June 29, 1888.] 



SCIENCE. 



31T 



make is that employers should treat their workmen well, and give 

 freely in charity. It would have been far better to take the ground 

 that the distribution of wealth is not a religious question, and that 

 religious teachers, as such, have nothing to do with it. On the sub- 

 jects of marriage and family life, and on the duties of parents to 

 their children, the author has many good remarks ; and here, as 

 well as in the chapters on wealth, he shows himself unalterably 

 opposed to the communistic doctrines now so widely prevalent. 

 The chapter on 'Christianity and the Problems of Education' 

 contains an earnest and in some respects able plea for moral and 

 religious teaching in both public and private schools. 



Dr. Hill's book seems to us the work of an earnest Christian 

 man, deeply interested in the social problems of the time, but un- 

 fortunately lacking in the analytical and critical power which the 

 thorough treatment of those problems requires. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The long-neglected graphic .study of the Mexican tribes has 

 within the last twenty years received a new impulse by several 

 native and foreign scientists who published their results through 

 their own publishers. The governments of the single States are 

 also becoming aware of the fact that something should be done for 

 researches on the tribes within their borders. Thus, General Mar- 

 iano Jimenez, governor of Michoacan, is providing now for the pub- 

 lication, at public expense, of the Anales del Museo Michoacano at 

 Morelia, the capital, having previously shown his love for science 

 by founding the new Museo Michoacano, and providing for its 

 maintenance. The editorship of the Anales is in the hands of the 

 director of the museum. Dr. Nicolas Leon, well known already 

 through his republication of ancient books on Indians and their 

 languages. The first three numbers (all published in i88S) which 

 have come to hand contain thirty-two pages each, and the follow- 

 ing treatises : ' Arithmetic among the Tarascos (Tarascan Nu- 

 merals) ; ' ' Etymology of Tarascan Geographical Names ; ' ' The 

 • Tarascan Grammar of Father Lagunas (in the Original Text) ; ' 

 'On the National Name " Tarasco ; " ' 'The Tarascan Calendar 

 (after a Manuscript in the Congressional Library, Washington) ; ' 

 ' Codex Plancarte, on Tarascan Antiquities of the Fifteenth and 

 Sixteenth Centuries." The Anales may be ordered through George 

 A. Leavitt & Co., 787-789 Broadway, New York City. 



— A book of a singular value for ethnography is Lieut. H. T. 

 Allen's ' Report of an Expedition to the Copper, Tanana, and 

 Koykuk Rivers in Alaska, 1885.' an octavo government publication 

 of one hundred and seventy-two pages, and many maps and illus- 

 trations from photographs. The exploring force consisted of three 

 men, and had to proceed up the Copper River, and descend the 

 Tanana River valley. Its explorations covered a space of approx- 

 imately two hundred and forty thousand square miles and seven- 

 teen degrees of latitude, the area of which was almost entirely un- 

 known up to the present time. The narrative of the exploring 

 party is of picturesque and varied interest, and in every way is highly 

 instructive for future travellers through these lonesome tracts. 

 The observations made on the characters of the savages show that 

 the former often partake of the burlesque. Among the tribes met 

 with, we mention the Midnooskies, Mahlemuts, Atnatanas, Tanana- 

 tanas, Ingaliks or Kaiyu-Khotanas, Unakho-tanas, Mnakho-tanas, 

 Nabesna-tanas, etc. The tribes ending in -tcina (' men ') are all of 

 the Tinne stock, while those in -miut are Innuit or Eskimo. The 

 appendix contains zoological, geological, mineralogical, and meteor- 

 ological observations of value. 



— Nature attributes to the Vienna correspondent of the Times 

 the announcement, that, in pursuance of a resolution passed at a 

 recent meeting, the Vienna geologists will invite the International 

 Geologists' Congress, which will assemble in London in September, 

 to hold its next meeting in Vienna. 



— At a recent meeting of the Victoria Royal Society, according 

 to Nature, the president (Professor Kerrot) announced that the 

 first meeting of the Australian Association for the Advancement of 

 Science would be held at Sydney, beginning Sept. 4, the second at 

 Melbourne, the third at Adelaide. The proposal that Victoria 



should join in the movement was favorably received, but at that 

 meeting no action was taken in the matter. 



— The Statistical Abstract for 1887, just issued, gives the fol- 

 lowing interesting figures in regard to the schools of the United 

 States. In 1871-72 there were in this country 12,828,847 children 

 of school-age, of whom 7,479,656 were enrolled in the public 

 schools. These pupils were taught by 81,509 male, and 124,180 

 female teachers, to whom aggregate salaries of 1)37,503,309 were 

 paid. The total expenditure for the schools that year was $70,- 

 891,374. In 1884-85 the school population had increased to 17,- 

 764,658, and the number of pupils enrolled in the public schools to 

 11,464,661. The number of male teachers was 109,632, and of fe- 

 male 199,422, to whom salaries amounting to $73,932,068 were- 

 paid. The total expenditures upon the schools for the latter year 

 were $111,521,542. 



— A very successful meeting of the Massachusetts Assembly of 

 the Agassiz Association was held at Boston, May 29, 30, and 31. 

 The sessions were held in the lecture-room of the Boston Society 

 of Natural History, by the courteous invitation of that organization ;; 

 and there, after a preliminary meeting of the delegates at the 

 Parker House, the convention assembled at 8 o'clock Tuesday 

 evening for a business meeting. The business consisted almost 

 entirely in the election of officers, and, with scarcely an exception,, 

 the old board were re-elected. At 9 o'clock Wednesday morn- 

 ing President Farrar, of the assembly, opened the exercises by an 

 address of welcome, to which the president of the Agassiz Associa- 

 tion responded. Reports of work were next given by delegates- 

 from the twenty-one chapters represented, and from the Boston 

 Assembly. These reports were of the most interesting character^ 

 and showed not only the deepest earnestness on the part of the 

 chapters, but also gave evidence of much faithful work already ac- 

 complished by them. The convention was next addressed by Prof^ 

 Edward S. Morse, director of the Peabody Academy of Science at 

 Salem, Mass. Professor Morse stated forcibly the advantages of a 

 thorough scientific training, and cordially commended the associa- 

 tion for the good work it has accomplished, pointing out various 

 lines in which it may hereafter work to increased advantage. Prof. 

 Alpheus Hyatt, curator of the Boston Society of Natural History^ 

 followed in a most helpful address, in which, after heartily second- 

 ing Professor Morse's suggestions, he emphasized still more strongly 

 the possibilities of usefulness that are in the association, and showed- 

 the great desirability of securing as soon as possible such an en- 

 dowment as may place the work of the Agassiz Association upon a 

 permanent basis. He then gave a clear account of the Agassiz: 

 Museum, which the delegates were soon to visit, explaining the 

 principles which rule in the arrangement of its contents, and illus- 

 trating by diagrams and carefully selected specimens, the distri- 

 bution of the collections in the different rooms. Dr. Lincoln closed 

 the morning by an exceedingly instructive and interesting address 

 on the minerals of Boston and vicinity. In the afternoon and even- 

 ing, parties of delegates, under the guidance of committees from the 

 Boston chapters, visited various places of interest. About one 

 hundred were present during the convention, many pleasant ac- 

 quaintances were formed, and all felt that a long step had been 

 taken toward advancing the assembly toward that position of sta- 

 bility to which it aspires. Perfect harmony prevailed, and the 

 delegates separated with the firm determination to work for the 

 association more diligently than ever ; and this determination was 

 expressed not carelessly, but with actual enthusiasm. In addition 

 to those mentioned above. Prof. W. O. Crosby gave a most sug- 

 gestive and helpful address. 



— The fifth annual convention of the Association of Official Ag- 

 ricultural Chemists will be held at the United States Department 

 of Agriculture on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Aug. 9, 10, and 

 II. All who are interested in the analysis of fertilizers, cattle-foods, 

 dairy products, alcoholic beverages, and sugar are invited to at- 

 tend. 



— The State Board of Health of Michigan has just published its 

 fourteenth annual report, for the fiscal year ending September, 

 1886. It contains very many valuable papers, to most of which we 

 have already referred in Science. Among the most important are 



