98 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 156 



explode bombs in honor of the spirit. Here and 

 there are curious vertical-sided buttes of lime- 

 stone, generally too steep for ascent, — the rem- 

 nants of a sedimentary deposit which seems to 

 have once covered large areas. At the base of 

 one of these are usually found grottos, affording 

 interesting crystalline formations and pleistocene 

 fossils. The country is largely covered with 

 dense forests, patches of jungle, marshes, and a 

 few natural clearings. The forests are nearly 

 devoid of life : few flowers, and those nearly 

 colorless, are found. Birds and mammals are 

 absent, and are to be found only in the clearings, 

 where are immense troops of wild boars, large 

 pythons, deer, and the carnivores which prey upon 

 them. The chief pest is the leech, of which two 

 kinds are found. One inhabits wet places ; the 

 other, the shrubbery. The latter seem to have 

 acute perceptions. At the least sound they are 

 on the qui vive, and raise themselves on the 

 branches, waving their bodies about, ready for 

 attack. They are an inch to an inch and a half 

 in length, and very slender, making their way 

 through loosely woven fabrics or under the cloth- 

 ing with ease. The bite continues to bleed, and 

 often forms angry sores which are long in healing. 

 Travel is generally performed on elephants, if by 

 land. Mr. Errington testifies with astonishment 

 to the intellectual capacity of these animals, and 

 declares that all the stories he has heard in regard 

 to their intelligence fall below the reality. The 

 last few years have witnessed a wonderful advance 

 in the product of tin from this region. Under the 

 enlightened protectorate of Great Britain, and the 

 enactment of more favorable laws, the product 

 has risen from two thousand tons in 1876, to over 

 seven thousand tons of bar tin per annum in 1883. 

 Large and well-built towns have arisen ; and the 

 future of the country is bright, and only needs the 

 introduction of sufficient labor and suitable agri- 

 cultural methods to be put on a permanently 

 prosperous basis. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The reports of the annual conference of 

 librarians, which was held last summer at Lake 

 George, extend through one hundred and seventy 

 pages, a double number, of the Library journal. 

 Amid a great deal of matter which relates simply 

 to ted i if-al administration, and is therefore of in- 

 terest to librarians only, there are several papers 

 which will be useful to all those readers who have 

 occasion to consult a public collection of books. 

 Among the latter may be mentioned an account of 

 the printing of the British museum catalogue, which 

 is furnished by Mr. Richard Garnett of the museum. 



Seventy-eight volumes, representing two hundred 

 and ninety -five manuscript volumes of the mu- 

 seum, are printed already, fifty-eight of which 

 are the letters A and B : twenty are from Virgil 

 to Z. Extra copies of certain articles have been 

 issued for separate sale; e.g., 'Aesop,' 'Aeschy- 

 lus,' ' America,' ' Aristotle,' ' Bacon,' ' Horace,' 

 ' Byron,' ' Swedenborg.' The great articles 

 'Academies ' and ' Periodical literature ' are nearly 

 completed. ' Bible ' is commenced, and it is hoped 

 that ' Shakspeare,' 'Homer,' 'Liturgies,' and 

 ' Dante ' will follow at an early date. The cata- 

 logue, if completed, will be the largest catalogue 

 in the world. Another noteworthy article, of a 

 very different character, is that of F. B. Perkins 

 of San Francisco, on the ' Free public library, its 

 purposes and its abuses.' R. R. Bowker and T. H. 

 McKee discuss the U. S. government publications 

 and their distribution, — two instructive papers ; 

 E.M. Barton of Worcester advocates the distribution 

 of duplicates ; and W. F. Poole gives some excel- 

 lent hints with respect to small library buildings. 

 There are also several annual reports on catalogu- 

 ing, college libraries, reading for the young, etc. 

 There are no public officers in the country more 

 co-operative and obliging than the librarians. 

 Their desire to promote in every way the use of 

 the collections intrusted to their charge is most 

 commendable. They are rarely paid adequately, 

 and are often overworked ; but it is upon their 

 skill, their enthusiasm, their learning, and their 

 courtesy, that investigators, teachers, scholars, 

 and writers of every class depend. The rapid in- 

 crease of composition in this country is due to 

 them in no small degree, and we predict that in 

 the next five and twenty years there will be a 

 corresponding growth in erudition. 



— Prof. C. S. Sargent has republished in pamphlet 

 form his excellent sketch of the career and work 

 of Dr. Asa Gray, which was printed in the New 

 York Sun on the seventy- fifth anniversary of his 

 birth. It is the fullest and best account of his 

 work which has been published, and full of inter- 

 est for every one. 



— Dr. Edward Laurens Mark has been appointed 

 Hersey professor of anatomy in Harvard college. 

 The place has been vacant since the death of Dr. 

 Jeffries Wyman. 



— A Winnipeg despatch to the Chicago Tribune, 

 dated 17th instant, says : The explorations on the 

 line of the proposed Hudson Bay railway from 

 the north-east end of Lake Winnipeg to Hudson 

 Bay, along the course of the Nelson River, have 

 been completed; and Major Jarvis, with his party, 

 reached Selkirk Saturday evening. The party 



