wer 
210 
5°, equipment and employees. A second portion of 
the report relates to the physical characteristics of the 
roads, with statistics regarding the history of con- 
struction, grades, curves, roadway, and tracks. This 
is followed by an analysis of the funded debts of rail- 
road corporations, and by a statement regarding the 
amount and kind of fuel used. The report concludes 
with a condensed statement of the agreements exist- 
ing between different railroad companies, and be- 
tween these companies on the one hand, and express 
and sleeping car companies on the other. 
The report by Mr. T. C. Purdy, upon steam-navi- 
gation, opens with a history of that subject, in which 
the progress of development of the species, the high- 
est type of which is our ocean-going steamship, is 
briefly sketched. The tables show the number, ton- 
nage, value, capital invested, service, and traffic of 
our steam-craft. The report upon canals, by the 
same author, opens with a history of canal construc- 
tion in this country. Many persons at the present 
day will doubtless be surprised to learn the extent 
to which this class of internal improvements was 
pushed during the period between 1825 and 1840. 
The total length of canals constructed in this country 
was 4,468;'5 miles, costing $214,041,802. Of this, 
1,953; miles have been abandoned, and a large part 
of the remainder is not paying expenses. The sta- 
tistics connected with this report give financial state- 
ments, date of construction, dimensions of canals, 
and the number and dimensions of locks. 
The report upon telegraphs opens with a brief dis- 
cussion of the statistics. The tables contain a general 
financial exhibit, a statement of volume of business, 
number of employees, and description of lines. The 
report upon telephones is of a very similar character. 
In regard to this, it should be borne in mind that the 
telephone was in its infancy during the year to which 
the statistics refer, and that its use has increased 
enormously during the years which have elapsed 
since. Following this report is a paper upon the 
postal-telegraph service in foreign countries, which 
cannot fail to prove of great interest at this time, 
- When the question of a government telegraph is 
being actively agitated in this country. This report 
has been compiled by Mr. Robert B. Lines, mainly 
from information received from the heads of the de- 
partments of postal telegraph of foreign countries 
through our representatives. It details the history 
of the postal telegraph in each country where it ex- 
ists, sketches the methods of business management, 
and compares the administration by the government 
with that by private hands, both as to cheapness 
and efficiency. The following countries support 
telegraphs which, either wholly or in part, supplant 
private undertakings: Great Britain, Germany, 
France, Austro-Hungary, Russia, Switzerland, Bel- 
gium, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Por- 
tugal, Roumania, Turkey, Brazil, Japan, Canada, 
and New Zealand,—in short, nearly every civilized 
country. In most cases the telegraph has been the 
property of the state since its introduction, but in a 
_ few cases the property has been purchased from pri- 
vate owners. This was the case with Great Britain, 
SCIENCE. 
who. bought out the telegraph companies in 1870. 
The price paid for the property was based upon the 
net earnings in the year ending June 380, 1868, by 
capitalizing that amount at five per cent. The trans- 
fer from private to public hands has been found to 
be advantageous; as not only have the rates been 
largely reduced, but this department has been more 
than self-supporting, having earned in twelve years 
(from 1870 to 1881 inclusive) the sum of £1,996,996. 
This, however, need not be a matter of surprise; as 
the uniform rate for twenty words is one shilling 
(twenty-five cents), and threepence for each addi- 
tional five words or part of five words. As compared 
with the rtaes of private corporations in this country, 
these rates are but little lower for equal distances, 
while, if we consider the greater density of popula- 
tion and the vastly greater volume of business done 
in England, it would seem that these rates are rela- 
tively quite as high. In most of the continental 
countries rates are less; and, in all cases where the 
statistics are given, the expenses of the department 
have been greater than the receipts. 
The volume has a very full general index. 
— Wedenskii states (Centralbl. med. wiss., 1883, 
465) that he has been able to demonstrate the pres- 
ence of the negative variation of the natural nerve 
current in a stimulated nerve by means of the tele- 
phone in a way similar to that described by Bern- 
stein and Schonlein for the muscle. The quality of 
the ‘nerve-tone’ obtained does not differ from that of 
the telephonic muscle-tone. When, by tying a string 
around it, the physiological continuity of the nerve 
was destroyed, the peculiar nerve-tone caused by in- 
terruptions of the negative variation current disap- 
peared, while that caused by unipolar action, and of 
a purely physical origin, could still be heard. The 
latter tone, however, could be distinguished from the 
true physiological nerve-tone both by means of its 
peculiar quality and by the fact that it required a 
greater strength of stimulus for its production than 
the former. Chemical and mechanical stimulation 
were also tried, and in each case a definite noise was 
heard. When the nerve was stimulated by means of 
a constant current, a peculiar noise was heard, in ac- 
cordance with the law of contraction, either at the 
opening or the closing of the current. ; 
— E. and F. N. Spon announce A pocket-book of 
electrical tables, for the use of electricians and engi- 
neers, by John Munro and A. Jamieson; Absolute 
electrical and magnetic measurements, reprinted from 
Nature, by A. Gray; Handbook of sanitary informa- 
tion for householders, by Roger S. Tracy. 
— The deaths are announced of Mr. Hugh Powell, — 
the first English optician to construct objectives on the — 
water-immersion principle, and one of the founders ~ 
of the Royal microscopical society, of whom only five 
now remain; and of the venerable Professor Sven 
Nilsson of Lund, known for his zodlogical work and ~ 
his investigations on the prehistoric inhabitants of 
Scandinavia. 
[Vou. IIL, No. 54. 
