158 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. VI., No. 133. 



tary station on the Bahr-el-Jebel. The travellers 

 were engaged in exploring the Nyam-Nyam district, 

 between the tributaries of the Nile and the Upper 

 Kongo. Nothing had been heard of thetn for a long 

 time, and it was feared that the Mahdi had cut off 

 their retreat. 



— The exhibition of metal-work at Nurembei'g 

 was opened on the ]5lh of June. The Japanese ex- 

 hibits arrived late, in over fifty packing-cat^es. 



— A new exhibition was opened in Paris July 26: 

 it is called the Exhibition of industry, and presents 

 some analogy to the English inventions. It will re- 

 main open till the 23d of November, It is lo be held 

 at the Palais de l'indu><trie; and, naturally, electrical 

 matters will be of primary interest. The commis- 

 sioner-general of the undertaking is Mr. de Kedon; 

 and the committee includes some well-known names, 

 such as those of Lemonnier, Tarraut, jNIilde, Boistel, 

 de Meritens, Cance, etc. Electricians, in fact, form 

 a considerable majority. 



— Nature states that the third session of the Inter- 

 national geological congress, which was postponed 

 last year on account of the cholera on the continent, 

 is fixed to be held this year on Sept. 28, at Berlin, un- 

 der the honorary presidency of the veteran geologist 

 of Rhineland, Dr. H. von Dechen. The president of 

 the organizing committee is Professor Beyrich; and 

 the general secretary, M. Hauchecorne, 44, Invaliden- 

 strasse, Berlin. 



— The New- York Evening post publishes the follow- 

 ing: I just learn from a ncAvspaper that the com- 

 mission which investigated the Coast-survey reflected 

 upon me in their report as follows : " That for several 

 years, beginning in 1873, C. S. Peirce, assistant, has 

 been making experimental researches with pendu- 

 lums, without restriction or limitation as to times and 

 places; that since 1879, expenditures on account 

 of those experiments, aside from salaries of chiefs 

 and assistants, amount to about .'^31,000; that the 

 meagre value of those experiments to the bureau 

 have been substantially destroyed." I have imme- 

 diately addressed a letter to the secretary of the 

 treasury, of which the following is the substance : 1°. 

 My expenditures, aside from compensation of myself 

 and my assistants, during the period specified, have 

 not amounted to one-third of the sum named; and I 

 appeal to the secretary to ascertain this by the ad- 

 dition of the amounts of my original accounts now 

 on file in the department. 2°. All my operations 

 have been carried on under specific instructions, and 

 therefore have not been " without restriction or 

 limitation as to times and places." I ask to be in- 

 formed what operation does not appear to be covered 

 by instructions on file in the office, and promise to 

 show, in any instance, that it really is so covered. 

 3°. No records have been destroyed. 4°. I maintain 

 the value of determinations of gravity in general, and 

 the excellence of mine in particular. 5°. I tender my 

 resignation if the opinion expressed as to the meagre 

 value of my services is accepted by the department. 

 Until my letter is acted upon, it might perhaps be 



considered a breach of official etiquette for me to 

 make it public; but I wish you, as afriendand scien- 

 tific man, to know that I have a defence against the 

 accusations made. C. S. Peirce. 



Ann Arbor, Mich., Aug. 10. 



— The Bomoji zasshi is a journal recently estab- 

 lished in Japan, with the object of introducing the 

 use of the Roman alphabet to spell phonetically the 

 Japanese words. The journal is partially supported 

 by the government, and is the official organ of a 

 society of some forty-two hundred members, which 

 aims to do away with the Chinese characters in Jap- 

 anese literature. 



— A late report upon the Cambridge (Eng.) local 

 lectures, by Mr. Roberts, contains (says the London 

 Graphic) an interesting story of the pursuit of scien- 

 tific knowledge under difficulties. Two miners at 

 Backworth, in Northumberland, in order to attend 

 a course of lectures on chemistry at Cramlington, 

 five miles off, walked after their day's work to that 

 place and back in order to attend every lecture. 

 They made sufficient notes to enable them on each 

 occasion to retail what they had heard to a class 

 formed by them at Backworth, and actually repeated 

 the experiments, so far as rough apparatus and their 

 means would allow. The lecturer visited this little 

 class (there were only seven in all), and found upon 

 examining them that they had acquirea a sound 

 knowledge of the first steps in chemistry. This germ 

 has now blossomed into ' The Backworth students' 

 association,' consisting entirely of miners. It is not 

 often that such a splendid instance of self-help is 

 offered for our admiration, and, we may add, imita- 

 tion. 



— The death of the distinguished zoologist, Henri 

 Milne-Edwards, so long connected with the Paris 

 museum, is announced to have occurred on July 29 

 last. He was a Belgian by birth, and spoke English 

 fluently. His son Alphonse has been, in recent years, 

 almost as well known, his father's age (he was born 

 in 1800) preventing much literary activity. 



— We learn from Nature, that, on July 10, at about 

 noon, a wonderful mirage was seen on Lake Wettern, 

 in Sweden, by a number of people between the vil- 

 lages of Fogelsta and Vadstena. A small island in 

 the lake appeared as if covered with the most gor- 

 geous flora, and tall gigantic trees, forming great 

 groves, between which buildings having the appear- 

 ance of the most splendid palaces were seen. The 

 Sando, another little island, seemed to rise out of the 

 sea many times its actual height, its sandy shores 

 looking like lofty castellated walls. It had the exact 

 appearance of a mediaeval fortress enclosed by four 

 walls. Two other little islands, Aholmen and Rison, 

 appeared also as lofty towers above the water. The 

 mirage lasted for nearly half an hour, when it dis- 

 appeared somewhat rapidly. 



— Inspired, apparently, by the success of Marvin's 

 ' Russians at the gates of Herat,' Mr. Archibald Ross 

 Colquhoun — the author of 'Across Chryse,' and spe- 

 cial correspondent of the London T/me.s- in China — 

 has written a little book of fifty-eight pages on Bur- 



