The pine moth of Nantucket. Detailed accounts of the different stages, except the egg, and of the habits of Retinia frustrana Scudd., are given by S. H. Scudder. The paper is illustrated by an excellent chromolithographic plate. The author is inclined to believe the insect described under the same name by Comstock (Rep. U. S. dep. agric., 1879) is specifically distinct. (Pub. Mass. soc. prom. agric., 1883.) J. H. C.

[905 The spruce Tortrix. - The natural history of Tortrix fumiferana Clem. is given by C. H. Fernald. (Ann. rep. st. coll. agric. Maine, 1882.) J. H. C. [906 Clothes-moths. - A careful revision of the three species of Tinea which infest clothing has been made by Fernald. The common case-making species should be known by the name of Tinea pellionella Linn; the species which makes a gallery of the substance on which it occurs is Tinea tapetzella Linn; and the third species, which does not make a larval case, but webs together portions of the substance upon which it feeds into a cocoon before changing to a pupa, is Tinea bisselliella Hum.—(Ann. rep. st. coll. agric. Maine, 1882.) J. H. C. [907

VERTEBRATES.

(Physiology.)

The

Development of the red blood-corpuscles. — Feuerstack has published a memoir on this subject. He gives first a brief mention of those authors who have sought to trace the development of the red corpuscles from the white; second, an abstract of Hayem and Pouchet's theory of the haemato blasten; third, of other views of less importance. The author then presents his own observations and conclusions. "We find in the circulation of animals with nucleated blood-corpuscles every possible transition between colorless and colored blood-corpuscles. That they are transition stages from the white to the colored cells is shown by the course of development during artificially induced blood-formation." principal places of formation in the pigeon are the osseous medulla, the spleen, the portal system, and the feather-shafts; in the frog, the bony medulla and spleen; in Triton, the spleen, and the lymph sinus near the bladder; in the eel, the spleen and the venal lymph sinus. (The author has overlooked the view, which is the one most plausible to us, that the colored corpuscles are merely nuclei, and not complete cells. His observations seem far from having settled the problem.) — (Zeitschr. wiss, zool., xxxviii. 136.) C. S. M. [908 Structural changes in the liver, accompanying functional activity. This subject, which as yet has been little worked at in comparison with the numerous corresponding researches made on other glands of late years, is the subject of an interesting research by Afanassiew. His work leads him to the following conclusions: 1°. Both glycogeny and the formation of bile take place in all the cells of a liver-lobule. 20. Agencies (section of the livernerves or feeding on albuminous diet) which increase the secretion of bile bring about a marked increase in the size of the hepatic cells, which are also seen to contain, in the interspaces of their protoplasmic network, numerous albuminous granules. The cell

limits are distinct, and the nuclei large and granular: the whole organ is firm and resistant. 3o. On feeding so as to get a liver exceptionally rich in glycogen, the cells are found to be enormously large, when compared with those of an unfed animal, their contours sharp, and in the cell body so many amorphous glycogen particles deposited as to compress the proper cell-substance into a mere coarse network stretching from the nucleus towards the periphery. The bloodcapillaries are considerably narrowed by compression from the neighboring cells. The whole liver is soft and brittle. 4°. Toluyl-di-amine, which had been found by Schmiedeberg to produce jaundice, causes an increased biliary secretion. This it does by bringing about a great destruction of red blood-corpuscles, whose decomposition products stimulate the liver, and provide material for increased gall-secretion. The experiments were made on dogs. —(Pflüg. archiv, xxx. 385.) H. N. M. [909

ANTHROPOLOGY.

Ethnography of the Caucasus. In a summary of work by the Russian geographical society, Nature has the following language: "Several linguists consider the Armenian language as decidedly belonging to the Iranian group, while others classify it with the European group. Lagarde distinguishes it in three elements, the Haikan, the Arkasid, and the Sassanid elements. The two latter are Iranian; but the Haikan elements belong to a family of languages the oldest of which is the Zend. Hülschman concludes that it occupies an intermediate place between the Iranian languages and the Slavo-Lithuanian; and Fr. Müller, a partisan of its Iranian origin, admits that it has some kinship with the Slavo-Lithuanian languages. Prof. Patkanoff concludes that it occupies an intermediate place between these two, and is a representative of an extinct group of Indo-European languages, which formerly was spread, perhaps, in Asia Minor."(Nature, March 15.) J. W. P. [910

Tribes of the Zambesi. - Père Depelchin, leader of the catholic mission on the Zambesi, reports the following tribes along that river, near its confluence with the Chobe: the Ma-Nansa (or Ma-Kalaka), MaLaya, Ma-Shukulombwe, Ma-Shubia, Ma - Totala (identified with the Ba-Nyeti), Ba-Rotse (or Ma-Rotse), Ma-Ntchoia, Ma-Mbunda, Ba-Libale, Ma-Pingula, MaHes. These tribes are subject to the empire of the Ba-Rotse. Père Depelchin finds that in Holub's lists the vernacular terms for professions had been entered as the names of separate tribes. The traveller also corrects some difficulties respecting the languages of the tribes. — (Precis hist., Feb.) J. W. P. (911

Iron in the Ohio mounds. — Mr. F. W. Putnam showed that the iron swords, and plate of cast iron, referred to in the writings of Dr. Hildreth and Mr. Atwater as found in mounds at Marietta and Circleville, never existed. The light shed by recent discoveries showed that the supposed sword-handle mentioned by Mr. Atwater, and the supposed ornaments of a scabbard described by Dr. Hildreth, were common forms of implements and ornaments from the mounds; while the iron rust in the copper tube,' or supposed 'end of the scabbard,' was red oxide of copper, and the tube itself was simply a copper bead of ordinary form. Mr. Putnam had studied the original specimens of Dr. Hildreth, which were in the cabinet of the Antiquarian society; and they will be illustrated in his paper, to be printed by the society. -(Amer. antiq. soc.; meeting April 25.) [912

Voyages of Moncatch-Apé.- In reference to the recent notice of M. Le Page du Pratz (see 634).

and the bearded men on the Pacific coast in the beginning of the last century, Mr. A. M. F. Davis concedes the probability of the journey, but doubts the meeting with the bearded men. Although this region was not penetrated by explorers until Lewis and Clark crossed the continent in 1804, still the stories of the Indians bore uniform testimony to the river and the ocean; and there was more or less testimony tending to show the visitations of white men in ships. Such sources of information were open to Indian and Frenchman alike; and Mr. Davis attempts to show, that, upon the skeleton of the story of actual travel furnished by the Indian, Le Page du Pratz builds up the story, which he publishes with its details, as to the bearded men. He finds two endings to the story, - one published in Dumont; the other, in Le Page's own book, - both credited to Le Page. In the later publication of the two, Mr. Davis fancies that he can trace in the changes evidence of knowledge derived from the Bering's expedition, and from publications of the period, which were given to the world about that time. In conclusion, he hopes that no opportunity will be lost to search oriental records, for upon them we must ultimately rely for the permanent disposal of such questions. (Amer. antiq. soc.; meeting April 25.) [913

Indians on the Beni River. - The Beni River has been explored from time to time: for instance, by Palacios and by Bursa in 1846, by Lieut. Gibbon in 1852, by Prof. Orton and Ivon D. Heath in 1877, and by the Cura Serabia in 1879. Dr. Heath gives the following note on shirt-making: "Some of the men took time, while stopping for breakfast, to make new shirts. A young Brazilnut-tree of the proper size being found, the bark is stripped off to a height of eight to ten feet. This is taken to the river, placed on a log or stone, and beaten with a stick. When free from outer bark, the fibres are opened, and form a good cloth. This is then folded in the middle, a space left for the arms, the sides sewed down to near the bottom, and a slit cut for the head. When old, these shirts are as soft as old linen." In the journey down the Beni River, Mr. Heath encountered the Tacanas, Cavinas, Pacavaras, Araunas, and Mobimas. The most interesting result of Dr. Heath's anthropological researches is the account of a series of pictographs on the rocks at the falls and rapids of the rivers Madeira and Mamoré. Illustrations of these carvings are given. -(Bull. Amer. geogr. soc., 1882, no. 3.) J. W. P.

[914 Nomenclature of crime. In a pamphlet by F. H. and W. B. Wines upon the nomenclature of crimes in the United States as an aid to the tabulation of the statistics of crime, the authors have endeavored to collate all offences punishable in the United States under any statute enacted either by the national congress, or by the legislature of any one of the states. Without a knowledge of the laws under which commitments to prison are made in the several states, the statistics of imprisonment are valueless for all purposes of intelligent comparison. The offences enumerated are divided into five classes, as follows:

I. Offences against the government. 1. Against the existence of the government; 2. Against the operations of the government, -a. Currency, b. Election laws, c. Postal laws, d. Revenue; 3. Against international comity.

II. Offences against society. 1. Against public health; 2. Against public justice; 3. Against public morals; 4. Against public peace; 5. Against public policy.

III. Ŏffences against the person.

The archeology of the District of Columbia. - Dr. J. Meredith Toner, in 1874, founded a medal in Georgetown college, D.C., "to encourage among the students habits of inquiry, and the development of the faculty of close and accurate observation, not only of the rarer phenomena of nature, but of the commonest things met with in daily life." At the commencement in 1882, the successful candidate was Louis A. Kengla, who prepared an essay, now printed under the title of Contributions to the archeology of the District of Columbia.' The young author enters minutely into localities and classes of implements, and has furnished a good map and five full-page plates of illustrations. The work does credit alike to the writer and to his generous patron. [916

-J. W. P.

On

Natives of Borneo.-Some addition to our knowledge of the inhabitants of Borneo and the Sulu Islands is made by Mr. W. B. Preyer, the British North-Borneo company's resident, at Elopura. The inhabitants of the Sulu Islands are divided into Sulus (Malays, with Arab and Chinese blood) and Bajaws, or seagypsies. These are described at length, both as to their physical and their moral characteristics. the coast-line of Borneo is an extraordinary mixture of people, Sun-Dyaks, Malays, Javanese, Sulus, Bajaws, Bugis, Chinese, Arabs, Klings, and many others; while of the Buludupies, the indigenous inhabitants of the district, there are hardly any of pure blood left. Allusions are made to slavery, religion, marriage, head-hunting, ‘summing-up,' and disease. Mr. Preyer tells a very good story about marriage among the Datos. When a Dato of any consequence marries, he settles upon his bride a dowry of so many slaves, male and female, so many pieces of T. cloth, of silks, chintzes, and sarongs, etc. A house is built for her, and she is settled comfortably. At the end of a few months, the Dato goes off elsewhere, and repeats the process. The abandoned wife goes to work, with her capital and her slaves, to better her condition. Some fine day the Dato sails back to find in every port a house, a wife, and surroundings all comfortable and ready. -(Proc. roy. geogr. soc., Feb. 7.) J. W. P. [917

EGYPTOLOGY.

Serbonis. In "The Hebrew migration from Egypt, an historical account of the Exodus, based on a critical examination of the Hebrew records and traditions," by J. Baker Greene, second edition (London, Trübner & Co., 1883), on p. 69, we are told, "In ancient times, if we may trust the evidence of historians, a sheet of water existed on the south side of Mount Casius, and separated by a well-defined but narrow strip of land from the Mediterranean Sea. . . . This was the Serbonian Lake. . . . This lake no longer exists. It has been filled by the drifting sands of the adjoining desert." In a work that makes so much pretension to impartiality and search for truth, egregious errors like this ought to be shunned. The best map yet published of Egypt and the Isthmus of Suez (that in Napoleon's Description de l'Egypte, Paris, 1809-1828) gives the length of Serbonis as a hundred kilometres, and its usual width as eight to ten kilometres. Mr. Greville Chester, in the volume of Special papers issued by the Palestine exploration fund, 1881, has given a very full description of the

lake, with its bright, sparkling waters, free from marine vegetation of any sort.

Mr. Greene also says (p. 76), "The evidence of travellers does not, however, support the suggestion that the Red Sea is remarkable for an excessive supply of seaweed." From Ehrenberg, 'Die korallenbänke,' 1832, to the last and best authority on the Red Sea (Klunziger, Upper Egypt, 1878, pp. 345-376), we are assured of the direct contrary of Mr. Greene's assertion. "A celebrated plant is the shora (Avicennia

officinalis), which forms large, dense groves in the sea, these being laid bare only at very low ebb. . . . The sea-grass meadows (gisua of the Arabs), which we have already often mentioned, and which are met with partly in depressions in the surface of the reef, partly on the bottom of the sea (especially in harbors), afford concealment to a special class of fishes, many of which are distinguished by possessing a green color."(Klunziger, pp. 240, 378.) H. O.

[918

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS.

Boston society of natural history.

The collection of minerals. The society has just finished the arrangement of its collection of minerals with the express purpose of offering it as an illustration of the mode of arrangement to be adopted throughout their museum. The curator's report, shortly to be printed, has a detailed account of the collection, from which we give the following account:The exhibition is divided into three parts: I. Comparative mineralogy; II. Synopsis of classification; III. Systematic collection.

I. Under the head of comparative mineralogy, the following topics are treated by means of series of specimens: 1°. Composition and chemical relations of minerals; 2°. Form and structure of minerals; crystallography; 3°. Physical properties of minerals.

1°. Under the first head, such subdivisions as the variation of minerals in composition are dealt with in the cases by the exhibition of several selected series, (a) variations due to original mixtures; (b) variations due to decomposition and alteration; (c) variations due to chemical substitution. The first (a) of these sub-topics, for example, is exhibited in a series of seven minerals. Three of these are varieties of amphibole, and display the distinct colors and aspect due to changes in the chemical composition of the varieties. The second (b) is shown by five minerals, among which are orthoclase and wernerite,- quite distinct substances, but which are undergoing reduction by decomposition to the same mineral, kaolinite. In the third (c) only one substance, phyrrhotite, and its elements, sulphur and iron (which are placed together upon one tablet), is set apart for the exposition of the differences which may exist between the elementary constituents of a mineral, and the compounds resulting from their union.

The relations of water in the composition of minerals is dealt with in a series running from a strictly anhydrous hematite to natron (hydr. carb. sodium), having 55 per cent of water. There are twelve specimens in this series, and behind each specimen a tube exhibits the relative proportion of water.

20. Form and structure presented no very serious difficulties beyond the need of finding persons capable of making the special models which were required. This was satisfactorily accomplished after some delay.

30. As examples of the methods pursued in illustrating the physical properties of minerals, we can use the following:

(a) The density series, showing the range of minerals in specific gravity. This series consists of twenty-seven minerals, including gold, which is twenty-one times heavier than water, and petroleum,

This

which is lighter than that standard liquid. gradation is made apparent to the eye by means of glass tubes containing equal weights of each of the substances, reduced in the case of solids to a fine powder. Thus gold, with specific gravity 19.5, the heaviest substance, has necessarily the shortest, and petroleum, with specific gravity .75, the longest, tube; and the intermediate tubes show the gradations between these. Thus a series is formed which exhibits clearly that the volume of minerals is inversely proportional to their specific gravity or weight.

There are a number of series showing the relations of minerals to light, among which we may select, by way of illustration, that of the color test, or streak, of minerals.

(b) Streak series: lustre metallic, and color mainly essential. This label stands at the head of nine specimens, each mounted upon the same block, with a piece of novaculite of uniform size, such as is used to try the streak of minerals, partly covered with a band of the powdered mineral.

(c) Streak series: lustre non-metallic, and color non-essential except when white. This label is at the head of a precisely similar series, but consisting of eighteen minerals with their accompanying stones, exhibiting the great contrast between the color of minerals themselves and of their streaks upon the white surfaces of the novaculite.

(d) There are also series of specimens showing the principal minerals which exhibit electrical properties either in their natural conditions, or only when acted upon by friction or heat.

(e) Even the taste, touch, and odor of minerals are illustrated by similar series. Though persons cannot imagine how a rare mineral tastes, feels, or smells simply from the sight of it, they all know some of the commoner minerals of the same series which are placed on exhibition. With the guidance of the collection, they can also more easily duplicate the specimens, and understand their relations.

II. In the synoptical collection, the more important and abundant elements are here repeated, and each shelf is devoted to one of the grand divisions of the mineral compounds. Each division of minerals is represented by its most characteristic species; and the subdivisions of the anhydrous and hydrous groups are indicated on the labels, wherever these occur.

III. The systematic collection begins with the native elements, which occupy one wall-case next to the synoptical collection. This is followed by the compounds. These fill the wall-cases on the remaining sides of the room; and here are exhibited the different species of minerals arranged in their proper order as classified by Professor Dana, with some slight changes in the succession of the larger divisions.

Models of the principal or most characteristic crys

talline forms of each important species have been made out of plaster, and the surface hardened with paraffine in order to give a smooth finish. These are mounted in the same manner as the substances whose structure they are used to illustrate.

It was rightfully imagined, when the present general plan of arrangement for the museum was adopted, that the greatest obstacle in the path of any attempt to show that there was a gradation in the natural relations of the products of the earth would be the department of mineralogy. It has been found, however, that the separation of minerals from the motherrocks, on account of their purer composition and definite forms, although purely artificial, has its logical uses. It enables one to explain with directness and precision the relations of all the elements and their strictly inorganic compounds, and to prepare the mind for the consideration of the more complicated aspects of the geological and biological collections. Mineralogy is therefore made the vehicle for the conveyance of almost all the preparatory facts in physics and chemistry which are essential for the purpose of the museum.

While such definite marks of gradation cannot be found in minerals as among animals and plants, there is in nearly every division of minerals, even with their present entirely artificial and probably unnatural classification, such distinctions as those of anhydrous and hydrous groups, the simple and double sulphides, the binary and ternary compounds. These have not yet been brought into correlation with the molecular structure, or with each other, in any natural classification; and therefore we cannot say that the hydrous compounds are necessarily, on account of the addition of water to their chemical composition, more complicated in their molecular structure than the anhydrous, or that the same is true of the double as compared with the simple sulphides, or yet of the ternary as compared with the binary compounds.

Notwithstanding these difficulties, the facts are in every case facts of gradation. It makes no difference whether the gradation leads up or down, or mingles both of these tendencies. Whatever direction the true classification may eventually take is immaterial. The indications of what is already known show that gradation of some sort must be its marked characteristic; and this alone is sufficient to harmonize the whole provisionally with the other departments of the museum.

Important support, however, is derived from an opinion in which all chemists and mineralogists consulted seem disposed to agree. There are decided grounds for the belief that both the chemical and the molecular constitution of the elements may be considered as less complicated than that of the purely inorganic and probably derivative compounds, and these, in turn, simpler than the hydro-carbons. Theoretically, also, one is safe in assuming that the latter, which are the products of organic bodies composed of their fossil remains, oils, gums, etc., more or less altered by the physical and chemical conditions to which they have been subjected, are of later derivation in time than the strictly inorganic compounds, and that these, in turn, are probably more recent, as a rule, than the elements of which they are made up.

These fundamental facts are quite sufficient for the purposes of the collection, and permit a demonstration of the fact that the same principles of classification apply in this department as in all others, whether inorganic or organic.

The curator is already in receipt of letters from eminent teachers and others, expressing their gratification at the results of the work in this department, and some of them strongly urge the immediate publication of a proper catalogue.

Harvard university, Cambridge, Mass.

The Jefferson physical laboratory. The plans of the new physical laboratory, presented to the university by Mr. T. Jefferson Coolidge, have now been so far discussed that we may give a general account of them. The building will be placed about in the centre of Holmes Field, in the rear of the Scientific school, to avoid as much as possible all jars from passing vehicles. The nearest street (Oxford Street) will be about 300 feet from the east wing.

The building consists of an eastern and a western section, each 60 X 60, connected by a central piece 80 x 40 ft. The eastern section will contain a large lecture-room, with a seating-capacity of between 275 and 300 students; above this, an immense laboratory, 60 × 60 ft., for the general use of undergraduates and less advanced students. The basement of this section will be occupied by a workshop, a battery-room, boilers, and coal-bins. The north side of the east section, flanking the lecture-room, is occupied by three stories of rooms for the physical cabinet. These also extend on the north side of the central piece, and are so arranged as to lead conveniently into the lecture-room, the general laboratory, the recitationrooms, and also into the western section, where the rooms for special investigations are located.

In the central piece, besides the space occupied by the cabinet, there are two recitation-rooms, a balanceroom on the first floor, and, on the third floor, rooms for electric measurements, photometry, and a general library and balance room. Small entries and stairways at the east and west end of the centre piece give easy access to all parts of the building for the professors and special students. The undergraduates have access to the lecture-room and general laboratory at the east end of the building by a stairway removed as far as practicable from the rooms devoted to special investigations. This arrangement, and the position of the engines and dynamos on the outside of the building across a deep insulating ditch, will prevent the jar of the machinery and the tramping of students from interfering with delicate observations.

The basement of the central piece is occupied by receiving-rooms, and storage for heavy pieces of apparatus.

The western section is the one which the professors and instructors of physics have most carefully considered. The lower floor contains rooms of moderate size, devoted to general use and special investigations, -rooms which will be fitted up with reference to electricity, heat, magnetism, and sound. In each room of the first floor there are independent piers, built up from the basement, insulated from the walls and floors upon which delicate instruments are to be placed. Similar rooms devoted to optics, electricity, and the Rumford laboratory, are located upon the second story. The third floor is as yet assigned to no definite use, and, with the exception of a room for photography, can be left to meet the wants of the future. The basement of this section is occupied by a room for magnetism, one for heat, and one for weights and measures. A room for constant temperature is excavated below the basement floor in the centre of the building.

To afford facilities for the study of atmosphericphysics and experiments for which great height is

needed, a tower runs through the central part of the western section. The tower has a total height of 60 feet; it is built with double walls to isolate it from the rest of the building, the outer walls carrying the floors.

Above the roof, the sides of the tower are almost entirely of glass. There is free access to the four sides of the tower, as well as to the top, which is at a height of 72 feet from the basement-floor. Openings are left at every story to allow light to be sent to the central part of the tower. The piers of the first floor are also so arranged as to obtain lines of considerable length across the building. The doors are so placed that adjoining rooms are readily thrown open together.

The laboratory, built to commemorate Ellen Wayles Coolidge, grand-daughter of Thomas Jefferson, has been named the Jefferson laboratory.' It seems most appropriate that the name of one who was among the first to recognize the value of university education in this country should be connected with a building to be devoted to the investigation of some of the most interesting problems of nature.

The cost of the building, with the necessary fixtures, will be about $115,000. There is a fund of $75,000, the income of which is to be expended for the benefit of the physical laboratory, in addition to the appropriations and expenditures now incurred for physics by the college.

NOTES AND NEWS.

Zoologists the world over will regret to learn of the death of the genial and talented Wilhelm Karl Hartwig Peters, director of the zoological museum of Berlin, and younger brother of Dr. Peters of our own Clinton observatory. Dr. Peters was born at Coldenbüttel, near Eiderstedt, in Schleswig, on April 22, 1815, and died in Berlin on the 20th of last month. Immediately after completing his studies in medicine and natural history at Copenhagen and Berlin, he undertook a journey to southern France and Italy to investigate the fauna of the Mediterranean. Returning to Berlin in 1840 as assistant in the anatomical institute of the university, he soon laid his plans for an independent investigation of the unexplored regions of Mozambique, in which he received the advice and support of his distinguished friends, Johannes Müller, Humboldt, Ritter, Ehrenberg, and Lichtenstein, and the powerful patronage of the king, Frederic William IV. He left for this journey - the great event of his life-in 1842, and was absent more than five years. Two years were spent in the interior of Mozambique; but he also made journeys to the Comoro Islands, to Zanzibar, Madagascar, and the Cape, and, before his return, visited the coast of India. His Reise nach Mozambique, published between 1852 and 1868 in five quarto volumes, is the result of this exploration, and is a model for faunal work of this kind. Returning to Berlin in 1848, he was made prosector at the institute, afterwards professor extraordinary, and in 1857 succeeded Lichtenstein as full professor in the university, and director of the zoological museum. The museum, under his administra

tion, early took the highest rank, which it has ever since held; and more than one American student has been cordially received within its walls. Peters's studies were mainly given to the world in Müller's Archiv, and the publications of the Berlin academy, to which he was elected in 1851. They covered nearly the entire field of zoology, but were specially devoted to mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. His geographical discoveries in Mozambique were published by Kiepert in 1849 in a map; and Bleek's Languages of Mozambique contains a portion of his linguistic studies.

-The April number of the Harvard university bulletin, which has just appeared, contains fifty-six pages, of which thirty-one are devoted to the booklist. We notice recorded a copy (one of thirty) of the Maya manuscript in the Dresden library, reproduced in polychromatic photography. The appendices contain another instalment of Mr. Bliss's classified index to the maps in Petermann's Geographische mittheilungen (twelve pages), and of Mr. Winsor's valuable bibliography of Ptolemy's geography (seven pages). The University notes mention additions to the zoological museum, the purpose of the observatory to collect astronomical photographs, and give an account, reprinted on p. 437, of the plans of the new Jefferson physical laboratory. Among the appointments gazetted, we notice that of Mr. J. Rayner Edmands and Mr. John Ritchie, jun., to the observatory, to be in charge of the time-service and the distribution of astronomical information respectively.

A general veterinary establishment for the treatment and care of lame, sick, or wounded horses, cattle, sheep, and dogs, is to be maintained in connection with the school of veterinary medicine, of Harvard university. The hospital will probably be ready for occupation June 15. The patients will be under the professional charge of Mr. Charles P. Lyman, fellow of the Royal college of veterinary surgeons, London, and professor of veterinary medicine in the university. The school will also have at its disposal commodious buildings and pastures at the Bussey farm, where cattle can be received and cared for, and where horses not required for present use, or suffering from lamenesses or illnesses which require long seasons of rest, can receive all proper care and treatment, together with the benefit of grass-paddocks in summer, and a warm straw-yard in winter. Any person having sick or lame animals to be cared for can procure for them the benefits of the establishment upon the payment of a fixed sum per day, covering board, treatment, and medicines. To each subscriber of ten dollars a year, a number of privileges will be given. On Tuesdays and Fridays a free clinic will be held.

-The semi-annual meeting of the American antiquarian society was held in Boston on April 25 at eleven o'clock. About fifty members were present. The reports of the officers showed that the affairs of