VERTEBRATES. Development of the pulmonary epithelium. — The lungs of the human adult have been minutely studied by Kölliker, whose memoir, which appeared in 1881, still left the development of the lung to be worked out. This gap has now been partially filled by Nicolai Jalan de la Croix, who, however, has relied on the chick and mammalian embryos for the earliest stages. In a human embryo of the third month (6.5 cm.) the bronchi are nearly straight tubes branching at acute angles; the alveoli have begun to form at their ends, but are developed in the inner part of the lung only later; the connective tissue is in process of differentiation; the whole system of respiratory cavities is lined by a continuous epithelium, which is thickest in the trachea, where it has several layers of cells, and which gradually thins out, until, in the alveoli, it consists only of two layers of cells, the deeper cells being somewhat smaller, the upper ones irregular in shape, and approaching the cylindrical form. The alveoli are already grouped into lobules; and it is these which Kölliker has described in his embryology as the primitive alveoli. By the end of the fourth month the bronchi branch off at much greater angles; the epithelium in the terminal vesicles is only 15 μ thick, and consists of a single row of cylinder cells. In the fifth month the connective tissue around the bronchi is quite advanced in development; it is, between the lobules, largely fibrous; between the alveoli, still rich in cells. The alveoli themselves measure about 0.05 mm. in diameter; their epithelium, only 11 μ in thickness. The bloodvessels have attained an enormous development, but are not yet close to the respiratory surfaces. Comparison of the different stages shows that the alveoli gradually increase in number, and at the same time diminish in size (author's résumé, vide p. 109). The conversion of the many-layered original epithelium into the single layer of the alveoli, the author asserts (apparently without definite reason) to be effected by the passage of the deeper-lying cells into the upper layer. By this process, as well as by the multiplication of the cells, is the rapid expansion of the epithelium to be explained. For the history during the fifth to ninth month, de la Croix collates the previous literature. In the mature foetus (still-born) alveoli are still forming along the alveolar canals. The epithelium of the canals and all alveoli is still cylindrical, the cells with oval nucleus being about twice as high as broad. The alveoli do not yet extend down into the meshes of the capillary net-work. In a child that lived for seven days the flattening-out of the alveolar epithelium had already made considerable progress (Stieda found that this flattening took place much earlier in sheep embryos). The very rapid development of the pavement out of the cylinder epithelium, the author says, must be necessarily produced by the expansion of the lungs after birth. (There are two objections to this view, first, it is not shown that the change accompanies an expansion; second, it fails to account for the development of the flat cells during foetal life, as in sheep. Rep.)-(Arch. mikr. anat., xxii. 93.) c. s. M. [1176 The nature of inhibition. - Professor T. Lauder Brunton has lately offered a theory of inhibition founded on its analogy to the interference which occurs when waves of light or sound meet in opposite phases. According to his hypothesis, there are, in the cord and brain, successive layers of sensory and motor cells, so arranged that each motor cell is connected, not only with its corresponding sensory cell, through which the afferent impulse causing a simple reflex first passes, but also with other sensory cells higher or lower in the cord. When the afferent nerve leading to a sensory cell is slightly stimulated, a simple reflex occurs through the corresponding motor cell. So when several afferent fibres are gently stimulated, as in tickling the sole of the foot, the impulse from each sensory cell passes to a motor cell, and calls forth a reflex contraction. If the afferent fibre leading to any sensory cell is more strongly stimulated, the impulse on reaching the sensory cell will divide, part going directly to the motor cell, part passing to a neighboring sensory cell and thence indirectly to the motor cell. The consequence is, that the two waves of impulse, having travelled paths of unequal length, meet in opposite phases, and an interference or inhibition results. A firm pressure applied to the sole of the foot arouses no reflex contraction. No place is given in the theory to special inhibitory cells. Any cell may exercise an inhibitory action on the sensory or motor cells with which it is connected. Whether its action on any other cell shall augment or inhibit the activity of the latter, depends on the phase in which the wave of impulse travelling from it meets the wave of impulse that has reached the same cell from another source. In the case of inhibition by the will, the impulse sent down from the brain is supposed to interfere with that originating in the cord from the stimulation of sensory nerves. Besides inhibition by interference, apparent inhibition by the diversion of the stimulus into other than its customary path may occur. Brunton attempts to explain many of the wellknown phenomena of inhibition on this hypothesis. His explanation of the action of drugs-such as atropia, morphia, strychnia -on the theory of interference is particularly weak and unsatisfactory. — (Nature, nos. 696-699.) w. H. H. [1177 Man. Electrotonus of the motor nerves of man.Since the discovery by Pflüger of the general laws of electrotonic changes in a nerve during the passage of a galvanic current, from investigations made upon the dissected nerves of frogs, numerous attempts have been made to verify his conclusions for the uninjured nerve of man. The general outcome of this work has not been satisfactory, as far as a confirmation of Pflüger's generalizations is concerned. Perhaps the chief cause of the discrepancy amongst the results of different observers has been the neglect to fully appreciate the fact pointed out by Helmholtz, that when the uninjured nerve, in its natural position in the body, is exposed to an electrical current, there exist in the region of each electrode, owing to rapid current diffusion, areas of different electrical density, which must, therefore, be considered as electrodes of opposite signs. Waller and de Watteville have investigated the subject anew upon the motor nerves of man, and obtained results which are in accord with the laws established by Pflüger. Their experiments were made in most cases upon the peroneal nerve, and the contractions of the corresponding muscles were registered by appropriate means upon a smoked drum. They employed three methods of stimulation, induction currents, constant currents, and mechanical stimuli. The unipolar method was used in all cases, and the polarizing and stimulating currents were combined in one circuit. By this means the points of stimulation and polarization were made co-extensive, and the electrotonic changes in the polar region obtained. In mechanical excitation the same result was reached by using the polarizing electrode itself to give the stimulating blow. The authors have adopted the theory of a 'mixed polar action for both polarizing and testing currents;' that is, at the electrode applied to the nerve, there exist for each current, stimulating as well as polarizing, a 'polar' region of the same sign as the electrode, and a peripolar' region of the opposite sign, the electrical density of the latter being less than that of the former, but still sufficient to act as a physiological stimulus. When an induction current was used to. test the polar alteration of excitability' produced by the polarizing current, the results were found to differ according as the 'exploring' electrode represented the kathode or anode of both currents, or the kathode of one and the anode of the other. In the first case the effect of the induction shocks are increased; in the second case, diminished. They explain their results in this way. When the electrode is kathode of the induction current, the excitation proceeds from the kathodic polar region. If the electrode is at the same time the kathode of the polarizing current, the polar region is kathodic, and possesses increased irritability. If the electrode is anode of the polarizing current, the polar region is anodic, and its irritability is diminished. When, on the other hand, the electrode is anode of the induction current, the excitation proceeds from the peripolar kathodic region, since all contractions with induction currents are make-contractions. If the electrode is at the same time the anode of the polarizing current, the peripolar region is kathodic, and therefore of increased excitability. If the electrode is kathode of the polarizing current, the peripolar region is anodic, and therefore of diminished excitability. When the testing current is a galvanic current, and both polarizing and testing currents are in the same direction, it is found that the effect of the kathodic make is increased during the flow of a kathodic current, and of an anodic make during the flow of an anodic current. The excitation proceeds from a kathodic region of increased irritability, in one case polar, in the other peripolar. So the effect of a kathodic break is diminished during the flow of a kathodic current, and of an anodic break during the flow of an anodic current. The excitation arises from the disappearance of an electrotonus in an anelectrotonic region of depressed irritability, in one case peripolar, in the other polar. With regard to mechanical stimulation, it was observed that the effect is increased when the polar region is kathodic, and diminished when it is anodic. They made some experiments upon the after-effects of the polarizing current, the results of which show that there is an after-kathodic diminution and an after-anodic increase of excitability, which are more marked in the polar than in the peripolar region.—(Phil. trans., 1882, 961.) W. H. H. [1178 Electrotonus of the sensory nerves of man. — Waller and de Watteville have carried out a series of experiments on the alterations of excitability of the sensory nerves during the passage of a galvanic current, similar to those made upon the motor nerves. Their method of work was essentially the same as in the preceding investigation. In order to measure the increase or diminution of sensation after polarization, they ascertained the least strength of current which would produce a 'reaction in consciousness,' and then noted the changes necessary to be made after polarization to obtain the same effect. Their general result is, that, "after the passage of a galvanic current, the alterations in the excitability of the sensory nerves of man follow a course essentially similar to that observed in the motor nerves." — (Proc. roy. soc., 1882, 222.) W. H. H. [1179 ANTHROPOLOGY. The Smithsonian anthropological papers. great delay in bringing out the annual report for 1881 has induced Prof. Baird to publish the scientific summaries and the anthropological papers in separate pamphlets. The summary, as usual, is by Prof. Mason, and the papers were all prepared under his editorial care. The summary is divided into two parts, the discussion and the bibliography. In order to show just where each contribution for the year stands with reference to the whole, he divides anthropology into eleven parts, — anthropogeny, archeology, biology of man, psychology, glossology, ethnology, technology, sociology, mythology, hexiology, and bibliography; the latter term including all aids to the study of man. By the use of the Greek words γράφη, λόγος, νόμος, and γενεά, the suffixes -ography, -ology, -onomy, and -ogeny, may be applied to each of the foregoing terms, in order to indicate the observing, the classifying, the discursive, and the philosophic phases of each branch of inquiry. Separate chapters are devoted to each of the leading topics. The miscellaneous papers are unusually numerous. Explorations of mounds in Kansas are reported by Mr. Serviss; in Iowa, by Banta and Garretson; in Missouri, by Hardy, Scheetz, and Watkins; in Wisconsin and Illinois, by Moody, Shallenberger, and Adams; in Ohio, by Luther; in Kentucky, by Linney and Evans; in Tennessee, by Haite; in Alabama, by Gesner; in Georgia, by Whittlesey; in Florida, by Bell. Other aboriginal works are treated by Whitcomb for Washington Territory, by Stinson for Indiana, and by Case and MacLean for Ohio. Miscellaneous antiquities are reported from Iowa by Dean; from Illinois, by Gale, McClelland, French, Farrell, and Sibley; in Texas, by Roessler; in Arkansas, by Jones; in Pennsylvania, by Hayden; in New York, by Sheward; in Connecticut, by Ellsworth; and in Nova Scotia, by Patterson. Besides these are papers on shell-heaps in Alabama, West Virginia, and Massachusetts, by Mohr, Hubbard, and Wing; on inscriptions in Arkansas, by Green; on buried flints in Illinois, by Snyder; on silver crosses from a Georgia mound, by Jones; on ancient canals in Florida, by Kenworthy; on rockcarvings on the Susquehanna, by Galbraith; on a sculptured stone from New Brunswick, by Jack; on a perforated tablet from New York, by Tooker; a specimen of aboriginal art, by Matthew; and on the aborigines of Florida, by Walker.-J. w. P. [1180 Egyptian boomerangs. Gen. Pitt-Rivers takes the occasion of receiving an Egyptian boomerang as a text for the review of the subject of the spread of that interesting weapon. His description is accompanied by a plate, giving figures of twelve boomerangs from the same quarter, which he had seen in different museums. There are four phases in the evolution of the boomerang worthy of notice. All weapons which are thrown by the hand, and which are not specially adapted for rotation. 2. A round, curved stick, which would rotate more freely than a straight one. 3. The same weapon made from a split stick, opposing to the atmosphere a thinner edge, whereby the rotation and range would be greatly increased. This is the most important stage in the development of the boomerang. In this state it was used by the Australians for purposes of war, after they had further acquired a knowledge of the returning or screw boomerang. It was in this stage that Gen. Pitt-Rivers supposes it was carried by the black races into those distant regions where it is now used. 4. Those weapons to which is imparted by 1. peculiar twists a screw movement tending upwards, or at any rate in a direction that is perpendicular to the plane of rotation. This last stage of improvement, so far as we at present know, was effected in Australia only, and not in those countries into which, in its simpler form, it had been previously distributed by the migration of tribes. The Egyptian, African, and Dravidian boomerangs may not have been independent inventions, therefore. The boomerang being a weapon of very primitive construction, and its present distribution being coincident with the distribution of some of the black races of man, it may with great probability be regarded as one of those weapons which primeval men carried with them into distant parts from the home of their ancestors, wherever it was. In speaking of the distribution of this weapon, writers should be careful to note that the Egyptian boomerang, the trombush of the blacks of Abyssinia, and that of the blacks of Hindostan, correspond only to one class of the Australian boomerang, viz., that used by them for war, and considered to be the most useful weapon they employ,—and that this differs from the returning boomerang, which has a lateral twist by means of which it is caused to rise in the air, screwing itself up precisely in the same manner as a boy's flyingtop, which rises and spins against the ceiling. (Journ. anthrop. inst., xii. 454.) J. W. P. [1181 Hittite inscriptions.—So many attempts to decipher the Maya hieroglyphs have been based upon the processes that have led to brilliant results in Egyptian and Mesopotamian inscriptions, that we are not surprised to find an author deciphering Hittite by means of Aztec phonetic values. Prof. John Campbell of Montreal has in press a volume on the history of the Hittites, their migrations, antiquities, and language, in which will appear translations of some of the inscriptions first discovered by Mr. Drake in 1871. A pamphlet of sixteen pages, however, precedes the volume, giving the translations. Briefly, the author believes that the Hittite empire, overthrown in 717 B.C., was re-established successively in India, north of the Altai, north-east of China, in Khitan, Mantchuria, Saghalin, Corea, and Japan, and finally as Aztec, Peruvian, and Chibcha,, on the American continent. Mr. Campbell, therefore, has only to give to the characters of Hamath resembling those of Mexico their Aztec phonetic values, and the thing is done. — J. W. P. [1182 EGYPTOLOGY. Geography. The vast field of ancient geography yet to be explored is indicated by the fact that two thousand names of places outside of Egypt, mentioned in the geographical lists, still await identification. Brugsch points out some necessary cautions. 1°. The different systems of orientation. The Egyptian always imagined himself as standing face to the south: the east was on the left hand, the west on the right hand, and the north behind him. The African made a point, between the Nile and the Red Sea, east of Ethiopia, the place from which he judged of the relations of countries: hence to him Ethiopia was in the west, etc. The Asiatic faced the east, and spoke of it as before him, the west as behind him. And the Egyptian monuments represent, sometimes one, sometimes another, of the systems in giving the relations of the same place. 2°. The Egyptians very frequently translated and did not transcribe foreign names. It has often been remarked that the names of nations well known in pre-classic antiquity, and with whom the Egyptians were well acquainted, are not found on the monuments. These names must be sought in the Egyptian translations. 3°. The Egyptian geographical lists, in their enumeration of African peoples, proceed from south to north: among Asiatic nations they proceed from north to south; i.e., in both cases they follow the downward course of the great rivers. Brugsch believes that Punt was a southern land, not in Arabia (where most place it), but in Africa, and that the Egyptians sent expeditions thither at a very early period in their history. Hommel (Vorsemitischen kulturen, 1883. p. 108, 421) thinks these expeditions began about 2450 B.C.—(Revue egyptol., iv.) (1183 H. O. NOTES AND NEWS. The remains of the late Professor Charles Frederic Hartt, who is well remembered for his extensive scientific researches in Brazil, arrived at New York from Rio de Janeiro on June 7 last, by the steamer Finance. They will be carried to Buffalo, N. Y., the home of Mrs. Hartt, for interment. Over five years have now elapsed since the death of this distinguished naturalist and linguist, whose life was so faithfully dedicated to the cause of Brazilian science. Completely worn out by the drudgery of official cares in trying to perfect the organization of which he was the chief, against the jealousies of a foreign and unappreciative people, he fell an easy victim to that most dreaded of all Brazilian scourges, yellow-fever, which afflicted so many Americans during the early spring of 1878. His grave in the protestant section of one of the larger Rio cemeteries has borne no other mark than the customary number by which it could be identified. While Brazil has neglected the memory of one who more than any other gave character and purity of purpose to its scientific undertakings, his own country will not fail to do him homage. The Report of the chief of ordnance, U.S.A., 1882, contains some important matter relating to the science and practice of gunnery. Col. Crispin makes a long and valuable report on European ordnance. The methods of construction of British and French ordnance are described, and the advantages of malleable over cast irons are exhibited. The now familiar effects of tempering in oil, as practised in British gun-making establishments, are described. Soft steels having a tenacity, untempered, of thirtyone tons per square inch are given a strength of forty-seven tons by oil-tempering, their elongation being, meantime, reduced somewhat by the process. The reporting officer concludes that the direction of change is toward the introduction of built-up forged guns, or built guns of cast steel, and that the future is to see the introduction of this principle carried to its limit in guns made of coiled wire, as proposed by Treadwell of Cambridge, and recently by Woodbridge, a conclusion manifestly at variance with the results described in his report as attained by Whitworth with solid guns of compressed steel. The principles upon which Whitworth is working - are summed up by that inventor as strong, ductile, and sound materials, strong, quick-burning powder, short guns, long projectiles, and rapid rotation." Lieut. Birnie's conversion-tables for metric measures are included in this volume. They are substantially the same as those issued by the Messrs. Wiley, together with Noble's British tables, and other matter from Thurston's Materials of engineering. Capts. Michaelis and Greer discuss the deviations of projectiles mathematically. The report is supplied to libraries and scientific departments by the chief of ordnance. - De Candolle's 'Origine des plantes cultivées' has received a searching review at the hands of Professor Asa Gray and Mr. J. Hammond Trumbull in the American journal of science. The book itself is as valuable to anthropology as it is to botany, and it was fitting that a competent representative of each of these sciences should be associated in its examination. The reviewers, however, in this case, seem to have had a definite object ulterior to that of merely appreciating this last great contribution of the venerable phytologist. The claims of America as the original source of a large number of the bestknown vegetable products of the globe required to be defended; and they deliberately assumed and performed this task, showing in a large number of cases that De Candolle had either ignored or had not duly weighed the evidence that exists in favor of their American origin. The comprehensive and critical learning displayed in these articles, relative to the mention of these plants in the early history of American discovery, is only equalled by the shrewdness and force with which it is marshalled in support of the views which the writers feel called upon to set forth and sustain. — 'Progress in meteorology, 1879-81.' This useful contribution to the English literature of meteorology has been published by the Smithsonian institution under the editorship of Professor Cleveland Abbe of the army signal-office. It consists, as the author expressly states, of extracts, mostly from the Vienna Zeitschrift for the years 1879, 1880, and 1881; and this accounts for the notices from the German of two papers originally published in this country. Biographical notices of eminent meteorologists who died in the interval covered by this pamphlet, a concise description of the work contemplated by the Polar commission, and an account of the meteorological work in hand and proposed by nearly all the different governments, are given. Under well-arranged heads, such as bibliography, methods, apparatus, etc., chemical and physical properties of the atmosphere, solar radiation and terrestrial temperature, movements of the atmosphere, barometric pressure, electricity, magnetism, and optical phenomena, will be found abundant material for study, and of the later scientific investigations in the protean subject of meteorology. - The Worcester county, Mass., free school of industrial science is now completing its fifteenth year. It offers free instruction to students, who, at the time they enter, are residents of the county. There is a further endowment by the state for twenty free scholarships for students elected by the board of education. The school is by no means a local institution, a large number of the boys coming from outside Massachusetts. At present there is great need of an increase in the accommodations of the chemical and engineering departments. The friends of the institution are bestirring themselves, and have issued a pamphlet stating the results of the school's work up to this time, and the urgent need there is for further room, that the growth of the institution may not be cramped. The mechanical department, possibly the most thriving, has received, within the last two or three years, greatly increased facilities, but is pressed to the utmost to fulfil the demands upon it. - At the meeting of the Engineers' club of Philadelphia, May 19, Mr. C. G. Darrach exhibited two profiles from Tiffin, O., to Lake Station, on the southern bend of Lake Michigan. The surveys were made for the Baltimore and Ohio short line to Chicago, — one viâ Napoleon, and the other viâ Defiance, O. About 240 miles of surveys were run, and the profile and maps plotted in sixty working-days, with a party of eight men. At the meeting of June 2, Mr. Carl Hering read a short article on electrical units and formulae; Prof. L. M. Haupt exhibited a drawing of the Phoenixville bridge, which was built by Mr. Moncure Robinson, C.E., in 1836, for the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, over the Schuylkill. It is an instructive and enduring monument of successful construction of cut⚫ stone masonry. There are four segmental arches 72 feet clear span, and 16 feet rise; radius of arch, 47 feet; voussoirs, 2 feet 9 inches thick. One end abuts against a rocky bluff, whilst the other is supported by a heavy abutment with an earthen filling. It is believed to be one of the lightest and cheapest bridges of its kind in this country, having cost but $48,000. The secretary exhibited samples of Japanese paper, which he had obtained through Mr. J. A. L. Waddell. Many Japanese papers are of excellent quality, and could probably be used with great advantage in engineering practice. - Van Nostrand has published, as one of the excellent Science series,' a book of logarithms to four places, of logarithmic and natural functions. The tables seem to be very well arranged, especially those of the natural functions. most exactly full, and at an altitude of some 30°. At 9h. 30m. local mean time, to test the clearness of the air and the visibility of fifth and sixth magnitude stars, I made a naked-eye sketch of the Hyades and Pleiades, which were also roughly at the same altitude as the moon, but considerably more than 90° distant from her. In the Pleiades I distinctly made out ten stars, -D. M. + 24°, 553 and 556, both of 7.0 magnitude, being seen as one star; and D. M. + 24°, 546, of magnitude 6.3, being clearly visible. In the head of Taurus I made out seventeen stars, two of which-D. M. + 16°, 586, and + 16o, 605 (of 6.0 and 5.0 magnitude) are not in Argelander's Uranometria nora. I also saw o Tauri plainly double. "As it is now near the close of the rainy season, I hope shortly to be in a position to report something of what can be done with a six-inch refractor at 14,360 feet above the sea-level. My station is at Vincocaya, between Arequipa and Puno. In the mean time I am endeavoring to obtain the height of the Ilimani." -Dr. Ralph Copeland, editor of Copernicus, writes to that journal in the latter part of January last, from Lima, "At Chorillos, near this, are staying M. Barnaud, Lieut. de Vaisseau, and M. Favreau, Enseigne de Vaisseau, members of the French Venus expeditions to Chili. Chorillos is the landing-point of the cable from Valparaiso and Panama. The French astronomers, in conjunction with two colleagues now at Valparaiso, are determining the difference of longitude. They have two-inch transit instruments, with chronographs and chronometers; and the cable is led directly into the observatory. The instruments are similar at both stations, and the observers do not interchange stations; but the personal equation has been determined for wire-transits, and signals transmitted by Thomson's galvanometer. The strength of current is adjusted by a rheostat to a constant strength. A triangulation will connect Chorillos, Callao, and Lima, distant some six or seven miles from each other. The connection of Valparaiso with Buenos Aires on the one hand, and with Callao and Panama on the other, will complete the circuit of the greater part of South America; the chain from Greenwich to Buenos Aires, through Lisbon, Madeira, St. Vincent, Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio Janeiro, and Montevideo, having been finished by Lieut.-Commander Green, U.S.N., in 1879." - The first livraison of Les nouvelles conquêtes de la science, par Louis Figuier, is devoted to a sketch of the application of electricity to lighting. Judging from the sample of explanation given in the introduction, where the glowing of a conductor is attributed to the accumulation of an electric fluid, it cannot be said that the book promises to give a straightforward statement of facts without embellishment. The illustrations are numerous and attractive. Very much of the same untrustworthy character is the first livraison of Nouvelle histoire des voyages, par Richard Cortambert. Both of these books are for sale by F. W. Christern, New York, - Prof. C. S. Sargent has recently prepared a striking statement of the loss, actual and prospective, suffered from forest-fires, and of the necessity of stringent legislation for their prevention. Especially should this loss be brought to public attention in New England, where so much surface is adapted only to forest-growing, and whence a great share of our white pine must come in future years. These states already possess valuable forests of second-growth pine, now reaching a size when they can properly be thinned out, leaving the smaller trees for future need. But in Massachusetts alone, ten thousand acres of forest are on the average burned annually; about one-third of the fires beginning from locomotive sparks, and nearly all the rest from easily avoided carelessness. This burning not only destroys the standing trees; it makes investment of capital in growing forests hazardous, it checks the growth of a very desirable industry, and it destroys the capacity of the ground to continue a pine growth. When properly cut, a pine forest may be propagated indefinitely. When burned, there is a long succession of weeds and briers, mountain cherry, gray birch, willows or poplars, maples, and ash-trees, until a hard-wood growth is established. This maintains itself for a long time if left alone; but if the ground be then cleared by cutting, cultivated for many years, and then left free from plough and scythe, and 'guarded from pasturing and fire, the white pine will spring up spontaneously after its long absence. Fifty or one hundred years must pass before this desirable crop returns. In view of so long a delay, and of the considerable value that pine will soon command, it is well that special care should be given to protecting and preserving the second-growth forests now approaching maturity. - The national congress of the French geographic societies will meet this year at Douai, seat of the Geographic union of the north of France, on Aug. 26, for a week's session, Excursions will be made to Calais and other points on the channel, and to Charleville, and across the Ardennes to Belgium. A geographic exhibition is proposed in connection with the meeting. -M. de Lesseps recently stated to the French geographical society that the work on the Panama canal was going on in good condition. Excavation has been begun all along the line. Two American machines had just been received, capable of digging three to four thousand cubic metres a day. The work is in charge of the chief engineer' des ponts et chaussées,' sent out from France by the canal company some months ago. The Algerian canal, in which M. de Lesseps is interested in connection with M. Rondaire, now, he says, stands a good chance of |