Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 44.djvu/434

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422
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, Chart Corrections, etc., September, 1893. Pp. 10.

United States National Museum. Index to Proceedings for 1892. Pp. 30.

Von Hilleni, Wilhelmine. On the Cross. New York: G. Gottsberger Peck. Pp. 442. $1.

Willoughby, E. F. Handbook of Public Health and Demography, Macmillan & Co. Pp. 509. $1.50.

Woods, Henry. Elementary Paleontology. Macmillan & Co. Pp. 222.

Zinet, Alexander. An Elementary Treatise on Theoretical Mechanics. Part II. Macmillan & Co. Pp. 183. $2.25.



POPULAR MISCELLANY.

Political Science at the Brooklyn Institute.—The School of Political Science of the Brooklyn Institute announces an advance course in American politics, conducted by Dr. Lewis G. Janes. It will be the aim of the instructor to give a concise and correct history of our national politics from the Revolutionary period to the present time, with some account of the great statesmen and political leaders of our country. A clear statement of the facts of each political situation, with a just view of the great legal and constitutional questions involved in our political controversies, without partisan bias, will enable the student to form an intelligent judgment upon the several topics. The lectures of the first term will be devoted to the formative period of our politics, from the Revolution to the Mexican War; those of the second term to the period of reconstruction, from the Mexican War to the present Five discussions are also provided for, concerning the relative influence of the ideas of Jefferson and of Hamilton in molding American institutions; the good or evil of the influence of Andrew Jackson in our politics; the justice of the Mexican War; the impeachment of President Johnson; and the wisdom of President Cleveland's pension vetoes. The courses will be given to two classes, in two sections of Brooklyn, on different evenings of the week.

The Grave of R. A. Proctor.—Prof. Richard A. Proctor, the eminent astronomical writer, died in this city on his way from his home in Florida to fulfill lecture engagements in England, September 12, 1888, of yellow fever. The attack was sudden, and death followed very quickly. None of his family were near him, and he was buried by strangers in the lot in Greenwood Cemetery owned by the undertaker who took charge of his remains. No further care seems to have been taken of his grave until attention was called to its neglected condition through dispatches published in the papers by Mr. Edward J. Bok. A lot was then provided and a suitable monument was ordered by Mr. G. W. Childs, of Philadelphia, and on October 3, 1893, the remains were removed to this lot in the presence of a number of citizens, thus expressing their regard for Prof. Proctor's memory and for his services to science, with religious exercises and a eulogy by the Rev. Dr. T. De Witt Talmage. The lot in which the remains have been permanently interred is near the Fort Hamilton Avenue entrance to Greenwood Cemetery, opposite the village of Flatbush, and is surrounded by a substantial railing. The monument is of polished bluish Quincy granite, and besides the formal record bears the following tribute by Herbert Spencer: "On public as on private grounds Prof. Proctor's premature death was much to be lamented. He united great detailed knowledge with broad general views in an unusual degree, and, while admirably fitted for a popular expositor, was at the same time well equipped for original investigation, which, had he lived, would have added to our astronomical knowledge. Prof. Proctor was also to be admired for his endeavors to keep the pursuit of science free from the corrupting and paralyzing influence of state aid. Herbert Spencer."

Inductoscripts.—At the Nottingham meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science an interesting feature was introduced in the display of novel scientific apparatus and exhibits. Among these were the "inductoscripts" of Rev. F. J. Smith, obtained by placing an ordinary photographic plate, film upward, on a metal plate. A coin, or other metallic conductor with a design upon it, is then laid on the film and a discharge of electricity is passed from the coin to the metal plate. On developing the photographic plate in the ordinary way the design of the coin appears upon it. An instrument designed by Prof. Milne, F. R. S., of Japan, for registering the intensity of earth tremors, was also exhib-