~ mentation. 
Marcu 7, 1884.] 
sional stragglers. The last mentioned has been ob- 
served on the Aleutian Islands. 
In a late number of the Deutsche geographische 
bldtter, Dr. Arthur Krause gives an interesting ac- 
count of the houses of the T’linkit Indians, their 
methods of building, tools used, and modes of orna- 
Iron was found at a very early date in 
the possession of the natives, but was without doubt 
procured by them from .the Russian and Hudson Bay 
traders by a long but rapidly executed series of trans- 
fers from one band or tribe to another. In one year 
measles penetrated from British Columbia to Fort 
Yukon and beyond, and trade would take little 
longer. 
‘ Dr. Arzruni has reported on the minerals of the 
expedition in a paper read before the Gesellschaft 
fir vaterlandische kulturin Breslau. The rocks from 
widely separated portions of the territory indicated 
analogous geological structure, being chiefly of the 
oldest crystalline formations,—rocks belonging to 
the granite series, crystalline schists, and late ter- 
-tiary voleanic ejections. Remarkable garnets were 
obtained from Fort Wrangell, and various gold ores 
from near Sitka. 
— The Natural science association of Portland, Ore., 
has secured new quarters, and hopes soon to establish 
yearly courses of lectures. The annual address was 
given Feb. 6, by Prof. L. F. Henderson. 
— Dr. D. G. Brinton, the well-known archeologist, 
has been elected professor of ethnology and arche- 
ology by the council of the Academy of natural 
sciences of Philadelphia, and is making arrangements 
for the delivery of a course of lectures on his spe- 
cialty in connection with the department of instruc- 
tion of the academy during the coming spring. 
— Four scientific conventions are to be held in 
Washington in May, —that of the American medical 
association, the American surgical association, the 
American climatological association, and the Ameri- 
ean fish cultural association. 
— The success of the borings for artesian wells at 
Denver, Col., seems to have encouraged the people of 
Montana to experiment in the same direction. <A bor- 
ing at Miles City, Montana Territory, on the Yellow- 
stone River, struck flowing water at a depth of three 
hundred and forty-one feet. An analysis of the water 
proves it to contain more than sixty grains of carbo- 
nate of soda tothe gallon. <A second well has reached 
the depth of three hundred and twenty-one feet, 
without a flow of water. At Billings, nearly a hun- 
dred and fifty miles farther up the Yellowstone, a 
boring has been carried to a depth of nine hundred 
feet without success, but will be carried still farther 
down. At Helena, also, a well is being sunk; but 
work has been postponed until spring. 
— Prof. W. Kitchen Parker gave the first of a course 
of nine lectures on mammalian descent, at the College 
of surgeons on Feb. 4. His remarks were of an in- 
troductory character, and were intended to aid the 
listener in comprehending the substance of the sub- 
sequent lectures. The subject of descent was viewed 
SCIENCE. 
297 
from an embryological and purely evolutional stand- 
point. The classification of the mammalia employed 
is that now generally in vogue among mammalogists, 
the class being divided into Prototheria, Metatheria, 
and Eutheria. It is to the consideration of the first 
and second of these sub-classes, and to the Ineduca- 
bilia among the Eutheria, that the majority of the 
lectures will be devoted. The lecturer expressed his 
belief in the former existence of a group of general- 
ized forms, such as Huxley has described under the 
name of Hypotheria. Professor Parker’s style is sim- 
ple and pleasing, and, in the introductory lecture, 
highly poetical. His sentences are replete with bib- 
lical allusions, some of which border on the comical. 
He described the Metatheria, for example, as looking 
from the summit of their Pisgah toward the prom- 
ised land of the Eutheria, into which they were never 
to enter. : 
— Mr. W. F. Denning was led to conclude, from 
certain markings discerned on the planet Mercury 
in the mornings of November, 1882, that ifs rotation- 
period is not accurately given in the text-books; the 
period of twenty-four hours derived from the obser- 
vations of Schroeter and Harding, about the begin- 
ning of the present century, being apparently about 
one hour too short. His suspicion is now confirmed 
by a communication from Signor Schiaparelli, who 
has been very successful during the last two years in 
observing definite markings on Mercury, and who 
pronounces the planet’s period of rotation, as usually 
given, ‘very far from the truth.’ His forthcoming 
memoir on Mercury is expected to give some very in- 
teresting details of the physical aspect of this planet. 
The necessarily unfavorable circumstances attending 
all observations of Mercury, make it not to be won- 
dered at that little or nothing is known of its surface- 
phenomena; but Mr. Denning regards it as obvious 
that the markings are of a fairly distinct character, 
and likely to prove afruitful subject for further inves- 
tigation. He remarks that the general aspect of the 
disk, as seen in November, 1882, reminded him for- 
cibly of Mars; and the definite nature of the spots 
may therefore be readily imagined. He thinks the 
dark spots and shadings may be regarded as fairly 
permanent, while the white spots are influenced by 
rapid variations. 
— The following, from Nature, will interest our 
readers : — 
On Tuesday afternoon [Feb. 5] at Oxford, convo- 
cation witnessed in the Sheldonian theatre the most 
exciting scene that has been enacted in the univer- 
sity since the opposition to Dean Stanley as select 
preacher. Last summer convocation passed by a 
small majority a vote of ten thousand pounds for a 
new physiological laboratory. The vote was opposed 
by the anti-vivisectionists, and by some on the ground 
of economy. A memorial got up by Mr. Nicholson 
against vivisection having produced no effect on the 
council, the opponents of Professor Burdon Sander- 
son determined to oppose the decree brought before 
convocation on Tuesday for empowering the sale 
of stocks for the ten thousand pounds voted last 
