384 



SCIEJS'GE, 



[Vol. YI., No. 143. 



connections of the corner or edge rods to the iron 

 columns are made at several points lower down, 

 by passing one-haK and three-quarter inch copper 

 rods through holes drilled in the stone- work of the 

 pyramid. At the bottom the earth connection is 

 made by four heavy copper rods, which project 

 several feet into a well of moist sand, at the bot- 

 tom of which water is always standing. 



Owmg to the unrivalled height of this monu- 

 ment, its protection from damage by lightning is 

 a matter of scientific as well as of practical inter- 

 est, and the efficiency of the plan now being 

 carried out will doubtless be questioned in some 

 quarters ; but it is a problem which time alone 

 can satisfactorily solve. Z. 



Washington, D.C., Oct. 26. 



BOSTON LETTER. 



Although the removal of Science to New York 

 is greatly regretted here, the many friends it has 

 made in the place of its birth continue to express 

 their great interest in its success, and their appre- 

 ciation of the efforts made toward its constant 

 improvement. Its weekly reception, too, on the 

 very day of its publication in New York, makes a 

 very favorable impression, since this was by no 

 means the case when printed here ; it lessens, to 

 some degree, the regret at losing it as one of the 

 scientific attractions of the community. 



The publication of the * Life of Agassiz ' is most 

 favorably commented on in our scientific circles. 

 It awakens anew the enthusiasm toward our great 

 naturalist which was always manifested in the 

 most lively manner whenever he made a public 

 appearance. We are all glad, moreover, to possess 

 a clearer and fuller account of his university fife, 

 when he was laying the foundation of his remark- 

 able career. The unity of his whole life, the 

 persistency of his mental and moral characteristics, 

 can here be traced as never before, while the 

 successful outcome of his early aspirations lend a 

 completeness to the picture, and are a source of 

 inspiration to any reader. 



No clearer case can be pointed out than his 

 connection with Harvard, of the utmost importance 

 to a university of securing men in its scientific 

 posts who are not merely excellent teachers, but 

 are also thorough and active investigators, impart- 

 ing to then pupils their own ardor in scientific 

 research. The band of students who flocked to 

 his standard is scattered all over the country, 

 most of them teachers in colleges, and everywhere 

 leaders in scientific work and thought. No other 

 such band of disciples in any science has ever 

 appeared in our country ; and his presence at Har- 

 vard raised the standard of its scientific department 



to a height of excellence and renown, as nothing 

 else could have done. 



It may not be known to all your readers that the 

 designer of the Puritan has made his mark already 

 in quite another field of science, being favorably 

 known for many years as an entomologist. His 

 memoirs on the anatomy of Lepidoptera and other 

 orders of insects, and his minute technical knowl- 

 edge of Diptera, easily won for him a place in our 

 Academy of sciences. His friends in the scientific 

 club here are very enthusiastic over his new 

 success, and propose to give him a dinner in rec- 

 ognition of their appreciation of it, at which it is 

 hoped that he will relate some of the points which 

 have made the Puritan the fastest known yacht in 

 the world. Yet they have some doubt whether he 

 will consent even to this private honor ; for, though 

 the most genial companion in the world, Mr. Bur- 

 gess is modest to a fault. 



The bequest of the late Robert Treat Paine was 

 mentioned in Science last July, when it was stated 

 that Harvard college observatory would receive 

 nearly three hundred thousand dollars, one half at 

 once, the other on the death of his widow. This was 

 particularly opportune, for the increased work of 

 the observatory in later years had been due to an 

 annual subscription raised by its friends for a 

 limited period, then recently past. Unfortunately, 

 it now transpires that the will is contested in the 

 coiu'ts by the heirs-at-law, who claim that he ' ' was 

 not of sound and disposing mind and memory." 

 Under the laws of Massachusetts, the costs of legal 

 action of this sort are chargeable to the estate, so 

 that there is danger that, even if the will is not 

 broken, the amount finally received by the obser- 

 vatory may be somewhat diminished, and, in any 

 event, delay must ensue ; so that the observatory 

 is now working on a sadly diminished income, for 

 which even the zeal and ingenuity of the inde- 

 fatigable director cannot wholly atone. Y. 



Boston, Oct. 24. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



*♦* Correspondents are requested to he as brief as possible. The 

 writer's name is in all cases required as proof of good faith. 



Cruise of the Arethusa. 



The yacht Arethusa, having on board an expedition 

 , to Newfoundland, previously noticed in Science, re- 

 ( turned September first to Annisquam, Mass., after a 

 j successful trip of three months. 



■ The scientific party consisted of Prof. Alpheus 

 > Hyatt, curator Boston society natural history ; Dr. E. 

 G. Gardiner and Mr. George Barton, instructors in the 

 Massachusetts institute of technology ; Dr. Howard 

 M. Buck, of Boston ; Sidney R. Bartlett and C. L. Bur- 

 lingham, students of the Institute of technology. 



The weather while going and returning was not 

 upon the whole favorable, but while on the coast of 

 Newfoundland and Labrador, from June 17 to about 



