(52 



KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



. EDITORIAL NOTES. 



The paper read by Dr. Halley before the 

 Kansas City Academy of Science at its April 

 meeting, on Good Drinking Water, was a 

 carefully prepared and exhaustive resume of 

 the whole subject, and the suggestions made 

 were eminently practical and appropriate. 

 At the next meeting. Gen. Samuel Bowman 

 will deliver the 5th Anniversary Address and 

 the new officers will be elected. 



Prof. Snow lectured at Chanute last week 

 upon the Mound Builders, and the next day 

 led a small party in opening two mounds 

 near that city. 



Prof. O. St. John has just returned from 

 a short trip to Arizona and Sonora. He 

 says that, a complete skeleton of a Mastodon 

 is reported some thirty miles south from 

 Dodge. A small party led by Prof. Lovewell 

 is about to go down and explore the locality 

 for the same. 



The Missouri river, for the past month, has 

 been exceedingly high. The cities of Omaha, 

 St. Joseph and Leavenworth, and many 

 smaller places have been severely damaged. 

 At this place, so far, (April 28,) the river 

 has not overflowed its banks, although Har- 

 lem, on the opposite side, is completely sub- 

 merged, and the water is twenty-three feet 

 and six inches above low water mark by the 

 city directrix : higher than at any time since 

 1844, when it exceeded the present height 

 by about twelve feet. 



Later. — On April 29th the river overflow- 

 ed its banks and to-day, the 30th, the water 

 stands at 27.5 feet above lo'w water mark by 

 the government directrix, or 25.5 by the city 

 directrix. Several ice houses have been de- 

 stroyed and all railroad trains east and north 

 are stopped. No serious damage to life or 

 property, and it is believed that the maxi- 

 mum height has been attained. 



It is proposed to put iron stairways on the 

 outside of the school houses in Baltimore, 

 that are now supplied with but one single 

 stairway within the building. The city has 

 appropriated ^10,000 to furnish additional 

 means of egress from such buildings. 



Col. Henry Inman, of Kansas, has just 

 published a series of sketches of wild western 

 life and adventure, under the title of Stories 

 of The Old Santa Fe Trail, which make up 

 an attractive volume of some three hundred 

 pages. This work will doubtless find a 

 ready sale, as it is written in a vigorous and 

 brilliant style, and comprises many legends 

 and tales in which the western people have 

 a personal interest, while, to the traveler 

 passing across the plains, it will serve both as 

 a guide book and a romance. 



We are indebted to Prof. Lovewell, of 

 Washburn College, Topeka, for an advance 

 copy of the Transactions of the Kansas Acad- 

 emy of Science, 12th and 13th Annual Meet- 

 ings. It is well arranged and contains many 

 valuable contributions to science. We shall 

 give it an extended notice next month. 



It is reported that the renowned astrono- 

 mer, Prof. R. A. Proctor, is to be married at 

 St. Joseph, Mo., during the present month, 

 to a widow named Mrs. Crawley. The 

 recent conjunctions among the heavenly bod- 

 ies are evidently suggestive to his astronomi- 

 cal mind. 



Probably the most acute and exhaustive 

 study ever made of "Demosthenes and Po- 

 litical Eloquence in Greece," is that of Prof. 

 L, Bredif, of the University of France, at 

 Paris. It is at once subtle, comprehensive, 

 and fascinating as the best novel. S. C. 

 Griggs & Co., Chicago, announce for immedi- 

 ate issue a translation of this remarkable 



