Died suddenly, on June 11th, at the age of forty-nine years, Joseph Winlock, Director of the Cambridge Observatory, and Phillips Professor of Astronomy in Harvard College. The deceased was a native of Kentucky, and from 1845 till 1852 was Professor of Mathematics in Shelby College, in that State. He then removed to Cambridge, where he was employed in making computations for the Nautical Almanac. Later he was appointed Professor of Mathematics for the United States Navy, and served as assistant in the Washington Observatory, superintendent of the Nautical Almanac, and Director of the Mathematical Department of the Annapolis Academy. From 1865 till his death he was connected with the Cambridge Observatory and Harvard College.
The fifteenth annual meeting of the National Educational Association will be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, the 3d, 4th, and 5th days of August. The officers of the Association are: President, William T. Harris, St. Louis; Secretary, William R. Abbott, Bellevue, Virginia; Treasurer, A. P. Marble, Worcester, Massachusetts.
Committee "F" of the United States Board for testing iron, steel, etc., request information as to the behavior of rails and machinery exposed to the extremes of temperature observed in northern latitudes, when subject to wear or to breakage. Specimens, photographs, results of analysis, statistics of railroads, statements from rolling-mills, published or unpublished essays—in short, information of any kind upon the subject may be sent in to the committee, R. H. Thurston, chairman, Stevens Institute, Hoboken, New Jersey.
An elaborate work by A. R. Wallace, on the "Geographical Distribution of Animals," is announced as soon to be published by Macmillan. It will be in two volumes, illustrated with many maps and woodcuts.
Mary Putnam Jacobi, M. D., of New York, has recently received from Paris, says the Tribune, the bronze medal awarded three years ago by the Academy of Medicine for her graduating thesis. In the competition Mrs. Jacobi attained the rank of from fifth to eighth in a class of 300, all men except herself. And yet Paris medical journals are complaining that "the admission of women students to the Academy has lowered its standards!"
It is stated in an Albany journal that Seth Green has succeeded in hatching a large number of sturgeon-eggs. It is intended to stock the Hudson River with sturgeon, a fish which at one time was very abundant in that stream, but which has for years been declining in numbers.
The Swedish Arctic Expedition of the present year was to have sailed in June for Nova Zembla. It will first study the botany, zoölogy, and ethnology, of the south of the island, and then advance along the west coast to the northernmost point. Thence it will advance to the northeast to explore this unknown part of the Polar Sea. It then goes south to the mouth of the Obi and the Yenisei. Here the explorers will quit the ship and go up the river in boats, returning home afterward by land. Prof. Nordenskiöld commands the expedition. A wealthy merchant, Oskar Dickson, bears all the expenses.
In excavating near Rideau Hall, Ottawa, the residence of the Governor-General of Canada, the workmen made an interesting geological discovery. They came upon a stratum of fossil-rock several feet thick, containing beautiful petrified winged insects. Some of these are like butterflies, with the delicate fibre of the wings in a perfect state of preservation.
During the last fifty years the water-level of the rivers Elbe and Oder has fallen 17 inches, that of the Rhine 24, of the Vistula 26, and that of the Danube as much as 55 inches at Orsova. And there is a similar decrease in the water-supply from springs in Germany. The cause of this decline is attributable to the present reckless cutting down of forests, as also to the artificial drainage now so generally adopted by farmers.
Dr. Paul Bert, distinguished for his researches on the physiological effects of atmospheric pressures, has been chosen President of the French Aëronautical Society. Gaston Tissandier is one of the vice-presidents.
The work of the Geological Survey of California having been suspended by the State Legislature, a vast collection of botanical observations remained in manuscript, which the State refused to have printed. Prof. Gilman has succeeded in raising a subscription of $5,000, for the purpose of publishing this valuable material. The funds were contributed by nine public-spirited citizens of San Francisco.
Spectacle-frames with fine wire gauze in place of glass are found to answer perfectly for the protection of the eyes from dust in various trades and occupations, such as stone-cutting, thrashing, etc. Such spectacles permit the necessary access of air to the eye, and produce no inconvenience to the wearer.
The best authorities consulted by the British insurance companies, as to the advisability of putting an extra premium on the policies held by the members of the
