* 



50 SCIEXCE. [ VoL - VIL > No - 154 



thousand five hundred square miles, nearly one- 

 third of the area of the state, hare been covered. 

 The cost of the field-work will very nearly cor- 

 respond with the original estimate of ten dollars 

 per square mile. Of the $15,000 appropriated 

 last year, the sum of $12,750, or about $5.14 per 

 square mile, has been expended. The United 

 States has also made an outlay, by the coast and 

 geodetic survey, in behalf of the commonwealth, 

 of nearly $1,800 in the triangulation of the valley 

 of the Connecticut River. This sum has been 

 supplemented by $470.47 out of the state appro- 

 priation, in the determination of the boundary- 

 lines of cities and towns, for which the triangu- 

 lation is the basis. The city and town boundary 

 survey has been commenced in the counties of 

 Suffolk, Norfolk, Plymouth, and Bristol ; and it is 

 expected that the work will be continued, and 

 extended into other counties, during the current 

 year, with all practicable despatch. I commend 

 to your favorable consideration the reasonable 

 requirements of the commission, in order that you 

 may provide the means to meet the necessary 

 outlay." 



— The long voyage of the derelict schooner 

 •Twenty-one friends.* as reported on the latest 

 • Pilot chart,' now extends from March 24, off 

 Hatteras, to Dec. 4, when it was entering the Bay 

 of Biscay, twenty-three observations having been 

 made on it during the drifting passage. 



— The American (Philadelphia) of Jan. 2 con- 

 tains a readable article of a page on * The New 

 Jersey shore,' describing briefly its mild climatic 

 features, which make it valuable as a winter 

 sanitarium as well as a summer resort. Some 

 account is given of the different types of beach 

 which make up the coast there, and of the 

 island near Cape May known as Five-mile beach. 

 Here a neglected herd of cattle ran wild several 

 years, and survived the winters, unprotected and 

 unfed, except in the coppice and holly groves : the 

 latter are remarkably fine on this island. The 

 bays of Barnegat and Little Egg harbor are de- 

 scribed as sunken meadows traversed by a net- 

 work of submerged channels, and enclosed from 

 the sea by long strips of sand beach and dunes. 



— The prizes awarded at the annual meeting of 

 the French academy, on the 21st of December, were 

 as follows. Geometry : for general studies on the 

 problems of excavation and embankment, divided 

 between Mr. Appell and Mr. Otto Ohnesorge ; to 

 Mr. Krnile Barbier the Francoeur prize. Mechanics : 

 th<' ^rand priz" of six thousand francs, for the 

 progress of eflicu'iiry in naval forces, was divided 

 among Messrs Helie and Hugoniot, for their 

 treatise on experimental ballistics ; Mr. Ph. Hatt, 



for his 1 Suggestions on marine phenomena ; ' Mr. 

 Lucy, for his geographical index ; and Mr. Doneaud 

 du Plan, for various works. Other prizes were 

 given to Mr. Henri Poincare, for his mathematical 

 works ; Mr. Amsler-Laffon, for his construction 

 of the instrument called the ' polar planimeter ; ' 

 Mr. Bienayme, for a work on the steam-engine : 

 Mr. Daymard, for researches on the calculation 

 and graphical representation of ships ; Mr. Felix 

 Lucas ; and to Mr. Jean-Daniel Colladon, the 

 Fourneyron prize, increased to the Value of three 

 thousand francs, for his ' Theoretical and practical 

 study of hydraulic accumulators, and their appli- 

 cations.' Astronomy : to Mr. Thollon, for his 

 chart of the solar spectrum ; and to Dr. Spoerer, 

 for his work on sun-spots. Physics : the Bordon 

 prize, for researches on the origin of atmospheric 

 electricity, to Mr. Edlund ; and the Lacaze prize 

 to Mr. Gernez, for various studies in chemical 

 physics. Statistics : the Monty on prize was divided 

 equally between Dr. P. de Pietra-Santa, for his 

 ' Contributions to the study of typhoid-fever in 

 Paris ; ' and Mr. O. Keller, for his statistics of 

 mineral industry, etc. Chemistry : to Mr. Prunier, 

 for his researches on the carburets of the American 

 petroleums, etc. ; and Messrs. R. D. Silva, G. Rous- 

 seau, and Prof. A. Ditte, for various researches. 

 Geology : to Mr. de Lapparent, 'for his memoir on 

 the country of Bray ; and Mr. Alfred Caraven- 

 Cachin, for his ' Geographical and geological sketch 

 of the department of the Tarn.' Botany : to 

 Messrs. Dubois, Heckel, and Schlagdenhauffen, 

 for various researches ; to Leclerc du Sablon, for 

 his researches on the hepaticae ; and to Mr. Pa- 

 touillard, for his work on fungi. Anatomy and 

 zoology : the grand prize to Dr. Joannes Chatin, 

 for his unpublished work entitled ' Researches on 

 the tactile organs of insects and crustaceans ; ' and 

 to Mr. Paul Girod, for his studies on the cephalo- 

 pods. Physiology : to Mr. Duclaux and Mr. Remy, 

 — the latter for his nerve studies. Medicine and 

 surgery : to Dr. L. H. Farabeuf , for a treatise on 

 manual operations ; Dr. Augustin Charpentier, for 

 memoirs on the function of the retina ; J. Reg- 

 nauld and E. Villejean, for researches on the 

 anaesthetic properties of formines, and their 

 chloric derivatives ; to Dr. E. Gavoy, for invention 

 of the instrument named ' cerebrotome ;' to Mr. P. 

 Redard, for his works on military transportation 

 of the sick, and medical thermometry ; to Dr. 

 Paul Topinard, for his anthropological works ; to 

 Dr. Mahe, for memoirs on the cholera ; to Drs. 

 L. Bouveret. Gabriel Pouchet, Emile Riviere, and 

 A. Villiers, for various cholera studies ; to Dr. 

 Ernest Desnos, for ' Studies of a particular cause 

 of urinary retention ; ' to Dr. Grasset, for a ' Prac- 

 tical treatise on the diseases of the nervous system.' 



