October 9, 1885.] 



SCIENCJE, 



315 



Clarke has been almost constantly in active opera- 

 tion. INIi-. Hallock has spent some time at the 

 Watertown arsenal, utiHzing its great testing 

 macliine in certain important pressure experi- 

 ments. This work will be continued, and wiU in- 

 clude a repetition of some experiments already 

 made by others under less favorable conditions as 

 weU as a number of new researches. The survey 

 has recently pubHshed Bulletin No. 14, on ' the 

 physical characteristics of the iron-carburets, etc.,' 

 the joint work of Carl Barus and Vincent Strou- 

 hal. Tliis ti'eats especially of the electrical and 

 magnetic properties of steel and cast iron, and is 

 a reaUy valuable contribution to our knoAvledge of 

 these important metals. Much of the work was 

 done wliile Mr. Barus was in Eurojoe working in 

 conjunction with Strouhal ; some of it has been 

 previously pubHshed in certain European journals. 

 Many additions have been made, however, by Mr. 

 Barus since his connection with the survey, and 

 the whole now appears for the first time in En- 

 glish, in a volume of more than two hundred 

 pages. 



Professor EUey of the Department of agriculture 

 is now revising the final proof sheets of the ' Fourth 

 report of the U.S. entomological commission. ' This 

 report is on the cotton worm, being the final re- 

 port on the same, together with a chapter on the 

 boll worm. It will contain sixty-four plates and 

 about five hundred pages of text. Three thousand 

 copies have been ordered printed by congress. 

 The preparation of this report was virtually com- 

 pleted in. 1882. A part of the delay in its publica- 

 tion is due to a desire on the part of the entomolo- 

 gist to complete some special researches, and 

 especially to obtain a more exact knowledge of the 

 facts in reference to Aletia in Brazil, as bearing on 

 the hibernation and introduction of the species 

 within the States. To this end Dr. John C. Bran- 

 ner was sent to Brazil, remaining there about four 

 months and returning with a large amount of in- 

 teresting material, which has been utilized in the 

 report. Again, the work of the preparation of 

 this volume has necessarily been made secondary 

 to that of the entomologist in a general way, includ- 

 iug the issue of special bulletins and annual re- 

 ports. But no small portion of the delay is to be 

 attributed to the difficulties incident to the publi- 

 cation of such scientific reports by the govern- 

 ment. During the winter season when the authors 

 of scientific papers can naturally give more atten- 

 tion to their publication, the public printer finds it 

 necessary to devote the energies of his establish- 

 ment to the printing of miscellaneous congressional 

 and other public documents. In the summer the 

 naturalist is in the field, occupied with the prose- 

 cution of research, and has Uttle leisure for hter- 



ary or editorial labors. Yet it is a fact that the 

 report was formally submitted in March, 1884, the 

 bulk of it was in type and the iUustrations pre- 

 pared by the fall of that year. It is to be hoped 

 that no further delays will prevent its being placed 

 in the hands of the public at an early date. 



The entomological commission, consisting of Pro- 

 fessors Riley, Packard and Cyrus Thomas, has now 

 prepared four large volumes, three of which have 

 been published, one is about to be issued, and a 

 fifth is in preparation. The whole embodies the 

 results of the work of the commission, which has- 

 been in existence about five years. 



The naval observatory has just issued its annual 

 volume containing the ' Washington observations 

 for 1881.' Besides the usual astronomical and mete- 

 orological observations, it contains two appendices, 

 by Professor Hall, one on the satellites of Uranus, 

 and the other on the satellite of Neptune. It is 

 pleasant to reflect that these publications are of 

 permanent and lasting value. Their tardy appear- 

 ance would otherwise seriously interfere with their 

 usefulness. No systematic study of the new star in 

 Andromeda has been made at the observatory. It 

 has been examined from time to time by several 

 of the astronomers, and a few measurements of 

 position have been taken. The navy department 

 is engaged in the construction of a magnetic ob- 

 servatory in the grounds of the naval observatory. 

 It is understood to be under the charge of the 

 bureau of compasses. 



A seismological conference was held in the office of 

 the director of the geological survey about a year ago, 

 in which were representatives from the survey, the 

 signal service, the naval observatory, and a few 

 persons not in government employ, who have long 

 been interested in seismology. The proceedings 

 were noticed at length in this journal at the time. 

 The explosion of a vast amount of dynamite at 

 Flood Rock offered an opportunity for the study of 

 what might be called an artificial earthquake, and 

 it was determined to take advantage of it and 

 make such observations as were found to be pos- 

 sible. The uncertainty as to the exact time of the 

 explosion, and the difficulty of obtaining informa- 

 tion concerning it, prevented such complete prepa- 

 tion as would have been desirable and possible 

 under other circumstances. Cu'culars were sent, 

 however, to directors of astronomical observatories 

 in the neighborhood of New York City, requesting 

 co-operation, and by direction of the dii-ector of 

 the geological survey, the chief signal officer and 

 the secretary of the navy, Professors Clarke, Men- 

 denhall, and Paul, will go to New York, to util- 

 ize in the best possible manner the instrumental ap- 

 pliances at hand. Several seismoscopes are nearly 

 completed, and a seismograph well under way for 



