584 
KANSAS CJTY REV JEW OE SCJENCE. 
EDITORIAL NOTES. 
The mortality among scientists recently, 
seems to have greatly exceeded the average 
rate. We note the following deaths within 
the past three or four months : Victor Alex- 
andre Puiseux, the French Astronomer ; Dr. 
Conrad Bursian, a distinguished German 
Philologist; M.Joseph Antoine Plateau, an 
eminent Physicist, of Ghent ; Prof. Oswald 
Heer, Palaeontologist and Botanist, of Switz- 
erland; all in September; Prof. J. Lawrence 
Smith, Chemist, of Louisville, Ky. ; M. Al- 
fred Niaudet, of France, Electrician; Prof. 
M. F. S. Cloez, Professor of Physics in the 
school of Fine Arts ; Mr. Louis Bregnet, of 
France, distinguished as an Electrician ; all 
in October; Prof. C. W. Siemens, of London, 
noted as an Engineer and Electrician, and 
Dr. John Le Conte, one of our most eminent 
American Entomologists, both in November ; 
Prof. E. A. Sophocles, of Harvard College, 
in December. 
The water-works at Rich Hill, Mo,, just 
completed, have been tested by the city author- 
ities and found satisfactory, having thrown 
four fire streams more than loo feet high. 
There are two Blake Duplex engines, each of 
one million gallons capacity in twenty-four 
hours, and two boilers for same. 
Dr. Engelman recently read a meteoro- 
logical paper before the St. Louis Academy 
of Science giving the mean temperature of 
the summers, winters and mean annual tem- 
perature for the past forty-eight years, the 
same being accompanied by a chart illustrat- 
ive of the subject. It appears that the mean 
winter temperature during this time has av- 
eraged 33.4; the mean summer temperature, 
76.8, and the mean annual temperature, 55.4. 
The Doctor stated in his paper that he had 
hoped to have discovered some law of the 
variation of the mean temperature from year 
to year, but in this respect he had been dis- 
appointed, as the variations were irregular 
and without any law. The variations of the 
mean temperature of winter were greater 
than of the summer. One remarkable thing 
was the return of the periods of six or seven 
years when the mean temperature was nearly 
normal. The observations tended to show 
that there was little data for predicting the 
temperature or prognosticating the weather. 
The coldest winters were 1856, 1857, 1872, 
1873, 1881. The warmest summers were 
1838, 1850, 1854, 1874 and 1881. 
The Observatory of Washington Univer- 
sity has just received from Mr. George Part- 
ridge a present of a very valuable and costly 
meridian transit instrument, with all the ap- 
pliances for accuracy and convenience of 
work. The instrument was made by Fauth 
& Co., of Washington, the best makers of 
such instruments in this country. The tele- 
scope has an aperture of three inches and a 
focal length of over three feet. The axis 
carries two i2-in circles, one reading to ten 
seconds, the other to single minutes. The 
fine circle carries the latitude level so the 
instrument can be used as a zenith telescope. 
A very delicate striding level serves to deter- 
mine the level of the axis. The instrument 
is mounted upon a heavy iron base which is 
placed in a solid stone pier and is furnished 
with reversing apparatus and mercurial basin 
and with delicate jdjustments in level and 
azimuth. The bearing surfaces of the pivots 
are of agate. The instrument is one of the 
largest of its kind in the West, and is in every 
way a credit to the University and fo the 
donor, Mr. Partridge. Its cost in the shop 
was |!l,ooo. 
A COMPLETE set of the philosophical trans- 
actions of the Royal Society of England, has 
been presented to the Rose Polytechnic In- 
stitute, Terre Haute, Indiana, by the Presi- 
dent of its Board of Trustees. There are 
but three or four such sets in this country. 
