52 



SCIEXCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 154 



ready for public presentation. The president of the 

 National academy has spent a part of the vacation 

 time in the city, largely on business connected 

 with the affairs of the academy. The visit is 

 timely, as it doubtless has enabled Professor Marsh, 

 on various occasions, to express his views, and to 

 some extent the views of the academy, on several 

 questions of primary interest and importance to 

 science and scientific men, which are just now 

 coming before the national legislature. 



Of these, one of the earliest to be brought for- 

 ward is the proposition to establish a national 

 university in accordance with the provisions of a 

 bill introduced by Mr. Ingalls in the senate at its 

 first session after the holidays. The idea of such 

 an establishment is as old as the government itself, 

 and it is said to have been recommended by every 

 president from George "Washington down, with 

 the possible exception of Lincoln, whose time was 

 so occupied with matters of greater moment and 

 more immediate importance as to preclude its con- 

 sideration. The bill was ordered printed and to 

 he on the table. It is said that senator Ingalls in- 

 tends to make an argument in its favor in the near 

 future. The measure will unquestionably have 

 warm friends and strong opponents. 



A leading member of the senate recently re- 

 marked that experience had convinced him that 

 an appropriation of fifteen hundred dollars was 

 sufficient to start a national university, and cited 

 in proof that some of the scientific branches of 

 the government now expending nearly a million 

 dollars annually, were inaugurated with appropria- 

 tions of one or two thousand dollars. 



The subject of an international copyright law 

 is likely to receive attention from congress at an 

 early date. It was before the senate judiciary 

 committee in the last congress, but in the early 

 part of the present session it was referred to the 

 committee on patents. It is said to be the inten- 

 tion of this committee to give the subject a 

 thorough consideration, and that prominent ex- 

 ponents of both sides have been invited to express 

 their views and arguments. The list includes 

 many prominent American authors. 



An experiment in the direction of securing com- 

 munication between vessels at sea by means of 

 electricity will be made at some time during the 

 present week in the Chesapeake Bay. A board 

 of naval officers, consisting of Commander Iloff 

 and Lieutenants Reeder and Meigs, has been de- 

 tailed to witness the trial. They will be accom- 

 panied by Prof. A. Graham Bell, who has long 

 been interested in the subject, and who has him- 

 self experimented upon it. 



The improvement of signalling by methods 

 other than electric has for some time been under 



consideration, both in the army and the navy. A 

 committee has been selected, consisting of General 

 Hazen of the army, and Commander Hoff and 

 Lieutenant Reeder of the navy, to report upon a 

 more desirable code of signals for the service of 

 the United States. It has been agreed to instruct 

 a certain number of men in each of the codes 

 used by the different governments of the world, 

 and by a sort of competitive examination to deter- 

 mine which is the best. Improvements are also 

 being made in heliographic signalling. Experi- 

 ments at long range with various forms of 

 apparatus are about to be undertaken under the 

 direction of Lieutenant Purssell, in charge of the 

 division of military signalling of the signal corps. 



Although this system of signalling has come 

 into almost universal use, there does not seem to 

 have been any very decided advance in methods 

 since the successful experiments of Moses G. Far- 

 mer in 1861. The signals are made by long and 

 short exposures of light, to which system the dot 

 and dash alphabet of Morse is easily applicable. 

 At long distances, however, and under unfavora- 

 ble atmospheric conditions, it becomes difficult to 

 distinguish the long from the short, and a limit 

 to the rapidity of transmission is soon reached. 

 Lieutenant Finley of the signal corps has recently 

 constructed a heliograph in which two mirrors, 

 or two sources of light, are used, separated far 

 enough to be readily distinguished by the reader 

 of the message. The display of one of these only, 

 means a dot, while the exposure of both at the 

 same instant means a dash. This method prom- 

 ises to increase both the certainty and rapidity 

 with which the message can be read ; but its great 

 advantage is that a vastly less amount of skill 

 and training will be required in its working, on 

 account of the nearly complete elimination of the 

 comparison of time intervals. 



In spite of the many attractions which Wash- 

 ington offers to the scientific worker, it now and 

 then happens that the resultant of all the forces 

 is in an opposite direction. There is more or less 

 that is disagreeable incident to all government 

 work, and unfortunately there is a more or less 

 uncertain tenure of office, so that occasionally a 

 college corporation carries off a man whose ser- 

 vices the government ought not to lose. A recent 

 example is that of Professor Gooch of the geologi- 

 cal survey, who will leave his post here to become 

 professor of chemistry in Yale college. 



One or two other attempts of a similar character 

 have been made within a few months ; but the 

 facilities for original research in certain direc- 

 tions, which are offered here, have prevented 

 their being successful. Z. 



Washington, D.C., Jan. 11. 



