APRIL 4, 1884.] 
ton (Jamaica), where she arrived March 1. She 
left Kingston March 11, and arrived at Aspinwall, 
vid Savanilla, March 25. On her return from Aspin- 
wall she will proceed vid Cape San Antonio to Key 
West, expecting to arrive at the Washington navy- 
yard about the middle of May. The expedition has 
been a great success in all respects; numerous satis- 
factory series of soundings and temperatures having 
been taken, and large numbers of marine animals 
obtained. In the collections incidentally obtained 
during the stop of the steamer at-*Trinidad were two 
specimens of the guacharo-bird, Steatornis caripen- 
sis, which is such a rarity in museums, and two of 
the great fishing-bat. 
— The botanical collection of the late Charles F. 
Parker of the Philadelphia academy of sciences has 
been purchased for the Princeton herbarium. It is 
remarkably good as to the New Jersey flora. 
— The report of the U.S. solar-eclipse expedition 
has just been ordered to be printed by Congress. 
Among its contents are, meteorology of Caroline Is- 
land, by Mr. Winslow Upton; botany of Caroline 
Island, collections by Dr. W. S. Dixon, U.S.N., and 
identifications by Prof. W. Trelease; notes on the 
zoology of Caroline Island, by Dr. W. S. Dixon, 
U.S.N.; memorandum on the butterflies, ete., of 
Caroline Island, collections by Dr. J. Palisa, identi- 
fications by Messrs. Herman Strecker and Arthur 
G. Butler; chemical constituents of the sea-water of 
the lagoon of Caroline Island, determined by Messrs. 
Stillwell and Gladding; observations of twenty-three 
new double stars, by Prof. E. 8. Holden and Prof. C. 
S. Hastings; plans for work on the day of the eclipse, 
by Prof. E. S. Holden; reports on the eclipse; report 
in regard to the photographic observations of the 
eclipse, by Mr. H. A. Lawrance. 
— Twenty-three years ago Mr. W. Nelson was in 
the habit of collecting fresh-water shells in a small 
pond near the Black Hills, Leeds. At that time only 
four forms were to be found there, —Sphaerium la- 
custre, Pisidium pusillum, Planorbis nautileus, and 
Limnaea peregra. After thirteen years an additional 
species, Planorbis corneus, made its appearance. 
These were the only species found there until the 
spring of 1883, when, to the surprise of the collector, 
six species previously unknown there made their 
appearance successively. This remarkable increase, 
which is well attested, took place without any ap- 
parent change in external conditions at the locality 
mentioned. 
— After solving most of the knotty problems of 
molecular physics, the Rev. Dr. J. G. Macvicar de- 
parted this life, Feb. 12, from Moffat, Eng., aged 
eighty-three. He is reputed to have had some in- 
fluence with Smithson in persuading him to establish 
the Smithsonian institution, and seems to have been 
much respected among his parishioners. 
— An instance of the practical application of science 
to every-day life is well shown in the building of the 
capitol building of Dakota, at Bismarck, by the aid 
of electric light. This building, costing a quarter of 
a million of dollars, consists of three stories, base- 
‘SCIENCE. 
425 
ment, and sub-basement, measuring a hundred and 
fifty-five feet by ninety-two feet, and contains over 
four million bricks, with trimmings of Joliet stone, 
and has been erected in the midst of winter. The 
corner-stone was laid Sept. 5, 1885; and on the 10th 
of January, 1884, a few days more than four months 
later, a photograph shows the building to lack only 
the projection of one side and the upper part of the 
tower. This result was accomplished by the employ- 
ment of electric light, which half the time replaced the 
sun, enabling double gangs of men to work day and 
night. The frozen sand was thawed by a red-hot cyl- 
inder; and the mortar, made with boiling water and 
hot lime, had its moisture absorbed by the dry bricks 
before it had time to freeze. Although taller, the 
building is an almost exact duplicate of the new 
capitol of Minnesota. 
— The Journal of the Society of arts states that 
the coal-measures of New South Wales embrace an 
area of about 23,950 square miles. Theseams worked 
vary from three feet to twenty-five feet in thickness, 
are nearly horizontal, and are in some localities con- 
siderably above sea-level. There are at the present 
time forty-one collieries at work, employing in the 
agsregate, above and below ground, 4,125 miners 
and others. In addition to the foregoing, there are 
two mines at which very valuable seams of petroleum- 
oil, cannel-coal, or kerosene shale are being worked. 
The number of men employed at these mines above 
and below ground is two hundred and thirty-one. 
Since 1865, when the working of these seams com- 
menced, the output has been 241,284 tons, valued at 
£581,046. There are three principal coal-mining 
districts,— the Hunter River and Neweastle coal-field, 
situated to the north of Sydney; the Southern or Illa- 
warra coal-field; and the Western or Lithgow coal- 
field, upon the Great western railway line, about 
ninety-five miles west from the metropolis. Coal is 
also being worked near Berrima, between Illawarra 
and Lithgow; and some seams are known to occur 
in the country lying between Lithgow and the Hun- 
ter River. Sydney, therefore, occupies an almost 
central position with regard to the coal-mining dis- 
tricts; and beyond these, coal has been discovered in 
different parts of the colony. 
— Director Wild of St. Petersburg, as president of 
the International polar commission, has sent out 
invitations for the congress of arctic travellers in 
Vienna on April 22. The members of the expedi- 
tions sent out in August, 1882, by all the great states 
north of the equator, to make simultaneous observa- 
tions of meteorological and magnetic phenomena, are 
expected to attend. 
— Dr. George A. Groff has published a fifth revised 
edition of his ‘ Book of plant-descriptions, or Record 
of plant-analyses,’ through the Science and health 
publishing company. It consists principally of a 
number of blanks to be used in the analysis of flower- 
ing plants, and for this purpose may be useful to 
teachers of small classes who do not wish to goto the 
expense of having blanks printed. There is also a 
list of terms used in descriptive botany, not, however, 
