an unrestricted 

 motion, as is generally the case at present, the in- 

 fluence of its false movements and positions must be 

 felt in some degree by the registering-apparatus, 

 even when that is damped as suggested by Mr. 

 Osborne. The direct damping of the vane will be 

 cheaper and less complicated. As to the length of 

 the vane, I believe that a vane controlled in this 

 way need not be over five feet in length. A vane is 

 often subjected to severe vertical strains, and it 

 should be proportioned so as to endure these without 

 danger. Mr. H. Helm Clayton seems to have en- 

 tirely misunderstood the question under considera- 



