260 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VI., No. 137. 



the whales began to pass the strait; and on the 19th 

 fifteen were struck by the Balaena and Alliance, of 

 which thirteen were saved. 



— The Hydrographic office has just issued a pam- 

 phlet (No. 77) entitled 'Practical hints in relation 

 to West-Indian hurricanes,' being a translation by 

 Lieut. Dyer- of certain conclusions given by Padre 

 Viiies of Havana, ' Apuntes relativos a los huracanes 

 de las Antillas.' It includes a concise description 

 of the weather preceding a hurricane, laying especial 

 weight on the rise of the barometer, and the conse- 

 quent anti-cyclonic winds outside of the cyclonic cir- 

 culation ; of the first appearance of the storm-clouds 

 and winds, and the means of determining the bear- 

 ing of the centre; of the tracks usually followed by 

 these cyclones, and of the best means of escaping 

 them. In speaking of the direction of the wind in 

 the storm, a little fuller statement would seem neces- 

 sary to avoid danger of being misunderstood. For 

 example, it is said (p. 8), "As a rule, the lower cur- 

 rents converge, forming with the bearing of the storm- 

 centre a variable angle, which is almost always 

 greater than a right angle." By the use of the word 

 ' converge,' the reader at once is led to consider the 

 direction in which the lower winds are blowing 

 spirally around the storm-centre; but, when looking 

 in this direction, the angle between the wind and the 

 storm-radius will be generally less than a right angle. 

 Again: the table on p. 9 states, 'If the nimbus 

 clouds and squalls move N., the centre will bear E.,' 

 etc. ; this surely ought to be ' move/?*om the N.' It is 

 well that the excellent work done by Viiies is thus in 

 part brought before our naval officers; for, although 

 it is some years since his conclusions were translated 

 in Ferrer s ' Meteorological researches for the use of 

 the coast pilot ' in the coast-survey reports, we fear 

 that some of our lieutenants have failed to read them. 



— Among recent deaths we note the following: 

 Professor Fleming Jenkin of the University of Edin- 

 burgh, June 12, in his fifty-third year; George Witz, 

 chemist, at Rouen, June 17, in his forty-ninth year; 

 Prof. A. W. Eklund, at Lund, Sweden, in his ninety- 

 first year; and Dr. T. Clausen of the Dorpat observa- 

 tory, May 25, in his eighty-fifth year. 



— Prof. John Le Conte of California prints in the 

 Overland monthly for August, 1885, an excellent 

 argument in favor of the employment of the metric 

 system. 



— The museum, formerly published at Philadelphia, 

 has been merged with the American antiquarian, pub- 

 lished at Clinton, Wis. The young mineralogist and 

 antiquarian has been suspended. 



— The title of Rieger and Tippel's pamphlet (Ex- 

 perimentelle untersuchungen fiber die willensthatig- 

 keit. Jena, Fischer, 1885. 48 p. 8°) is rather too 

 pretentious for its content. The activity of the will, 

 studied by the authors, is the holding out of the 

 hand, as steadily as possible, for two minutes. The 

 hand is found to waver slightly, and usually to sink 

 somewhat without the subject becoming aware of the 

 change. Dr. Rieger described his method of tracing 

 its motions in his former book on hypnotism. The 



patient holds a pin between his fingers. The pin's 

 shadow is cast on the drum of a chronograph, where 

 some one keeps a pencil-point upon its head whilst 

 the drum revolves. Nine plates give specimens of 

 the many curves thus obtained. Either phlegmatic 

 stolidity, or normal strength of will, makes them level 

 and regular. Hysteric mobility makes them irreg- 

 ular. Dementia may make the line sink very rap- 

 idly. In certain states of cerebral irritation with 

 tendency to contraction of the flexors, the line rises 

 instead of sinking. Tremor and hemiplegia give 

 vibrating curves. The administration of amylnitrite 

 acts differently in different persons. Usually, how- 

 ever, it makes the curve worse. This is especially 

 the case in delirium tremens. Many a mickle makes 

 a muckle; and, out of such small facts as these, 

 something worth knowing about voluntary activity 

 may some day be inferred. What Dr. Tippel has to 

 say of the influence of amylnitrite on the brain- 

 circulation, will be found worth reading by those 

 whom it concerns. 



— It is rare, indeed, that a scientific article pre- 

 pared nearly forty years before, and familiar by copious 

 extracts, merits publication in full as still the best 

 work in its own special field. Yet few will contest 

 that such is the case with Mr. Aubin's celebrated essay 

 on " La peinture didactique et I'ecriture figurative des 

 anciens Mexicains." All students of the subject are 

 familiar with the remarkable results which he reached ; 

 but the full evidence of his statements, his proofs, in 

 other words, that the Aztec hieroglyphic writing is, 

 in a measure, phonetic, has never been submitted. 

 In spite of the productive labors in the same field of 

 the late Senor Ramirez, we find, in several of the 

 most recent authoritative works on Mexico, the pho- 

 netic character of the ancient writing wholly denied. 

 Now, however, the French government has published 

 Mr. Aubin's essay complete, revised by the venerable 

 author himself, and edited by the competent conser- 

 vator of the museum of the Trocadero, Dr. Hamy. 

 Five beautifully executed chromo-lithographic repro- 

 ductions of Mexican codices accompany the essay, 

 and serve as undeniable testimony to the accuracy of 

 the author's rendering of the text, as they contain a 

 translation in Nahuatl of the figures. It cannot be 

 said that the publication develops the theory to any 

 further extent than did the original article in 1849; 

 but the evidence on which it rests is for the first time 

 submitted in a form satisfactory to students. The 

 publication is one of the issues of the " Mission 

 scientifique au Mexique et dans I'Amerique Cen- 

 trale." 



— Bulletin No. 1, new series, of the New- York 

 agricultural experiment station, contains an analysis 

 and valuation of 'Mason's high-grade potash fertil- 

 izer,' manufactured in Binghampton, N.Y., showing 

 it to be an unmitigated swindle; a ton of it being 

 worth, according to the station's liberal estimates, 

 about a dollar and a half, while the selling-price is 

 thirty dollars. The reprint of the manufacturer's 

 circular, which makes part of the bulletin, is one of 

 the best specimens of pseudo-science which it has 

 lately been our fortune to meet. 



