300 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. IV., No. 85. 



— Among the celebrities at the Medical congress at 

 Copenhagen were Virchow, Pasteur, Lister, Volk- 

 mann, Esmarch, Spencer Wells. Pasteur's address 

 on the prophylactic inoculation for hydrophobia was 

 the sensation of the congress. In professional cir- 

 cles there are still many sceptics, and Pasteur still 

 hesitates to try his experiments on man. The French 

 committee appointed by Mr. Falieres are watching 

 his experiments in Paris. Pasteur believes in the 

 existence of special microbes of the disease, but 

 has not discovered any as yet. Professor Andeli of 

 Rome spoke on the causes of malaria: the primary 

 cause he considered to be subterranean water, and 

 the subsidence of the top soil. In conjunction with 

 the necessary draining, he recommended as a remedy 

 a careful use of arsenic, with the treatment with 

 quinine. Professor Verneuil of Paris continued the 

 subject on the same lines. At the third sitting, Sir 

 William Gull spoke on the formation of an interna- 

 tional institute for the study of diseases; and his 

 resolution was passed, forming the following inter- 

 national committee for the purpose: for Germany, 

 Ewald and Bernhard; France, Bouchard, Levine; 

 Great Britain, William Gull, Humphrey, and Mac 

 Cormac; with Professor Owen as general secretary. 

 On the 15th, Professor Virchow spoke on ' Metapla- 

 sia;' and on the 16th the congress closed with Pro- 

 fessor Panum's address on ' The food of healthy and 

 unhealthy men.' The next congress will be held at 

 Washington, in 1887. Professor Virchow's closing 

 address was received with immense applause. 



— On June 30, in Bremen, a technical commission 

 met to discuss the export of German coal. The ques- 

 tion whether a German coal-export company should 

 be formed was answered in the affirmative; but a pre- 

 liminary committee of inquiry was elected to report 

 on the capabilities of foreign markets, to study their 

 relative positions, and to make representations to 

 the Prussian minister of railways as to tariff regula- 

 tions and the improvement of loading and unloading 

 arrangements at the harbors. 



The August number of the Kansas City review 

 of science and industry contains an enthusiastic arti- 

 cle on meteorological discoveries, by Isaac P. Noyes 

 of Washington, in which the weather-map is extolled 

 as the basis of progress in meteorology. While 

 many will agree with the writer, that the daily maps 

 of the weather are of great value, it seems that 

 he places too great importance on the 'highs' and 

 ' lows,' as he terms barometric elevations and de- 

 pressions in accordance with what may be styled sig- 

 nal-service slang; and that he gives too little credit 

 to what was known before the advent of weather- 

 maps. The following quotation illustrates Mr. Noyes' s 

 low opinion of earlier studies: "Until we had this 

 wonderful weather-map, we had little or no concep- 

 tion of the meteorological phenomena of the world. 

 For example, the tornado. The old 'physical geog- 

 raphy' system had various names for this violent 

 phenomenon, such as cyclone, hurricane, and tornado, 

 and undertook to draw a line between them, giving 

 certain characteristics to one which it did not give to 



the other. The map reveals the fact that they are 

 all one and the same, and that they proceed from 

 'low' " (p. 202). But this opinion is certainly open 

 to criticism ; for if any fact is well proved by the 

 weather-maps, it is that tornadoes are essentially dif- 

 ferent from cyclones, instead of being one and the 

 same with them. A somewhat broader and more 

 careful study of the old system, as well as of the 

 newer weather-maps, might again suggest amend- 

 ments to such assertions as these : " The violent wind- 

 storm we call tornado or cyclone when it occurs will 

 always be in the track of ' low,' and generally at an 

 acute angle thereto" (p. 202); "The cause of low 

 barometer we ascribe to concentrated heat" (p. 198). 

 The confusion of terms and error of statement in 

 the first of these extracts, and the vagueness of ex- 

 planation in the second, are especially unfortunate^iu 

 an article seemingly intended for popular instruction* 



— We reproduce from Science et nature a"picture- 

 of the statue of the Marquis Claude de Jouffroy, 

 executed by Charles Gautier, erected at Besancon,. 

 France, and inaugurated last month. De Jouffroy 

 was the first to make a serious attempt'toapply steam 

 to navigation after Papin's experiments inj r 1707. 

 De Jouffroy' s first experiments were madejon the 

 Seine in 1775, and the Doubs in 1776, and afterwards- 

 more successfully on the Sa6ne at Lyons in 1780. 



