224 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. X. No. 2. 



Dr. Magnus presents a chart for the use of physicians and in- 

 structors, showing the main points with regard to the motion of the 

 eyes that one ought to retain. The main laws of motion of Donders, 

 Helmholtz, Listing, etc., are given ; then a cut illustrating the origin 

 of the motor nerves of the eye. This is followed by a table giving 

 the origin, course, insertion, axis of rotation, etc., for each muscle 

 of the eye. The second part of the chart explains very clearly the 

 effect of paralysis of each of the muscles ; how such paralysis 

 limits motion of the eye ; what position the eye assumes ; whether 

 double images arise, and how they are placed ; and so on. The 

 chart shows careful preparation, and will doubtless be widely 

 used. 



The Journal of Morphology. Ed. by C. O. Whitman, with the 

 co-operation of Edward Phelps Allis, Jun. Vol. L, No. i. 

 Sept., 1887. Boston, Ginn & Co. 8°. 



The new zoological periodical, the first number of which has 

 been so long expected, has at last made its appearance in the shape 

 of a thick and handsome volume of more than two hundred pages, 

 issued from the well-known press of Messrs. Ginn & Co. of Boston. 

 It has been delayed almost unpardonably long, and yet its make- 

 up and the character of its contents compel us to forget the delay, 

 and confess that it was well worth waiting for. The plates alone 

 would make the journal unique among American periodicals de- 

 voted to the subject ; for they are mostly from the hands of Wer- 

 ner and Winter, the Frankfort (Germany) lithographers, whose 

 names alone are ample guaranty of excellence. In brief, the jour- 

 nal appears to us admirable in almost every particular. The paper 

 is good ; the press-work is well done ; the minor details of arrange- 

 ment of footnotes, titles, headings, etc., give evidence of care and 

 forethought. 



In this periodical we have a substantial token of the progress of 

 two distinct undertakings of which all American scientists ought to 

 be proud. The first is that of Dr. Whitman, the editor, whose hope 

 and struggle for many months have been to set going in the right 

 way a zoological periodical that shall worthily represent American 

 morphologists before the world, and be a suitable outlet for our 

 strong and increasing zoological literature. Professor Whitman 

 has certainly succeeded in making a good start. 



A word is due also to the publishers, Messrs. Ginn & Co., for 

 their courage in undertaking such a periodical, which can never be 

 expected to be a financial success, as the demand must always be 

 extremely limited. The difficulty of establishing such a journal 

 will be the better understood when we consider that the proceed- 

 ings of societies, supported by large endowments, meet with practi- 

 cally no sale, but are distributed throughout the world by exchange, 

 and furnish a very excellent means for the placing on record of such 

 papers as are given in this magazine. 



The other undertaking is that of Edward Phelps Allis, Jun., of 

 Milwaukee, with whose co-operation the journal is edited by Dr. 

 Whitman. Mr. Allis first formed, and then put into active opera- 

 tion, the idea of a private biological laboratory of research. For 

 this he was fortunate to secure Dr. Whitman as director, and to it 

 the name of the ' Lake Laboratorj' ' has been given. Besides the 

 director, Mr. Allis has added to his laboratory Dr. William Patten 

 as assistant, and it is understood that Mr. Allis is himself at work 

 upon important investigations. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



In September a school of Oriental languages was opened at 

 Berlin, the object of which is to give merchants and civil officers an 

 opportunity to learn the languages of Asia and Africa. The staff 

 of the school consists of two teachers of the Arabian language, 

 while Persian, Chinese, Suaheli, and Herero have one teacher each. 

 These have studied the languages they teach in the country where 

 it is spoken, and they are assisted by natives. This school will un- 

 doubtedly prove of great value to the commerce of Germany with 

 the countries of Asia and Africa. The merchant or consular official 

 who understands and speaks the language of the country in which 

 he lives and works will have a great advantage over competitors 

 who have to make use of the service of interpreters. Formerly 

 students had the opportunity of studying Oriental languages at 

 German universities, but there they were taught from an exclusively 



scientific point of view; and it is well known that a language 

 learned in this way, though its grammar may be well mastered, is 

 of no practical value to the student, particularly where the differ- 

 ence between the written and spoken languages is great, and where 

 the dialects are numerous. In the new school the languages are 

 taught as living languages, and this gives the institute its principal 

 importance. 



— The semi-annual session of the National Academy of Sciences 

 will be held at Columbia College, Nov. 8, at noon, and continue for 

 three or four days. 



— The question of teaching physiology and hygiene to elemen- 

 tary classes in the public schools is one that is far from a success- 

 ful solution. With a criminal rashness, legislatures have been 

 induced to prescribe alcohol-teaching as a requirement, and the 

 result has been to create noxious temperance-tracts with a smatter- 

 ing of physiology attached, instead of scientific text-books. A very 

 great improvement in this direction is a recently issued primer of 

 health lessons by Dr. Jerome Walker. Around the main facts of 

 physiology, the author has woven an attractive text, fully and well 

 illustrated, and has given the subject that kind of interest which 

 healthy children appreciate. He has very much reduced the space 

 usually allotted to alcohol and narcotics, but it may be questioned 

 whether the reduction is sufficient. A few very objectionable 

 passages (considering the age of the children to whom the book 

 is addressed) still remain. On the whole. Dr. Walker has set an 

 example in the right direction, and the instruction to teachers is not 

 the least valuable chapter in the book. 



— One of the subjects discussed at the annual meeting of the 

 French Association for the Advancement of Science, which has just 

 been held at Toulouse, was the project for making a maritime canal 

 between Bordeaux and Narbonne. The different phases of this 

 project, which was first mooted twenty years ago, were passed in 

 review by M. Wickersheimer, deputy for one of the departments 

 through which the canal will pass. The latest prdject was pre- 

 pared this summer by a company which has been formed for the 

 purpose of making the preliminary survey ; and according to this 

 scheme, the canal, which would be about three hundred and thirty 

 miles in length from sea to sea, would start from the western side 

 of Bordeaux, and follow the left bank of the Garonne for a dis- 

 tance of fifty miles, crossing that river at Castel-Sarrasin by a. ponl- 

 canal (or aqueduct), and follow the right bank of the river as far as 

 Toulouse, where a large port would be created. From Toulouse 

 to the Mediterranean seaboard at Narbonne, the maritime canal 

 would be quite independent of the railway from Bordeaux to Cette, 

 but it would twice cross the Canal du Midi. The curves of the 

 canal would be of the same radius as those in the Suez Canal; that 

 is to say, not less than 6,000 feet, and there would be 38 locks, the 

 fall of which would range from 20 feet to 30 feet. The depth would 

 be about 24 feet, but if the minister of marine should determine to 

 make use of it for the first-class ironclads of the French navy, con- 

 trary to what was originally determined, the company will be pre- 

 pared to make it three feet deeper. It is estimated that the mean 

 speed of vessels passing through the canal will be seven miles an 

 hour, and they would be drawn by locomotives running along a 

 line of rails placed on the banks, a force of from 1,000 to 1,200 

 horse-power being required to produce this rate of speed. The 

 canal is to be lighted by electricity, the electric light being gener- 

 ated upon the engines used for the traction of the vessels. The 

 total cost is estimated at ^130,000,000, or less than half of the esti- 

 mate originally prepared. The distance saved for vessels coming 

 from the western ports of France into the Mediterranean would be 

 680 miles. 



— It is noted in \h.^ Journal of the Society of Arts, London, that 

 while the consumption of the other dietetic articles used for bever- 

 ages — tea, coffee, and chiccory — show a decline last year, cocoa 

 is marked by a considerable increase. This is remarkable, since 

 for about four years, from 1875 to 1879, it remained pretty station- 

 ary at about 10,000,000 pounds, but after 1880 it began to make 

 steady progress, advancing from 10,500,000 pounds in that year to 

 over 15,000,000 pounds last year. Of powdered cocoa and choco- 

 late England received 1,332,000 pounds, chiefly from Holland. She 



