November 27, 1885.] 



SCIENCE. 



477 



The terrors of the ravages of white ants in 

 tropical countries came vividly to mind a few 

 years ago, when Dr. Hagen of Cambridge an- 

 nounced material damage to old documents in our 

 State House to be the work of a native white ant. 

 Similar destruction liaving already been reported 

 in the archives of Springfield, 111., the matter 

 excited no httle concern. There was no question 

 of the damage done, though the state officials were 

 somewhat reheved at finding it mainly concerned 

 ancient tax papers of no other than historic inter- 

 est, and was confined only to a single apartment. 

 I mention it now only to state that it is to this 

 room that the papers of the Board of health, luna- 

 cy, and charity have just been consigned, and that 

 the recent discovery of two large timbers used in 

 the construction of an old house on Beacon Hill, 

 not far from the State House, so riddled by these 

 insects as to render them unfit for further use, 

 shows that the peril was not magnified by the 

 learned entomologist. 



One of the most successful efforts made here in 

 recent years for public instruction in science has 

 been carried on under the auspices of the Natural 

 history society, and latterly through the assistance 

 of a portion of the Lowell fund, which has so long 

 supported the Lowell institute courses of lectures. 

 It owes its origin mainly to the deep interest and 

 financial aid of IVIr. John Cummings, a vice- 

 president of the Natural history society, and its 

 steady .growth to the personal attention of Professor 

 Hyatt, the curator of the society. Tlie Teachers' 

 school of science, as it is called, inaugurated and 

 maintained under these auspices, has now an 

 assured existence, is thoroughly appreciated by 

 the pubhc-school teachers of the vicinity, and has 

 received the warmest praise from the highest 

 school authorities. It has just commenced its four- 

 teenth year with a course of ten lectures, or, more 

 properly speaking, object-lessons, on worms, in- 

 sects, and vertebrates, by Professor Hyatt, which 

 is to be followed by a mineralogical course given 

 by Professor Crosby. This year Professor Hyatt 

 has had prepared for his course, among other 

 things, two or three hundred dissected kittens, 

 the internal organs being preserved in place and 

 in form by a species of tanning, which renders 

 them as plastic as a kid glove, and permits their 

 free and cleanly handling. In this way, parts 

 which before could only be explained by diagrams, 

 can now be examined by each member of a class, 

 and their relations to aU the surrounding parts 

 seen and studied i)6rsonally (each one is even 

 allowed to retain a set of the objects used), — an 

 advance which will be thoroughly appreciated by 

 every promoter of object teaching. Admission to 

 these lessons is free to teachers holding tickets, 



which are distributed on apphcation to the public- 

 school authorities ; and the courses are so popular 

 that the society's haU has long been outgrown, and 

 the large Huntington haU of the neighboring 

 Institute of technology has been brought into 

 requisition. 



Last week, Wednesday, the veteran botanist, 

 Dr. Asa Gray, celebrated his seventy-fifth birth- 

 day. It was made memorable by the presentation 

 to the learned and genial professor — still as active 

 a worker as at forty — of an exquisite silver vase 

 of charming proportions, "in token of the universal 

 esteem of American botanists ; " the vase itself 

 being completely covered, above its fluted base, 

 with a floral design, in which, in repousse work, 

 are exquisitely dehneated choice flowers of the 

 Americn flora named for Dr. Gray, or in other 

 ways specially significant of his work, with others 

 which have been his favorites. The idea was 

 originated and carried out by the editors of the 

 Botanical gazette, and was a complete surprise to 

 Dr. Gray, who was profoundly moved by this 

 pleasing proof of the general affectionate regard 

 in which he is held by his collaborators. The 

 presentation was entirely informal, and was made 

 by Professor Barnes, one of the editors of the 

 Gazette, temporarily residing in Cambridge, who 

 placed it in Dr. Gray's hands, with the personal 

 cards of the 180 botanists who contributed to the 

 vase, many of them accompanied by a few words 

 of congratulation, placed on a silver salver having 

 the inscription : " Bearing the greetings of one 

 hundred and eighty botanists of North America, 

 to Asa Gray, on -.his seventy-fifth bnthday." 

 Among the many other remembrances he re- 

 ceived was the following pleasing quatrain sent 

 by Mr. James Russell Lowell : — 



" Just Fate, prolong his life, well spent, 

 Whose indefatigable hours 

 Have been as gayly innocent, 

 And fragrant as his flowers ! " 



The week has also witnessed another event of 

 personal and scientific interest. The dinner given 

 to the designer of the Puritan by the scientific 

 club of the city, to which reference was made in a 

 former letter, came off last Friday, Mr. Bm-gess 

 having consented to comply with the ^^'ishes of 

 his friends. Although the club is a small one, 

 numbering only about sixty members, who meet 

 once a month for a dinner, generally to the number 

 of from twelve to twenty, no less than forty gentle- 

 men, including a few guests, sat down to the table, 

 after which Mr. Burgess entered into a few inter- 

 esting details concerning the construction of the 

 Puritan. Y. 



Boston, Nov. 23. 



