32 



SCIENCE, 



[Vol. IV., No. 75. 



to postpone mention of those undertaken with 

 the assistance of many collaborators (which 

 record the advance of science through the re- 

 searches of others) , or dealing primarily with 

 applied science. However important this latter 

 work may have been, — and we should be far 

 from underrating its importance, especially in 

 the development of science in America, — it not 

 only hinders a proper retrospect, an independ- 

 ent coup oVoe.il, of his remarkably extensive 

 and valuable contributions to the vertebrate 

 zoology of North America, but it seems to 

 demand, at some future time, a repetition of 

 this work, with its almost painful detail and 

 voluminous indexes. The first was the only 

 pressing need : for the other, we could have 

 contented ourselves for the present with the 

 indexes of the everywhere procurable annual 

 records, Smithsonian reports, and fish-commis- 

 sion publications. 



A scientific friend, himself a bibliographer, 

 does not look with complacency upon the an- 

 nouncement that similar bibliographies will be 

 given of other still living naturalists. He asks 

 whether those directing or engaged upon this 

 work could not turn their bibliographic energies 

 to better account in another direction. Fathers 

 of a broad science, or pioneers in a vast field, 

 who cover that field, are few indeed ; and only 

 their bibliographies, when carried out with the 

 fulness of that which furnishes us our text, can 

 have any possible permanent, or even great 

 temporary, value. What are really wanted are 

 topical and geographical bibliographies, which 

 shall lighten the labor of the expert, and lessen 

 the chances of incorrect statement, and, above 

 all, of unnecessary re-statement. These are 

 the true aids to progress for a generation 

 burdened with a literature vast, ill-assorted, 

 inchoate. Individual bibliographies do not 

 penetrate its depths. Let our zealous bibli- 

 ographers devote to such work the same 

 time and pains they would give to that pro- 

 posed, and the result will be of tenfold im- 

 mediate value, and it will have at least some 

 lasting worth. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



*** Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. 

 The writer's name is in all cases required as proof of good faith. 



The zero meridian of longitude. 



In arranging meridians for perpetual usefulness 

 and the best practical results, the location of the 

 180th degree is of far more importance than that of 

 zero or any other. 



When we meet a ship of another nation at sea, we 

 determine upon speaking, one of the most important 

 objects of which is to compare longitudes. We do ex- 

 change longitudes, but on comparison we find a large 

 difference between them. Then the question arises, 

 Is one of our chronometers wrong, or are we mistaken 

 as to the meridian from which the other ship reckons 

 her longitude ? This ship, by this time, is beyond the 

 reach of our further inquiry, and hence the question 

 cannot be satisfactorily answered. We are in more 

 doubt than before speaking, confusion has been worse 

 confounded, and ouly because we do not know posi- 

 tively the other's zero meridian. Among merchant 

 shipping, on long voyages, just this sort of trouble 

 occurs constantly, perhaps daily, to the great enhance- 

 ment of risk to the safety of ships, cargoes, and 

 crews. 



Again : an English or an American ship is in mid- 

 Pacific, steering east; crosses the 180th degree of her 

 reckoning, from Greenwich ; and then meets a French 

 ship standing west, which has crossed the 180th degree 

 from Paris. They speak, and each asks the other 

 to report him at Lloyds. They arrive in their respec- 

 tive ports, and each reports the other, as requested : 

 but one report states that the speaking occurred on 

 one day, say Monday, the 1st of a month; and the 

 other on another day, say Tuesday, the 2d of the same 

 month. But I will not multiply instances. These 

 two will give some idea, though faintly, of the risk 

 to property and life, as well as the confusion of 

 dates, caused by the present unsettled condition of 

 meridians. 



If the 180th meridian were universally recognized 

 as passing through Bering Strait, it could be so pro- 

 jected as to pass clear, or nearly so, of all land through- 

 out its entire length; and, this being true, it could 

 be made the dividing-line of days, naturally and 

 properly, with the greatest possible advantage to 

 everbody everywhere. 



If a meridian passing through Bering Strait were 

 adopted as the 180th, then the zero meridian would 

 pass through central Europe, and enter Africa near 

 Tunis, and the Atlantic Ocean from the coast of 

 Guinea, thereby giving Norway, Denmark, Germany, 

 Austria, Switzerland, and Italy the opportunity of 

 having their national observatories upon it, on their 

 own soil. C. Borum. 



Norfolk, Va., June 5. 



Crystallization of glucose in honey. 



A gentleman of our city who is engaged extensively 

 in bee-culture has furnished me with the following 

 rather remarkable incident: — 



On opening a cap of honey that had been made 

 subsequent to July 1 of last year, it was discovered 

 that the entire bottom was covered with a layer of 

 some peculiar white powdery substance never before 

 observed. Such an occurrence being new to him, he 

 conferred with some of his acquaintances, also en- 

 gaged in bee-raising, but with the uniform result of 

 furnishing each with a bit of news. A sample of the 

 white substance was submitted to me, and on exami- 



