382 



SCIENCE, 



[Vol. VI., No. 143. 



guish between seconds of arc and of time. Although 

 an inexcusable blunder, yet it serves to emphasize 

 anew the intolerable nuisance of this double unit, 

 and makes us wish for the speedy coming of the 

 day when all kinds of circular measure shall have 

 a common convenient unit ; when every watch 

 and clock face, every graduated circle, and every 

 logarithm-table of the trigonometric functions, 

 shall be divided into decimals of the circumfer- 

 ence. 



Gould's Zone catalogue. — The Argentine gov- 

 ernment have presented the stereotype plates of 

 this valuable catalogue to the Astrononiische 

 gesellschaft, with authority to use them for a 

 new edition whenever it is needed. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The National academy of sciences will hold its 

 autumn session in the capitol at Albany, begin- 

 ning November 10, at eleven o'clock. The session 

 will probably continue three or four days. 



— The Lowell free courses in the Teachers' 

 school of science, under the ausp>ices of the Boston 

 society of natural history, will begin on Novem- 

 ber 7, with a series of lectures by Prof. A. Hyatt 

 on the structure and habits of typical animals. 



— Despatches from Paris, under date of Oct. 27, 

 announce that at the meeting of the Academy of 

 sciences, held that day, M. Pasteur furnished proof 

 of his theory that inoculation was easUy practi- 

 cable, and had been successful in preventing 

 hydrophobia. Dr. Vulpian gave additional proofs 

 confirming the deductions of M. Pasteur. 



— Mr. F. W. Putnam has been chosen Peabody 

 professor of American archaeology and ethnology 

 under the Peabody trust at Harvard university. 



— The October number of the Harvard univer- 

 sity bulletin contains continuations of the very 

 useful index to the maps in the London geo- 

 graphical society's pubUcations, and a further 

 instalment of the bibliography of the Kohl collec- 

 tion of early American maps. 



— Lippincotfs magazine for November con- 

 tains a well-written article on the Peabody mu- 

 seum of archaeology at Cambridge, by Ernest 

 Ingersoll. 



— Henshaw's hst of the Coleoptera of America 

 north of Mexico, just issued, includes 9,238 spe- 

 cies. Crotch's check-list, published in 1874, con- 

 tained 7,450 species. Previous to these came the 

 lists published by Le Conte, and in 1880 Austin 

 published a supplement to Crotch, bringing the 



number of nominal species up to 9,704, which, 

 recent studies have greatly reduced. 



— The Johns Hopkins university circular for 

 October is entirely devoted to the summer work 

 of the Chesapeake zoological laboratory at Beau- 

 fort, N. C, and contains interesting summaries of 

 investigations upon the embryology of a variety of 

 invertebrate marine animals, and on the physi- 

 ology of some of the lower vertebrates. An 

 interesting ' Note on inheritance,' by the director. 

 Dr. Brooks, is added, containing a rejoinder to 

 some criticisms that have appeared on the author's 

 work on ' Heredity,' together with a short letter 

 from Fritz Miiller, discussing the question of 

 heredity among the Brazilian species of Mehpona. 



LONDON LETTER, 



The prospects of the Marine biological associa- 

 tion are now beginning to shape themselves some- 

 what definitely. A suitable site for a laboratory 

 has been obtained at Plymouth, and the building 

 committee, which consists of the officers, together 

 with Mr. John Evans and Mr. Spence Bate, will 

 meet shortly to make a final decision upon the 

 plans which they will recommend to the council. 

 The subscription list has not received many addi- 

 tions of late ; but it is hoped that further con- 

 tributions may be obtained, when the public can 

 form a better idea of the nature of the building^ 

 and its uses than is the case at present. A grant 

 of money will probably be given by the treasury 

 toward the expenses of the station, provided that 

 it is brought into relation with the Scotch fisheries^ 

 board, the duties of the English fish inspectors 

 being limited to the salmon fishery only. 



A considerable amount of criticism has been ex- 

 cited in biological circles by the action of the 

 government in abolishing the professorship of 

 natural history at the Normal school of science, 

 South Kensington. The chair has hitherto been 

 filled by Professor Huxley, who has lately retired 

 in consequence of ill health ; and as the salary 

 attached to it is greater than that of any similar 

 post in England, it has always been regarded by 

 the younger school of zoologists as the highest 

 object of their ambition. Now, however, this will 

 be no longer possible. Enghsh zoological teachers 

 are left without an official head, and the flow of 

 promotion has received a sudden check. It had 

 been generally thought that the chair would be 

 given to Professor E. Ray Lankester, who is well 

 known not only as a distinguished investigator, 

 but also as a teacher of no ordinary power. His 

 claims, however, have been altogether passed over. 

 The professorship has been abolished, and a 



