102 



SCIENCE. 



SCIENCE: 



A Weekly Record of Scientific 

 Progress. 



JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 



Published at 



229 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 



P. O. Box 8838. 



SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1880. 



The annual session of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science has been most bril- 

 liantly opened in Boston. The intellectual force now 

 concentrated there will soon be flowing through all 

 the channels of knowledge. Our columns next week 

 will contain our reporter's account of the proceed- 

 ings, and will be enriched by an address, in full, of 

 the distinguished retiring President, Professor George 

 F. Barker, whose learning and devotion to Science 

 alone placed him in that elevated position. We have 

 also obtained valuable and interesting papers by Pro- 

 fessors Agassiz, Hall of Washington, and other distin- 

 guished participants, which will duly appear. 



Mr. Paget Higgs, the well-known English electri- 

 cal engineer, now in Boston, has given his opinion, 

 through the New York Herald (August 27), on the 

 durability of electric motors and their actual return in 

 work. As the general introduction of Edison's elec- 

 trodyramo-machine is being anxiously looked for 

 wherever a constant supply of cheap power is neces- 

 sary, it becomes of the first importance to consumers 

 to know how long the new engines will last. Mr. 

 Higgs' positive statement of their length of life will 

 no doubt confirm many small manufacturers in New 

 York in their intention to profit by this convenient 

 source of power, which, rumor says, will soon be gen- 

 erally placed at their disposal. Mr. Higgs has run 

 some of the older and less perfect electro-motors 

 since 1867, and finds them to-day in perfect condi. 

 tion. As the fruit of his own experiment and obser- 

 vation of the work of the most experienced European 

 electricians, Mr. Higgs emphatically denies that there 

 . is any extraordinary loss in using them to communi- 

 cate power at a distance. 



We drew attention to an educational scheme 

 which has been recently inaugurated at the Paris Ob- 

 servatory for the purpose of training young astrono- 

 mers. It may be interesting in this connection to 

 know that Professor Stone, of the Cincinnati Obser- 

 vatory, has for a number of years been quietly but 

 successfully pursuing a plan in almost every respect 

 identical with that more recently inaugurated in Paris. 

 A small number of selected graduates are admitted 

 as students at the Observatory, pursue a systematic 

 course of study in theoretical and practical- Astronomy, 

 and upon its successful completion receive a post- 

 graduate degree from the authorities of the University. 



The course of study carried on at the Paris Obser- 

 vatory is described in Science, August 14th. If there 

 are other Observatories in the United States offering 

 the same facilities as those initiated by Professor 

 Stone, we shall be glad to hear from those who can 

 give authentic information. 



We are not surprised that universal regret is ex- 

 pressed at the loss by the New York Fishery Commis- 

 sion of their annual appropriation. It appears to be 

 acknowledged that the. Commission was doing good 

 work, and we trust their present difficulties are but 

 temporary, and will be removed when the matter can 

 be considered by the Legislature. 



We think the Commissioners would strengthen 

 their hands in efforts to obtain a renewal of their 

 appropriation, if they gave some attention to the 

 coarser kinds of fish, the supply of which appears to 

 be practically unlimited at our very doors, and yet 

 for unaccountable reasons is retailed at exorbitant 

 prices, even averaging that of meat. 



Fish is a natural food product for the poor of cities 

 situated on the coast, but the dealers combine to 

 make it an expensive luxury, by limiting the supply. 

 We are even told that they destroy it, rather than 

 effect sales below the prices they have arbitrarily fixed. 



There appears to be little encouragement for the 

 Legislature to grant appropriations to increase the 

 supply of fish and lower its price, if the dealers in 

 combination have finally the power" to limit the supply 

 and to create an artificial value. 



As one of the New York Fishery Commissioners is 

 himself one of those who are most largely interested 

 in the sale of fish, his knowledge on the subject must 

 be considerable, and he would certainly promote the 

 interest of the Commission by assisting to remove the 

 evil of which we complain. While it may be a good work 

 to load the table of the epicure with choice fish, it 

 should be more satisfactory to restore to the poorer 

 classes an article of food which nature has supplied 

 with such a bountiful hand, 



