April 27, 1888.] 



SCIENCE. 



205 



densation for the purpose of a review. It is to be warmly com- 

 mended to all students of comparative educational methods, and 

 vrill be found fruitful in suggestions. It closes with this signifi- 

 cant sentence, which, while applied by the author to England 

 alone, is capable of extension to the United States : " In the zigzag 

 and indirect way in which progress is made in my own country, we 

 are, I believe, approaching to a condition in which the State will 

 exert more and more influence and control over secondary and 

 higher education, and I am inclined to think that the change will 

 be to the advantage of our schools, and, on the whole, a gain to 

 our teachers." 



Otitlines of Practical Physiology. By WILLIAM Stirling, M.D. 

 Philadelphia, Blakiston. 12°. $2.25. 

 This work was written to supply the wants of the students at 

 Owens College, Manchester, in which institution Professor Stirling 

 occupies the chairs of physiology and histology. The experiments 

 described are those which are performed by every member of the 

 medical class, and are such as to illustrate all the important facts 

 connected with human physiology. The book is a most practical 

 one, the author having constantly borne in mind that " the student 

 of to-day becomes the practitioner of to-morrow." The illustrations 

 are numerous, well selected, and admirably executed. Taken as a 

 whole, the ' Outlines ' will be found to meet the wants of all 

 teachers of practical physiology, not only in medical colleges, but 

 in other institutions where such instruction forms a part of the 

 curriculum. 



Manual of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Chemistry. By 

 Charles F. Heebner, Ph.G. New York, The Author, 5 

 Gold St. 12°. $2. 

 This manual has been prepared by the author to be used as a 

 class-book or note-book by the students at the various colleges of 

 pharmacy. It is not intended to take the place of lectures in phar- 

 macy, nor to replace the many exhaustive works on this subject, 

 but rather as a book to be used by those who have already gone 

 over the ground, whether students or pharmacists, and who desire, 

 either as a preparation for examination or for other reasons, to 

 review the whole subject in a condensed form. For this purpose 

 it seems to be well adapted, though its usefulness would be en- 

 hanced were it provided with an index in addition to the table of 

 contents. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The prompt and favorable report of the judiciary committee of 

 the National House of Representatives on the international copy- 

 right bill has greatly encouraged the friends of that measure. The 

 passage of the bill by the Senate during the present session of Con- 

 gress has not been in much doubt, although the consideration of it 

 has been postponed from time to time on account of the urgency of 

 other business. But the House of Representatives, it was feared, 

 would hardly find time to deal with the subject. It may not now, 

 but the unanimity of the committee, and the earnestness of some of 

 the most iufluential Democratic members, in their advocacy of it, have 

 greatly encouraged the friends of the measure. The bill may not 

 become a law this year, but there is every reason to hope that the 

 present Congress will not expire without its being placed upon the 

 statute-book. 



— The third field-meeting of the Indiana Academy of Sciences 

 will take place at Wyandotte Cave, Crawford County, Ind., on 

 Thursday, May 3, 1888. 



— A few wild animals recently placed on exhibition near the 

 National Museum in Washington form the nucleus of a zoological 

 collection that may rank, as the museum does, among the most im- 

 portant in the country. Recognizing the importance of preserving 

 at the national capital Uving specimens of the native fauna of this 

 country, Mr. Beck introduced in the Senate, on Monday, a bill to 

 establish a zoological park in Washington. The bill creates a 

 commission, which is directed to secure one hundred acres of land 

 bordering on Rock Creek, about one mile from the city, to prepare 

 the grounds and erect suitable buildings upon it. The park is 

 then to be turned over to the regents of the Smithsonian Institution 



for their future custody and care. The site indicated is one of the 

 most beautiful in the District of Columbia. It is composed of roll- 

 ing ground, with the beautiful Rock Creek flowing through it, and 

 it is adjacent to Woodley Park, one of the most charming of the 

 recent additions to Washington. A street-railway is already pro- 

 jected to it. 



— Thomas Hampson, proof-reader and editor of publications of 

 the Geological Survey in Washington, an active member of the 

 Cosmos Club and Anthropological Society, and the working editor of 

 the Anthropologist, a new magazine recently established by the 

 latter organization, died on Monday morning, after a short illness. 

 Mr. Hampson was a man of great experience and rare accomplish- 

 ments, especially as a philologist, linguist, and grammarian. As a 

 careful editor, he had few equals. He distinguished himself years 

 ago in the Bureau of Education, and has fully met Major Powell's 

 expectations since he secured his services for the National Survey. 



— A Sydney (Australia) newspaper reports that in March the 

 steamer ' Titus,' when in the vicinity of Cape St. George, on the 

 south-eastern coast of Australia, encountered two heavy seas which 

 rolled on board, and, immediately after, the decks were found to be 

 covered with a matter resembling red sand. The seas flooded the 

 decks and chart-room, but did no serious damage. The seas were 

 probably caused by a submarine earthquake, which stirred up the 

 mud at the bottom of the ocean ; but the phenomenon described is 

 a very unusual one. 



— In order to centralize in a single focus all the results of studies 

 devoted to African languages, Rev. C. G. Biittner, inspector of 

 East African missions in Berlin, has founded a Zeitschrift filr 

 afrikanische Sprachen (A. Asher & Co., publishers), of which the 

 first quarterly number has been issued. It offers a series of inter- 

 esting documents, of myths, popular songs, and vocabularies ; and 

 the following may give an idea of the contents, most of which are 

 laid down in the Lepsius missionary alphabet. Chuo cha iitenzi 

 is a long poem in an ancient Suahili dialect. The late Dr. L. 

 Krapf, who transmitted it to the German Oriental Society in Halle, 

 thought it was a translation from Arabian. It is written in the 

 Arabian talikh script, and was transliterated by Krapf. The portion 

 published in the first number holds 894 lines, but contains no trans- 

 lation. C. H. Richardson, a missionary among the Bakundu of 

 the Cameroons, gives a short grammatical sketch of their language. 

 J. G. Christaller, who formerly conducted missions on the Gold 

 Coast, publishes myths concerning creation, origin of man, deity, 

 cause of death, from different African nations, with interlinear 

 translation, free translation, and linguistic notes. From Rev. 

 Endemann we get song-texts of the Sotho people of a very curious 

 description, and not comprehensible without the comments sub- 

 joined. Then follow small word-lists of two languages spoken 

 near Kilima-Ndjaro Mountain and a specimen of H. Brincker's 

 ' Dictionary of the Otjiherero and Objambo Languages,' now going 

 through the press of T. O. Weigel, publisher in Leipzig. The first 

 number contains only specialties, and of special knowledge all gen- 

 eral knowledge and science are built up. This commencement 

 augurs well for the future of the periodical, which is in scientific 

 hands, and will encourage all the missionaries in that distant land 

 to make their investigations public. The Germans and English 

 are always busy in bringing the results of their scientific researches 

 in linguistics before the public ; while others, many Americans 

 among them, are better known for their inclination to lock up use- 

 ful material in their drawers and strong-boxes. 



— Mr. L. D. Allen of New London, Conn., has deposited in the 

 National Museum at Washington a number of Indian curiosities 

 collected by his son, Mr. J. Isham Allen of Montana. Among them 

 is a painted elk-skin once possessed by Pretty Eagle, a former chief 

 of, the Crows. It is covered with the figures of eight mounted 

 warriors, and several on foot, all rudely drawn, but of bold and vig- 

 orous design. They tell of the victories of the chief over his ene- 

 mies. There is also a war-bonnet, which is composed of the entire 

 skin and down of a swan, and is ornamented with eagles' plumage 

 and wampum. It was captured by a Crow chief from the North 

 Assiniboins. Another article is a bow and arrow, the former 

 property of a Crow chief, Bean-in-the- Water, and a medicine-horn 



