June 24, 1887.] 



SCIEWCE. 



611 



— The King of Italy has signed a decree author- 

 izing the publication of a new and complete edi- 

 tion of Galileo's works, at the expense of the 

 state. The ministry of education has, with the 

 co-operation of leading scientists, undertaken the 

 preparation of this edition. It will comprise 

 twenty quarto volumes, of about five hundred 

 pages each. 



— Work on the tunnel under the Hudson, be- 

 tween Jersey City and New York, has recom- 

 menced, and an average progress of three feet 

 per day is being made. Incandescent electric 

 lights are being substituted for the arc lights pre- 

 viously employed. 



— There are at present upwards of one hundred 

 miles of cable-railway in operation in this coun- 

 try, and about fifty miles in course of construc- 

 tion. 



— The Clarendon press, Oxford, propose to 

 publish from time to time, under the title ' Annals 

 of botany,' original papers, adequately illustrated, 

 on subjects pertaining to all branches of botanical 

 science ; also articles on the history of botany, 

 reviews and criticisms of botanical works, reports 

 of progress in the different departments of the 

 science, short notes and letters. A record of 

 botanical works published in the English lan- 

 guage will be a special feature. 



— The French are preparing a series of mono- 

 graphs identical in scope and character with the 

 very successful ' English men of letters ' series. 

 The title will be 'Les grands ecrivains frangais,' 

 and the following volumes are already announced: 

 'Victor Cousin,' by M. Jules Simon; 'Madame 

 de Sevign6,' by M. Gaston Boissier ; ' George 

 Sand,' by M. Caro ; ' Turgot,' by M. L6on Say ; 

 ' Montesquieu,' by M. Sorel ; ' Voltaire,' by M. 

 BrunetiSre ; ' Villon,' by M. Gaston Paris ; 

 ' D'Aubign^,' by M. Guillaurae Guizot ; ' Ra- 

 cine,' by M. Anatole France ; ' Boileau,' by M. 

 Brunetiere ; 'Pascal,' by M. Havet ; 'Rousseau,' 

 by M. Cherbuliez ; 'Joseph de Maistre,' by the 

 Vicomte E. Melchior de Vogiie ; ' Lamartine,' by 

 M. de Pomairols ; 'Balzac' by M. Paul Bourget ; 

 ' Musset,' by M. Jules Lemattre ; ' Sainte-Beuve,' 

 by M. Taine ; and ' Guizot,' by M. G. Monod. 



— Sir Henry Roscoe, M.P., has introduced a bill 

 into parliament to make provision in day-schools 

 by which young persons who have passed through 

 the public elementary schools, and others, may ob- 

 tain further instruction in technical subjects. The 

 bill empowers any school board, local authority, 

 or managers of a public elementary school, to pro- 

 vide day technical and commercial schools and 

 classes for the purpose of giving instruction in any 



of certain subjects. These include the several sci- 

 ence subjects which are specified in the directory 

 of the science and art department, and in which 

 that department undertakes to examine. The 

 following subjects are also included : the use of 

 ordinary tools, commercial arithmetic, commercial 

 geography, book-keeping, French, German, and 

 other foreign languages, and freehand and ma- 

 chine drawing. The addition of other subjects 

 may be sanctioned from time to time by the com- 

 mittee of council on education or by the science 

 and art department. For the purpose of carrying 

 on these schools and classes, the power of school 

 boards, other local authorities, and school mana- 

 gers, is to be in every respect the same as for pro- 

 viding ordinary elementary schools. Moreover, 

 they are to have power to provide, or contribute to 

 the maintenance of, laboratories and workshops in 

 endowed schools for the purpose of carrying on 

 classes or instruction under the bill. However, all 

 these schools and classes are to be subject to the 

 inspection of the officers of the committee of edu- 

 cation or of the science and art department ; and 

 before a scholar is admitted he must have passed 

 the sixth standard or some equivalent examination. 

 The education committee and the science and art 

 department are authorized to give grants on such 

 conditions as they may lay down for any of the 

 subjects taught in these technical or commercial 

 schools or classes. For the purpose of obtaining 

 grants, a technical school or class must be one car- 

 ried on under minutes to be made by the science 

 and art department, and laid on the table of the 

 house of commons in the same way as the minutes 

 that regulate the grants of the education depart- 

 ment. 



— Beginning with September, 1887, the Univer- 

 sity of Kansas will offer, in addition to the general 

 and special courses already in existence, a four- 

 years' course in electrical engineering. 



— The date of inauguration of the mineral ex- 

 hibition at Lima, Peru, has been changed from 

 Oct. 1, 1887, to June 21, 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



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

 of the correspondence columns of Science /oj- placing promptly 

 on record brief preliininary notices of their investigations. 

 Twenty copies of the mmiber containing his communication 

 ivill he furnished free to any correspondent on request. 



The editor will he glad to piuhlish any qxieries consonant ivith 

 the character of the journal. 



Correspondents are requested to he as hrief as possihle. The 

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



Height of a meteor. 



My observation of the course of the meteor which 

 appeared at about 8.42 on the evening of June 15 



