May 7, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



423 



the limits of time within which the disease may 

 develop, and especially until we have from Pasteur 

 a satisfactory explanation of the failure in the 

 cases of the three wolf-bitten Russians who have 

 recently died of hydrophobia after having sub- 

 mitted to his treatment. 



In discussing the relation of bacteria to disease, 

 the lecturer stated, that, in response to a question 

 of his, Pasteur had told him, that, although care- 

 ful and persistent search had been made, no or- 

 ganism had been found in the hydrophobic virus, 

 and that no difference could be detected between 

 virulent and non-virulent spinal cords. An in- 

 vestigator in Geneva has recently claimed to have 

 discovered the germ of rabies, bat the claim lacks 

 confirmation. 



In contagious pleuropneumonia no germ has 

 yet been discovered which can be considered as 

 the specific micro-organism of the disease. Stern- 

 berg, Councilman, and Welch have lately been at 

 work at the problem, but have as yet been un- 

 successful. 



In the pus of acute abscesses micrococci are 

 invariably found. That the bacillus of anthrax, 

 "the spirochaeta of relapsing-fever, the bacillus of 

 tuberculosis, all stand in an etiological relation to 

 those diseases, there now seems to be no doubt. The 

 dispute between the Germans and the English, as 

 to the role played*' by the cholera bacillus in the 

 production of that disease, is still unsettled. The 

 bacillus of typhoid-fever, discovered by Ebert in 

 1880, is claimed by Koch to be the undoubted 

 germ of that disease. His assistant, Gaffky, in- 

 variably finds it in the spleen of those who have 

 died from the fever. Koch thinks that it forms 

 spores. When introduced into the circulation of 

 lower animals, it does not produce typhoid ; but 

 nothing can be argued from this, as we do not 

 know that this disease ever affects animals other 

 than man. 



ACCURATE MOUNTAIN HEIGHTS. 1 

 Of the various methods of determining the 

 height of a mountain, the best is undoubtedly 

 that of running a line of levels to its summit. 

 This method is accepted as the standard, and as 

 that by which the errors of the other methods are 

 to be judged. A surprising degree of accuracy 

 can be attained in levelling an ordinary country. 

 Many of the errors compensate, and the final 

 results should generally be accurate within a 

 small fraction of a foot. In ascending a moun- 

 tain, much greater deviations must be expected. 

 The back sights are usually longer than the fore 

 sights, and therefore errors in the adjustment of 

 1 Prom Appalackia, iv. 215. 



the level or in the correction for atmospheric re- 

 fraction are cumulative. The effect of the mass 

 of the mountain on the level would produce an 

 error which would not be compensated, and 

 might be large enough to be appreciable. Final- 

 ly, an error in the length of the levelling-rod 

 would enter to its full proportionate amount. 

 For these reasons much reliance should not be 

 placed upon the fractions of a foot, unless the 

 above sources of error have been considered and 

 proper corrections applied. The precise heights 

 as determined have, however, been given below. 

 The labor and cost prevent its general applica- 

 tion to the determination of mountain heights. 

 A few lines of level have been run up the hills 

 and mountains in this portion of the country [New 

 England], generally by the enterprise and enthu- 

 siasm of volunteers. A description of several of 

 these has been collected from various sources, 

 in most cases from the local newspapers. The 

 principal results are published below for perma- 

 nent reference. Doubtless many similar measure- 

 ments have been made, and it is hoped that they 

 may be communicated to the writer as material 

 for a second paper. As an example of the danger 

 that such material may be totally lost, it may be 

 mentioned that scarcely any of the results given 

 below are contained hi the excellent ' Dictionary 

 of altitudes of the United States,' recently pub- 

 lished by the U. S. geological survey. 



The following table contains a number for 

 reference, the name of the mountain or other 

 object measured, and its height above the mean 

 tide-level of the ocean. Additional information 

 regarding many of these points is contained in 

 the original article in Appalachian Nos. 1 to 10 

 are taken from ' The geology of New Hampshire,' 

 vol. i.; Nos. 11 to 17, from an article by Mr. J. J. 

 Holbrook, New Hampshire Sentinel, Nov. 22, 

 1877, where the altitudes of several other points 

 in Cheshire county, N.H., are also given. All 

 of these stations are in New Hampshire ; Nos. 18 

 to 43 are in Vermont, and Nos. 44 to 63 in New 

 York. 



Stations. Feet. 



1 . . Mount Washington 6,293.000 



2. .Upper water-tank, Mount Washington railroad. 5,800 000 



3.. Second tank (Jacob's Ladder) 5,468.000 



4..Waumbek Junction 3,910.000 



5. .Ammonoosuc Station 2,668.000 



6... Half way House 3,840.000 



7.. Glen House 1,632.CC0 



8..Kearsarge (S.) 2,942.790 



9.. '« Garden 2,622.500 



10.. " Plumbago Point 1,705.000 



lL.Monadnoek ! 3,169.300 



12.. *• Mountain House 2,071.984 



13. .John Mann's, near divide 1,487.602 



14. . Jaffrey Schoolhouse No. 12 (threshold) 1,231.227 



15. .Troy Schoolhouse No. 3 (lowest step) 1,166.112 



16.. Beech Hill 1,060.566 



