Apkil 10, 1885. 



SCIENCE. 



303 



labors of explorers in various countries of the old 

 world. This promises to be one of the most valuable 

 features of the new enterprise, which we commend 

 most heartily to the support of all who have any 

 interest in the study of antiquity. 



— The new entomological journal, published under 

 the auspices of the Brooklyn entomological society, 

 under the extraordinary title of Entomologica (sic !) 

 Americana, has just appeared. It is of about the size 

 and general appearance of Papilio, which, and the 

 former Bulletin of the Brooklyn society, it supplants. 

 It does not differ in general character from them. 



— The second of the papers by Drs. Tamburini 

 and Seppilli on their experimental investigations in 

 hypnotism has appeared in German translation by 

 Dr. Frankel of Bernburg. The first half of the 

 pamphlet is occupied by an account of experiments 

 and facts observed, while the last half gives their 

 deductions from the facts. The ] division made by 

 Charcot, of the phenomena, into those of the lethar- 

 gic, cataleptic, and somnambulistic states, is accepted, 

 and directions given for producing each of these 

 states ; but the three conditions are not regarded as 

 in their ultimate nature different. All three are 

 regarded as due to hyper-excitability of the whole 

 cerebro-spinal axis, differing among themselves only 

 as the irritability is greater or less. One of the argu- 

 ments urged in favor of this view is from the fact 

 that an irritation which will produce at first the le- 

 thargic state, will, if intensified, produce the catalep- 

 tic, and, upon being made still more intense, the third 

 state, or somnambulistic, characterized by a stiffen- 

 ing of all the muscles. The experiments seem to 

 have been carefully made, and the pamphlet is of 

 real value. 



— Three pages of the Bryennios manuscript, re- 

 produced by photography from the original text, and 

 edited, with notes, by J. Kendel Harris, associate 

 professor of New-Testament Greek and paleography 

 in the Johns Hopkins university, are now on the 

 point of publication. These pages include the last 

 verses of the Epistle of Barnabas ; the superscription 

 and opening of the first Epistle of Clement ; the close 

 of the second Epistle of Clement ; the first verses of 

 The teaching of the apostles ; the last verses of the 

 Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans, etc. A few copies 

 are offered for sale at one dollar net. The edition is 

 strictly limited to one hundred and twenty-five copies, 

 and orders should therefore be sent at once to the 

 publication agency of the Johns Hopkins university, 

 Baltimore, Md. 



— The recent announcement of the suspension of a 

 daily paper called The dial, published in New York 

 during the past year, has given an impression that 

 the monthly journal The dial, published in Chicago, 

 is the one referred to. The dial has just closed suc- 

 cessfully its fifth year with the April number, just 

 issued. 



— The British steamship Chicago, Capt. Jones, 

 reports March 13, 49° 48' north, 12° 53' west, eight 

 p.m., to midnight, in 50° 5' north, 13° 48" west, the 

 observation of a verv brilliant aurora borealis. The 



display extended in an arch from north-east to north- 

 west, and from the horizon to the zenith, the whole 

 appearing to be arranged in concentric rings of differ- 

 ent brilliant colors. The night was so light from 

 this cause, that a newspaper was read on deck. 



— The electrical exhibition held at the observatory 

 of Paris was opened on the 21st of March. A series 

 of lectures is being delivered on electricity, the first 

 being by Mr. Wolf, on the application of electricity to 

 astronomy, and the last by Mr. Marie-Davy, on the 

 use of electricity in prognosticating the weather. 

 The lectures will be published. 



— In the report of Professors Sedgwick and Nichols 

 of the Massachusetts institute of technology, who 

 were instructed by the Massachusetts board of health 

 to investigate the subject of ' water-gas,' we find that 

 they are averse to the general introduction of this gas 

 for illuminating-purposes. Ordinary coal-gas con- 

 tains about seven per cent of carbonic oxide, where- 

 as water-gas contains as much as thirty per cent. 

 This large percentage of poison in the gas would 

 render its introduction, even under the most careful 

 precautions, extremely dangerous to life. In an at- 

 mosphere containing one per cent of coal-gas, dogs, 

 cats, rabbits, and pigeons were apparently able to re- 

 sist the effect of the carbonic oxide almost indefinite- 

 ly; while, on the other hand, with the same amount 

 of water-gas, death from poisoning generally resulted 

 after from five to eight hours of exposure. Coming 

 from such a source, this report must have much 

 weight in settling this much-vexed question. 



— Dr. George H. Horn of Philadelphia was elected 

 an honorary member of the Entomological society of 

 France at its meeting of March 11. 



— The influence the merchant may have on science 

 by well-directed efforts is well exemplified in the career 

 of Godeffroy, who recently died in Germany, and who 

 was, until lately, head of the great German firm 

 of traders to the South-Sea Islands. He was, how- 

 ever, says Nature, much more than a merchant. 

 Besides captains and supercargoes, he sent to Micro- 

 nesia, Melanesia, Polynesia, and especially to Samoa, 

 men of science, whose duty it was to make collections 

 and send them to Hamburg, to form there an exhaus- 

 tive museum of natural history. The first whom he 

 sent out on a mission of this kind was Dr. Graefe of 

 Zurich, now inspector of the zoological station at 

 Trieste, who went to Samoa in 1861, and, from this 

 as a centre, visited the Fiji, Tonga, and other groups 

 in the region. He returned to Europe after eleven 

 years, bringing with him important collections, and 

 he undertook the editorship of a Journal of the God- 

 effroy museum. Amongst others thus despatched 

 to the South Seas, was a lady who spent ten years 

 studying the botany of northern Queensland, and 

 a Polish surgeon who lived for five years in the 

 Marshall and Caroline Islands, then returned to 

 Europe, returning again to the Carolines, where he 

 is at present. A list of the men employed by God- 

 effroy to travel in the South Seas to study the vari- 

 ous islands, make collections for his museum, and 

 report to him, would embrace all nationalities, all de- 



