236 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 1G2 



little over ten dollars. By request of the com- 

 mission, the U. S. coast survey has also aided the 

 work by extending its triangulation over about 

 nine hundred square miles during the past season, 

 at a cost of a little less than two dollars a square 

 mile, about a fourth of which has been borne by 

 the state. 



A year ago the state appropriated nine thousand 

 dollars to enable the commissioners to take ad- 

 vantage of the progress of the present survey to 

 determine by triangulation the boundary-lines of 

 all the towns of the commonwealth. A com- 

 mencement of the work was made the past sea- 

 son, only to discover that the estimate of the 

 expense, based on the irregularities shown in 

 the boundary outlines as given in the old state 

 map, — the only possible basis for a calculation, — 

 was far too little ; probably at least double the 

 original estimate will be required. As less than 

 twenty-five hundred dollars have been expended, 

 the abandonment of the scheme would be no 

 severe financial loss ; but the commissioners right- 

 ly urge its continuance under a doubled appro- 

 priation, as, when completed, it will form the 

 best basis for a cadastral or property survey yet 

 provided by any state in the country. This is 

 only one of a number of ways in which our 

 legislators are beginning to learn what it costs 

 not to have a good state map, and there can be 

 little doubt that they will be witty enough to 

 carry the intended boundaries survey to com- 

 pletion. 



Among the numerous partly executed plans for 

 the improvement of Boston, its schemes of public 

 parks hold a prominent place. The recent death 

 of Hon. Elizur Wright has called attention anew 

 to his proposal to establish a forest-preserve with- 

 in easy reach of Boston, in the wild and little- 

 inhabited region known as the Middlesex Fells, — 

 a region belonging to some half-dozen munici- 

 palities, and situated on the Charlestown or 

 northern side of Boston, not half a dozen miles 

 from the city. On the opposite side, progress is 

 making in the Arnold arboretum, which now 

 forms part of the Boston park system, where 

 definite plans, long maturing, are being put into 

 execution. It is proposed to form two distinct 

 collections of growing trees, — one for display ; 

 and one, less permanent, for investigation and 

 experiment. The plan of the former contem- 

 plates, among other things, that each hardy-tree 

 species of eastern America shall be represented by 

 nn individual planted so as to secure the maxi- 

 mum growth attainable here, and also by a group 

 of from six to twenty-five individuals selected 

 to show variations of character and habit, and 

 planted so as to secure expression in mass rather 



than perfect individual development. The rep- 

 resentation of no species will therefore depend 

 on the life of one tree, and the natural behavior 

 of our principal trees will also be illustrated. 



The Appalachian Mountain club celebrated its 

 decennial anniversary last Friday by a dinner at 

 the Parker House ; Prof. E. C. Pickering, whom 

 every one recognizes as the founder of the club, 

 presiding. As a first experiment of the kind, it 

 proved a great success. About one hundred and 

 twenty-five members were present, about equally 

 divided between ladies and gentlemen, and sat to 

 a late hour. After dinner, speeches were made 

 by Profs. W. H. Brewer of New Haven and C. A. 

 Young of Princeton, and by many of the home 

 members, with letters from those who could not 

 be present. The club may well be proud of what 

 it has accomplished, having succeeded in obtain- 

 ing a paying membership of considerably over 

 six hundred in these ten years, and in publishing- 

 more than three volumes of Appalachia, — a 

 journal which, with its two sides of mountain 

 exploration and geographical science, holds a 

 somewhat unique and enviable place in literature. 

 A new number is announced to appear imme- 

 diately. 



It is announced that the liberality and co- 

 operation of the Woman's education association 

 will enable the Boston society of natural history 

 to open its seaside laboratory at Annisquam to 

 students, during the coming summer, from June 

 15 to Aug. 15, 1886. Mr. B. H. Van Vleck, an 

 assistant in the laboratory of the society, will have 

 charge of the instruction. Y. 



Boston, March 8. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The danger of poisoning from arsenic in wall- 

 papers is a subject attracting considerable atten- 

 tion in Boston. At a public meeting the past 

 week, called for its consideration, a draught of a bill 

 was submitted, prohibiting the manufacture and 

 sale of such papers when they contain more than 

 one-fourteenth of a grain of arsenic to the square 

 yard. A number of cases of illness from this cause 

 were reported, as also the death of one child from 

 the wearing of stockings colored by arsenic. 



— A resolution has been introduced in the 

 senate, empowering the superintendent of the 

 Coast and geodetic survey to loan any instrument 

 or instruments named in a list to any college or 

 incorporated institution of learning in the United 

 States, to be retained by such college or institution 

 until the dissolution thereof, whereupon such in- 

 strument or instruments shall, if existing, be re- 

 turned to said survey. 



