382 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. IV., No. 



zation of the three ages is presented, followed by a 

 minute description of the fishing-implements peculiar 

 to each period. Special attention is given to the fish- 

 ing-articles found in the paleolithic caves of France 

 and other countries. In the neolithic age, the artifi- 

 cial shell deposits of Denmark and of the other lake- 

 dwellings of Europe are especially noticed. In the 

 bronze age are considered the fishing-implements 

 from the lake-settlements of Europe, and also those 

 forms of implements not found in lake-dwellings. In 

 part ii., North America, the subject is discussed 

 under the following chief headings: (a) fishing-im- 

 plements and utensils, (b) boats and appurtenances, 

 (c) prehistoric structures connected with fishing, (d) 

 representations of fishes, aquatic mammals, etc. ; and 

 (e) artificial shell-heaps. Then follow extracts from 

 various writings of the sixteenth, seventeenth, eigh- 

 teenth, and nineteenth centuries, in. which reference 

 is made to aboriginal fishing in North America; the 

 work closing with notices of fishing-implements 

 and fish representations discovered south of Mexico. 

 Plate proof of this work has already been furnished 

 to the author, and it is probable that in a few weeks 

 this book will be within the reach of archeologists 

 and others. 



— Capt. James Mercer has been placed at the head 

 of the department of civil and military engineering 

 at West Point in place of Prof. Junius B. Wheeler, 

 retired. 



— The navy department has ordered Assistant 

 Engineer Goold H. Bull, U.S.N. , to Philadelphia, as 

 professor of engineering at the University of Penn- 

 sylvania. 



— The work of establishing cold-wave flag-stations 

 is being carried on under the supervision of First 

 Lieut. Dun woody, acting signal-officer. He has sent 

 out over eight thousand circulars to postmasters in 

 the cold-wave sections, answers to which are being 

 received daily; and there is every reason to think 

 that within two months the flag system will be in 

 working order. The warnings regarding cold waves 

 will be transmitted by telegraph to the sixteen signal- 

 corps printing-stations in the north, east, and west, 

 whence copies of the Farmer's bulletin will be sent 

 out to the different stations in the vicinity of each 

 printing-office; and the postmaster receiving the 

 warning will hoist his flag, thus giving notice to 

 his neighbors of the near approach of a cold snap. 

 These flags are not to be hauled down until twenty- 

 four hours after the postmaster receives notice through 

 the Bulletin, and then only in case he does not receive 

 a second warning. 



— Prof. J. W. Mallet of the University of Virginia 

 has accepted the position of professor of chemistry 

 in the Jefferson medical college, Philadelphia, which 

 has been recently held by Prof. Robert E. Rogers. 



— William C. Day, Ph.D., formerly of St. John's 

 college, Maryland, has been appointed professor of 

 chemistry and physics at Nashville university, Ten- 

 nessee. 



— The geological maps of America are excellently 

 catalogued by J. and J. B. Marcou in their ' Mapoteca 



geologica Americana,' just issued as a bulletin of the 

 U. S. geological survey. They reach the surprising 

 number of 924; including, however, under distinct 

 numbers, all re-issues. The annotations are brief but 

 valuable ; and the whole is prefixed by a very interest- 

 ing account of the progress of geological cartography, 

 which is of permanent value. An excellent index 

 completes a most serviceable publication. 



— Abram S. Hall, Ph.D., a graduate of the Univer- 

 sity of Michigan, is appointed professor of chemistry 

 and physics at St. John's college, Annapolis, Md. 



— There is an error in the reports of the commit- 

 tees of the American association, in our last issue, 

 which needs correcting. The statements concerning 

 the committee on an international convention refer, 

 not to that committee, but to the committee on the 

 interchange of courtesies between the American and 

 British associations for the advancement of science. 



— Mr. J. Dickie of Leeds is exhibiting his recently 

 patented invention of an aqua-aerial or wave-ship, 

 which is supposed to be capable of making the chan- 

 nel passage in twenty minutes, or of running to New 

 York and back in six days. The aqua-aerial ship 

 presents a different section at different parts of its 

 length; but it may be described as a broad, flat vessel 

 with water-tight chambers all round it, and a series 

 of three inclined planes forming the bottom. The 

 air-ducts are of the usual shape on deck, but spread 

 out so as to occupy one-half the breadth of the vessel 

 at the point where they reach the bottom. They are 

 situated just at the commencement of the inclined 

 planes, and as two are placed side by side there are 

 four altogether. The object of these ducts is to ren- 

 der each plane independent of the others; and thus 

 all are supposed to assist in lifting the vessel out of 

 the water, as it were, and to facilitate its passage 

 over the surface. The bows curve downwards from 

 about the deck level, and merge into the front of the 

 first plane of the bottom; while the water-tight com- 

 partments at the sides of the vessel are formed into 

 a sort of platform at the stern, by means of which 

 eddy-making is to be avoided. The air-ducts have 

 another office to perform; for, by means of self-acting; 

 valves, any tendency to roll is said to be immediately 

 counteracted by the air-ducts on the rising side of 

 the vessel closing automatically, thus creating a 

 vacuum on that side, while the greater pressure ex- 

 erted on the water on the other side will tend to re- 

 store it to the normal level. The inventor maintains, 

 that the power required to keep up the speed will 

 decrease with the increase of the vessel's rate of pro- 

 gression, ' the only thing necessary being a high 

 speed of engines.' Unfortunately for sea-sick people, 

 we have as yet had no practical proof of the merits, 

 of the ' aqua-aerial vessel.' 



— A cable despatch was received Oct. 15, at Har- 

 vard college observatory, from Kiel, Germany, an- 

 nouncing the discovery of another asteroid by Palisa. 

 Its position was as follows: Oct. 14, 4033; right 

 ascension, 2 h 18 in 26.3 s ; declination, north 13° 47"; 

 daily motion, west 56", south 6'. It is of the 13th 

 magnitude. 



