532 



SCIENCE, 



[Vol. V., No. 125. 



these beds the Kootanie group, from a tribe of Indians 

 who hunted over that part of the Rocky Mountains 

 between the 49th and 52d parallels. The beds lie in 

 troughs in the paleozoic formations of the mountains, 

 and may be traced for a distance of a hundred and 

 forty miles north and south. The plants found are 

 conifers, cycads, and ferns, the cycads being especially 

 abundant. Some are identical with species described 

 by Heer from the Jurassic of Siberia, while others 

 occur in the lower cretaceous of Greenland. No 

 dictoyledonous leaves have been found in these beds, 

 which connect in a remarkable way the extinct floras 

 of Asia and America and those of the Jurassic and 

 cretaceous periods. 



— In an article on the variations of personality, in 

 the Journal de Geneve, Dr. Hermann Fol mentions 

 three elements of personality, — consciousness, mem- 

 ory, and volition. Of the first there are several kinds, 

 no'.ably consciousness of sensation, where the sensa- 

 tion proper must be distinguished from our conscious- 

 ness of it. If the latter is lost periodically, and the 

 condition alternates at regular intervals with the nor- 

 mal state, a sense of double existence is produced ; 

 and the same state arises when consciousness of sen- 

 sation is carried to an extreme. In regard to the mem- 

 ory, a person sometimes seems to have two distinct 

 memories which act alternately. The duplication is 

 particularly noticeable in the case of somnambulists. 

 If it occurs in a state of wakefulness, the person 

 seems to have two distinct personalities. Only the 

 normal memory forms an element of the personality. 

 The personality may also be altered by a change in 

 our idea of the future. Absent-mindedness, and 

 yielding to involuntary impulses, are the outward 

 signs of this kind of mental disease. In conclusion, 

 Dr. Fol thought men differed less in the extent of 

 their faculties than in the extent of their conscious- 

 ness of them. 



— An aeronautical exhibition under the patronage 

 of the Aeronautical society of Great Britain was to be 

 opened, says Nature, during the present month, in 

 connection with the International exhibition at the 

 Alexandra palace. The large out-door space will be 

 made available for various competitions. The dis- 

 puted question of aerial locomotion by the aid of 

 buoyancy will be tested. Possibly the fire in the 

 building in the early part of June may interfere with 

 the plans. 



— A course of ten lectures on the practical analysis 

 of plants was finished on June 20 at the Cincinnati 

 society's rooms. They were given by Jos. F. James, 

 and were instituted for the special benefit of the 

 teachers in the public schools. They were free to 

 those invited, and were attended by from fifteen to 

 twenty teachers. The society proposes to give similar 

 courses of lectures on Saturday mornings in the 

 fall. The first one will probably be on physiology 

 and hygiene, followed by one on physical geography. 



— We regret to notice the death of Rev. T. W. 

 Webb at Hard wick, Eng., on the 19th of May. He 

 is known everywhere to astronomers, to amateur 

 astronomers in particular, as the author of ' Celestial 



objects for common telescopes,' — a book which is 

 said to have " done more to interest observers in the 

 heavens than any other book that has been pub- 

 lished." He was a frequent contributor to Nature, 

 the Intellectual observer, the English mechanic, etc. 

 One of his most recent works was a popular book on 

 the sun. We learn from the Astronomical register 

 that he was appointed a prebendary of Hereford Ca- 

 thedral in 1882; and, if he had lived a few weeks 

 longer, he would have completed his eightieth year. 



— Entomologists will be sorry to learn of the death, 

 on the 15th inst., at his home in Morgantown, N.C.," 

 of Mr. H. K. Morrison, a noted collector of insects, 

 probably the most successful and enthusiastic in this 

 line of any we have had. A large proportion of his 

 collections went to Europe, where they were eagerly- 

 sought; and the literature of descriptive entomology 

 for the last ten years in this country shows every- 

 where the indications of his zeal. 



— A correspondent of the English mechanic, writ- 

 ing from Morchain, Somme, France, says, "A boiler 

 of a new system, which received the name of gene- 

 rateur tricyclique inexplosible, has been invented, 

 which differs from all those hitherto produced. The 

 metallic surface submitted to the action of the fire 

 does not touch the water; in no condition can the 

 boiler get red-hot; it is enveloped all over by the 

 same temperature: hence an immense vaporization ; 

 and steam can be produced to the very last drop of 

 water without the least danger." 



— Jules Gamier has designed an elevated railway 

 for the city of Paris, which it is expected will be in 

 running order in time for the exposition of 1889. It 

 will be twenty-eight thousand eight hundred metres 

 (about eighteen miles) in length, and will cost ten 

 millions of dollars. The structure will be composed 

 of two tracks, one above the other, on an iron frame. 

 The whole will be fifteen metres from the building- 

 line, and vibrations will be guarded against by special 

 appliances. The trains will be composed of three 

 American cars, each fourteen metres in length, and 

 two platform or open cars. They will run every five 

 minutes for seventeen hours each day, and will have 

 branches connecting with the several railway-stations. 



— A new volume of memoirs of the Siberian section 

 of the Russian geographical society contains a de- 

 scription of Lake Balkhash by Fischer, an account 

 of the Yassiugan tundras, a list of geographical posi- 

 tions determined by Lebedeff, and other documents 

 of importance. 



— Vesque's ' Traite de botanique ' (Paris, Bailliere), 

 which was written, as the author states, as supple- 

 mentary to lectures delivered at the Institut agrono- 

 mique, is prefaced by a brief review of the characters 

 of classificatory value in botany, but is in the main 

 a concise synopsis of the phenogamic orders of im- 

 portance. The scientific reputation of its author is a 

 sufficient guaranty of its accuracy ; and the informa- 

 tion it contains is rendered easily accessible by a 

 complete index to the illustrations and specific de- 

 scriptions, and to the principal products mentioned. 



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