450 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IV., No. 92. 



with details of size, and place and date of publica- 

 tion. ^References to periodicals should be on this 

 pattern : — 



" Quetelet, Lambert Adolphe Jacques, 



Sur les orages du mois d'Avril, 1865. 

 Bruxelles, Acad. Sci. Bull., XIX., 1865, 535-537." 



Correspondence should be addressed to the chief 

 signal-officer U. S. army, Washington. 



— When the physical studies of the Gulf of Mexico 

 and the Caribbean Sea, now prosecuted by the U. S. 

 coast-survey, are brought to an end, and when our 

 knowledge of the natural history of these waters is 

 sufficiently increased, we shall hope to see a mono- 

 graphic description of them, after the pattern of 

 Ackermann's admirable ' Beitrage zur physischen 

 geographie der Ostsee' (Hamburg, Meissner, 1883). 

 The arrangement of subjects is logical and syste- 

 matic, and lacks but one chapter of being complete, 

 for geological structure alone is not discussed. The 

 first division of the book considers the form of the 

 shores and bottom, under the heading of morphology, 

 illustrated by bathymetric charts of fine execution; 

 then, omitting the origin of this form, recent geo- 

 logical action along the shores, and the evidences of 

 secular elevation and depression, are discussed. The 

 physical relations of the sea are described under cur- 

 rents, winds and their effects, and the distribution 

 of temperature; and the chapter on biology opens 

 with a general discussion of the causes that influ- 

 ence the occurrence of marine life, followed by an 

 account of the horizontal and vertical distribution 

 of the fauna and flora, and concluding with the 

 effect of the Baltic on the habitat of certain birds. 

 The inward and outward flowing currents at the 

 wider entrance to the sea are described in detail, 

 and the tide is traced till it disappears with a height 

 of only one centimetre at Memel. 



— The geographical society at Halle has published 

 a valuable local bibliography of physical and histori- 

 cal writings (' Die landeskundliche litteratur fur Nord- 

 thiiringen, den Harz,' etc., Halle, 1883), covering 170 

 pages, clearly arranged on a well-considered plan. It 

 begins with natural-history topics (such as geology, 

 hydrology, climate, fauna and flora), next taking ques- 

 tions that refer to population (such as anthropology, 

 statistics, economics, and folk-lore), and ending with 

 papers of special or historical interest ; all of this be- 

 ing arranged, first for larger, and then for smaller, 

 geographic areas. Maps of all kinds are included in 

 the lists, and a good index to the various subdivis- 

 ions allows easy reference to any subject or place. 



— Scudder's 'History of the United States' (Phila- 

 delphia, J. H. Butter) belongs to the class of manuals 

 which includes the histories by S. Eliot, T. W. Hig- 

 ginson, A. Gilman, and others ; but our limits will 

 not permit us to point out how it differs from them. 

 Its typography is attractive ; and it is a marvel that 

 so many maps, portraits, and other engravings, can be 

 given in a volume which is sold at so low a price. 

 Among some of the novel illustrations may be named 

 a map of the physical features of the United States, 

 not entirely satisfactory ; a map of the discoveries on 



the Atlantic seaboard in the fifteenth century ; the 

 progress of population westward in the United States ; 

 the sectional weather divisions employed by the U. S. 

 signal-service ; the standard-time belts ; and a very 

 large number of diagram-maps, most of which are 

 admirable, inserted in the text to explain the wars, 

 battles, progress of civilization, etc. The text is clear, 

 readable, and concise. 



— The fifteenth report of the Massachusetts bureau 

 of statistics and labor, by Carroll D. Wright, contains 

 an interesting paper on the condition of the working- 

 girls in Boston ; and this is followed by an elaborate 

 study of the comparative wages, prices, and cost of 

 living, in Massachusetts and Great Britain in the 

 period between 1860 and 1883. As to wages, Mr. 

 Wright's result is as follows: that the general average 

 weekly wage of the employees in the industries con- 

 sidered in Massachusetts was 77 + % higher than the 

 general average weekly wage of the employees in the 

 industries considered in Great Britain. As to cost of 

 living, it appears, that, on any basis of yearly expen- 

 diture, the prices of articles entering into the cost of 

 living were, on the average, 17.29% higher in Massa- 

 chusetts in 1883 than in Great Britain; that, of this 

 figure, 11.49% was due to higher rents in Massachu- 

 setts, leaving 5.80% as indicative of the higher cost 

 of living in Massachusetts as compared with Great 

 Britain, as regards the remaining elements of expense. 



— The American academy of medicine held its 

 annual convention in Baltimore, Oct. 28-29, with 

 Dr. Benjamin Lee of Philadelphia as president. 

 None but medical men who have had a liberal colle- 

 giate education are eligible for membership in this 

 association, which, among other things, endeavors to 

 promote reforms and improvements in medical edu- 

 cation. 



— The Association for the advancement of women 

 also held its annual meeting in Baltimore, Oct. 29, 30, 

 and 31, under the presiding guidance of Mrs. Julia 

 Ward Howe. 



— The excellent 'Monthly reference-lists,' which 

 are printed by Mr. W. E. Foster of the Providence 

 public library, should be watched by scientific men 

 as well as by literary readers. The August number 

 (vol. iv. No. 8) contains a handy index to articles on 

 earthquakes, theories and observations, which was 

 suggested by the shock of Aug. 10, 1884. In judging 

 of the list of memoirs and articles which are cited, 

 the reader should remember that it is prepared for 

 popular reading, and not as an index for the seis- 

 mologist, or even for the physicist. The second part 

 of the same number is devoted to the early English 

 explorations of America. 



— The portrait accompanying our account of Sir 

 William Thomson was engraved from a photograph 

 taken in Canada. Sir William has since sat for a 

 photograph in Baltimore, copies of which can be had 

 on application to Cummins, photographer, 7 North 

 Charles Street, Baltimore. 



— Ensign E. E. Hayden of the U. S. navy has been 

 ordered to duty at the Harvard observatory. 



