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SCIENCE. 



^t.*^' FEipAY, OCTOBER 16, 1885. 



COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 

 The interest excited in England by the ad- 

 dress of Sir Lyon Playfair before the British asso- 

 ciation is well shown in the comments of the Lon- 

 don press, which are summarized in an article in 

 Nature for September 24. The subject of state aid 

 to science has been before the Enghsh public for 

 many years, but has never attracted at any time 

 the same earnest and general attention that it has 

 since Sir Lyon Playfair's addi-ess. The comments 

 of the London Times upon the address probably 

 best show the condition of public opinion uiDon the 

 question in England. The Times acknowledges 

 the reproach that countries less wealthy than Eng- 

 land make efforts to encoiu-age science, by the side 

 of which the encouragement afforded in England 

 by the state sinks into insignificance ; but it urges 

 that, aside from state aid, there are the large an- 

 cient endowments for the benefit of education, 

 which, although they may still be largely misap- 

 phed, yet could be used for the encouragement of 

 science if vested interest and lack of inteUigent 

 initiative did not stand in the way. The Times 

 urges that, until these obstacles are removed by the 

 pressm*e of an active intelligent public opinion in 

 England, the state itself can hardly be expected to 

 do more than it does. 



Theee has lately gone the rounds of the 

 press a description of a meteorite which startled 

 south-western Pennsylvania on September 26. It 

 was reported that it finally struck the earth on the 

 farm of Mr. Buckston, Jefferson township, Washing- 

 ton CO. , near the West Virginia line. The stone was 

 said to have been broken into three pieces, which 

 became partly buried in the ground. The color 

 was described as gray with streaks of red running 

 over it, and the size of the meteorite was given as 

 from 30 to 50 feet in diameter. The last statement 

 was not, however, received by all as probable. We 

 wish to call attention to a letter in another column, 

 from Prof. S. P. Langley of the Allegheny observa- 

 tory, who sent one of his assistants to examine 

 into the truth of the reports. It seems that the 

 ' red streaked ' meteorite, 50 feet in diameter, is a 

 fiction of the news-gatherers. 



TIMING THE FLOOD ROCK EXPLOSION. 



However successful the explosion at Flood Rock 

 may have been as to its main feature in the re- 

 moval of an obstruction to navigation, it is to be 

 regretted that one of the minor features of con- 

 siderable scientific interest should have been seri- 

 ously interfered with by the blundering delay in 

 the time of firing the mine. At the request of the 

 U.S. geological survey, observers at a dozen or more 

 observatories within 200 miles of New York were 

 watching to note the time of arrival through the 

 ground of the tremors from the explosion, observing 

 in most cases with their meridian-instruments over 

 the mercury nadir-basin, much the most powerful 

 and sensitive apparatus for detecting tremors. 



Reports at hand up to time of writing indicate 

 that out of 17 stations (3 occupied by geological 

 survey parties and 14 co-operating with them) 5 

 hung on till the disturbance came and got more or 

 less satisfactory observations (at one of these the 

 rock was directly in sight, and the others so near 

 that the observers felt sure that it had not escaped 

 them); 4 observed and timed some shght disturb- 

 ances between ll'i 3"^ and 11^ 7™, and, attributing 

 them to the explosion, ceased watching for more, 

 and either missed it entirely or were taken by sur- 

 prise with chronographs stopped, etc.; 2 heard 

 nothing at all up to about 11^ 10™, and so ceased 

 observing, and missed it ; and 6 are yet to be heard 

 from. The observations of those who got any 

 records at all must be considered as due to persist- 

 ent pluck and good luck rather than the natural 

 and easy result of intelligent co-operation on the 

 part of the army-engineers. 



H. M. Paul. 



SCIENCE AND THE STATE. 

 Sir Lyon Playfair, in his recent addi-ess before 

 the British association in Aberdeen, said much 

 that was instructive and suggestive in respect to 

 the progress of science, and the conditions on 

 which it depends ; but there is one portion of his 

 address which is entitled to careful perusal, be- 

 cause the speaker is one of the few men in the 

 world who has had the ti*aming of a man of sci- 

 ence and of a statesman. His early career, as the 

 older readers of Science must be avvai*e, was that 

 of a chemist ; and of late he has been an active 



