June 3, 1887.J 



8CIENCI:, 



53S 



members being present. The secretary, Mr. F. 

 R. Huttoii, presented the report of the council, 

 which stated that through Mr. Stephen W. Bald- 

 win the society had gained possession of much of 

 the expert apparatus belonging to the late Mr. 

 John C. Hoadley of Boston. 



— The second field-meeting of the Indiana 

 academy of science was held at Waveland, Mont- 

 gomery county, Ind., May 19 and 20. The first 

 day was devoted to the exploration of the rugged 

 sides of Sugar Creek in the vicinity of ' Shades 

 of Death.' In the evening, Dr. T. C. Menden- 

 hall, president of Rose polytechnic institute, de- 

 livered an address on 'Weather- predictions.' The 

 second day was devoted to an excursion to Pine 

 Hills, a picturesque region along Sugar Creek. 

 The evening exercises consisted of a general dis- 

 cussion of the natural history of the localities 

 visited. Over thirty members were present. The 

 meeting was in every way a success. The com- 

 mittees which made the arrangements are deserv- 

 ing of much credit for the way in which their 

 arrangements were carried out. The next meet- 

 ing will be held at Indianapolis late in December. 



— The American institute of electrical engi- 

 neers was organized at New York City on May 

 18, 1884. It was the intention of its founders to 

 establish a national organization of high character, 

 which should be in every respect worthy of the 

 support of American electrical engineers. In 

 order to enhance its usefuhiess to the electrical fra- 

 ternity, a determined effort was made at the an- 

 nual and general meetings just past, to purchase a 

 building in New York City, which is to be, what 

 the title of the society implies, the ' American 

 institute of electrical engineers.' This movement 

 has been under consideration for three years past, 

 a standing committee having been previously ap- 

 pointed for the work during the first term of Pres. 

 Norvin Green. Among the important features of 

 the institute will be an electrical library and a 

 museum, to which, if space permits, an experi- 

 mental laboratory may be added. Suitable ac- 

 commodations will be provided for council and 

 general meetings and the entertainment of mem- 

 bers and their guests, and the house will be open 

 at all reasonable hours. The work already ac- 

 complished is shown by the contents of the three 

 yearly volumes of Transactions. These, however, 

 will be surpassed by the volume now in press, 

 which completes the record of the institute up to 

 May, 1887. 



— In Bulletin No. 26, issued recently from the 

 department of zoology and entomology of the 

 Michigan agricultural college, on p. 6, a typo- 

 graphical error makes the proper proportion of 



Paris green or London jjurple to water, for spray- 

 ing apple-trees for the codling-moth, to be one 

 pound of Paris green to two gallons of water ; 

 whereas the j)roportion should be one pound of 

 Paris green or London purple to two barrels, or 

 one hundred gallons, of water. 



— We learn from the Naturivissenschaftliche 

 Rundschau of May 2 1 that on May 3 and 4 the curves 

 of the barographs at Berlin showed sudden changes 

 of the atmospheric pressure which could not be 

 accounted for by meteorological i^henomena. 

 This fact is of interest as being coincident with 

 the Sonora earthquake. Von Bezold, who men- 

 tioned this matter in the Physical society of Ber- 

 lin on May 6, calls to mind the fact that the erup- 

 tion of Krakatoa on Aug. 27, 1883, was also 

 accompanied by sudden changes of the atmos- 

 pheric pressure in Europe. 



• 



— Porter & Coates announce a new edition of 

 ' Amateur photographer,' with two new chapters 

 on paper negatives and microscopic photography, 

 by Ellerslie Wallace, jun. 



— Botanists owe Professors Farlow andTrelease 

 a debt of gratitude for the publication of their 

 bibliography of North American fungi in the May 

 number of the Harvard university hidletin, just 

 issued. It contains a list of such works on North 

 American fungi (excluding the Schizomycetes as 

 belonging rather to the department of medicine 

 than to botany proper) as are of greater or less 

 value to working botanists. It is the first list of 

 the kind yet published, and will show that the 

 general belief of those not specialists in this branch 

 of botany, that little has been written on North 

 American mycology, is by no means correct. 

 It includes a very large number of papers of a 

 popular and indefinite character relating to fungi 

 not specifically named which are scattered through 

 various agricultural, horticultural, and other jour- 

 nals ; the entries are in all cases accoinpanied by 

 brief descriptive notes, which adds greatly to the 

 value of the list ; it contains also, when procur- 

 able, the place and date of birth of the authors 

 included in the list. The most prolific author 

 noted is M. C. Cooke, whose papers, including 

 those published with other persons, number 71 ; 

 other prominent authors are J. B. Ellis (50), W. 

 G. Farlow (31), and M. J. Berkeley (30). Probably 

 the complete list will contain more than seven 

 hundred entries, of which nearly one-half are 

 given in the present instalment, which reaches 

 the letter H. 



— In Science for May 20, p. 481, first column, 

 second line, ' phenomenon ' should read ' phe- 

 nomenon in Assyrian.' 



