so far from land that it can not be felt by those on shore. These instruments, wherever they are established, give information of great seismic disturbances, even when they take place at the antipodes of the place of observation. Hence they enable us to correct, confirm, and even to disprove telegraphic information.
The peach is cultivated in Belgium grafted or budded on the red plum, which imparts much of its superior vitality to the scion. The proper calcareous quality is imparted to the soil by manuring thoroughly and applying about a bushel of lime to each tree. The trees are trained upon the sunny sides of the houses, and few houses are without trees covering their walls. To shelter the buds at the time of flowering branches cut from other green trees are placed among the upper boughs, or they are covered with mosquito netting or other material with meshes large enough to give passage to light and air; or simply devised shelters of straw are laid over them. The shields are usually placed in position about the 1st of March, and are not removed, except in cloudy weather, till all danger from frost has passed.
Among the curiosities of architecture described by Mr. F. T. Hodgson in Architecture and Building we find the following: "The Exchange building in the city of Copenhagen has attached to it a tower and spire that is one of the sights of Denmark's capital. It is one of the most remarkable examples of eccentric architecture known, although the architect in his desire for originality has not sacrificed grace of form. The lower part is octagonal in shape; but the upper part consists of four carved dragons whose tails, gracefully entwined, gradually taper away and form the spire of the Exchange. The tower and spire run up over one hundred and sixty-five feet, and the tails of the dragons are 'scaled' or imbricated, and the effect is rather pleasing. The Exchange was built in 1815."
Prof. E. Ray Lankester has taken the pains to contradict an assertion that he was opposed to amateurs in science. "There is not a particle of truth in it," he writes; "the members of the Marine Biological Association are mostly 'amateurs'; Darwin was an amateur; it is rare indeed to find a professional naturalist of any merit who is not in the true sense of the term an amateur. I desire no better term to describe my relation to biological science than that of 'amateur.' My students in London and in Oxford who have been good for anything in the making of new knowledge have been 'amateurs,' and the whole body of men who have co-operated with me for thirty years in the production of the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science have been, with very rare exceptions, 'amateurs.' It is, consequently, obvious that I have never despised the efforts of amateurs on the ground that they were made by amateurs; but, on the contrary, have been occupied entirely with organizing those efforts, and in making and recording observations myself as an amateur. On the other hand, I have but little toleration for incompetence, pretense, or fraud, whether in an amateur or a professional man."
One will be impressed with the importance of good roads, Mr. John Gifford reports to the Geological Survey of New Jersey, by a visit to the forest region of Germany, where forest exploitation and road construction go hand in hand, so that inaccessible forest regions become profitable solely through the construction of excellent roads. In Germany such roads penetrate the forests in almost every direction. In certain parts of France, where a few grapevine twigs a day must serve a family for fuel, inconvenience and sometimes suffering are incurred for the lack of wood, while not far away, on the shores of the Bay of Biscay, immense quantities of excellent wood are allowed to rot, simply because a lack of roads makes the transportation of the wood unprofitable.
It is stated in a recent copy of the London Lancet that Professor Sanarelli has succeeded in obtaining an active immunizing serum against yellow fever. He has at present in his laboratory three dogs and two horses, well "vaccinated," which have yielded serums giving perfect immunization against experimental yellow fever in animals.
The results of the experiments of Mr. Bokorney upon the relative antiseptic action of various substances give silver nitrate and mercuric chloride as the most effective of the inorganic compounds examined, and as having about the same value. Copper sulphate is nearly as active, and is followed by zinc sulphate and cadmium sulphate. Lead acetate and nitrate, in a one-percent solu-
