668 ; NOTES. 
Mr. J. A. MeNiel proposes to make another expedition (the 
fourth) to the Pacific Coast of Central America. He will leave 
New York about the first of December and solicits orders for spec- 
imens in all departments. His address is Binghamton, Noka 
It will be remembered that last year Dr. William Stimpson and 
others explored the bottom of Lake Michigan at great depths with 
the dredge, and with the most gratifying success. We learn that 
Mr. S. I. Smith, zoological assistant of the Sheffield Scientific 
School has been dredging during the past summer in the deepest 
parts of Lake Superior. 
Professor Henry recently, in a few remarks before the California 
Academy of Sciences, presented the results of the meterological 
observations which have been made and collected by the Smith- 
sonian Institution. The paper will soon be published. The rain- 
` fall of the United States comes from three different quarters, the 
Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific. Perhaps the largest 
comes from the Gulf of Mexico, the bottom, as we term it, of the 
trade wind. Although nothing appears more irregular than the 
rains in the Eastern States, a long series of observations estab- 
lishes the fact that they are very regular. 
The speaker explained briefly the law controlling the movement 
and precipitation of vapors, and exhibited several charts, showing 
on what months the maximum and minimum of rainfall were ob- 
served to occur in different localities and upon different areas. 
He also displayed a number of the latest compiled charts, show- 
ing by graduated colors the comparative amount of the rainfall in 
various localities. He explained the fact of the rainfall being 
wholly absent in California in summer. 
In Florida the rainfall was light in winter and heavy in summer, 
owing to the fact that in winter the trade wind which brought the 
rain took its course more to the southward. The temperature of 
Sitka was about seventeen degrees warmer than it would other- 
wise be from the influence of the summer trade winds. 
In connection with the present condition of science, Professor 
Henry enlarged on the reasons why wealthy men should give lib- 
erally to the cause. Large donations had been made to the cause 
of education, while science was nearly neglected. This should 
not be. Education is merely the diffusion of knowledge already 
gained. The Chinese are highly educated, but they lack science, 
