February 6, 1885." 



SCIENCE, 



119 



any person in the world who will write the best three- 

 thousand-word paper on the cause of the atmospheric 

 effects ('red light,' etc.) accompanying sunset and 

 sunrise during the past sixteen months. It is desired 

 that these papers be as original as possible in facts, 

 observations, and treatment. 



— Under the auspices of the Academy of natural 

 sciences of Philadelphia, Prof. D. G. Brinton began 

 on Jan. 26 to deliver a series of ten lectures on 

 American ethnology and archeology. He will be fol- 

 lowed by Professor Benjamin Sharp in a course of 

 from twenty to twenty-five lectures on the principles of 

 zoology; Professor Angelo Heilprin, a course of prac- 

 tical instruction in geology and paleontology, to be 

 supplemented by field-excursions, and a final excur- 

 sion to the region of the upper Delaware or the valley 

 of Virginia, extending over a period of ten days or 

 more; and Prof. H. Carvill Lewis, a course of twenty- 

 five lectures on mineralogy and lithology, with practi- 

 cal demonstrations in the laboratory. 



— The American philosophical society has just 

 published an index to its Proceedings and Transac- 

 tions down to 1883, prepared by Mr. Henry Phillips, 

 jun., one of the secretaries. It will be found very 

 useful, but would have been much more so had it 

 been made in a single index, instead of in three, as 

 at present. The simple prefix of P and T would 

 have distinguished the Proceedings and the Transac- 

 tions as readily as the present Koman numerals do 

 the volumes; and a T could similarly have been made 

 to indicate the old in distinction from the new series 

 of the Transactions. 



— The first number of the Journal of mycology, an- 

 nounced in a recent issue, has been received, and can 

 hardly be said to promise much for the future of my- 

 cology in this country. It is almost wholly devoted 

 to descriptions of new. species; for the abstract of 

 Wharton's paper on Fries' s nomenclature of colors, 

 taken from Grevillea, is of slight botanical value. If 

 this number is an index of what is to come, it will be 

 a matter of regret that the journal was ever started. 

 The proper place for the description of species is in 

 the proceedings of scientific societies, or in the re- 

 ports issued by the different states or by the national 

 government. In the case of a monthly journal, the 

 necessity of filling the requisite number of pages must 

 quickly result in the production of hastily or carelessly 

 prepared descriptions, which will only be an encum- 

 brance: the inevitable tendency will be to degenerate 

 into a mere species-mill. Neither mycology nor any # 

 other natural-history science can hope for advancement 

 through journals having no higher aim than this. 

 And what shall we say to authors who describe one of 

 their 'species,' and then add the following note: " It 

 is quite probable that these are only the spores of some 

 other fungus accidentally scattered on the leaves, and 

 it is given here more especially to call attention to it, 

 in order to ascertain its true character" ? 



— In the Atlantic monthly for February, Mr. Brad- 

 ford Torrey has a pleasantly written paper on winter 

 birds about Boston, in which he treats briefly the va- 

 rious species that enliven our fields and waysides at 



this inclement season. The writer shows himself to 

 be a keen discriminating observer, as well as an affec- 

 tionately appreciative one, and has also a happy way of 

 telling what he has seen. His paper will prove of inter- 

 est to the ornithologist as well as the general reader. 



— Mr. W. W. Valentine of Richmond, Va., in the 

 specimen pages of his ' Comparative study of the new 

 high German language, theoretical and practical,' 

 evidently gives a translation of the notes of some 

 lectures on German grammar which he once heard 

 in Germany. Like most lecture-notes, they contain 

 some mistakes, and are, except for a reader already 

 familiar with the subject, obscure through their con- 

 ciseness. And if there has been in this book any 

 winnowing, any selection at all of topics to be treated, 

 the winnowing has certainly left much chaff among 

 the wheat. It is difficult to conceive of any class 

 of students in America who could, with advantage, 

 study German in such a grammar. We subjoin a few 

 characteristic extracts : "Consonants accumulate in 

 simple words and compounds. It occurs often from 

 the syncopation ... In compounds they accumu- 

 late very often. — In English sex determines class- 

 distinction for the most part. — The es of the neut. 

 nom. ace. (also voc.) is often omitted in folk-speech, 

 and also in poetry where it stands in connection with 

 euphony and quantity. — Relics of gender are found 

 with the demonstrative das that. — Essen (better 

 eszen). [!!] — Reduplication occurred originally with 

 the preterit stem of all stem verbs. — fatten to fold 

 (redupl.) Only the past participle is preserved in lit- 

 erary language." [ ! ! ] 



— The fourth number of the Anuario bibliogrdfico 

 de la Eepublica argentina, by A. N. Viola (Buenos 

 Aires, 1883), contains a good account of the publica- 

 tions issued in that country for 1882. It comprises 

 political and social subjects, as well as scientific and 

 technical, and aims to include every thing bearing 

 an Argentine imprint. Scientific subjects are allowed 

 thirty pages, which are filled chiefly with mention of 

 the work accomplished by several government insti- 

 tutions, such as the universities and the Cordoba 

 observatory, and by the scientific societies of Buenos 

 Aires and Cordoba. The entire list fills six hundred 

 pages, small octavo. Another local list that deserves 

 mention is Trautwein's Bibliographic der alpinen 

 literatur for 1883, that has appeared for the last four- 

 teen years in the Zeitschrift des deutschen und oesterr. 

 alpen-vereins. It contains about four hundred titles: 

 but journals are entered only by their name, not by 

 their contents. There are no abstracts, and the ar- 

 rangement is only by name of author; so that con- 

 venience of use would require more care expended 

 in its preparation. 



— Mr. A. M. Elliott, in the Johns Hopkins circular 

 for December, writes of a philological expedition to 

 Canada: — 



"In point of language, the Canadian French is 

 certainly one of the most interesting topics for a 

 philologian. Here we find that time has stood still, 

 especially for the more remote rural districts; and 

 the scholar could easily imagine himself holding 



