Apkil 17, 1885.] 



SCIENCE. 



321 



There are also three appendices, — the first 

 relating to the reduction of the psj'chrometer 

 observations, which, at the summit of the moun- 

 tain, show certain considerable discordances ; 

 the second, on the experimental determination 

 of wave-lengths in the invisible prismatic spec- 

 trum, — a paper already published elsewhere, 

 but most appropriately reprinted in this connec- 

 tion ; and, finally, an investigation of the effect 

 of convection-currents upon the loss or gain of 

 temperature by a thermometer-bulb. 



There can be no question that Professor 

 Langley's exposure of the fallacy of the earlier 

 methods of investigating the solar radiation, 

 and his invention of the spectrobolometer, will 

 always be recognized as an epoch in the history 

 of the subject ; and in the volume before us 

 we have the best available summing-up of the 

 matter. 



It would be unjust to close this notice with- 

 out an allusion to a fact which is well and 

 gracefully stated in Gen. Hazen's brief pref- 

 ace : "It should be said that the aid given to 

 Professor Langley [by the signal-service], 

 which he so gracefully acknowledges in the 

 text, was necessarily limited. A large part of 

 the expense of the outfit was generously borne 

 by a friend of the Allegheny observatory." 

 To this anonj^mous friend, as well as to the 

 signal-service and to Professor Langley him- 

 self, the thanks of all who are interested in 

 science are due, and are hereby returned. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The legislature of Wisconsin has appropriated 

 a hundred and ninety thousand dollars to the Uni- 

 versity of Wisconsin, for rebuilding the science 

 laboratories destroyed by fire on Dec. 1, 1884. The 

 new buildings will consist of a chemical laboratory, 

 a machine-shop, and a building for the departments 

 of physics, engineering, geology, and zoology. All 

 are to be fire-proof, or, more accurately, - slow-burn- 

 ing,' buildings; and the heating-apparatus for all is 

 to be placed in a separate structure. In addition to 

 the above-named sum, the insurance on the former 

 building, amounting to some forty thousand dollars, 

 is appropriated for refitting the departments with 

 necessary furniture and apparatus for immediate use. 

 No appropriation for cabinets, etc., was urged, as the 

 next legislature will meet before the completion of 

 the new building. It is proposed to push the con- 

 struction of the chemical laboratory and machine- 

 shop as rapidly as possible. Since items have 

 appeared, asserting that the Lapham herbarium was 

 destroyed, it may be stated that the herbarium was 

 not in Science hall, and is consequently intact. 



— In their report on Edison's autographic telegraph, 

 the examiners of telegraphic apparatus at the Phila- 



delphia electrical exhibition write, " It was not set 

 up in such manner that its construction or mode of 

 operation could be examined, and we are therefore 

 unable to report upon it. It may, perhaps, be proper 

 to say that the autographic system for the transmis- 

 sion of communications in facsimile would seem to 

 afford one of the most promising fields for the labors 

 of future improvers of the telegraph. It is apparently 

 in this direction, 'if any, that we must look for the 

 future solution of the problem of cheap telegraphy. 

 It will be readily understood that if an efficient system 

 were invented by which the original message, as writ- 

 ten by the sender, could be placed in a machine, and 

 a facsimile of it instantly produced by the action of 

 electricity at a distant station, and this by automatic 

 machinery without the intervention of human hands, 

 the actual cost of performing the service would be 

 but the merest trifle. Yet there is apparently no 

 obstacle in the way of obtaining this result, which we 

 may not hope to see overcome sooner or later by the 

 genius and perseverance of our inventors." 



— The Leander McCormick observatory of the 

 University of Yirginia was inaugurated on April 13; 

 the ceremonies taking place in the public hall of the 

 institution, and Professor Asaph Hall of the naval 

 observatory, Washington, delivering the address. 

 The principal instrument is the great Clark refractor 

 of twenty-six inches' aperture. The observatory has 

 a house adjoining for the director, Professor Stone, 

 and is possessed of a considerable endowment fund, 

 the gift of Mr. W. H. Yanderbilt of New York. 



— Capt. Thompson of the schooner K. Bowers 

 reports that on June 4, 1884, in latitude 42° 46' north, 

 longitude 60° 47' west, a sealed bottle, inside of which 

 was placed a record of their voyage, was thrown over- 

 board. The bottle, with record, was picked up on 

 July 15, 1884, at Little Dover Bay, east point of 

 Nova Scotia. 



— A pamphlet has been issued by Dr. John S. 



'Billings, the secretary-general of the International 



medical congress, to be held in Washington in 1887, 



giving the rules for the congress, and a provisional 



list of officers. 



— The circular of the summer school of languages 

 at Amherst for the coming session, exhibits an en- 

 largement of the methods and aims of the school, 

 and an increase in the number of subjects taught 

 and of teachers demanded, which, a few years back, 

 any one would have been thought over-sanguine to 

 predict. The growth of the school seems to indicate 

 plainly that it has created a demand for itself, and 

 that its management is meeting the necessities of the 

 case in a satisfactory manner. Professor Montague, 

 of the department of modern languages in Amherst 

 college, is the director of the school : and he has the 

 immediate co-operation, in German, of Professor 

 Zuellig, now an instructor at Princeton; in French, 

 of Professor Bernard of Boston; in Latin, of Pro- 

 fessor Johnson of Lehigh university; and in Hebrew, 

 of the well-known specialist, Dr. Haley. Thirteen 

 other instructors in language are also announced; 

 and the generosity of the officers of the college in 



