140 



SCIEXCE. 



[Vol. VII. , No. 158 



Hubbe-Schleiden is the editor, and associated with 

 him are Alfred Russel Wallace, F.R.G.S., Prof. 

 W. F. Barrett of Trinity college. Dublin, and 

 Prof. Elliott Coues of Washington. 



— Those interested in psychical research may 

 be interested to know that the Proceedings of the 

 American society are on sale with Cupples, Up- 

 ham & Co., at thirty-live cents each. 



— An international copyright law has never been 

 defeated in either house of congress, nor has one 

 been discussed in either since Henry Clay, in 1837, 

 brought in the first bill of the kind. Now and 

 then there have been hearings before congressional 

 committees ; and a favorable report was made in 

 1868, which was never acted on, however ; and an 

 unfavorable report, based on the narrow view of 

 the constitutional power of congress, was later 

 made by Senator Morrill of Maine. In the last 

 congress the Dorsheimer bill for international 

 copyright, pure and simple, without any condi- 

 tions requiring the printing in this country of 

 copyrighted books, was favorably reported, but 

 congress adjourned without action. Before the 

 present congress, there are now two bills, — one 

 offered by Senator Hawley, similar to the Dors- 

 heimer bill ; and the other by Senator Chace, 

 which is intended to favor the manufacturing 

 interests. 



— Prof. E. D. Cope is now engaged upon a 

 ' Catalogue of the amphibians and reptiles of Cen- 

 tral America and Mexico,' which is shortly to be 

 issued. It will be the most important and com- 

 plete contribution ever published on the amphib- 

 ians of these two countries. 



— The commerce committees of both houses of 

 congress have decided to report favorably the bill 

 proposing to send a commission to Mexico and 

 South America to investigate the question of yel- 

 low-fever inoculation. Two of the members of the 

 commission will be selected from the government 

 service, and a third will be chosen from civil life. 



— The annual report of the National academy 

 of sciences for the past year was submitted to the 

 senate on Monday. Feb. 8. 



— The U. S. geological survey has at present 

 but two exploring parties in the field, owing to 

 the severity of the winter. One of these is in 

 western Georgia, engaged in studying the south- 

 ern extension of the archean formations, under 

 the charge of Professor Pumpelly : the other, under 

 the direction of Mr. Garlick, is making a topograph- 

 ical survey of the valley of the Gila, California. 

 Experience has shown that winter is the best time 

 to work in this field. 



— Readers of Science, old and new, may be in- 



terested in some brief statistics concerning the pa- 

 per, drawn from the editor's books. During the 

 nearly three years since its establishment, up to 

 January, 1886, payments of greater or less amounts 

 have been made for contributions to the columns of 

 the paper to four hundred and twenty -seven different 

 persons outside the editorial office. Of course, this 

 number would be materially increased if contribu- 

 tors who have not been paid were to be included in 

 the list. The number of persons who have repeated- 

 ly furnished contributions on direct request of the 

 editors is one hundred and forty-four. These 

 facts furnish distinct evidence of the place that 

 Science is taking in American literature, and of the 

 breadth of the field it cultivates. 



— The twenty-third bulletin of the U. S. geo- 

 logical survey, by Messrs. R. D. Irving and T. C. 

 Chamberlin, treats of the relation of the Kewee- 

 naw series and the Potsdam sandstones. Geolo- 

 gists have held very different views concerning 

 the relation of these beds, as the readers of Science 

 will remember, from the discussion in vol. i. The 

 writers give a clear exposition of their views, with 

 full descriptions and history of the subject, illus- 

 trated by a number of excellent engravings. Their 

 conclusions, briefly, are as follows. The Kewee- 

 naw series very greatly antedated, in its formation, 

 the Potsdam sandstone, and occupied a lapse cf 

 time immensely vaster, and was a period charac- 

 terized by some of the most remarkable displays 

 of igneous activity of which the world has been a 

 witness. They were succeeded by a long interval 

 of erosion, before the close of which a longitudinal 

 fault was developed along the face of the present 

 trappean terrane. Subsequently they were sub- 

 merged beneath the Potsdam seas, and the eastern 

 sandstone was laid down unconformably against 

 and upon the Keweenaw series. Later, after the 

 deposition and erosion of the Trenton, and possibly 

 other members of the Silurian, minor faulting 

 took place along the old break. Should these in- 

 genious conclusions be sustained, an important 

 change must be made in the stratigraphy of the 

 lower Silurian. In any event, the work is to be 

 commended for the clearness with which the facts 

 are presented and the conclusions drawn. 



— The last annual report on the vital statistics 

 of Selma, Ala., gives some interesting facts in 

 regard to the death-rate and disease among the 

 whites and blacks. The population of the city is 

 a little less than ten thousand, more than one-half 

 of which are negroes. The death-rate from all 

 causes for 1885 among the whites was 15.1 per 

 thousand, while among the blacks it was 28.65. 

 Malarial fever was three times, consumption four 

 times, meningitis and Bright's disease, twice, as 



