A SCHEME of the French Government to | encourage the intermarriage of life-convicts in New Caledonia with life-convicts imported from the prisons at home is pronounced mischievous by the "Lancet." The purpose is to build up family relations in the interest of morality; but British experience is to the effect that such alliances lead to the multiplication of criminals, and that the real check to crime lies in breaking up and isolating the criminal class. Testimony gleaned by M. Louis Barron from the journals of New Caledonia points in the same direction, and forms an instructive commentary on the law of heredity as deduced by Darwin. THE French fishermen are troubled by the depredations of porpoises, for which they have not succeeded in finding a remedy. An attempt was made to catch them in seine nets, but they jumped out of the snares. They were scared away by guns and torpedoes, but the fish were frightened and disappeared with them. They are too numer ous to be shot one by one in an effective manner. The only thing to be done seems to be for the fishermen to unite and drive them away in crowds; but this will have to be often repeated. Insurance and payment of damages by the Government are the last measures of relief suggested; but they, too, are expensive to somebody. VANILLA is produced from a species of orchid that attaches itself to walls, trees, and other suitable objects. The plant has a long, fleshy stem, and the leaves are alternate, oval, and lanceolate. The flower is of a greenish-white color, and forms axillary spikes. The fruit is a pod, measuring when full grown some ten or twelve inches in length and about half an inch in diameter. The quality of the pod can be determined by the presence or non-presence of a crystalline efflorescence called givre, and by its dark chocolate-brown color. The fragrant givre is vanillin, C8H8O3. The pods also contain vanillic acid, oily matter, soft resin, sugar, gum, and oxalate of lime. A STRIKING example of degeneration in growth is exhibited by the scale that attacks greenhouse and other plants. According to Mr. Bernard Thomas, in "Science Gossip," it is a degenerated female which lives upon the sap of the plant, continuing to increase in size and reproduce its young. These may be found underneath it as minute red bodies, just visible to the naked eye, and at this time of their life comparatively active creatures; but they soon settle down and begin to degenerate. Their eyes become indistinct, and finally, with their antennæ and legs, shrivel away, the body loses its thick. ness, and they appear as if without life. lieving that there exists between him and every member of the class an intimate and altogether special relation." They are tribal emblems, family symbols, signals of nationality, expressions of religion, bonds of union, and regulators of marriage-laws and of the social institutions. The system of totems exists among most primitive peoples, and in similar forms with the North American Indians, Australians, South Africans, Arabs, hill tribes of India, Polynesians, and many other peoples. Among a tribe in Colombia, where descent is in the female line, it goes so far that if a man happens to cut himself with his own knife, to fall off from his mother's clan demand blood-money from his own horse, or to hurt himself in any way, him for injuring one of their totems. OBITUARY NOTES. PROF. VAN QUENSTEDT, of Tübingen, one gists, died December 21st, at an advanced of the most famous of German paleontolo age. Jura, and of a Handbook of Petrefactenkunde, or the science of petrifactions. He had an especially profound knowledge of the Lias of Würtemberg and its fossils. He was the author of a work on the M. CH. FIEVEZ, assistant in the spectroscopic department of the Royal Observatory of Brussels, died February 2d, aged forty-five years. He studied first for the military profession, but was invited to the observatory by M. Houzeau, and entered it after studying under Janssen at Meudon. His most important work was the construction of a chart of the solar spectrum on a larger scale than that of Angström. He made a detailed study of the spectrum of carbon, and experiments on the behavior of spectral lines under the influence of magnetism and of changes of temperature. DR. C. C. PARRY, a distinguished American botanist, recently died at Davenport, Iowa, aged sixty-seven years. He made valuable collections of plants, and was an authority in the classification of the North American flora. He was for several years a botanist in the Agricultural Department in Washington. Mount Parry, near Denver, was named after him. PROF. RICHARD OWEN, geologist, died from accidental poisoning at his home in New Harmony, Ind., March 24th. He was a son of the Scotch philanthropist, Robert Owen, and was been schooled in Europe and come to the born in Scotland, January 6, 1810. Having United States, he studied civil engineering in Kentucky, was a Professor of Geology there, served in the United States Survey, was a captain in the Mexican War, was State Geologist for Indiana, professor in Indiana State University, and lieutenant-colonel and colonel in Indiana volunteer regiments Three Standard Books. REMSEN'S (IRA) INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. xxii + 827 pp., 8vo. (American Science Series, Advanced Course.) Mailing price to teachers, $3.08. A comprehensive treatise, meant for study, for use in the laboratory, and for reference. It is not a dictionary; it is a text-book. The grouping of the elements is based upon the periodic law, and throughout the relations between phenomena are emphasized. BESSEY'S (C. E.) ESSENTIALS OF BOTANY. xlii + 292 pp., 12mo. Mailing price to teachers, $1.19. The first chapter is an introduction to the gross anatomy of flowering plants, which, together with a "Manual," is sufficient for the identification of most common phanerogams. The bulk of the book is devoted to the more fruitful and detailed study of representations of a wider range of genera, including the lowest forms. The book is a school text-book. PACKARD'S (A. S.) FIRST LESSONS IN ZOOLOGY. viii+290 pp., 12mo. Mailing price to teachers, 90 cents. At once a laboratory manual and a class text-book, with an unequaled series of illustra tions for an elementary class-book. A new descriptive catalogue sent free to any applicant. HENRY HOLT & CO., New York. Royal Baking Powder ABSOLUTELY PURE Light Sweet Wholesome Bread Delicious Pastry A Cream of Tartar Powder. Found Superior to all others in Strength and Leavening Power.-U. S. Government Report, August 17, 1889. A SCHEME of the French Government to encourage the intermarriage of life-convicts in New Caledonia with life-convicts imported from the prisons at home is pronounced mischievous by the "Lancet." The purpose is to build up family relations in the interest of morality; but British experience is to the effect that such alliances lead to the multiplication of criminals, and that the real check to crime lies in breaking up and isolating the criminal class. Testimony gleaned by M. Louis Barron from the journals of New Caledonia points in the same direction, and forms an instructive commentary on the law of heredity as deduced by Darwin. THE French fishermen are troubled by the depredations of porpoises, for which they have not succeeded in finding a remedy. An attempt was made to catch them in seine nets, but they jumped out of the snares. They were scared away by guns and torpedoes, but the fish were frightened and disappeared with them. They are too numer ous to be shot one by one in an effective manner. The only thing to be done seems to be for the fishermen to unite and drive them away in crowds; but this will have to be often repeated. Insurance and payment of damages by the Government are the last measures of relief suggested; but they, too, are expensive to somebody. VANILLA is produced from a species of orchid that attaches itself to walls, trees, and other suitable objects. The plant has a long, fleshy stem, and the leaves are alternate, oval, and lanceolate. The flower is of a greenish-white color, and forms axillary spikes. The fruit is a pod, measuring when full grown some ten or twelve inches in length and about half an inch in diameter. The quality of the pod can be determined by the presence or non-presence of a crystalline efflorescence called givre, and by its dark chocolate-brown color. The fragrant givre is vanillin, C8H8O3. The pods also contain vanillic acid, oily matter, soft resin, sugar, gum, and oxalate of lime. A STRIKING example of degeneration in growth is exhibited by the scale that attacks greenhouse and other plants. According to Mr. Bernard Thomas, in "Science Gossip," it is a degenerated female which lives upon the sap of the plant, continuing to increase in size and reproduce its young. These may be found underneath it as minute red bod ies, just visible to the naked eye, and at this time of their life comparatively active creatures; but they soon settle down and begin to degenerate. Their eyes become indistinct, and finally, with their antennæ and legs, shrivel away, the body loses its thick. ness, and they appear as if without life. TOTEMS are defined by Mr. J. G. Fraser as "a class of material objects which a savage regards with superstitious respect, be lieving that there exists between him and every member of the class an intimate and altogether special relation." They are tribal emblems, family symbols, signals of nationality, expressions of religion, bonds of union, and regulators of marriage-laws and of the social institutions. The system of totems exists among most primitive peoples, and in similar forms with the North American Indians, Australians, South Africans, Arabs, hill tribes of India, Polynesians, and many other peoples. Among a tribe in Colombia, where descent is in the female line, it goes so far that if a man happens to cut himself with his own knife, to fall off from his mother's clan demand blood-money from his own horse, or to hurt himself in any way, him for injuring one of their totems. OBITUARY NOTES. PROF. VAN QUENSTEDT, of Tübingen, one of the most famous of German paleontolo gists, died December 21st, at an advanced Jura, and of a Handbook of Petrefactenage. He was the author of a work on the had an especially profound knowledge of the kunde, or the science of petrifactions. He Lias of Würtemberg and its fossils. M. CH. FIEVEZ, assistant in the spectroscopic department of the Royal Observatory of Brussels, died February 2d, aged forty-five years. He studied first for the military profession, but was invited to the observatory by M. Houzeau, and entered it after studying under Janssen at Meudon. His most important work was the construction of a chart of the solar spectrum on a larger scale than that of Angström. He made a detailed study of the spectrum of carbon, and experiments on the behavior of spectral lines under the influence of magnetism and of changes of temperature. DR. C. C. PARRY, a distinguished American botanist, recently died at Davenport, Iowa, aged sixty-seven years. He made valuable collections of plants, and was an authority in the classification of the North American flora. He was for several years a botanist in the Agricultural Department in Washington. Mount Parry, near Denver, was named after him. PROF. RICHARD OWEN, geologist, died from accidental poisoning at his home in New Harmony, Ind., March 24th. He was a son of the Scotch philanthropist, Robert Owen, and was born in Scotland, January 6, 1810. Having been schooled in Europe and come to the United States, he studied civil engineering in Kentucky, was a Professor of Geology there, served in the United States Survey, was a captain in the Mexican War, was State Geologist for Indiana, professor in Indiana State University, and lieutenant-colonel and colonel in Indiana volunteer regiments. Three Standard Books. REMSEN'S (IRA) INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. xxii +827 pp., 8vo. (American Science Series, Advanced Course.) Mailing price to teachers, $3.08. A comprehensive treatise, meant for study, for use in the laboratory, and for reference. It is not a dictionary; it is a text-book. The grouping of the elements is based upon the periodic law, and throughout the relations between phenomena are emphasized. BESSEY'S (C. E.) ESSENTIALS OF BOTANY. xlii + 292 pp., 12mo. Mailing price to teachers, $1.19. The first chapter is an introduction to the gross anatomy of flowering plants, which, together with a "Manual," is sufficient for the identification of most common phanerogams. The bulk of the book is devoted to the more fruitful and detailed study of representations of a wider range of genera, including the lowest forms. The book is a school text-book. PACKARD'S (A. S.) FIRST LESSONS IN ZOOLOGY. viii+290 pp., 12mo. Mailing price to teachers, 90 cents. At once a laboratory manual and a class text-book, with an unequaled series of illustra tions for an elementary class-book. A new descriptive catalogue sent free to any applicant. HENRY HOLT & CO., New York. Royal Baking Powder ABSOLUTELY PURE Light Sweet Wholesome Bread Delicious Pastry A Cream of Tartar Powder. Found Superior to all others in Strength and Leavening Power.-U. S. Government Report, August 17, 1889. MACMILLAN & CO.'S NEW SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. Translations of Foreign Biological Memoirs. New Volumes, THE ANATOMY OF THE FROG. By DR. ALEXANDER ECKER, Professor in the University of Freiburg. Translated, with numerous Annotations and Additions, by George Haslam, M. D., and profusely illustrated with 250 Wood Engravings and 11 Colored Figures. Medium Svo. $5.25. WEISMANN ON HEREDITY. ESSAYS UPON HEREDITY AND KINDRED BIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS. By Dr. AUGUST WEISMANN. Translated by E. B. Poulton, M. A., F. L. S., Selmar Schönland, Ph. D., and A. E. Shipley, M. A., F. L. S. Svo. $4.00. Student's Edition, abridged from the larger work. ABSOLUTE MEASUREMENTS IN ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM. By ANDREW GRAY, M. A., F. R.S. E, Professor of Physics in the University College of North Wales. Second edition. Revised and greatly enlarged. 16mo. $1.25. "About a year ago the first volume of what is designed to be a comprehensive treatise on this subject was published by Messrs. Macmillan & Co., under the title of The Theory and Practice of Absolute Measurements in Electricity and Magnetism,' and the second volume is now in progress. It has, however, been represented to me that a smaller work would be found useful to students. I have therefore prepared the present volume."-From the Preface. "The present work is well designed for supplying this acknowledged want, and will, we believe, be welcomed by students and teachers."-Manchester Guardian. Nature Series. New volume. MODERN VIEWS OF ELECTRICITY. BY OLIVER J. Lodge, D. Sc., LL. D., F. R. S. With Illustrations. 12mo. $2.00. "So far as electricity is concerned, this is the book of the year. The object of this book is to present to the non-mathematical reader the modern view of the ethereal theory of electricity. To our mind there is no living exponent of these theoretical views so able as the author of this book. He writes from conviction, with a thorough knowledge of his subject, and goes straight to the point without superfluity of language." -Electrical Engineer. HANDBOOK OF PRACTICAL BOTANY. For the Botanical Laboratory and Private Student. By E. STRASBURGER, Professor of Botany in the University of Bonn. Edited from the German by W. Hillhouse, M. A., F. L. S. Revised by the author, and with many additional notes by author and editor. Second edition, revised and enlarged. With 116 original and 83 additional Illustrations. Svo. $2.50. Part II, now ready, completing the work. ALGEBRA. An Elementary Text-Book for the Higher Classes of Secondary Schools and for Colleges. By G. CRYSTAL, M. A., LL.D. 8vo. Part II, $4.00. Recently published, Part I, $3.75. The two volumes, $7.50. WALLACE'S DARWINISM. DARWINISM. An Exposition of the Theory of Natural Selection, with some of its Applications. By ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE, LL. D., F. L. 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Including Nutrition, Innervation, and Reproduction. 8vo. $6.00. New Volume (Part II), just published. A TEXT-BOOK OF PHYSIOLOGY. By MICHAEL FOSTER, M. A., M. D., LL. D., F. R. 8. With Illustrations. Fifth edition, largely revised. Part I. Comprising Book I. Blood-The Tissues of Movement-The Vascular Mechanism. Part II. Comprising Book II. The Tissues of Chemical Action, with their Respective "It is in all respects an ideal text-book. It is only the physiologist, who has devoted time to the study of some branch of the great science, who can read between the lines of this wonderfully generalized account, and can see upon what an intimate and extensive knowledge these generalizations are founded. It is only the teacher who can appreciate the judicious balancing of evidence and the power of presenting the conclusions in such clear and lucid forms. But by every one the rare modesty of the author, in keeping the element of self so entirely in the background, must be appreciated. 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