584 



SCIENCE, 



[Vol. IX., No. 228 



lord-almoner's reader in Arabic for the University 

 of Cambridge. His published writings are princi- 

 pally on philological topics ; and the article on 

 ' Shorthand,' in the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica,' is 

 from his pen. 



— The twenty-second -volume of the ' Encyclo- 

 paedia Britannica,' completing the letter ' S,' is 

 now ready. The principal literary and scientific 

 articles are, ' The sonnet,' by Mr. Theodore Watts ; 

 ' Sophocles,' by Professor Campbell ; ' Spanish liter- 

 ature,' by M. Morel Fatio, the first Spanish scholar 

 in Europe ; ' Swedish literature,' by Mr. Gosse ; 

 ' Syriac literature,' by Professor Wright ; ' Dean 

 Stanley,' by the present dean of Westminster; 

 ' Socrates,' by H. Jackson ; ' Stoics,' by D. Hicks ; 

 ' Slavs,' by Mr. MorfiU ; ' Slavery,' by Dr. Ingram ; 

 ' Skeleton,' by Prof. St. George Mivart ; ' Sponges,' 

 by Dr. Sollas ; 'Steam-engine,' by Professor 

 Ewing ; ' Sun,' by Mr. Lockyer ; ' Surface,' by 

 Professor Cayley ; ' Surgery,' by Professor Chiene 

 and three other contributors ; ' Spiritualism,' by 

 Mrs. Henry Sidgwick ; and ' Sword,' by Prof, F. 

 Pollock. 



— The issue of the Home journal dated June 15 

 contains a most complete summer-resort guide. 

 Where to start from, how to go, what it costs to 

 stay, the natural attractions of the different re- 

 gions, and the accommodations offered by the 

 various hotels at the summer-resorts, are all very 

 clearly and faithfully set down. 



— Hon. David A. Wells will contribute to the 

 July Popular science monthly the first of an im- 

 portant series of jjap^rs on ' The economic dis- 

 turbances since 1873.' Mr. Wells proposes to re- 

 view the history of these disturbances, and to 

 point out agencies to which such wide-reaching 

 commercial depression may be properly attrib- 

 uted, 



— The two latest monographs issued by the 

 American historical association are ' History of 

 the doctrine of comets,' by ex-President Andrew 

 D. White of Cornell ; and ' William XJsselinx, 

 founder of the Dutch and Swedish West India 

 companies,' by Dr. J. F. Jameson of Johns Hop- 

 kins university. 



— The progress made in educating the negroes 

 of the south will be set forth in The American 

 magazine for July. The Rev. S. W. Culver, 

 president of Bishop college, Texas, describes the 

 methods of instruction, and the measure of suc- 

 cess attained. 



— Prof. M. Max Mtiller's three lectures — ' The 

 simplicity of language,' ' The identity of language 

 and thought,' and ' The simplicity of thought ' — 

 given at the Royal institution, London, last March, 



have been secured for the columns of The open 

 court, Chicago. The first of these remarkable 

 lectures was contributed to the May number of 

 the Fortnightly review: the other two have not 

 been published, and will be printed for the first 

 time in The open court, and from the author's 

 manuscript. The publication of these lectures 

 commenced in The open court of June 9. 



— The Harvard university bulletin announces 

 that the corporation have authorized the publica- 

 tion, through Charles Scribner's Sons, of a me- 

 morial edition of the late Prof. E. A, Sophocles' 

 ' Greek lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine 

 ]3eriods,' under the oversight of Prof. Joseph 

 Henry Thayer. 



— Charles L. Webster & Co., the publishers, 

 sent Mrs. Grant a check for $33,384.53 last week 

 as additional profits on General Grant's ' Memoirs.' 

 She has received thus far nearly $400,000, which 

 is probably the largest amount of money ever 

 earned by the writing of a single book. 



— Cupples & Hurd have in preparation a life of 

 Commodore Matthew C. Perry, who was so in- 

 strumental in -opening the ports of Japan to the 

 world. It will give a complete history of this 

 'typical naval officer' from the time when, as a 

 midshipman, he served in the war of 1813, to the 

 treaty with Japan. 



— Messrs. Macmillan & Co. have published 

 ' Dynamics for beginners,' by Rev. J. G. Lock. 

 This work has been written in the hope of supply- 

 ing a want, which many teachers have felt, of a 

 book which explains the elementary principles of 

 dynamics, and at the same time illustrates them 

 by numerous easy numerical examples suitable for 

 use in schools with boys of ordinary mathemat- 

 ical attainments. It must be regretted, however, 

 that the author has seen fit to suggest names for 

 the units of velocity and acceleration, as the 

 science of physics threatens to be overburdened 

 with an unnecessary nomenclature. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



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

 of the correspondence columns of SCIESCB for 23lacing promptly 

 on record brief preliminary notices of their investigations. 

 Twenty copies of the number containing his communication 

 will be furnished free to any correspondent on request. 



The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant ivith 

 the character of the journal. 



Correspondents are requested to he as brief as possible. The 

 writer^s name is in all cases required as proof of good faith. 



The Charleston earthquake. 



The admirable paper on the 'Charleston earth- 

 quake ' in Science of May 20, by Messrs. Dutton and 

 Hayden, is an illustration of "what may be accom- 



