284 



SCIEXCE. 



[Vol. VII. , No. 164 



now published out of the total seventeen. The 

 unfinished sheets cover the inland area of the 

 state, along the lower Delaware. The arrange- 

 ment of the map sheets was illustrated in Science 

 (vii. No. 155). A map of the whole state, five 

 inches to a mile, will form an eighteenth sheet. 



— The fifth annual report of the U. S. geologi- 

 cal survey, just issued, contains a number of valu- 

 able works by well-known authors, and is richly 

 illustrated by excellent engravings. In addition 

 to the papers already noticed, there is one by Prof. 

 O. C. Marsh, on the gigantic mammals of the 

 order Dinocerata. — an abstract of his volume on 

 the same subject, already published, — and one 

 by R. D. Irving, entitled " Preliminary paper on 

 an investigation of the archaean formation of the 

 north-western states," which contains the results 

 of field and laboratory investigation of the prob- 

 lems of correlation, structure, and genesis. 



— Professor Koch of Berlin is issuing a Zeit- 

 schriftfur hygiene, for the publication of his own 

 researches, which have hitherto been made public 

 in the official documents of the imperial health 

 office, as well as for the publication of the results 

 of investigations undertaken under his direction 

 in the Hygienic institute lately established in con- 

 nection with the university. 



— After many denials, it is again authoritatively 

 announced that Professor Du Bois-Reymond is at 

 work on a history of natural science in the nine- 

 teenth century. 



— The strips of papyrus that w T ere taken from 

 an Egyptian excavation several years ago, and 

 placed in the Berlin museum, are said to contain 

 parts of the great work of Aristotle on adminis- 

 tration, and, in particular, passages from the most 

 valuable part of that work, — that treating of the 

 civil administration of Athens. 



— J. H. Darwin, son of the late Charles Dar- 

 win, is understood to have his fathers biography 

 nearly ready for publication. It is believed that 

 the book will contain much of interest concerning 

 the naturalist's domestic life, and his methods of 

 carrying on his investigations and researches. 



— At the last meeting of the Academy of politi- 

 cal science, Columbia college, Hon. John Jay 

 Knox, ex-comptroller of the treasury, read a valu- 

 able paper on ' Legal tender in the United States.' 

 It is not improbable that Mr. Knox's paper will be 

 published in an early number of the new Political 

 science quarterly. 



— The annual report of the Connecticut agri- 

 cultural experiment-station, for 1885, deals almost 

 wholly with analyses of feeding-stuffs and ferti- 

 lizers. The laws of Connecticut require analyses 



to be made of all commercial fertilizers annually. 

 The results of such, accomplished at this station 

 in past years, have been of real value to the farm- 

 ers and gardeners throughout the state. The 

 larger part of the matter upon food-stuffs is com- 

 piled, though evidently useful. The original por- 

 tion, however, is not inconsiderable. In these re- 

 ports one is impressed with the almost purely 

 chemical nature of the work accomplished ; and 

 the personnel of the station is composed wholly of 

 chemists. While there can be no question of the 

 great importance of agricultural chemistry, it 

 certainly seems that the work of an agricultural 

 experiment-station should not be so exclusively 

 limited. One must think that a botanist and 

 entomologist would be a desirable accession to 

 the already able staff. 



— Messrs. Romanoffski and Mushketoff have 

 published a geological map of Russian Turkestan 

 in six sheets, on a scale of 1 : 1,260,000. Besides 

 surface geology, this chart shows ' the area oc- 

 cupied by ancient and modern glaciers, the loca- 

 tion of mines, and the altitude of all important 

 points. 



— There have been received to date at this of- 

 fice the following subscriptions to the Heer memo- 

 rial : Prof. Jules Marcou, five dollars ; Prof. Asa 

 Gray, five dollars ; Mr. S. H. Scudder, five dollars. 



— The next annual session of the National 

 academy of sciences will be held in Washington, 

 at the national museum, commencing Tuesday, 

 April 20, at 11 a.m. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



*** Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. The 

 writer's name is in all cases required as proof of good faith. 



Certain questions relating to national endow- 

 ment of research in this country, and their 

 importance. 



We have before us for our consideration at the 

 present time, in this country, a number of questions 

 of the highest import to science, of which it may be 

 said that they are as yet in a formative stage. By 

 this is meant, that the United States, as now repre- 

 senting one of the distinct nations of the world, has 

 not yet expressed a national opinion upon them, after 

 the manner usually adopted by nations for express- 

 ing opinions which may he said to be national, and 

 which the nation stands willing to defend in opposi- 

 tion to the opinions of other peoples. Of the sev- 

 eral questions that I refer to, none can claim greater 

 weight than that one which takes into consideration 

 the extent to which our government should endow 

 scientific research. 



This is really a point in political economy of the 

 utmost importance, as it affects the national welfare, 

 and has much to do with the formation of the na- 

 tional character. To those who have watched the 

 growth, and approach towards a decision, of this 

 issue during the past twenty-five years, the fact 



