62 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. V., No. 102. 



excellent means for finding what topics German 

 schools of the various classes actually teach, and how 

 much they teach of each topic to pupils of any given 

 age. The accuracy of the pamphlet is vouched for 

 by competent authority; and the whole may be 

 warmly commended to every one who is engaged in 

 the study of problems connected with elementary 

 education. The general reader, also, will be inter- 

 ested in the suggestions that he can get at a glance 

 from these tables concerning the character of Ger- 

 man elementary education. Quotation is, on the 

 whole, hardly possible where a book is already a 

 model of condensation, and we shall not attempt it. 

 But let no one pretend hereafter to pass judgment on 

 the work of German schools without using the ele- 

 mentary facts as they are here presented. 



— The Anthropological society of Washington has 

 adopted the plan of so arranging its programme as to 

 devote an entire evening to a single subject, or to 

 subjects closely related. This adds much to the in- 

 terest of meetings. The place of meeting in Colum- 

 bian university building is convenient, and the 

 attendance has lately been larger than ever before in 

 the history of the society. On Jan. 20 is the annual 

 election of officers. 



— Sir William Thomson's lectures on molecular 

 dynamics are now ready for delivery to subscribers. 

 An edition of three hundred copies has been printed, 

 and of these only seventy-five remain for sale. The 

 volume contains three hundred and thirty-six pages 

 in all. Sir William Thomson has sent, since his 

 return to Europe, several pages of additional matter, 

 which is given with the lectures. An index and 

 bibliographical note have also been added. 



— In a speech before the African conference at Ber- 

 lin last November, Mr. Stanley, according to Le mouve- 

 ment geographique, said, " The Kongo is, with one 

 exception, the greatest river in the world, with the 

 most extensive valley. No region, either equatorial 

 or tropical, can rival it in fertility. There are great 

 empires of natives, and republics, such as Uganda, 

 Ruanda, Unyoro ; a country of broad plains for the 

 grazing of cattle, as the Masai Land. There are 

 numerous deposits of gold and silver, and rich mines 

 of 'copper and of iron. There are beautiful forests 

 which produce woods of an inestimable value, India- 

 rubber in inexhaustible quantities) gums, and precious 

 spices. There pepper and coffee are grown. There 

 are tribes susceptible of appreciating the advantages 

 of civilization, provided they are protected against 

 the attacks of brigands and the ambuscade of the 

 slave-trader. In my opinion, these facts are sufficient 

 to justify my proposition to define, by means of the 

 easily ascertained limits I have proposed, the fron- 

 tiers of the free commercial territory of equatorial 

 Africa, and to guarantee the freest possible access as 

 well from the east as from the west."' 



— The advice to explore the high peaks and little- 

 known parts of the Caucasus, given to experienced 

 Alpine travellers in the early part of the year, by D. 

 W. Freshfield, in the Alpine journal, has already 

 borne some fruit. The well-known Hungarian moun- 



taineer, Moritz v. Dechey, was the first on the ground. 

 On the 24th of July, he, in company with two Swiss 

 guides, made the first ascent of the 15,500-feet-high 

 peak of Adni Choch, after overcoming great difficul- 

 ties. On the 23d of August followed the ascent of 

 the highest western peak of the Elbrus, which had 

 been previously accomplished but once, — by Grove in 

 1874. During the journey, which led from the Arden 

 valley, over the high passes of the Elbrus, photo- 

 graphs and measures of elevation, which have hith- 

 erto been entirely wanting from the central Caucasus, 

 were taken. 



— Dr. Brieger of- Berlin has made a special study 

 of the ptomaines; i.e., the chemical poisons result- 

 ing from the action of bacteria upon animal sub- 

 stances. By digestion of albuminous bodies in gastric 

 juice, he obtained a toxic substance, to which he has 

 given the name peptotoxin. From putrid flesh he ob- 

 tained two bodies, — one a diamin of the composition 

 C5H14N2, a body which he calls neuridin, which, 

 when pure, is devoid of toxic action; and, as the sec- 

 ond product, neurin, a substance with decided poi- 

 sonous properties, antagonized by atropin. By the 

 putrefaction of fish-flesh, another diamin was discov- 

 ered, ethylendiamin, — ^H^NHg^HgO, — a power- 

 ful poison; also muscarin, and a body which Brieger 

 provisionally calls gadinin (C 7 H 17 N0 2 ). It is inter- 

 esting to note that the character of the ptomaines 

 formed, depends somewhat upon the character of the 

 material used: thus, neurin is found only in the 

 putrefaction of flesh; while muscarin, ethylendiamin, 

 gadinin, and triethylamin are specific products of 

 fish putrefaction, and dimethylamin of gelatin putre- 

 faction. His work also indicates that the ptomaines 

 should be divided into the poisonous and non-poi- 

 sonous. 



— The Journal of the Society for psychical research 

 for November (for circulation among members only) 

 contains an interesting account of Professor Barrett's 

 visit to America, and the steps which led to the for- 

 mation of an American society of similar name.* Pro- 

 fessors Bowditch, Fullerton, Stanley Hall, James, 

 Carvill Lewis, and Pickering have been chosen cor- 

 responding members of the London society. 



— Among recent deaths we note the following : 

 Hermann Kolbe, professor of chemistry at Leipzig, 

 Nov. 26, at the age of sixty-six ; Dr. Heinrich Bo- 

 dinus, director of the Berlin zoological gardens, at 

 Berlin, Nov. 23, at the age of seventy-one; Dr. Karl 

 von Vierordt, at Tubingen, Nov. 22, at the age of 

 sixty-seven ; Henri Lortique ; A. W. Thienemann 

 at Zangenberg, Nov. 5, at the age of fifty-four; Alfred 

 Brehm, at Renthendorf, Nov. 11, at the age of fifty- 

 five ; Professor Edmund Tomosvary, at Deva, Aug. 18 ; 

 Charles Tulasne, at Hyeres, Aug. 21, at the age of 

 sixty-eight ; Richard Townsend, professor of mathe- 

 matics at Dublin university; Arthur Henninger, 

 chemist, at Paris, in November; Dr. Thomas Wright, 

 at Cheltenham, Nov. 17; Dr. W. von Wittich of the 

 University of Konigsberg, Nov. 21 ; Henry Lawrence 

 Eustis, professor of engineering at Cambridge, Mass., 

 Jan. 11, in his sixty-sixth year. 



