comparatively few of them would be selected as key points for location purposes. Even with this qualification, caution is needful in making comparisons between different pieces of work. The undulating, sparsely settled Texas area, and the monotonous plateaus of Arizona, must not be contrasted with western Massachusetts, where abrupt hills and an abundance of cultural features require a large number of locations, and render it practicable to make them.

Third, the distribution of locations is a matter of no less importance than their number. To illustrate the degree of uniformity of their distribution, the following cuts are presented. Fig. 1 represents the geometric control of an atlas sheet, from the plane-table work of Massachusetts; and Fig. 2, a sheet from the traverse work in the same State; the lines representing the lines of traverse, and the triangles the triangulation points which serve to check the traverses. Fig. 3 represents the control of an Appalachian sheet, showing triangulation stations, locations by intersections, and traverse lines. It will be seen that the distribution is quite uniform. It will

or less idealized. No two men will generalize an area of country, to adapt it to the scale, in precisely the same way. Some will generalize more, others less; some will omit this feature, others that; and they will merge minor features in various ways. The smaller the scale, the greater is the generalization, and, consequently, the greater room for differences in the work of different topographers.

The cost of the work is influenced by a great variety of conditions, the principal of which are the following:

a. The Scale. Other conditions being similar, the cost increases with the scale, at a rate somewhat less than a geometric ratio, i.e., if the scale be doubled, the cost is somewhat less than four times as great.

b. The character and amount of the relief, drainage, and culture. The greater the relief, and the greater its detail, the more the work will cost. Work in a thickly settled country, containing many settlements, roads, etc., necessarily costs more than that in one of sparse settlement.

be noticed, further, that in a country composed of an alternation of mountain and valley, as the Appalachian region, most of the locations by intersections are upon the mountain ranges, while the traverse lines are mainly found in the valleys.

Fourth, concerning the quality of the sketching, little can be said. There are no means of verifying this work, except by an examination of it on the ground. It is in this part of the work more than any other that the personality of the topographer appears. It is here that his artistic sense, and his power of making his pencil record faithfully his conceptions, comes into play. It is scarcely necessary to add that no two topographers will sketch an area precisely the same. There will be differences in seeing, and differences in drawing, just as there are differences in handwriting. Every map, whatever its scale, is a reduction from nature. This reduction necessarily implies a certain amount of generalization. Certain features must be omitted, others merged into larger features, so that no map is or can be an exact miniature. Every map is more

c. The degree in which a country is covered with forests. This element not only interposes obstacles and causes delays in the prosecution of work, but often necessitates the adoption of slower and more expensive methods of work.

d. Atmospheric conditions. This includes stormy weather, haze and smoke, which, being especially prevalent during the field-season in some localities, unduly increase the cost of the work.

e. Length of field-season. At the opening of each field-season, it is necessary to devote some time and money to outfitting the parties and starting field-work. This is in the nature of a plant or investment for the season. Once at work, the expense is not great. It costs little more to keep a party in the field for six months than for three months, while the amount of work done by the party is doubled. Therefore, long field-seasons are more economical than short ones.

The following table shows the cost of the work in the several areas under survey, including field and office expenses :

The sheets, as completed, are engraved upon copper. For each sheet, three copper plates are used. Upon one is engraved all the drainage; upon another, the contours, expressing the relief; and upon the third, all culture and lettering. In printing, colors are used, — blue for drainage, brown for contours, and black for culture and lettering. At the present date, 120 sheets have been engraved, comprising an area of 250,000 square miles, parts of which were surveyed by the Powell Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, by the Wheeler Survey, and by the Northern Transcontinental Survey. HENRY GANNETT.

AMERICAN NEUROLOGICAL ASSOCIATION. THE thirteenth annual meeting of the American Neurological Association was held at Long Branch on July 20-22. The president of the meeting, Dr. L. C. Gray of Brooklyn, in his opening address, reviewed the position of the study of neurology in this country as compared with European lands. America does not at all suffer by the comparison. In the movement which in the past twenty-five years has raised neurology to a science, the names of American workers are prominent, and the number of societies specially devoted to its interest is as large as in any other country.

The recent advance in our knowledge of the functions and diseases of the central nervous system is hardly appreciated, except by such as can remember how things stood twenty years ago. A medical student, who, in 1869, would have stated that the stimulation of the cortex of the brain would give rise to definite movements, would certainly not have received his degree; while the student of 1870, who would not have mentioned this fact, would have stood in equal danger. The amount of research, with a variety of ingeniously devised methods, that has been expended since then upon the localization of function in the cortex of the brain, is an excellent example of the great activity now current in neurological problems. In every direction—in the improvement of apparatus for diagnostic purposes, in the application of therapeutic agencies, in the rational care of the insane-have there been rapid strides, demonstrating beyond a doubt the important function of a neurological association.

It was

The number and quality of the papers presented gave evidence of the increasing attention which the study of nervous diseases is here gaining. Dr. B. Sachs gave an interesting account of a case of arrested cerebral development. It was that of a child with hereditary predisposition to insanity, who lived for two years without exhibiting any but the most rudimentary signs of intelligence. listless, inactive, never learned to speak, and in its last period became blind. On examining the brain, the surface appearance was noteworthy. The left island of Reil a group of cortical matter specially related to the faculty of speech — was exposed. In a normal child it would have been folded inwards, and an abnormal deviation accounts for the failure to develop speech. Many of the fissures flowed together which normally should be separate, mark of low-type and undeveloped brains. A microscopic examination showed that the pyramidal cells of the cortex, whose function (in parts of the cortex) is specially connected with motion, were abnormal; their positions were reversed, the nucleus faded, and the processes poorly developed. Outside the cells the appearance was normal. Dr. Sachs considered that the case was one of pure

a

arrested development, the brain having grown to a certain stage in the development, and then degenerative processes set in.

Dr. C. L. Dana recounted the remarkable history of a simple, chronic, neuræsthenic tremor in a certain family. This tremor is present in three generations, and has attacked forty-four members of the family. The original member thus affected has had the tremor for seventy years: he can momentarily control it, and any excitement increases its intensity, as well as affects the clearness of his speech. He is a watchmaker by profession, and very skilfully controls the shaking at the instant when his hand must be steady. The tremor ceases in sleep, and his walk and posture are normal. The hereditary history is unusually interesting. His grandfather was intemperate, his father insane, his nine children all have the tremor to a greater or less degree, and some are mentally peculiar. Seven of these children married and produced thirty-four children, all of whom have the same tremor, and the other peculiarities still remain. There are evidences that the tremor, though present, is dying out in the third generation. It is noteworthy that an adherence to Spiritualism is hereditary in the same family.

Dr. Gray called attention to the serious aspects of chorea. This disease is often treated less seriously than it merits. The majority of cases occur in children between eight and twelve years of age, and frequently the attacks are slight and readily outgrown. The cases which the physician should regard with greatest anxiety are those in which convulsions occur, in which there occur spasms of the respiratory apparatus, in which there is hysteria or cardiac or pulmonary weakness. The essential part of the treatment is complete rest, the exercising of the muscles having a hurtful influence. Dr. Spitzka called attention to the severe injuries which the brain of dogs could undergo with impunity, and to the obliteration in vigorous animals of the injury done by needles forced into the brain. There are great individual differences between dogs in this respect, and a dog once operated upon seemed better able to endure a second operation. These experiments seemed to justify the piercing of the brain in surgical operations.

Dr. J. H. Lloyd cited a typical case in the peculiar borderland of insanity known as the insanity of doubt.' The patient has a morbid impulse to do things over and over again, for fear they are not done exactly right. She gets in and out of bed twenty times, until she does it just so. She sends her husband down at night to light and extinguish a gas-burner in a definite way, and cannot rest until it is properly accomplished; otherwise she is perfectly rational, recognizes the nature of her weakness, but cannot resist it.

A very valuable contribution was that by Dr. C. L. Dana, describing a case of anencephalis. An apparently normal, healthy child lived for two and one-half days: it cried very little, at times opened its eyes, and re-acted to reflex stimulation. On opening the skull the cerebrum was seen to be entirely absent, there being nothing above the corpora quadrigemina except a not well-developed thalamus. Such cases are rare, and are valuable for the light they shed on the connections between the spinal cord and the brain. The cerebrum being absent, all such systems of fibres as connect it with lower centres are absent. Prominent amongst these is the pyramidal tract, which conducts voluntary movements, and these were entirely absent. The sensory columns of the cord were intact, as were also the cerebellum and the cranial nerves, except, of course, the olfactory nerves. The value of such a case is the independent testimony it affords to the correctness of the sensory and motor fibre-systems as deduced by other methods.

Amongst the other papers read was one by Dr. Ott, urging on experimental evidence the existence of heat-centres in the spinal cord; by Dr. Dercum, describing two cases of chorea limited to onehalf the body and accompanied by Bright's disease; by Dr. Spitzka, carefully delineating the symptoms of acute delirium; by Dr. Mills, aiming to ascertain a distinctive symptom between polio-myelitis and multiple neuritis; by Dr. Putnam, on a case of overgrowth of the skull bones; by Dr. Hun, on the symptoms accompanying a tumor of the pons; by Dr. Jacoby, urging the treatment of neuralgia by sprays of extreme cold; and by Dr. Kellogg, on the effect of

baths in mental disease.

The limit of membership was increased to one hundred, and Dr. W. A. Hammond was elected an honorary member. The president for next year will be Dr. J. J. Putnam of Boston.

EXPLORATION AND TRAVEL.

Junker's Travels in Central Africa. JUNKER'S lectures delivered before the Berlin and London Geographical Societies have appeared almost simultaneously, and contain interesting details on the traveller's experience in Central Africa. Junker entered this region in 1879, travelling from Suez to Suakim, and thence to Berber. From Berber a steamer conveyed him to Khartum, where he arrived in the beginning of January, 1880. It was his intention to explore the regions on the Welle, and to follow that stream as far as possible to the west. His plan

He had formerly prohibited

the Egyptian Bar-el-Gasal Province. the passage of the ivory-caravans through his country, and would suffer no station to be established in the districts under his sway. Adopting a plan followed in all subsequent journeys, Junker sent messengers forward to Ndoruma to give him particulars about his intentions, and to announce that Junker travelled without military escort. This plan proved very successful, and enabled Junker to live generally on good terms with the rulers of the countries through which he travelled. His success shows that in Africa as well as in all other countries the traveller who is willing to adopt the mode of

was to start from Lado, but this was made impossible by the grass barriers which had closed the Nile for months. Therefore he took a steamer going up the Bar-el-Gasal, and arrived at Meshra-er-Rek in February. Here the land-journey began, and, in company with Gessi Pacha, he travelled by way of Jur Ghattas, Wau, and Dem Idris to Dem Suleiman, the head station of the Bar-el-Gasal Province. After a short stay at that place, he turned south to Dem Bekir, where his real work of exploration began. His first object was the exploration of Ndoruma's territory, which is situated on the watershed between the Bar-el-Gasal and the Welle. Ndoruma, a powerful Niam-Niam chief, had been at war with the troops of

life, and to accommodate himself to the way of thinking, of the natives, will accomplish his plans with comparative safety, and will glean ample results. Subsequently Junker made his headquarters in the village of a chief whose confidence he had gained, and made excursions from these stations. This makes his routes very trustworthy, most of them leading back to the starting-point. After having seen Ndoruma and gained his confidence, Junker started from Dem Bekir in May, 1880, with two hundred and fifty bearers, and in a fortnight reached the huts of Ndoruma. On his way he crossed many tributaries of the Mbomo, and found in their valleys a luxuriant vegetation which more to the east does not occur till

far south. Ndoruma wished him to remain some time at his village, and therefore Junker resolved to set up a station there for the coming months. With the help of Ndoruma's people, who were despatched to the work by hundreds, he was able to erect good substantial dwellings, which were surrounded by a high stockade to keep off the leopards which abound in this country. He staid here until August, when he left his companion, Bohndorff, in charge of the station, while he travelled south with only twenty bearers. He crossed the Welle and traversed the land of the Mangbatu, where he made friendship with the chief Mambango, and returned in December to Ndoruma. But as the best season for travelling had approached, he did not rest, but started in January, 1881, by a new road to the south-west, the country of the A-Madi, crossed the Welle there again, and obtained, though with the greatest difficulty, the necessary number of bearers among the A-Barambo; these, however, robbed him of part of his goods; and it was only with the help of Sasa, a friendly Niam-Niam chief, that he safely returned to the A-Madi country north of the Welle. At the end of April he sent Bohndorff with the baggage, under the care of Sasa, into the latter's country south of the Mbomo, where he was to establish another permanent station. In the mean time war had broken out between the Mangbatu and Emin Bey, the governor of the Equatorial Province, but by Junker's mediation further hostilities were prevented. This, however, detained him until the end of November, 1881. Then he made another start, and was almost uninterruptedly on the way up to June, 1882, exploring the region south of the Welle and Bomokandi. He was kindly received by the Niam-Niam chiefs Bakangai and Kana, whose villages are situated south of the Bomokandi, whence he turned north and reached Semio, north of the Mbomo, where his station had been meanwhile established, in September, 1882. Here he had the misfortune to lose a great part of his valuable property by fire. Bohndorff, who had frequently been sick, wished to return to Europe, and therefore Junker packed his collections and sent him to the Bar-el-Gasal Province, where, in the mean while, Lupton Bey had become governor. But at this time the Dinka tribes revolted against the Egyptian Government; and thus Bohndorff, being unable to reach Meshra-er-Rek, was compelled to return to Semio. This was in October, 1882, the commencement of long and bloody wars in the Bar-el-Gasal territory, on which finally the invasion of the Mahdi's troops followed.

Before Bohndorff's return, Junker had started on an extensive journey west. He reached the Welle, near the mouth of the Werre and Mbima, and traversed the territory of the Bandjia, who, though speaking a dialect of the Niam-Niam language, pretend to be of an independent descent. The islands of the Welle are inhabited by the A-Basango, who speak a distinct language. After having reached Ali-Kobo, he turned north, crossed the Mbomo, ascended the Shinko, and returned to Semio by way of Mbanga. He arrived on May 1, 1883.

He now regarded his travels as finished, and intended to start for the Bar-el-Gasal, where Bohndorff had gone a short time before, as Lupton Bey hoped that the route to Meshra-er-Rek would be open. But, although Lupton called in all the outlying garrisons on the Welle, he did not succeed in putting down the Dinka, who afterwards were joined by the Nuer, Agar, and other tribes. This war lasted eighteen months, and was far more bloody and exhausting for both parties than the later engagements against the troops of the Mahdi in Emin Pacha's province. Finally the Dinka were supported by the Mahdi's forces; and Lupton, betrayed by those about him, was compelled to deliver his province without resistance to the emissary of the Mahdi, Emir Karm Allah. Junker says that the chief cause of this surrender is to be sought in the fact that Lupton had almost exclusively irregular troops at his disposal, consisting of Dongola people and Arabs of all kinds. In October, 1883, the state of Lupton's troops was very precarious, and he sent a letter to Junker entreating him to persuade the chief Semio to collect about a thousand of his people with spear and shield, as well as all those who had guns, and come to his help. He said, "I now see no other way of putting down the insurrection than by the help of the Niam-Niam chiefs. Do every thing in your power to persuade Semio to lose no time, and send him to meet me as soon as possible."

As Junker saw the routes north closed, he resolved to go east to Lado. He left Semio in November, 1883, and reached Emin at Lado in January, 1884, after fifty-five days' march. During this time Bohndorff was able to reach Khartum with the steamer, returning thither at the end of December, but all collections remained behind.

Emin Pacha's province had been quiet up to the first months of 1884; but the successes of the Dinka were too tempting for the other negro tribes, and so in the Equatorial Province the rebellion assumed more formidable proportions. Emin was compelled to give up all stations east of the Nile and to concentrate his troops. On the 27th of May he and Junker received letters from Lupton Bey and Emir Karm Allah, which contained the news that the province had fallen into the hands of the Mahdi, and the demand to surrender the Equatorial Province. Emin answered the Emir's letter, saying that he was ready to deliver the province into the hands of the representative of the Mahdi in order to prevent useless bloodshed, and till his arrival he would try to hold the province for the Mahdi. Meanwhile a defence was organized, and the outlying stations were called in. But it was not until January, 1885, that the troops of the Mahdi attacked Emin's province. After they had taken the station Amadi in April of the same year, they retreated, for unknown reasons, by forced marches, to the Bar-elGasal region. Since that time Emin's province has been unmolested by the troops of the Mahdi. On Jan. 2, 1886, Junker left Emin Pacha and Casati, going south. He crossed the Mvutan Nsige to Kibiro, and went to Kabrega, king of Unyoro. Here he learned by letters from Zanzibar of the events in the Sudan, of King Mwanga's hostility towards the Europeans, and of Dr. Fischer's unsuccessful expedition sent out by Junker's brother to seek him. In the mean time war had broken out between the Waganda and Wanyoro, and it was not until June that he received permission to enter Mwanga's capital. It took him a month and a half to cross the Victoria Nyanza; and at last Tabora was reached, whence he proceeded with one of Tippo-Tip's caravans to Zanzibar.

Thus his eventful wanderings in Central Africa were ended. It is hardly necessary to mention the importance of his explorations, which cover a large area, and of his interesting observations on the tribes with whom he lived for so long a time. The loss of his large collections will be regretted by naturalists and ethnologists, but nevertheless we should be glad that the enterprising traveller succeeded in extricating himself from the innumerable dangers and difficulties surrounding him.

BOOK REVIEWS.

Report of the Committee on Disinfectants, of the American Public Health Association. Concord, N.H., Republ. Pr. Assoc. 8°.

THE report of the committee on disinfectants, of the American Public Health Association, presented at the Toronto meeting in October last, has just been printed. It deals with the various apparatuses now in use in this country and Europe for disinfection by means of heat, and is abundantly illustrated. The experiments of this committee have demonstrated that the most efficient nondestructive disinfectants are, (1) steam under pressure at 110° C. (230° F.) for ten minutes, (2) dry heat at 110° C. (230° F.) for two hours (in the absence of spores), (3) boiling in water for one-half to one hour. It will be seen from this that the apparatus for disinfection by heat may be divided into three classes: (1) that in which dry hot air is employed, (2) that in which hot moist air is used, and (3) that in which steam is the disinfecting agent. In the disinfection of mattresses, feather beds, etc., where great penetrating power is required, dry hot air cannot be relied upon. In addition to this, there is another objection to the use of this agent, — that, when the temperature is sufficiently high to act as a disinfectant, certain articles are permanently injured by it. The committee expresses its conviction that the use of steam, and especially when superheated or under pressure, is the most efficient agent for the destruction of all sorts of infectious material. At the Boston quarantine station, Dr. S. H. Durgin, president of the Boston board of health, and a member of the committee, has been employing moist heat for disinfecting purposes since the spring of

1885. The disinfecting-chamber is a room ten by twelve feet, and seven feet high. It is made fairly tight, and has one window, on which is a thermometer so arranged as to be read from the outside. A hole two inches in diameter in the door admits a rubber hose, which discharges superheated steam from a boiler on a steamboat. The temperature of the room can by this means be raised in seven minutes to 230° F. It may easily be raised to 250° F. or more, but is generally brought to 230° F., and maintained at that point for twenty minutes. The articles to be disinfected are hung about the room loosely, and when removed, which is done as soon as the heat will permit, are found to be perfectly dry, not even the polish on freshly laundered shirts being damaged or changed. Boots, trunks, valises, and all other articles made of leather, are quickly destroyed by the high temperature, and should not be subjected to this process. Wood-work and paint are also damaged, and articles which are joined by cement fall apart. This process can be quickly applied, easily managed, and is without appreciable cost. Its trustworthiness as a disinfectant has already been established. Dr. Durgin describes the experience of the Boston board of health with the disinfection of rags in bales by means of superheated steam admitted to the interior of the bales through perforated hollow screws. In the first trial of this method a pyrometer indicated the temperature of the steam after it escaped from the bale to be 300° F. Bacteriologists had already shown that disease-germs of the greatest resisting power had been sterilized within the bale of rags which passed through this process. The evidence seemed sufficient to establish the claim that this process was effectual in its power to disinfect bales of rags. Subsequent tests showed that the rags might be intensely hot in one place, while in another they were perfectly cold. In one of these trials the moist heat used was at 300° F., and the time of exposure was four minutes. In some parts of the bales, after being removed from the steam-boxes, the intense heat could not be borne by the hand a moment, while at other points the rags were found to be cold. A still further test was made with steam at 500° F., and the time of exposure increased to eight minutes. Three bales were examined after being thus treated, and the cold places were found as before. Dr. Durgin was informed by the overseer of the process that a large number of bales had been set on fire by this intense heat, and that water had been required to extinguish them. The conclusions drawn by Dr. Durgin from these experiments are that the moist heat passing from the centre to the surface of a bale of rags must encounter knots or bunches of rags varying in degrees of density and of resistance to the penetration of heat; that while the temperature of the principal part of the bale is raised to a degree far above what is required for disinfection, other parts of the bale are found to be wholly unaffected by the heat. That anthrax bacilli have been killed and metals melted at 240° F. within bales of rags subjected to this process are facts not inconsistent with the experiences in Boston, and do not prove the disinfection of the whole bale. The degree of heat, the amount of pressure, and the time necessary for moist heat to penetrate and raise the temperature of all parts of a bale of rags to a degree necessary for disinfection without burning the rags, have not yet been declared.

Ethik als Grundwissenschaft der Pädagogik: ein Lehrbuch für Seminaristen, Studierende und Lehrer. Von Dr. MAX JAHN. Leipzig, 1887.

BOTH theoretically and practically the two foundation-stones of a system of education are psychology and ethics, — the one to set forth the nature of the mental activities, the other to expound the actual and ideal tendencies of human action. The systems of education that are prominent in its history derive an important characteristic from the kind and amount of attention they give to one or other of these underlying sciences. The history of educational methods similarly shows a recognition of this twofold origin in all stages it may be as the education of the State or of the army, and that of the Church or the home. To-day our education has taken on a scientific tone: this advance was conditioned upon the scientific development of psychology and ethics. Any system of education that shall have the slightest chance of gaining a hearing in the future must take full account of the modern aspects of psychology

and ethics; and any teacher anxious to command success must have within himself the power to healthily unfold these two sides of human character.

Dr. Jahn's handbook is intended to present a convenient sketch of the natural basis of a moral education. It is an excellent example of the useful kind of a book which a German teacher can produce. It is admirable as much for what it does not do as for what it does. The danger in all such books is to deal in meaningless generalities, to drift into long casuistical discussions, to neglect the important moral aspect of little habits, and in general urging the teacher to present to the child an ideal from which its healthy instincts revolt as from something artificial and pitiable.

The first section treats of the self-regarding and the social instincts and feelings. These furnish the material upon which a moral education is to be built. They present themselves in the earliest days of life; they are the deepest elements in human nature; a child in whom they are weak is defective quite as much as one born without eyes. The development of these instincts is the beginning of a moral education. That is essentially a wrong method that allows the child to act as whim directs, excusing it on the ground of ignorance, and then suddenly deciding to begin its moral training, and subjecting it to an internal revolution, — quite as wrong as that other current method that begins at once to appeal to the child with high motives and far-reaching theoretical considerations, and is satisfied with the consciousness that the child is learning what is the maximum bonum, while constantly neglecting to exercise the little virtues. A moral training that keeps pace with the emotional susceptibilities as founded upon the growth of mind and body utilizes each element when it is at its best, and produces that firm tissue in which morality is embedded as a habit.

Passing from the consideration of morality as conditioned upon the psycho-physical organism, the main ethical conceptions and ideas that inspire the acts of mankind are described, ingenious distinctions are drawn, and suggestive hints are given, which any good teacher can illustrate and enlarge upon for himself.

It is not sufficient to feel what is right or to know what is good: the deep emotion and the high ideal find their true purpose in action. Weakness of will is a greater source of crime than lack of sympathy. That breach between knowing and doing which Socrates could scarcely realize is to-day a widely current source of break-down. The will needs to be trained by action the daily occasions which call for the exercise of emotional kindness must find to hand a habit that does them without effort. Thus the willpower is left free for the larger occasions of life, on the same principle that allows us to walk and talk at once, because our automaton does the former, leaving the higher centres free for mental work.

The moral will realizes itself in the social government and customs of families, of tribes, of nations. The altruistic feelings here find an appropriate field of action, and the good man becomes a good father and a good citizen. The relations of life are diverse, but a common idea of final good runs through them all. Again: these relations are the result of a development; they are connected with a history which explains their defects, and shows the dear price paid for their virtues. It is in this way that Dr. Jahn understands the educational function of ethics. What is new about it is more in the spirit in which the position is upheld, and in the order and proportion in which the several points are emphasized. It is a book well adapted to present needs, and will doubtless find wide use in Germany. Would that we could substitute some such work as this for the dry compends of mental and moral science that we put in the hands of normal-school students.

NOTES AND NEWS.

AT the last session of Congress a considerable sum was appropriated for the purpose of the establishment of several stations throughout the country for the distribution of fish by the United States Fish Commission, similar to the central station situated in Washington. The law provided that these stations should only be established in places where sufficient protection is afforded by law to the fisheries. For the purpose of investigating these conditions, and of making some observations relative to the propagation and distribution of young fish, Col. M. McDonald of the commission