February 12, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



145 



Geissler thermometers, showed for a spherical bulb 

 an increase of 0.16. and for a cylindrical bulb an in- 

 crease of 0.27, of a degree Fahrenheit, for an addi- 

 tional atmosphere of pressure. Clearly, the amount 

 of increase will depend upon the nature of the glass 

 bulb, its thickness, size, and shape. 



Many observations on vapor- pressure, on boiling- 

 points under increased or diminished pressure, me- 

 teorological observations at unusually high stations 

 or in mines, are subject to this correction ; and, 

 as no general correction will be satisfactory, each 

 thermometer will have to be separately tested. 



We have written to the signal-service bureau for 

 information on this subject, and find that they 'have 

 the matter under consideration,' and are making ex- 

 periments. Besides, we have been referred to papers 

 by Loewy in Proceedings of the Eoyal society, 1869, 

 and by Marck, International bureau of weights and 

 measures. 



We write now to point out this source of error to 

 readers of Science who may not have noticed it, aud 

 to ask if any can refer us to further memoirs and 

 observations on the subject. F. P. Tenable. 



J. W. Gore. 



University of North Carolina, Jan. 23. 



Is the dodo an extinct bird ? 



Since the publication of an article of mine upon the 

 origin of birds, which appeared in the Century maga- 

 zine for January, 1886, there have come to me a 

 number of interesting letters questioning the fact 

 that the dodo is entirely extinct. From among them 

 I select one recently received from Dr. William Barr 

 of Bovina, Miss. My correspondent tells me that he 

 clipped not long ago, from an English newspaper, the 

 following item: "Mr. Manley Hopkins, consul-gen- 

 eral of Hawaii, writes to an English journal, ' By my 

 papers received from Hawaii, I observe that among 

 some birds brought by the schooner Fanny from 

 the Samoan group was a single specimen of that vara 

 avis in terra, the dodo. I am sure your readers will 

 be interested to hear that this bird, supposed to have 

 become extinct more than a century ago, stili lingers 

 in the little-explored Samoan Islands of the South 

 Pacific.'" 



A number of continental naturalists, who, no 

 doubt, have arrived at their opinions through the 

 rumors brought home by explorers, have predicted 

 that the dodo will some day be found to be one of the 

 forms of the existing avifauna of the island of Mada- 

 gascar. E. W. Shufeldt. 



Fort Wingate, N. Mex., Jan. 20. 



Evidences of glacial action on the shores of 

 Lake Superior. 



Evidences of glacial action are abundant about 

 Peninsula Harbor, on the north shore of Lake 

 Superior. The tops of the low islands, and of the 

 hills along the shore, are rounded in a striking 

 manner. Below the surface of the water well- 

 preserved grooves and scratches extend in a general 

 north-east and south-west direction. The crevices 

 in the granite rock which extend across the glacial 

 markings have their northerly sides nearly intact, 

 while the sides opposite are considerably worn. Where 

 the crevice extends in about the same direction as 

 the glacial mark, both of its sides are gouged out. 



On Verte Island, Nipigon Bay, Lake Superior, a 

 well-preserved beach of water-worn pebbles lies, as 

 near as could be determined by rough measurement, 

 two hundred and eighty feet above the present level 

 of the bay. A. A. Crozier. 



Grand Rapids, Mich., Jan. 26. 



Professor Newcomb's address before the Ameri- 

 can society for psychical research. 



In view of the utterances in the last two numbers of 

 Science, called forth by my address before the Ameri- 

 can society for psychical research, some comment by 

 me may not be inappropriate. 



Of the two criticisms upon my address, which are 

 put forth in the comments of Jan. 22, one seems to 

 me well founded. It is that directed against my 

 definition of thought-transferrence as something 

 which is supposed to take place without any physical 

 connection between the acting and the percipient 

 minds. Science correctly points out that the absence 

 of a physical medium of transfer is not implied in 

 the doctrine of transferrence. But, while con- 

 ceding this, I wish to point out that this error no 

 more affects my conclusions than a typographical 

 error would. The point to which my whole discourse 

 was actually directed was that of thought-trans- 

 ferrence through any hitherto unrecognized channel, 

 whether material or not. In other words, I inquired 

 whether the observed phenomena required the ad- 

 mission of any new law of nature in order to explain 

 them. 



Your other criticism is in these words : " He places 

 much emphasis, for instance, on the extreme rarity 

 of thought-transferrence in the ordinary course of 

 life, and implies, somewhat sarcastically, that it 

 ought to be much more frequent." 



I can find in my written paper no justification for 

 any such remark, and cannot even guess what pas- 

 sage it refers to. I did, indeed, point out the well- 

 known and obvious fact that very rare phenomena 

 become frequent when we learn how they are pro- 

 duced, or how they may be observed, and remarked, 

 that, were thought-transferrence real, we should 

 expect to learn how to produce it at pleasure as its 

 conditions became better known. The great fact 

 which I pointed out is this : after three years of pains- 

 taking labor by the English society, and one year of 

 our own, no one shows us how to produce or observe 

 thought-transferrence, nor indeed tells us any thing 

 about it that we did not know before. 



Professor James's remarks in Science of Feb. 5, 

 are directed mainly to certain reflections upon the 

 English society, for which I am not responsible to 

 any further extent than as having made the remark 

 which led to them. At the same time the question 

 seems to me not devoid of interest. The ground 

 which I take is, that the parts of the reproduced 

 figures made by blindfolded percipients fit together 

 in a way which could scarcely have been possible 

 unless the percipient either saw the drawing he was 

 making or had a knowledge of his work by some 

 agency unknown to science. Professor James is not 

 ready to coucede this, but apparently claims that the 

 muscular sense would have proved a sufficient guide, 

 and suggests that I try the experiment myself. I 

 beg leave to assure him that I did not venture on my 

 conclusions until I had tried it. I cannot make any 

 such drawings as those given on pp. 89 and 9-5 of the 

 Proceedings of the English society by the muscular 



