there are only a few small islands from which observations are possible. Mr. C. H. Rockwell, at the recent meeting of the American association, suggested the feasibility of sending an expedition to Caroline Island, which is situated in latitude 10° south, and longitude 150° west; and his plan has been adopted by the committee. A small appropriation of $5,000 was asked from Congress to defray the necessary expenses, and forms one of the items in the sundry civil bill now under consideration, with little doubt of its being granted. The expedition leaves New York to-day by steamer for Callao, via Panama. At this point, through the courtesy of the secretary of the navy, a man-of-war receives the party, and conveys them to Caroline Island. This is a small coral island, and said to be inhabited by a few persons. It is near the central line, and will give the observers a period of about five minutes, or a few seconds more, of the total phase. The members of the party are as follows: Prof. E. S. Holden of Madison, Wis.; Mr. C. H. Rockwell of Tarrytown, N. Y.; Prof. C. S. Hastings of Baltimore; Mr. E. D. Preston, U. S. coast-survey; Mr. W. Upton, U. S. signal-office; and Ensign Brown, U. S. navy. The party will be further increased by two English astronomers sent by the Royal society, who will join the expedition at Panama. The most important observations planned are a search for intra-mercurial planets, spectroscopic observations, and photographic work. The last named is wholly in the hands of the English guests of the party. Professor Hastings has planned the spectroscopic work, and will use a 64-inch, a 4-inch, and a 24-inch telescope. The first named is fitted with a grating for examination of the chromosphere before and after totality, and with a large prism for special study during the total phase of the outer corona. The second is provided with a grating, and also a single prism, and is designed for use in studying the relative lengths of lines reversed just before totality, and the limits to which the line 1474 K can be traced. The smallest instrument has a 300 prism of flintglass placed before its objective, and is designed for observing the relative heights and brightness of the rings Ha, H3, Hy, Hɲ, D3, and 1474 K. The instrumental outfit includes, in addition, a 6inch telescope, a 4-inch and a 24-inch polariscopic apparatus, and meteorological instruments for studying radiation and other phenomena. It is probable that the expedition will arrive at Caroline Island the latter part of April. After the eclipse the naval vessel will sail for Honolulu, from which the party will return via San Francisco. The Coast-survey observer carries a pendulum, which will be swung at various points as occasion offers. The chances of fair weather are very good, and the outlook for the success of the expedition seems in every way to be favorable. It is not known that any other expedition will be sent to observe the eclipse; though a French expedition to observe at Flint Island, which is near Caroline Island, has been planned. -The American members of the International congress of electricians, which assembled in Paris in 1881, were: Hon. Levi P. Morton (American minister), Prof. G. F. Barker of Philadelphia, Major D. P. Heap, U.S.A., Dr. Cornelius Herz, Lieut. T. C. Maclean, U.S.N., and Prof. Henry A. Rowland of Baltimore. The members chosen by the U. S. government to represent them at the Electrical conference, held in October, 1882, of which an account is given in our leading article, were Prof. Henry A. Rowland of Baltimore, and Prof. John Trowbridge of Cambridge. Not a few of our younger scientific men will feel a personal loss in the recent death of Hon. Paul A. Chadbourne, president of the Massachusetts agricultural college. Previously president of the University of Wisconsin and of Williams college, earlier professor at the latter institution and at Bowdoin college, an instructor in chemistry, materia medica, geology, botany, zoology, and natural theology, he has been brought all his life into contact with young men, and has impressed them with his earnestness. Occupied in too many and too varied pursuits to give his strength to research, but possessed of native powers and intuitive perceptions which would have enabled him to accomplish much in such a field, he has yet encouraged so many young men in the beginning of their career, -men who to-day hold their own in American science, that his name deserves honorable mention here. He was a man of intense activity and diversified talents; being perhaps equally known as preacher, legislator, lecturer, and manufacturer, but best of all as an instructor. He died in his sixtieth year. -A course of seven free Saturday-night lectures at the Cooper Union, New York, commencing Feb. 17, is announced as follows: Miss L. Von Finkelstein, on Domestic and city life in Jerusalem; Rev. J. C. Eccleston, D.D., on Columbus and his companions; Dr. Samuel Kneeland, on the Sandwich Islands, the land of fire; the same lecturer, on Iceland, the land of desolation; Prof. H. L. Fairchild, on Animal selfdefence; the same lecturer, on Prehistoric man; the last of the course by J. H. Wilson, Esq., on Spain. All the lectures will be illustrated. - At a meeting of the American philosophical society held at Philadelphia on Feb. 21, the subject of glacial motion was treated by Professors Lewis, Frazer, and Lesley; Prof. Lewis discussing the various causes assigned for the extension and southward flow of the great glacier, Prof. Frazer recounting the observations of Messrs. Peach and Horne on the glaciation of Scotland, and Prof. Lesley giving an amusing description of the rival theories of British glaciation urged by different geologists. -Prof. C. S. Sargent of Harvard university has in preparation a new North-American Sylva. The drawings will be made by Mr. Charles E. Faxon, and the work will be published by the U. S. government. -The latest numbers of the zeitschrift of the Berlin Gesellschaft für erdkunde (h. 4 and 5, xvii. 1882) contain papers on Russian surveys in 1881, by Lademann; Haussknecht's travels in Asia Minor and Persia, by H. Kiepert; on some Branches of the Amazon, translated from the Portuguese by W. Reiss, with a map showing the great irregularity of the channel between long. 55° and 60° W. Gr., and its frequent expansion into lakes. - One of the tables at the zoölogical station at Naples is occupied the present season, by appointment of the University of Cambridge, Engl., by an American, Miss Emily A. Nunn, formerly professor of biology at Wellesley college, Wellesley, Mass. The Boletim da sociedade de geographia de Lisboa, 1882, No. 5, contains continued articles on the Portuguese possessions in eastern Africa, translated from O'Neill's observations, on Portuguese colonies (No. xx., in Belgium), and on the island of St. Nicholas (Cape Verde); and the results of meteorological observations in Loanda, 1879-81, by Coelho, from which we note the following factors. The barometric pressure (at an altitude of 59 met.) has its maximum of 759 mm. in July or August, and minimum 755 in January or February; the daily variation is 2.7 mm. The temperature averages 23° C., varying from 19° in July or August to 25° or 26° in February, with an average daily range of from four to eight degrees; the absolute maximum is 31°.7, and absolute minimum, 13°.5. The relative humidity averages 82, and rarely falls below 70. The west wind is much more frequent than any other, and seems to bring two seasons of rain, one about December, and a greater one about April; but in the three years of observation the results are very variable, 1879 giving a total rain of 571 mm., and 1881 having only 134. From May to October inclusive, very little rain falls; and June, July, and August are practically rainless. Evaporation carries off about 1.9 met. of water a year, and cloudiness averages five in a maximum of ten. – During the last tourist-season in the Alps, fourteen persons were injured in mountain-climbing, three of them fatally. Bohren of Grindelwald was struck by lightning on the Wetterhorn, and instantly killed. Notary v. Hütte of Bern, in attempting an ascent of the Wilde Frau, had lowered a companion by a rope over a steep wall some fifteen feet high; but was severely hurt in jumping after him, and died from his injuries. A son of Surgeon Wahli of Bern fell on the Niesen, while picking alpenrosen, and was dead when found. in Ottawa, Canada, called the 'Ottawa microscopical society,' with J. F. Whiteaves, Esq., F. G. S., as president, and J. B. Tyrrell, B.A., as secretary and treasurer. During the winter papers have been read and illustrated on the following subjects: Deep-sea soundings; Microscopic structure of rocks; Some insect parasites; Diatoms; and Human cellular tissue. The summer will be given to collecting, and next winter the society hopes to have a large amount of material for study. -An ingenious device for stirring up sluggish fish, as a preliminary to catching them through the ice, is mentioned by Lansdell in his recent book of travels, Through Siberia, as being employed by the natives on the river Irtish. The process is there specially applied to the capture of sturgeon, which in winter congregate in muddy hollows in the bed of the river, where they lie motionless for the sake of the warmth. The fishermen cut holes in the ice, and set springlines at them, and then proceed to heat a number of balls of clay red hot, and to throw them into the river below the bait. The heat rouses the fish, which rise, swim up the stream, and are caught. It would be of interest to determine by experiment whether any of our own food-fishes could be induced to take bait by inciting them to activity by means of heated bricks. -The Acadian science club has been formed in Nova Scotia for the encouragement of home study. The Acadian scientist,' published at Wolfville, N.S., is its official organ. -There seems to be a common impression that the nickel five-cent piece was intended to weigh five grammes and to measure two centimetres. The coinage of 5-cent nickel coins (nickel and copper alloy) was authorized by an act of Congress May 16, 1866, and was begun during that fiscal year. The act left the shape and devices upon the coin to the discretion of the director of the mint, subject to the approval of the secretary of the treasury. The weight of the coin was fixed at 67.16 grains, or 4,352 milligrammes, with a margin of 2 grains or 125 milligrammes each way to allow for accidents of coinage. Three fivecent nickels of the date 1866 were found to weigh 4.828, 4.869, and 4.920 grammes respectively. Two of the date 1872 weighed 4.906 and 4.982. Seven coins of different dates measured twenty and one-half millimetres within one-tenth of one millimetre. Evidently there was no intention to make the coin two centimetres in diameter, nor to have it weigh either four grammes or five. It may be remarked that all the coins are above the legal limit of weight (4.48 grammes). -The National convention of agriculturists held at the U. S. department of agriculture the last week of January called together delegates from nearly every state in the union. The first and second sessions (Jan. 23 and 24) were devoted to a discussion of agricultural colleges and societies, and of the general subject of agricultural education. Papers were read by Dr. O. C. Abbott of Michigan, Mr. Augustine Smith, Hon. Jno. A. King, Prof. J. A. Holmes of North Carolina, and Hon. D. W. Aiken of South Carolina. Animal industries were discussed on Jan. 25, 26, and 27; and papers were presented by Mr. R. Baker of Ohio, Dr. James Law of New York, Mr. R. V. Gaines of Virginia, Mr. T. D. Curtis of New York, Mr. H. B. Guiler of Illinois, Mr. Ezra Stetson of Illinois, Prof. Wesley Webb of Delaware, and Dr. M. G. Ellzey of Virginia. Much interest was manifested in both of these sessions, and the general discussions were animated and interesting. On the 29th, the last day, and the one set apart for the consideration of the cotton industries, there was a decided fallingoff in attendance; many of the delegates having left for home Saturday night, the 27th. These conventions which Dr. Loring has called together, and which he inaugurated a year ago, have been productive of much good in bringing representative agriculturists into closer relations with the department. They indicate the desire of the commissioner to study the wishes and opinions of the people in the management of the department, and thus to increase its usefulness. - Advices received from the U. S. consul at Montevideo, through the Department of state, show an alarming condition of affairs in parts of Uruguay from the ravages of destructive locusts. Foreign countries frequently apply through the state department for copies of the two reports of the U. S. entomological commission on the RockyMountain locust; and it may be well to announce that they were published under the interior department, and are both out of print. The agricultural report for 1877 contains a condensed account of the more practical chapters by Professor Riley, and this may yet be obtained of the commissioner. -The agricultural committee of the house has agreed to report favorably a bill introduced by Mr. Anderson of Kansas, which empowers the President to appoint nine commissioners whose duty it shall be to investigate thoroughly the movements of agricultural products from points of production to their final markets, the actual cost to the common carrier and his profits, and all matters which practically affect the difference between the prices received by the producer and those paid by the consumer. -In Salusbury's translation (p. 79) of Dialogue first of Galileo on His Systeme of the World,' 1661, Sagredus is made to say, "You put me in mind of a man, who would have sold me a secret how to correspond, by means of a certain sympathy of magnetick needles, with one that should be two or three thousand miles distant; and I telling him, that I would willingly buy the same, but that I desired first to see the experiment thereof, and that it did suffice me to make it, I being in one chamber, and he in the next, he answered me that in so small a distance one could not so well perceive the operation; whereupon I turned him going, telling him that I had no mind at that time to take a journey unto Grand Cairo, or to Muscovy, but that if he would go himself, I would perform the other part, staying in Venice." RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS. Amateur mechanics: an illustrated monthly magazine; con. ducted by Paul N. Hasluck. Part i. London, Trübner, 1883. 32 pl. 8°. Amos, S. The science of politics. London, Paul, 1883 (Intern. sc. series). 496 p. 8°. Bell, Alexander Graham. Upon the electrical experiments to determine the location of the bullet in the body of the late President Garfield; and upon a successful form of induction balance for the painless detection of metallic masses in the human body. Wash., Gibson pr., 1882. 58 p. 8°. Boase, H. S. A few words on evolution and creation. London, Leng, 1883. 276 p. 8°. Buffalo - Naturalist's field club. Bulletin. Vol. i. nos. 1-2. Buffalo, Hicks pr., 1883. 48 p. 8°. Campbell. J. L. Geology and mineral resources of the James River valley, Va.; with map and geological sections. N.Y., Putnam, 1883. 119 p. 8°. Charmes, Gabriel. Five months in Cairo and in Lower Egypt; transl. by W. Conn. London, Bentley, 1883. 356 p. 8°. Crowe, A. H. Highways and byways in Japan: the experiences of two pedestrian tourists. London, Low, 1883. 318 p. 8°. Duncan, J. Life of John Duncan, Scotch weaver and botanist; with sketches of his friends and notices of the times, by W. Jolly. London, Paul, 1883. 524 p., portr. 8°. Grierson, J. B. Electric lighting by water-power. London, Spons, 1883. 8°. Hinrichs, Gustavus. Notes on cloud forms and the climate of Iowa. Iowa City, 1883. (12) p. illustr., map. 8°. Hoar, C. Mensuration made easy; or, the decimal system for the million. London, Wilson, 1883. 84 p. 8°. Jackson, L. D'A. Hydraulic manual; consisting of working tables and explanatory text. Intended as a guide in hydraulic calculations and field operations. 4th ed. London, Lockwoods, 1883. 496 p. 8°. Lackowitz, W. Bilder aus dem vogelleben Norddeutschland und seiner nachbarländer, nach skizzen von Paul M. Röper bearb. i. lief. Berlin, Ebhardt, 1883. 24 p. 1. 8° (to be com pleted in 25 parts). Meigen, W. Die deutschen pflanzennamen Wesel. Kühler, 1882. 27 p. 8°. Nature studies. By Grant Allen, Andrew Wilson, Thomas Foster, Edward Clodd, and Richard A. Proctor. London, Wy. man, 1883 (Knowl. libr.). 322 p. 8°. Nemontis, W. S. Darwin's evolution theory not supported by evidence. London, Sampson, 1883. 23 p. Ohio meteorological bureau. Report for October, November, December. 3 nos. n.p., 1882. 16, 24, 34 p. 8°. Circular of information, 9 p. Perry, J. Practical mechanics. London, Cassell, 1883. 270 p. illust. 12°. Proctor, R. A. The stars in their seasons; an easy guide to a knowledge of the stars, exhibiting, in twelve large maps, the appearance of the heavens at any hour of the night, all the year round. London, Wyman, 1883. 8°. Rawlinson, G. Antiquity of man, historically considered. London, Rel. tract. soc., 1883. 44 p. 8°. Smith, G. Assyrian discoveries; an account of explorations and discoveries on the site of Nineveh, during 1873 and 1874. 7th ed. London, Low, 1883. 466 p. 8°. Smith, G. The geography of British India, political and physical. London, Murray, 1883. 570 p., maps. 8°. Wilkinson, H. Sunny lands and seas; a cruise around the world in the S. S. 'Ceylon.' London, Murray, 1883. 8°. Williams, W. Matthieu. Science in short chapters. N.Y., Funk & Wagnalls, 1883. 308 p. 12°. Year-book of pharmacy. 1882. London, Churchill, 1883. 8°. 607 p. born Feb. 3, 1823. His greatgrandfather on his mother's side was the Rev. Elihu Spencer of Trenton, whose pulpit-eloquence during the war for independence brought him the honor of having a price set on his head by the Britis government. Samuel Baird was a man of fine culture, a strong thinker, close observer, and lover of nature and outof-door pursuits. He died in 1833; but his children, especially his sons William and Spencer, were largely influenced by their father's tastes, and early began the collection of specimens in natural history. They worked together; and there are still, in the museum at Washington, specimens of birds prepared by these boys forty-five years ago, 1 For the portrait of Professor Baird, here given, SCIENCE is indebted to the liberality of the Photo-engraving company of New York. No. 5.-1883. by a simple process of evisceration, and then of stuffing the body-cavities with cotton and arsenical soap. The older brother entered the legal profession, and at the time of his death, in 1872, was U. S. collector of internal revenue at Reading. The younger continued his studies and natural history pursuits without interruption. He entered Dickinson college in 1836, when only thirteen years old, and was graduated in 1840. He afterward carried on some studies in medicine, but never formally completed, the course, and received his degree of M.D. honoris causa. His early interest in natural history was steadily encouraged and fostered. He was not compelled into a profession, but allowed to exercise the fullest freedom in re searches and collections. A strong stimulus was in the friendship of Audu bon, which he formed as early as 1838, while he was still a student in college. He was only prevented by ill health from accompanying Audubon as his secretary on his six-months' expedition to the Yellowstone in 1840. The older naturalist, in 1842, gave the younger the greater part of his collection of birds, including most of his types of new species. It was in these early years, also, that he formed lifelong friendships and associations with George N. Lawrence, John Cassin, John G. Morris, Thomas M. Brewer, and S. S. Halde man. In 1846 he was chosen professor of natural history in Dickinson college, and the next year accepted the additional work of chemistry. He remained in this position until 1850, declining a call, which he received in 1848, to a corresponding chair in the University of Vermont. His college-work included instruction of the seniors in physiology, of the sophomores in geometry, and of the freshmen in zoölogy ; but the period was one, also, of great activity in collection and research, and in the beginning of his extensive publications. He found time to carry on the work begun in previous years, and to make, in summer, extended collecting expeditions to the Adirondacks in 1847; to Ohio in 1848, to collect, in company with Dr. Kirtland, from the original localities of the types of the fishes described by him in his work on the fishes of Ohio; to the mountains of Virginia in 1849; and to Lakes Champlain and Ontario in 1850. His fine physique and consequent capacity for work is doubtless due in part to his out-door life during these years. In 1843 he made pedestrian collecting-tours, the length of which was over 2,200 miles. The first printed paper which bears his name is a description of two new species of fly-catchers, which was published in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia academy of natural sciences in 1843. As early as 1846 he was engaged in the preparation of a synonymy of North-American birds; and the next year he met Agassiz, just arrived from Switzerland with Desor and Girard. Then, or shortly after, was projected the work of Agassiz and Baird on The fresh-water fishes of the United States, which was, however, never published; although a number of illustrations, and some pages of text, were elaborated. Just before leaving Dickinson college, he undertook his first considerable literary work, that of translating and editing the text for the Iconographic encyclopaedia, which was an English version of Heck's Bilder-atlas, published in connection with Brockhaus's Conversations-lexikon. The work which he had already done had called attention to his scientific qualifications; and in 1850, upon the urgent recommendation of the late George P. Marsh, he was invited to Washington as assistant secretary of the Smithsonian institution, where he has ever since remained, succeeding to the secretaryship in May, 1878, upon the death of Professor Henry. The institution was then just issuing the first volume of its Contributions, and was in the first years of its organization. The main duty of the assistant secretary was the development of the natural-history collections. The only specimens in possession of the institution at the time of Professor Baird's arrival were a few boxes of minerals and plants. Professor Baird deposited his own already extensive collections, and these formed the nucleus of the Smithsonian museum. The collections of the Wilkes exploring expedition, which constitute the legal foundation of the United States national museum, were at that time under the charge of the National institute; and although, by the act of incorporation, the Smithsonian institution was the legal custodian of the National cabinet of curiosities,' it was not until 1857 that the regents finally accepted the trust, and the national museum was definitely placed under the control of the Smithsonian institution, and transferred to its building. Until this time, Congress had granted no funds for the support of the Smithsonian cabinets, and the collections had been acquired and cared for at the expense of the endowment fund. They had, however, become so large and important in 1857, that the so-called national collections at that time acquired were small in comparison. The national museum, then, had a double origin. Its actual, though not its legal, nucleus was the collection gathered in the Smithsonian building prior to 1857. Its methods of administration, which were, in fact, the very same that had been developed by Professor Baird as early as 1845, when forming a cabinet in Carlisle, are those which are still in use, and |