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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. X. No. 246 



vestigation, that will long stand as a model for meteorologists to 

 follow. It is to be hoped that the later chapters of the work may 

 appear in due time, 



— Lieutenant Dunwoody of the Signal Service, who for a 

 number of years has taken an active interest in developing the 

 State weather-services, has recently accomplished a good piece of 

 work in securing the adoption of a uniform system of summarizing 

 and tabulating the data published monthly in the various State bul- 

 letins. Hitherto every State has had pretty much its own plan, 

 and the change to a single form of statement cannot fail to be ad- 

 vantageous to all concerned. The reports of fifteen State weather- 

 services are abstracted in the last monthly weather-review of the 

 Signal Service. 



— The second annual meeting of the New England Association 

 ■of Colleges and Preparatory Schools will be held at the College of 

 Liberal Arts, Boston University, Oct. 28 and 29. The programme 

 of the meeting will be as follows : ' The Place of the Fitting-School 

 in American Education,' paper by Prof. George T. Ladd of Yale 

 University, discussion to be opened by Dr. Walter Q. Scott, princi- 

 pal of the Phillips Academy, E.xeter, N.H.; ' Aims and Methods in 

 Modern-Language Teaching,' paper by Mr. Samuel Thurber, mas- 

 ter in Girls' High School, Boston, discussion to be opened by Prof. 

 Richard A. Rice of WilHams College ; the following question may 

 also be taken up for discussion : ' How can the Interests of Higher 

 Education secure a more Appreciative and Hearty Support.' ' 



— Dr. Simpson, health-officer at Calcutta, reports two simultane- 

 ous outbreaks of cholera, — one on land, and the other on the ship 

 ■■ Ardenclutha,' — both being due to the same cause. The land epi- 

 demic was cause by drinking-water into which the dejections of a 

 cholera patient had found their way. In the epidemic on board the 

 ship it was demonstrated that milk had been drunk by those who 

 afterwards suffered from the disease, and that to this milk cholera- 

 infected water had been added. 



— Mr. G. Taylor, in the China Review, March and April, 1887, 

 gives the following amusing Chinese stories : A young tiger met 

 an old one and said, " I got hold of a man to-day whose upper 

 parts were so tasteless and his nether parts so sour, that, hungry as 

 I was, I left him in disgust. I wonder what sort of a man this 

 could be." — "A student who has had to buy his degree," was the 

 reply. The Lord of Hades considered a certain spirit to have been 

 a great sinner indeed, so he adjudged that he should re-enter the 

 world to become a poor scholar with five children. " Is not that a 

 rather light punishment .' " remonstrated an angel. " No," said his 

 Eminence, " the five hungry children will soon drive him mad." 

 Chang and Chung mutually agreed to start a brewery. Said Chang 

 to Chung, " You supply the rice, and I will furnish the water." — 

 "But," queried Chung, "if the profits are divided according to the 

 capital embarked, I am afraid it will be difficult to apportion your 

 share." — "Oh, I'm not afraid," said Chang: "when the brew is 

 over, give me the water ; you can have the remainder." A man 

 was seized by a tiger. The victim's son took his bow and pursued. 

 " Hit him in the leg," cried the father, "else you'll spoil the market- 

 value of the skin." A bibulous individual, on entering a restaurant, 

 noticed that the wine-cups were small. After seating himself, he 

 gave vent to a most demoniacal series of howls and groans. 

 " What is the matter ? " asked the startled landlord. " Ah ! " 

 answered the man, " my father, a hale, hearty man, met his death 

 at a friend's table by accidentally swallowing a small wine-cup, so, 

 whenever I see similar ones, the memory of the sad event overcomes 

 me." It is needless to add that the cup was replaced by a larger 

 one. A hard drinker dreamed that he had become possessed of a 

 bottle of genuine stuff, but, determined to enjoy it thoroughly, he 

 had begun to heat it. During the heating process he awoke. 

 " Hoo, hoo !" he groaned, "if I had known this was to happen, I 

 would have drunk it cold." A servant did not till a guest's cup to 

 the brim. The latter, holding it up, remarked, " This cup is too 

 deep," and broke a piece off. " How is that?" cried the host. "If 

 the upper part can't hold liquor, of what use is it } " was the smart 

 retort. 



— Dr. Daniel G. Brinton, professor of American archseology and 

 linguistics in the University of Pennsylvania, will read twice a 



week with students who desire to pursue these branches. The 

 course on archasology will be associated with the examination of 

 specimens and visits to typical collections. The readings in Amer- 

 ican linguistics will begin with the structure of American languages 

 in general, and proceed to the special consideration of the Nahuatl 

 and Algonkian groups. 



— The British Medical Journal reports a case of leprosy which 

 is believed to have been contracted through vaccination. A physi- 

 cian living in the tropics vaccinated his own son with virus obtained 

 from a native child in whose family leprosy existed. At the time 

 the virus was taken, the child gave no evidence of being affected 

 with the disease, although subsequently it manifested itself in him. 

 A third child was vaccinated by the physician with virus taken from 

 his own son. Subsequently the son developed leprosy in a mild 

 form ; but the child who was vaccinated with virus taken from him 

 had the disease in a most severe form, and died from it. The 

 physician's son is now attending school in England, eminent physi- 

 cians having given the opinion that there is no danger that the other 

 students will contract the disease. 



— A correspondent of Indian E?tgineering points out that the 

 fibre industry of Burma is well worthy of attention and develop- 

 ment, at a time when energy and capital are being expended in in- 

 creasing the resources and industries of that province. The country 

 abounds in fibre-producing plants, and the different species of 

 bamboo, China-grass, and pineapple, grow wild everywhere. Some 

 years since, an American missionary' at Toungoo prepared a quantity 

 of paper stock and fibre from these plants, and sent it to the United 

 States, where it was manufactured into a superior kind of cloth, 

 much resembling silk, and also into paper of different qualities. 

 Subsequently the same gentleman modelled a loom from the 

 bamboo, which he instructed the Karens how to use, and coarse 

 cloth is now woven by them for their own use. Bamboo is 

 pre-eminently the best substitute, if properly prepared, for esparto 

 grass, rags, and other materials used in the production of paper, 

 and it has been so stated by one of the leading authorities in Eng- 

 land on commercial fibres. In Burma the bamboo grows in pro- 

 fuse luxuriance and variety. It ranges from the thickness of the 

 ordinary rattan to two feet in circumference. The stems of the 

 latter, the Bajnbicsa gigantea, are used by the natives for water- 

 pails. The bamboo needs preparation to fit it for commerce, like 

 hemp, jute, and other articles, and this preparation, the writer 

 argues, should take place in Burma. Favorable sites for erecting 

 factories for this treatment are to be found on the banks of the 

 Irrawaddy and Salvveen, where communication is easy both with the 

 interior and the principal seaports. The fibres of bamboo, China- 

 grass, and pineapple, can be treated in the same manner as jute, 

 and spun so fine that an expert could barely distinguish the prod- 

 uct from real silk. These fibres possess an advantage over jute, 

 in that they require little chlorine when bleaching, and they remain 

 stronger in consequence. At present large quantities of cloth 

 woven from China-grass and bamboo are brought into the Ran- 

 goon markets by Chinese from Bhamo, and, although the material 

 is not manufactured with modern looms, the quality appears so fine 

 as to resemble tussore silk. The cultivation of jute as an experi- 

 ment undertaken by the government was very successful. With 

 a view to encourage the industry, the authorities offer to purchase 

 good jute from Karen cultivators, and also offer a bonus for the 

 largest production. 



— By a decree dated July 20, M. Bihourd, resident-general in An- 

 nam and Tonquin, has laid down the regulations by which opium 

 can be sold, wholesale or retail, or transported in the country. The 

 exclusive right to open opium-shops in a district is given to a 

 farmer or contractor, and is to extend over a definite area corre- 

 sponding with one or more of the administrative divisions. A fee 

 must be paid for each shop, of 100 francs in the three chief towns, 

 50 francs in the capitals of districts, and 20 francs elsewhere. 

 Trading wholesale in the drug is only permitted in places where 

 customs stations exist. Wholesale merchants must pay an annual 

 tax of 600 francs for each place at which business is carried on, and 

 they can sell only to the licensed farmers : they must keep a 

 register open to official inspection, recording each sale, the name of 

 the purchaser, and the place to which the opium was sent. Each 



