November 20, 1885.] 



SCIENCE, 



453 



WASHINGTON LETTER. 



The department of agriculture is showing a re- 

 newed interest in the sorghum and sugar industries 

 of the country. Professor Wiley, the chemist of 

 the department, has sailed for Europe, where he 

 will spend as much time as is necessary in the 

 investigation of the present condition of these in- 

 dustries in various countries, and a study of the 

 latest improvements in machinery and methods. 

 The results likely to arise out of Professor Wiley's 

 visit will doubtless be of considerable importance 

 as enabling the department to contribute to the 

 success of the experiments that are being made in 

 the United States. 



Much interest is just now exhibited in scientific 

 cu'cles in experimental seismology. The rooms of 

 the Philosophical society were crowded at its last 

 meeting, the principal topic being the discussion 

 of the observations made at the time of the Flood 

 Eock explosion. Although perplexing, and to 

 some extent inconsistent, the results promise to be 

 of considerable value. Captain Button, in whose 

 hands this subject is placed by the director of the 

 geological smwey, proposes to take advantage of 

 dynamite explosions, which are frequently occur- 

 ring in the excavation of a tunnel near the city, 

 to continue the investigation of the question of the 

 velocity of transmission of the disturbance, and it 

 is earnestly desired that he may be allowed all 

 needed facilities. 



It is reported that Baba. Gopal Vinayak Joshee, 

 a Brahman pundit, and fellow of the Theosophical 

 society of Bombay, is the guest of Dr. Elliott 

 Coues of this city. An enterprising reporter for 

 one of the city papers has interviewed both the 

 distinguished theosophist and his host, no less dis- 

 tinguished in that Hne, and, if they are correctly 

 reported, has been made the medium for the trans- 

 mission of information of the most vital impor- 

 tance to an expectant and anxious public. 



ALL the ' working processes ' of this wonderful 

 philosophy were concealed from the newspaper 

 man, however, and for two reasons, which, in his 

 calmer moments, he cannot but regard as some- 

 what personal. One was that ' ' this knowledge 

 in the hands of bad men would be a terrible 

 thing;" the other, that "a mind not yet culti- 

 vated to follow out this high train, of thought might 

 be driven insane by it." 



A good deal was said about ' astral visits ' and 

 that sort of thing, and experiments and results 

 were recounted, in comparison with which the 

 work of the Society for psychical research, with 

 its cards and its guessed numbers, appears abso- 

 lutely childish ; in fact, it must be relegated to the 

 stone age. 



Preparations are being made for the meeting of 

 the American pubhc health association, to be held 

 in this city early in next month (Dec. 8-11). A 

 strong local committee has been appointed, in- 

 cluding, among others, several leading physicians 

 of the army and navy. The meeting is likely to 

 bring together a large number of the leading sani- 

 tarians of the country. The association is but little 

 more than ten years old, but it is one of the most 

 active and influential in the world. Z. 



Washington, B.C., Nov. 16. 



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. 



The swindling geologist. 



Professor Salisbury's letter in Science for Nov. 6 

 gives the present location of a miscreant who has 

 been plundering cabinets and libraries throughout 

 the country for the last two or three years, and who 

 has been making decent people even more unhappy 

 by assuming their names than by stealing their books. 

 His present address is County Jail, Elkhorn, Wis. 

 Esto perpetua. This is the address ; but as to the 

 name, who knows ? For the last six months he has 

 dragged through the mire the honored name of Leo 

 Lesquereux, to the great annoyance of the venerable 

 owner. Before this he was Prof. F. A. Arendel of 

 the Pennsylvania survey. Other names under which 

 he has stolen and swindled are N. U. Taggart, 

 E. Douglass, E. D. Whitney, E. D. Strong, etc. 

 Three of these names have the initials E. D., in which 

 fact there may be some significance. 



The Milwaukee police record says of him that he 

 has but one hand, wearing a false hand on one arm. 

 This fact may help to identify him. He seems to 

 have a remarkable amount of geological knowledge, 

 and especially on fossil botany. Where did he get 

 this knowledge ? Who trained him ? Who was his 

 father ? Who was his mother ? Has he a sister ? Has 

 he a brother ? 



These are questions that many victims desire to 

 have answered, in whole or in part. E. O. 



Columbus, O., Nov. 9. 



Effigy mounds in Iowa. 



Near the village of North McGregor, Clayton 

 county, Iowa, on the south-western quarter of section 

 3, T. 95, R. 3 W., is situated probably the largest 

 group of ' effigy ' or imitative mounds west of the 

 Mississippi. These earthworks are built on a divid- 

 ing ridge, and are elevated about 500 feet above the 

 river. The surrounding country is broken and 

 rugged, the bluJBE on the east side along the Mississippi 

 River being perpendicular in many places. To the 

 north-west lies Yellow River, and on the south-west 

 Bloody Run, This remarkably fine group was sur- 

 veyed by me on the 25th and 26th of May, 1885 ; and 

 a few details, illustrated by a topographical plan, may 

 perhaps be acceptable to those readers of Science 

 who are interested in North American antiquities. 



These mounds number fifteen in all, consisting of 

 two long embankments, ten animals, and three birds, 

 and they occupy a terre-plein of just about 2,000 feet 

 in length. The first embankment is 190 feet long, 18 



