18 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VI., No. 126. 



ed form every important result attained in the 

 progress of the surve}^, including the illustra- 

 tive maps and sections. It is more pleasant 

 than properly characterizing this short-sighted 

 policy of the state, to call attention at this 

 late day to the fact that this reprint of the 

 annual reports is accompanied by a very satis- 

 factory geological map of the Virginias, col- 

 ored by Professor Rogers ; by a generalized 

 section from Chesapeake Bay to the Ohio 

 River ; and by ninety-six more local and de- 

 tailed sections, traversing nearly ever}^ part of 

 the two states, but especially the great vallej' 

 and the neighboring mountain ranges. The 

 sections are colored, and are exact reproduc- 

 tions of the originals drawn by the author. 

 They are indicated on the map by lines num- 

 bered to correspond with the plates. 



The arrangement of the book is chronologi- 

 cal ; and the annual reports are followed b}^ 

 several papers, published between 1840 and 

 1842, on the thermal springs of Virginia, illus- 

 trated by a plate of sections. 



The often quoted paper on the physical 

 structure of the Appalachian chain, by Profs. 

 William B. and Henry D. Rogers, with three 

 plates, dates from the same period, and must 

 be regarded not only as an admirable sum- 

 mary of the characteristics of the Appalachian 

 system, but also as an important chapter in 

 the history of geological theories. This is fol- 

 lowed by the evidence supporting Professor 

 Rogers's view that the coal-bearing rocks of 

 eastern Virginia are Jurassic, with a plate of 

 coal-plants ; and a discussion of the divisions 

 of the tertiary, with five plates of eocene and 

 miocene shells. 



The volume concludes with an account of 

 the infusorial deposit of Virginia, as exposed 

 in the Fort Monroe artesian well, five hundred 

 and fifty-eight feet below the surface. This 

 was published in 1882, and, in the language 

 of the editor, has a special interest, not only 

 as the last published investigation made by 

 Professor Roo-ers, but as being in the same 

 field in which he began his labors half a cen- 

 tury before. 



The volume is provided with a good general 

 index, and a full index of persons and places ; 

 and it is so conveniently compact, that the 

 magnitude of the work is not realized until 

 one attempts to read it. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The statue in marble erected to the memory of 

 Charles Darwin, executed by Mr. Boehm for the sub- 

 scribers to the Darwin memorial, has been placed in 



the great hall of the new building at South Kensing- 

 ton containing the natural-history collections of the 

 British museum. It is conspicuously placed at the 

 head of the first flight of the great staircase, "as 

 though," says the Times, "to welcome all coming 

 generations of students as they enter the door of the 

 building in which so many of the materials of their 

 work are gathered together. So far as was possible, 

 Mr. Boehm has rendered the very features and char- 

 acter of liis subject; and all Mr. Darwin's friends 

 agree, that a likeness more characteristic, whether 

 in face or attitude, could hardly have been produced, 

 even by a sculptor who had been intimately ac- 

 quainted with him in his lifetime. The head is full 

 of dignity: the great brow, the flowing beard, the 

 expression, full at once of intense thought and of 

 human feeling, have been caught and fixed in the 

 marble." We have given elsewhere the address of 

 Professor Huxley on the occasion. 



— Among recent appointments at Harvard col- 

 lege, we note that of Winfield Scott Chaplin as pro- 

 fessor of engineering; William Morris Davis, assistant 

 professor of physical geography for five years; and 

 Dr. Harold C. Ernst, demonstrator of bacteriology for 

 1885-86. The degree of LL.D. was conferred on 

 Alexander Agassiz the naturalist, and Benjamin 

 Apthorp Gould the astronomer. 



— We learn from Nature, that on the receipt of 

 communications concerning the proposed change 

 in the time for beginning the astronomical day, as 

 recommended by the recent International meridian 

 conference at Washington, the lords of the committee 

 of council on education requested the following com- 

 mittee to advise them as to what steps should be 

 taken in the matter : Prof. J. C. Adams, the astrono- 

 mer royal; Capt. Sir F. Evans, the hydrographer of 

 the navy; Gen. Strachey; Dr. Hind; and Col. Don- 

 nelly. In accordance with their recommendations, 

 copies of the report of the delegates to the confer- 

 ence at Washington, together with the resolutions 

 adopted by that body, have been sent to various 

 departments of the state, and to the following socie- 

 ties, etc. : Society of telegraphic engineers, Royal 

 astronomical society. Royal society. Submarine tele- 

 graph company. Eastern telegraph company, Eastern 

 and South- African telegraph company, Eastern ex- 

 tension, Australasia and China telegraph company, 

 and the Railway clearing-house. They have been in- 

 formed that these resolutions of the conference appear 

 to my lords of the committee of council to be such 

 as commend themselves for adoption; but, before 

 informing the American government to that effect, 

 their lordships would be glad to receive the opinion 

 of the various societies on the subject. 



— The last annual report of the Russian geo- 

 graphical society contains extracts from letters ad- 

 dressed by Prjevalski to the Grand Duke Alexander 

 Alexandrovitch, which contains some further inter- 

 esting details about his Hoang-ho journey. About 

 the end of May he reached, as known, the foot of 

 the Burkhan-budda Mountains, which enclose the 

 high Thibet plateau separating it from Tsaidam. 



