SCIENCE 



[Vol. YI., No. 126. 



single spot in Boston is said to be continuous 

 for more than fifty 3'ears. 



While Mr. Paine' s bequest is at present 

 chiefly noteworth}' as enabling one important 

 institution, temporarily embarrassed, to proceed 

 with its work, and is thus most timeh', it is 

 also worthy of remark that it ranks high among 

 specific bequests by scientific men themselves. 

 That they rarely make large bequests, we 

 presume to be no fault of their own, as but 

 few of them ever come into the possession of 

 great wealth, and fewer still are able to ac- 

 cumulate much more than enough to provide 

 respectable support for their families. That 

 Mr. Paine has done much more than this, is 

 evident from the magnitude of his bequest ; 

 and it is gratifying to see so deserving an in- 

 stitution as the observatory of Harvard college 

 come into the possession of an endowment 

 copious enough to insure not onl}' the con- 

 tinuance of its remarkable activity during 

 recent 3ears, but a considerable growth into 

 new lines of research. 



The fiat has gone forth that in several 

 of our cities the various telegraph, telephone, 

 and electric-light wires must go underground 

 within a ver}^ few months, and in New York a 

 commission is shortl^^ to be appointed to see 

 that the legislative enactments are carried out. 

 There are probably few competent persons, who 

 have carefully and dispassionately considered 

 the subject, who are not satisfied that an 

 attempt to hurry this matter, and subject the 

 wires to a premature burial, is, to sa}" the least, 

 extremel}' unwise. That it is scientifically 

 practicable to w^ork telegraph and telephone 

 wires for short lengths underground, is unques- 

 tionable ; but few persons who have not inves- 

 tigated the subject realize the great practical 

 difficulties involved, and the ver}' large expense 

 required to insure satisfactor}^ results. With 

 the high-tension currents used in arc-lighting, 

 additional difficulties are encountered that have 

 not 3'et been satisfactorily surmounted. That 

 the rapid increase of overhead wires is produc- 



tive of much annoyance and danger, is evident 

 to all ; and even those most averse to legislation 

 feel that most of the wires must eventually be 

 placed underground. But in this, as in all mat- 

 ters which are still in an experimental stage, 

 the only safe maxim is to hasten very slowly. 



A RECENT PUBLICATION of the Socict}^ foT the 

 promotion of agricultural science — the second 

 made by the society — contains the papers 

 read at the Minneapolis meeting in 1883, and 

 the Philadelphia meeting in 1884, together 

 with a lecture by Dr. J. H. Gilbert on agri- 

 cultural investigations, and lists of members 

 of the societ}^ and of American experiment- 

 stations. Thirteen papers were presented, — 

 seven in 1883, and six in 1884. Some of 

 these are of scientific interest, while it is dif- 

 ficult to see how others serve to advance agri- 

 cultural science. The object of the societ}^ is 

 a most praiseworth}' one ; but we doubt whether 

 at present enough reallj' scientific work is done 

 in this countr}^ in the field of agriculture to 

 render such a society necessaiy as a means of 

 publication, however useful it may be as a 

 means of bringing together for consultation 

 and discussion those interested in agricultural 

 science. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



%* Correspondents are requested to he as brief as possible. The 

 writer's name is in all cases required as proof of good faith. 



Velocity and sediment. 



Mr. B. M. Harrod, in his note in Science of June 

 13, says that obser\^atioiis do not confirm the sugges- 

 tions of Mr. Login as to an intimate relation between 

 velocity and sediment. While stating negations, he 

 might well have added, Neither does observation sup- 

 port the speculative dogmas laid down as fundamental 

 truths by the Mississippi-Kiver commission in its re- 

 ports; for the Login notion pervades those reports, it 

 having been adopted by Capt. Eads, and Capt. Eads's 

 views having been adopted by tlie commission. 



Mr. Harrod now amplifies a statement of Capt. 

 Brown that the controlling influence of the Missouri 

 over silt movement in the Mississippi is felt at the 

 passes thirteen hundred miles below. As an inter- 

 pretation of observations, the statement and its am- 

 plification are questionable. 



Proceeding in his effort to throw the Login-Eads 

 notion overboard, Mr. Harrod cites facts concerning 

 erosion below Cairo to show that the more heavily 

 silt-laden water on the west side of the river is .also 

 more active as an agent of erosion than the clearer 

 water on the east side. Would not a muddy subject 

 be clearer, if the idea of erosion as the cause of 



