Grade of teachers: Superintendents, 10; sub-masters, 24; principals, 157; assistants, 847. The average attendance so far upon the first course has been from six to seven hundred.

The school has also had another branch in active operation, in which the courses are paid for by the teachers themselves. The curator, assisted by Mr. Van Vleck, has had two classes in zoology occupying four winters, and numbering in all fifty-nine teachers; Mr. B. H. Van Vleck, a class in physiology numbering fifteen teachers; and Mr. W. O. Crosby, a special class in geology. These classes have demonstrated a demand for the kind of knowledge offered, so earnest that a good proportion of the teachers have been willing to surrender their holidays to laboratory work, and also to pay for the privilege. A number more would have attended but for the obstacle of the fee necessarily charged for tuition. These classes, now that the reality of this demand has been shown, should be placed on a more liberal basis, and one more consistent with the usual policy of the society with regard to the needs of our public schools. Owing to a combination of causes which it would be useless to detail, these laboratory courses formerly given every Saturday throughout the winter have been discontinued during this season. It is intended to resume them as soon as practicable.

Academy of natural sciences, Philadelphia, Penn. Instruction in mineralogy and lithology.—At the close of Prof. Heilprin's lectures, Prof. H. Carvill Lewis will deliver a course of instruction in mineralogy and lithology, a large portion of which will consist of a series of field-lectures upon the mineralogy and lithology of Philadelphia and vicinity. In addition to lectures at the academy, and alternating with them, there will be about ten short excursions to interesting localities in the neighborhood of the city, where the strata and their enclosed minerals will be studied in place, and practical methods given for recognizing both rocks and minerals and their relation to the geology of the region. The specimens collected in the field will be more carefully examined and studied with laboratory practice at the academy at the lecture following each excursion.

The introductory lecture will be delivered on Tuesday, April 17, 1883, in the lecture-room of the academy, at 4.15 P.M.; and the lectures will continue at the same hour on successive Tuesdays and Fridays. The field-lectures, commencing early in May and

NOTES AND NEWS.

- The description of the fossil remains of the remarkable flying reptile, Rhamphorhynchus phyllurus Marsh, which was given in the American journal of science in April, 1882, has been supplemented by the liberal distribution of casts of the original by Prof. O. C. Marsh. These are faithful representations in all the more important characteristics prominent enough to make their re-appearance upon a plaster casting. The wings and caudal paddle are the most important features, and render this fossil unique of its kind. The wings are particularly well rendered, and perfectly distinct in outline and details. The steering-paddle at the end of the long, attenuated tail, and the tail itself, is distinct in outline, but deficient in details; the bones of the hands are also in the same state, all these parts being very small.

Professor Marsh, in distributing these and other casts of his rare and remarkable fossils, has added very greatly to the usefulness of his own work and the diffusion of knowledge, besides setting a shining example of scientific liberality. He has, we know, in several instances, and we presume in all cases, demanded no exchange of any kind. Many institutions now have the means of placing before visitors and students the actual condition of the fossil remains of one of the most remarkable of the extinct Jurassic reptiles. This is so nearly perfect that it shows there is no exaggeration in the restoration accompanying Professor Marsh's descriptions, which represents this pterodactyle flying through the air with its wings expanded.

-The following persons were elected officers of the biological society of Washington, on Jan. 5: President, Prof. C. A. White; Vice-Presidents, Prof. C. V. Riley, Prof. Lester G. Ward, Mr. William H. Dall, Prof. Theodore Gill; Secretaries, Mr. G. Brown Goode, Mr. Richard Rathbun; Treasurer, Dr. Tarleton H. Bean; Members of Council, Dr. George Vasey, Dr. D. Webster Prentiss, Prof. Otis T. Mason, Mr. Frederick W. True, Dr. Elliott Coues.

-At the meeting of the Albany institute held Jan. 16, officers of the institute at large and of its three departments were chosen for the ensuing year. The following, by virtue of their offices, constitute the executive committee provided for by a recently adopted by-law President, Orlando Meads, LL.D.; Treasurer, John Templeton; Recording secretary and libra

rian, Daniel J. Pratt, Ph.D.; Corresponding secretary, Leonard Kip; President of first department and one of the vice-presidents of the institute, David Murray, LL.D.; President of second department and one of the vice-presidents, J. A. Lintner; President of third department and one of the vice-presidents, Henry A. Homes, LL.D.

-Some oysters have recently been received by Lieut. Winslow of Washington, from Barnegat, N.J., which seem ready to spawn, -an unusual condition of matters, since the spawning season at that latitude is supposed to be at an end in August.

- The bronze statue of Professor Joseph Henry, by W. W. Story, has arrived in America. The ceremony of unveiling will take place upon the grounds of the Smithsonian institution in April, during the session of the National academy of sciences.

-The annual meeting of the regents of the Smithsonian institution was held in Washington on Jan. 17. All the regents were in attendance except Dr. Noah Porter and Mr. Peter Parker. Professor Baird reported upon the state of the finances as follows: receipts for 1882, $67,435.52; expenditures, $37,798.07; balance available to July 1, 1882, $29,637.45. At the suggestion of Dr. Maclean, Professor Baird was appointed to collect and publish the scientific writings of Dr. Henry.

-Dr. Orville Derby, curator of geology in the national museum of Brazil, has recently arrived in Washington. He will complete the arrangements for the publication of the results of the geological survey of Brazil, organized under the late Prof. C. Fred. Hartt. Dr. C. A. White is preparing the report on the cretaceous mollusks and echinoderms. He has already completed the sections of conchifers, gasteropods, and cephalopods. Twenty-four quarto plates are drawn and finished. Ninety per cent of the species are new. Three new genera of gasteropods have been described. The whole work upon invertebrates will comprise as much matter as has been hitherto published on the same subject for all South America, and will undoubtedly form an epoch in the development of the invertebrate paleontology of that continent.

At the meeting of the Boston society of natural history on Feb. 7, Dr. M. E. Wadsworth gave some instances of atmospheric action on sandstone. Mr. Lucien Carr discussed the social and political position of woman among the Huron-Iroquois tribes, and Mr. John A. Jeffries spoke of the dermal appendages of birds.

At the meeting of the Appalachian mountain club Feb. 14, Mr. W. H. Pickering exhibited, with the lantern, photographic views taken during the club's recent excursion to the White Mountains; and Mr. J. Tatlock, jun., read a paper on the principal coefficients in the barometric formula of Laplace, as applied to the White-Mountain region.

- At a meeting of the American philosophical society, held at Philadelphia on Feb. 1, Prof. J. T. Rothrock read a paper on Some microscopic distinctions between good and bad timber of the same species. - The American institute of mining engineers will hold its annual meeting in Boston next week. The opening session will be at the Brunswick hotel on Tuesday evening, when addresses of welcome will be given by Mr. Edward Atkinson, and, on behalf of the Boston society of civil engineers, by Mr. Thomas Doane. Papers will be read at this session as well as at the sessions held on Wednesday and Friday at the Massachusetts institute of technology, and on Thursday afternoon at Sever hall in Cambridge. Excursions will be made on Wednesday, to the Leavitt pumping-engine, the Carson sewer-excavating apparatus, and the Norway iron-works; on Thursday, to the Watertown arsenal to inspect the U. S. testingmachine, and to Harvard university; after the session, to Lowell and to Worcester to visit the manufactories and institutions of those cities. The subscription dinner is to be at the Brunswick, at eight o'clock on Thursday.

The following papers have been announced: Gasproducer explosions; by P. Barnes, Elgin, Ill. Microscopic analysis of the structure of iron and steel; by J. C. Bayles, N. Y. Metallurgy of nickel in the U.S.; by W. P. Blake, New Haven. - The mining regions about Prescott, Arizona; by John F. Blandy, Prescott. The collection of flue-dust at Ems; by T. Egleston, N. Y.-The eozoic and lower paleozoic in South Wales, and their comparison with their Appalachian analogues; by Dr. Persifor Frazer, Philadelphia. —Note on the geology of Egypt, with especial reference to the rocks from which the obelisks have been taken; by Dr. Persifor Frazer.— Notes on a protected iron hot-blast stove; by Frank Firmstone, Easton, Penn. -The shop treatment of structural steels; by A. F. Hill, N. Y. - A suggestive cure for blast-furnace chills; by H. M. Howe, Boston. Coal and iron of Alabama; by T. Sterry Hunt, Montreal. - Lines of weakness in cylinders; by R. H. Richards, Boston. The strength of American woods; by S. P. Sharples, Boston. Determination of manganese in spiegel; by G. C. Stone, Newark, N. J.-History and statistics of the manufacture of coke; by J. D. Weeks, Pittsburg, Penn. Notes on settling-tanks in silver-mills; by Albert Williams, jun., Washington.

- That most enterprising of our scientific societies at the west, the Davenport academy of natural sciences, is about to complete the third volume of its 'proceedings' by the publication of the memoir on Solpugidae nearly completed by its late president, J. D. Putnam, a young naturalist of rare promise and industry. The publishing committee, with commendable enterprise, are endeavoring to procure sufficient subscribers to the number to pay the cost of publication, and have already secured 140 of the 180 required. Mr. Putnam's paper is edited by Prof. H. Osborn, of, Ames, Iowa; and its four plates engraved under the superintendence of Dr. H. A. Hagen of Cambridge. A portrait of Mr. Putnam will accompany the paper.

- At the meeting of the Biological society of Washington, Feb. 2, an adjourned discussion of the presidential address took place; Dr. Elliott Coues read a paper on Zoological nomenclature applied to histology; and Prof. O. T. Mason, on the Human fauna of the district of Columbia.

The January number of the Harvard university bulletin, recently issued, commences a new volume. We miss the 'notes' which formed such an admirable feature of the last volume, but are glad to know that they will again be resumed. Two pages and a half are given up to the accessions to the University library in science, in which we note a collation of the copies of the several volumes of Wilkes's exploring expedition in the libraries of Cambridge and vicinity. Of interest to scientific men are Mr. Bliss's classified index to the maps in Petermann's mittheilungen (six pages more of which are given), and Mr. Winsor's commencement of a bibliography of Ptolemy's geography.

Boston. Archæological institute of America. Bulletin, i. Bost., Williams. 1883. 40 p. 8°.

Cohn, F. Die pflanze. Vorträge aus dem gebiete der botanik. Breslau. 1852. 8°.

Crowther, J. The unwritten record; a story of the world we live on. With an introductory note by J. R. Macduff. Lond., Sunday School Union. 1883. 178 p. 8°.

Delattre, C. Étude sur les gisements français de phosphate de chaux; note sur la décomposition du phosphate bicalcigne par l'eau. Paris, imp. Davy. 1882. 80 p. 8°.

Delaurier, E. Essai d'une théorie générale supérieure de

philosophie naturelle et de thermochimie, avec une nouvelle nomenclature binaire notative pour la chimie minérale et organique. Fasc. i. Paris, imp. Lahure. 1882. 82 p. 8°.

Dunman, T. Talks about science; with a biographical sketch by C. Welsh. New ed. Lond., Griffith. 1883. 250 p. 8°. Dreyfus-Brisac, E. De la liberté d'enseignement. Paris, Masson. 1882. 46 p. 8°.

Geikie, A. Geological sketches at home and abroad. Lond., Macmillan. 1882. 8°.

Harting, J. E. Essays on sport and natural history. Lond., Cox. 1883. 490 p. illustr. 8°.

Madison. Washburn observatory. Publications. Vol. i. Madison. 1882. 8°.

Middletown.- Museum of Wesleyan university. Eleventh annual report of the curator. Middlet., Pelton and King, pr. 1882. 13 p. 8°.

Moleschott, J. K. R. Darwin. Denkrede gehalten im collegio romano zu Rom. Giessen. 1883. 47 p. 16°.

Miller, S. A. The American palaeozoic fossils: a catalogue of the genera and species, with names of authors, dates, places of publication, groups of rocks in which found, and the etymology and signification of the words, and an introduction devoted to the stratigraphical geology of the palaeozoic rocks. Cincinnati, Author. 1877. 16+246 p. 1883. P. 247-334. 8°. P. 247-334 form a supplement.

Morel, C., et Duval, M. Manuel de l'anatomiste. Paris, Asselin. 1883. 14+1152 p. illustr. 8°.

Nadaillac, marquis de. L'Atlantide et les oscillations de l'ecorce terrestre. Paris, Gervais. 1882. 24 p. 8°. Noack, Ernst. Ueber die phenylester der phosphorigen säure. Inaug. diss. Tübingen, Frees. 1882. 42 p. 8°. Oppolzer, T. von. Lehrbuch zur bahnbestimmung der kometen und planeten. 2. auf. i bd. Leipzig, Engelmann. 1882. 12683 p. 8°.

Pasch, M. Vorlesungen über neuere geometrie. Leipzig. 1882. 8°.

Quenstedt, F. A. Die schöpfung der erde und ihre bewohner. Stuttgart. 1882. 59 p. 8°.

Questions controversées de l'histoire et de la science. 3e série. Paris, Tardieu. 1882. 333 p. 8°.

Rehm, H. Ascomycetes lojkani lecti in Hungaria Transsylvania et Galicia. Budapest. 1882. 4+70 p. 8°.

Reinsch, P. F. Mikrophotographien über die strukturverhältnisse und zusammensetzung der steinkohle der carbon, entnommen von mikroscopischen durchschnitten der steinkohlen. Leipzig, Weigel. 13 p., 13 pl. 4°.

Richthofen, F., freiherr von. China. Ergebnisse eigener reisen und darauf gegründeter studien. iver bd. Palaeontologischer theil. Berlin. 1883. illustr. 4°.

Rusz, Karl. Die sprechenden papageien. Berlin, Gerschel. 1882. 16404 p. 8°.

Stitzenberger, E. Lichenes helvetici eorumque stationes et distributis. Fasc. i. St. Gallen, Köppel. 268 p. 8°. Strasser, H. Zur lehre von der ortsbewegung der fische durch biegungen des liebes und der unpaaren flossen, mit berücksichtigung verwandter locomotionsformen. Stuttgart. 1882. 8°. Sydney, N. S. W.- Observatory. Results of double star measures made at the observatory, 1871 to 1881, under the direction of H. C. Russell. Sydney. 1882. 68 p. 8°.

Thomas, Cyrus. A study of the manuscript Twano; with an introduction by D. G. Brinton. (U.S. geogr. geol. surv. Rocky Mt. region. Contrib. Amer. ethnology v.) Wash., Government. 1882. 37+237 p., 9 pl. 4°.

-

Thomsen, Jul. Thermochemische untersuchungen. ii. bd., metalloide. Leipzig, Barth. 1882. 14+506 p., pl. 8°. U.S.-Light house board. Annual report for the year ending June 30, 1882. Wash., Government. 1882. 8°.

Vaile, O. E. Pro and con of spelling reform. Ed. by Eliza B. Burnz. N.Y., Burna. 1882. 16 p. 12°.

Vogt, C. et Yung, E. Traité d'anatomie compareé pratique. Livr. i. Paris, Reinwald. 1883. 80 p. 8°. To be completed in 12 parts.

Vogt, K., and Specht, F. Die säugetiere in wort und bild. Lief. i. München. 1882. illustr. f°.

Wake, C. S. The origin and significance of the great pyra mid. Lond., Reeves. 1883. 98 p. 8°.

Wright, L. Light: a course of experimental optics, chiefly with the lantern. London. 1882. illustr. 8°.

Wood, T. Practical lessons on insect life. Lond., Hughes. 1883. 172 p. 12°..

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1883.

THE BALFOUR MEMORIAL. THE death of Francis Maitland Balfour last July was felt by many as a heavier blow to biological science than the loss of Darwin. The immortal master had nearly finished his work: Balfour's had but commenced. There was therefore added to the emotion of personal bereavement the perhaps less poignant but deeper grief due to the fact that science had sustained, through Balfour's early death, an almost irreparable loss. His work had already yielded such rich fruits that we hardly knew how to put a limit to what we might expect from him in the future. His genius, patience, knowledge, technical skill, and critical judgment were so apparent in his published works, that when he died aged but thirty-one years, he was already recognized throughout the civilized world as an eminent authority on morphological questions. All young English biologists looked upon him as the undisputed future leader of morphological science in their country. The feelings towards him of older men have been expressed by Professor Huxley: "It is no exaggeration to say, that to my eyes, and to those, I take it, of many of my age, Professor Balfour seemed to be like that Lycidas of whom Milton spoke :

'Dead ere his prime,

Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer.'" Of the beauty of Balfour's character we cannot here speak: its remembrance will ever remain a cherished and inspiring possession of every one who knew him.

It was impossible that the death of such a man should not be followed by some effort on the part of his contemporaries and fellowworkers in science to express the esteem in which they held him and his work. We desire to call attention to the admirable form which the Balfour Memorial is to take; namely, the establishment of a permanent fund, the income of which is to be used exclusively for the promotion of biological research.

The Balfour Memorial took definite shape at a meeting held in the University of Cam

No. 3.1883.

bridge last October, attended and addressed not only by the leading biologists of Great Britain, but by distinguished theologians, classical scholars, chemists, and mathematicians. This co-operation of leaders in so many lines of thought was a most striking testimony to the wide-spread regard felt for Balfour's personality, and to the value attached to his influence by many who were not able to appreciate the technical importance of his morphological discoveries.

At the meeting it was decided to found a Balfour Memorial, and that this should take the form of an endowment fund for the promotion of biological research, especially in morphology:" also, that the income yielded by the Balfour Fund' should be employed, (1) in the payment of £200 a year to a young biologist for his support while engaged in morphological research; and (2) in occasional grants to the Balfour student, or other biologists, for the promotion of research, — as, for example, by providing the means of visiting parts of the world especially suited for the prosecution of investigations on hand, or by supplying expensive apparatus or rare specimens. It was also decided unanimously, that, though the fund should be in some way closely connected with Balfour's own university, yet others than members of the University of Cambridge should be eligible as Balfour students.

We can conceive of no more suitable form for the Balfour Memorial than that selected. As the work of him whom it commemorates was cosmopolitan, so are to be the benefits of the fund. By perpetuating Balfour's name through all future time in connection with biological research, it appeals to the sympathy of all who knew him or his work. By affording support for a year or two to young men qualified to advance knowledge, it will, through generations to come, save for science many, who, without such help while winning their spurs, would have been forced into a professional or business career. Thus not only will science be advanced, but Balfour's work passed on from hand to hand; so that the increase of knowledge which we had hoped for from him

The sum already subscribed in England is more than sufficient to provide for the Balfour studentship: but a memorial to such a man and for such objects should be international; and we are glad to learn that a representative committee of American naturalists, with Mr. Alexander Agassiz at its head, is being organized for the purpose of obtaining subscriptions to the Balfour fund. Few scientific men in this country are in a position to contribute large sums; but we trust that all American biologists will give something, whether they be investigators, teachers, or students. A general subscription from naturalists on this side of the Atlantic would be a most graceful testimony to the esteem in which Balfour's character and work are held by us; and would at the same time express our approval of the idea to make the monument of an eminent scientist not a bronze or marble statue, but a permanent endowment for the advancement of knowledge.

REARING OYSTERS FROM ARTIFICIALLY IMPREGNATED EGGS.

DURING the past three years the writer has been engaged upon the investigation of this subject, with the view of reaching some practical results which would be available in the hands of oyster-culturists. Until last year his efforts under the auspices of the U.S. fish commission had been comparatively fruitless and unsatisfactory. In July and August last, in association with Col. M. McDonald, the experimental work was resumed at St. Jerome's Creek, St. Mary's County, Maryland. Col. McDonald devised a simple combination of glass apparatus, consisting of a series of jars connected together with rubber tubing, somewhat in the manner of a series of Wolff's bottles, with an open glass aquarium at a higher level as a feeder, or reservoir, while the last jar of the series discharged into a similar cylindrical aquarium standing on the floor. The sea-water introduced into this contrivance was carefully filtered through cotton-wool, to remove all sediment and foreign organisms. The circulation was maintained in this contrivance by baling the water from the lower into the upper aquarium; the water passing continually through the intervening series of jars, which were, in effect, simply enlarged portions

of the siphon-tube passing from the upper to the lower aquarium. No difficulty was experienced in keeping the water in this apparatus fresh and sweet without renewal.

On the 23d of July a batch of oyster-eggs was introduced into this apparatus, impregnated by a method to be hereafter described. On the 24th, and just about twenty-four hours after impregnation had taken place, an inspection of the transparent sides of the jars and aquaria was made; and to our great surprise we found immense numbers of embryos with the valves of the larval shell covering the sides of the body, and adherent to the inner surfaces of the glass vessels. In some places upwards of twenty-five might have been counted to the square inch. Every available part of the surface of the vessels was, however, more or less affected by these affixed embryos. Some of the jars were then taken from the closed circuit, and a continuous current passed through them, which it was found did not dislodge the embryos; but in two to three days more it was found that most had died or been detached, even in the portion of the apparatus not affected by a continuous current of fresh sea-water. The gratifying result which we had anticipated at the beginning of our experiment was, however, not realized, except in so far as it determined that fixation of the embryos took place at an early period under favorable conditions, or in about twenty-four hours, and that they might be reared from artificially fertilized ova. Efforts to repeat our first successful experiment failed, owing, probably, to the high temperature then prevailing.

The next advance made was when the writer hit upon a physical test by means of which the sexes of the spawning adults can be instantly determined by the most ignorant person. It was found, that if the ova were squeezed from the ovary, and dropped into sea-water in a glass dish resting on a dark ground, they would break up into a distinctly granular cloud; while the milt would not so readily break up, but would tend to mix slowly with the water as a milky substance, the particles of which were not perceptible to the naked eye, and, if stirred about in the water, would not break up at once, but be drawn out into wisps and streaks resembling in miniature cirrus or mare's-tail clouds. This test was an infallible guide; so much so, that a pocket-lens was found to be of no advantage, as we had formerly supposed. We also found, that if the eggs did not separate at once, when dropped into the water, they were not so mature as they should be.

Another important improvement was also in