that out of twelve thousand miles of submarine cable which have been laid since 1851, only three thousand miles are actually in working order; so that three-fourths may be considered a failure and loss to the country. The insulators hitherto employed are subject to deterioration from mechanical violence, from chemical decomposition or decay, and from the absorption of water. But the last circumstance does not appear to influence seriously the durability of cables. Electrically, India-rubber possesses high advantages, and, next to it, Wray's compound and pure gutta-percha far surpass the commercial gutta-percha hitherto employed; but it remains to be seen whether the mechanical and commercial difficulties in the employment of these new materials can be successfully overcome. The external protecting covering is still a subject of anxious consideration. The objections to iron wire are its weight and liability to corrosion. Hemp has been substituted, but at present with no satisfactory result. All these difficulties, together with those connected with the coiling and paying out of the cable, will no doubt yield to careful experiment, and the employment of proper instruments in its construction, and its final deposit on the bed of the ocean.

"Irrespective of inland and international telegraphy, a new system of communication has been introduced by Prof. Wheatstone, whereby intercourse can be carried on between private families, public offices, and the works of merchants and manufacturers. This application of electric currents cannot be too highly appreciated, from its great efficiency and comparatively small expense. To show to what an extent this improvement has been carried, I may state that one thousand wires, in a perfect state of insulation, may be formed into a rope not exceeding half an inch in diameter."

The Congress for the Promotion of Social Science, which has now become an established institution in Great Britain, met, during the past year, at Dublin, and was largely attended,- - some ninety-three papers being read and discussed. Of these communications we note the following, by title, as affording our American readers an idea of the scope and objects of the Congress:

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Suggestions on the Failure of Education in the Junior Classes of Elementary Schools; by the Rev. W. A. Willock, D.D." "On the Application of the Principles of Education in Schools for the Lower Classes of Society; by Miss Carpenter." "A Scheme for the Adult Education of the Working Classes; by Mr. J. P. Organ." hangings Auxiliaries to Education; by Mr. J. Stewart." Influence of Newspapers on Popular Education; by Mr. G. W. Blanchard Jerrold." "On Art Education considered in its Utilitarian and

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Paper"On the

Social Aspect; by Mr. M. A. Hayes.” "On the more Prominent Causes of an Excessive Mortality in Early Life; by Dr. Moore." "On the Physical Degeneration of Town Populations; by Dr. Beddoe." "On Hospital Statistics; by Florence Nightingale." "On the Influence of the

Food on the Intellect; by Dr. H. Kennedy." "On the Health of Merchant Seamen; by Dr. J. O. William." "On Practical Sanitary Work in Town and Country; by Mrs. Fison." "On Quarantine; by Dr. Milroy." "On the Application of Sanitary Science to Public Works of Irrigation; by Mr. E. Chadwick.” "On the Disposal of Boys from Reformatories; by the Rev. J. Fish." "On Sentences, with a view to Reformation or Deterrence; by T. B. L. Baker." "On Punishment, its Effects by way of Example; by Mr. C. H. Foote." "On the Condition of the Working Women in England and France; by Miss Parkes." "Women Compositors; by Miss Emily Faithfull." "On the Law of Fluctuation in Wages; by Prof. H. Hennessy." "On Working Men's Reading-rooms; by Dr. R. Elliott." "On the Condition of the Working Classes and their Dwellings; by the Rev. J. B. Robinson." "On the Superior Economy of Administration of Voluntary as distinguished from Legal Charity; by Major O'Reilly." "On the Necessity of a Universal System of Weights, Measures, and Coinage; by M. Chevalier, of France." "On Public Prosecutors in Prussia; by Baron Holtzendorff." "Should the Accounts of Joint Stock Companies be Audited by a Public Officer? by Mr. D. C. Heron." "Observations on the Proposal of Admitting the Evidence of Accused Persons on their Trial; by Mr. P. J. McKenna."

The Emperor of Russia has recently placed in the hands of M. Struvé, the distinguished Russian astronomer, the sum of 125,000 francs, to enable him to erect an observatory on the summit of Mount Ararat, in Persia. It is hoped that, under the remarkably clear skies of this country, important astronomical results will be attained to.

A scientific expedition has been set on foot by the Government of India, for the exploration of the great mountain chains of Central Asia. It will consist of five men of science, geologists and physicists, who, early in 1862, will traverse the Himalaya and Karchan chains, and, proceeding into Tartary, explore the great Thian-Chan; then, passing eastwards, return to Hindustan by the gorges of the Brahmaputra River.

An English commission is now engaged, in coöperation with a commission appointed by the French Government, for the purpose of connecting the triangulation of Great Britain with that of France and Belgium. The ultimate result to be obtained is the substitution of one meridional line for the lines of Greenwich, Paris, and St. Petersburg,

that are at present in use in different countries, and thus to harmonize the maps of all countries. The connection of the French and Russian systems will be carried out by the officers of those countries.

Uriah A. Boyden, Esq., of Boston, Mass., has deposited with the Franklin Institute, of Philadelphia, the sum of one thousand dollars, to be awarded as a premium to " any resident of North America who shall determine by experiment whether all rays of light, and other physical rays, are or are not transmitted with the same velocity." The award is to be made by a committee of three citizens of the United States, of competent scientific ability, to be appointed by the managers of the Institute.

Prof. Torrey, of New York, the well-known botanist, has presented to Columbia College his immense herbarium, — the fruit of forty years' assiduous labor,―together with his valuable botanical library. The herbarium is especially rich in North American plants, as it contains full sets of nearly all the collections made by the numerous exploring expeditions of the United States Government, from that of Maj. Long, in 1819, to the present time, and the original specimens from which the descriptions in the official reports were made. The herbarium is also authority for the plants described in the Flora of North America, by Dr. Torrey and Dr. Gray. The Floras of Europe, Asia, the Cape of Good Hope, Australia, and many other parts of the world, are largely represented by collections named by the highest authority. Within the past year some important changes have been made by Congress in the United States system of Patent Laws, of which the following are the most noticeable: :

Patents.

Under the new system, pictures, prints, and artistic designs of every description, may be patented, and no person can use or duplicate the same without the consent of the originator. Merchants may obtain patents upon their trade marks, and even upon the labels which they affix to their goods. This provision also covers, in particular, ornamental designs in any fabric or material; every new style of tool or pattern used or produced in any trade; and ornaments and decorations formed from any material. In short, any new form of any article of manufacture may be patented. Makers of such articles will therefore be encouraged to exercise ingenuity in producing improved forms, so as to enjoy a monopoly of the sale thereof.

Patents can be taken out under the new system, in accordance with the above provisions, for three and one-half, seven, or fourteen years, as the applicant desires; and the following is the tariff of fees established by Congress for the same:—

For a patent of three and one-half years, ten dollars; for a patent

of seven years, fifteen dollars; for a patent of fourteen years, thirty dollars. The documents required are petition, affidavit, specifications, and drawings; a model being unnecessary.

Recent Progress in Natural History. Professor Owen, of England, gives the following as the ratio at which our knowledge of the class of mammalia has advanced during the last thirty years; namely, from, say 1,350 species in 1830, to 2,500 in 1860. In one order, e. g. Marsupialia, the increase has been, from 50 species, recorded in 1830, to 350 species in 1860. We should also, says Professor Owen, greatly over-estimate our present knowledge, were we to rest upon it a conclusion that there remained but very few more forms of Mammalia to provide room for in our museums; an assertion which derives strength from the great augmentation of the species of the Quadrimanous (apes) order, recently made through the researches of Du Chaillu and others in tropical Africa.

The Smithsonian Institution has recently made arrangements for the preparation of works on the different orders of insects found in North America, with a view to identifying the species, and of systematizing the study of their relations and habits. This is a subject not only of much scientific interest, but also of great practical importance in regard to its connection with agriculture. When it is considered how much loss is annually caused in this country by the ravages of the Hessian fly, the army and cotton worms, the curculio, the grasshopper, and numerous other species of insects, it must be evident that anything that may tend, in however slight a degree, to throw light upon the means of preventing such ravages, is of great commercial importance. But before we can make use of the experience of other countries on this subject, it will be necessary to identify the insects, since, in regard to them, as well as other objects of natural history, the same name is often popularly applied to widely different species.

The greatest deficiency in American natural history is to be found in the department of entomology, there being no original treatise in reference to this country, applicable to the wants of the present day. The Institution has therefore made arrangements with eminent entomologists for the preparation of the following series of reports on the different orders, in the form of systematic lists, of all the North American species hitherto described, and an account of the different families and genera, and, whenever practicable, of the species of each order, namely:

Coleoptera (beetles, etc.), by Dr. John L. Le Conte, of Philadelphia. Neuroptera (dragonflies, etc.), by Dr. Hagen, Königsberg. Hymenoptera (wasps, bees, etc.), by H. De Saussure, Geneva. Diptera

(flies, mosquitoes, etc.), by Baron Ostensacken, of the Russian legation at Washington. Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths, etc.), by Dr. J. G. Morris, Baltimore, and by Dr. B. Clemens, Easton, Pa. Hemiptera (chinches, roaches, etc.), by P. R. Uhler, Baltimore.

Catalogues of the Coleoptera, Diptera and Lepidoptera have been already published.

In Europe, especially in France, the subject of the acclimatization of new and the improving of old breeds of animals continues to receive great attention. During the last few years there have been introduced and acclimatized in France, mainly through the auspices of the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, the following new species: two new and hardy varieties of the silk-worm; ten species of ornamental birds; and five species of domestic mammalia, namely: the lama, which already counts three generations at the Jardin des Plantes; the yak, or Thibet ox, which in two generations has increased to seventeen individuals, including the three original ones; and the hemione, the canna, and nilgau (varieties of deer or antelope from South Africa). These three animals all furnish excellent meat; that of the nilgau has already been served up at several tables in Europe.

The Belgian and Danish governments, during the past year, have appointed commissioners to study the new methods of propagating and rearing fish, and to introduce the same among the fishing population of their respective shores. Legislative action has also been recently taken by the French government (see Zoology, this volume) for the protection of useful birds, with a view of checking the increase of insects injurious to vegetation. M. St. Hilaire, the late eminent naturalist, in presenting to the French Academy, during the past year, the fourth edition of his work, Acclimatization and Domestication, remarked, that breeding alone, in most civilized countries, had become a regular business with the agriculturist; but in the way of preserving the animals we have, whether wild or domestic, or turning them to the best account, we at present display but little more wisdom than in the Middle Ages; and sportsmen of every nation kill the most useful birds, such as the swallow, for instance, -for no purpose whatever but the stupid pleasure of killing. Let a goat-sucker or owl be seen by a farmer, he will hunt it down forthwith, and proudly nail its carcass to his barn-door, quite unconscious of having shot one of his best friends, whose only pursuit was that of destroying the vermin on his ground.

The Lowest Race of Men. — At the last meeting of the British Association (1861), Professor Owen stated that he regarded the natives of the Andaman Islands, in the Indian Ocean, as probably the most