May 21, 1886.] 



SCIEXCE. 



457 



hatching. This is a most gratifying showing for 

 the fish commission, which is constantly discover- 

 ing and applying new methods in the science of 

 fish-culture. 



— The following comprise the recent changes 

 in the coast survey service. Parties on the Pacific 

 coast have all taken the field under instructions. 

 Professor Davidson is at Portland, Ore., observing 

 for telegraphic longitude, while Assistant Pratt is 

 at Tatoosh Island, which point is made available 

 as a telegraphic longitude station, from the fact 

 that the U. S. signal service now has wires in 

 operation from Port Angeles to that point. Assist- 

 ant Whiting takes the field about June 1 in 

 Massachusetts, to determine the changes at Co- 

 tamay, Martha's Vineyard. Assistants Smith and 

 St. Clair are between Colorado Springs and Salt 

 Lake City, engaged in telegraphic longitude deter- 

 mination. Parties in the south will shortly be 

 closing their season's work, and will report to the 

 Washington office for future field-duty. The geo- 

 graphical positions of the Borden survey of the 

 state of Massachusetts, together with a great num- 

 ber of additional points determined by the coast 

 and geodetic survey, computed upon Clark's sphe- 

 roid, are ready for publication in the annual re- 

 port for 1885. 



— A report just received from the U. S. consul 

 at Apia gives the following as the copy of a card 

 found inside a bottle picked up on Palmyra 

 Island, Nov. 26. 1885 : " E. M. Str. Zealandia from 

 San Francisco to Sydney, Lat. 7° 30' N.: Long. 

 163° 30' W." This bottle had drifted a hundred 

 and one miles south by east. 



— In Holland, where the public-school system 

 has reached a very highly developed stage, it is 

 now proposed to relegate primary education to 

 the private schools. A measure to that effect has 

 passed the lower chamber of the states-general, 

 and has been withdrawn by the government for 

 the purpose of removing certain objectionable 

 features which caused its rejection by the upper 

 house. 



— The coldest place upon the earth, says Aus- 

 land, is Verchojansk, in Siberia. The coldest 

 regions of Asia lie east of the Lena River, and the 

 meteorological station at Yakootsk has recorded 

 the lowest temperature ever observed. The aver- 

 age temperature for the year at that place is 

 —17° C, and the difference between the summer 

 and winter temperatures is not less than 64° C. ; 

 the average temperature in January being —49° 

 C, and in July, +15° C. On Jan. 15, 1885, the 

 temperature fell to —68° C. 



— Recently published statistics of British India 



give the entire population (for 1883-84) at 253,982,- 

 595, and the superficial area at 1,378,044 square 

 miles. 43,549,158 residences were enumerated. 

 The density of the population reaches its maxi- 

 mum in Bengal, where there are 442.8 inhabitants 

 to each square mile : the minimum is found in 

 Central India with 59.3, and in British Burmah 

 with 42.8, to each square mile. For every 130 

 males there are 124 females. The Hindoos and 

 Buddhists include 190,000.000; the Mohammedans, 

 50,000.000 ; Christians, 1,800,000 ; Parsees, 85,000 ; 

 Jews, 12,000 ; and various other sects with smaller 

 numbers. The entire debt of India amounts to 

 £171,577,945. In March, 1885, the entire length 

 of railroads, in miles, was 12,000 ; of the tele- 

 graph systems, 23,341; the total length of wires, 

 68,694. 



— A canal between the White Sea and the 

 Baltic Sea has been determined upon by the Rus- 

 sian authorities, says AuslancL Peter the Great 

 long ago busied himself with such a project, which 

 only lately was revived by the Russian society for 

 the promotion of commerce and industry. The 

 cost, which is estimated at seven million rubles, 

 will be borne by the state. Work will be begun 

 upon the canal the present year. 



— Statistics of the French sea-fisheries, for 1884, 

 recently published, give the total value of the 

 catch for that year at 87,961,124 francs, — a de- 

 crease from that of the previous year of 19,265,797 

 francs. 



— Dr. Valentine Mott, who went to Paris some 

 months ago to study Pasteur's methods of hydro- 

 phobia treatment, has just returned, very sanguine 

 in his belief of its efficacy. He brought with him, 

 on his return, a rabbit inoculated by Pasteur just 

 before his departure. The rabbit died on the 

 seventh day after receiving the virus, a short time 

 before coming into port. This is said to be the 

 first time that Pasteur has given the virus to any 

 one, and it will be utilized for further propagation 

 and hydrophobia treatment by Dr. Mott. 



— One of the oldest medical colleges, if not the 

 oldest, in the world, is the Medical school of the 

 Imperial university of Japan, which now numbers 

 its centuries by two figures. In its earlier period 

 its faculty included a superintendent and assistant, 

 one professor of medicine, one of acupuncture, 

 one of massage, and various other instructors in 

 special diseases, materia medica, botany, etc. 

 The course then covered seven years, and even 

 now the school shows a more creditable status 

 than the most of ours. Four years in actual medi- 

 cal studies are now required, with three years' 

 preparation, — in all, seven years of college train- 

 ing. We wonder whether the profession in 



