THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



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who do not study Greek, and V>. S. for 

 those who study neither Latin nor 

 Greek. It has resulted that only a small 

 jiroportion of students lias taken the 



A. B. deforce, yet tlie other degrees 

 referred to have no definite and well- 

 established meaning. Tlie bachelor of 

 science degree, for example, does not 

 mean tliat a st\ulent has had a scientific 

 education, but simply that he has not 

 studied Latin and Greek. Under these 

 circumstances it appears that the Uni- 

 versities of Michigan and Minnesota 

 have during the past month taken a 

 forward step in abolishing all college 

 degrees except the A. B., giving this for 

 all courses of liberal studies. It is 

 obvious that the A. B. no longer means 

 a classical education when both in Eng- 

 land and the United States its only con- 

 dition is 'small Latin' in the prepara- 

 tory school. Scientific students might 

 like to see a degree established that 

 definitely signifies a scientific education 

 — as the B. So. of the University of 

 London. The authorities of Columbia 

 University recently considered the de- 

 sirability of oflfering such a degree, but 

 it was thought impossible to give the 



B. S. a definite signification. 



Db. George Davidson, professor of 

 geography in the University of Califor- 

 nia, has been elected a correspondent of 

 the Paris Academy of Sciences. — St. An- 

 drews University has conferred its 

 LL. D. on Mr. Alexander Agassiz, of 

 Harvard University, and Aberdeen Uni- 

 versity has conferred the same honor 

 on Professor Rudolf Virchow, of Ber- 

 lin.— ]Mr. J. J. H. Teall, F. R. S., has 

 been appointed director-general of the 

 Geological Survey of Great Britain and 

 Ireland, in succession to Sir Archibald 

 Geikie. who retired on February 28. 

 Sir Archibald has been in the service of 

 the Survey for forty-six years and has 

 reached the age limit. — Prof. S. M. 

 Babcock, of the University of Wiscon- 

 sin, inventor of the Babcock milk test, 

 was, on March 27, presented with a 

 medal, voted him by the State for giving 

 his invention free to the world. Ex- 



ercises were held in the .Assembly Cham- 

 ber of the Capitol in the presence of 

 both Houses of the Legislature, the 

 university faculty and regents and 

 many prominent citizens of the State. 

 Governor Lafollete presided, and ad- 

 dresses were made by him, by ex-Gov- 

 ernor W. D. Hoard and others.— A com- 

 mittee has been formed to erect at 

 Heidelberg a monument in memory of 

 three of its great scientific men, Bun- 

 sen, Kirchoff and von Helmholtz. — A 

 memorial marble bust of Robert Brown, 

 the eminent botanist, formerly a stu- 

 dent at Aberdeen, presented to the uni- 

 veisity by Miss Hope Paton. has been 

 unveiled in the picture gallery of Mar- 

 ischal College. — Three expert geologists 

 from the United States Geological Sur- 

 vey (Dr. C. Willard Hayes, Mr. T. Way- 

 land Vaughan and Mr. A. C. Spencer) 

 have been detailed to make a geologic 

 and mineral reconnais.sance of the Isl- 

 and of Cuba. — The Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey steamships. Pathfinder and Mc- 

 Arthur, at San Francisco, and the Pat- 

 terson and Gedney, at Seattle, are now 

 fitting up, under orders to proceed to 

 Alaska to survey important passages 

 among the islands along the Alaskan 

 cost. — Dr. Patrick Geddes, who was re- 

 sponsible for the formation of the In- 

 ternational As.sociation for the Advance- 

 ment of Science, Arts and Education, 

 and the holding of an International As- 

 sembly at the Paris Exposition, last 

 year, proposes a similar assembly, in 

 connection with the exposition and con- 

 gresses to be held at Glasgow this year. 

 — The second Latin-American Scientific 

 Congress opened its two-weeks' session 

 at Montevideo on March 20, with over 

 200 delegates in attendance. Dr. Rob- 

 ert Wernicke, professor of pathology in 

 the University of Buenos Aires, Argen- 

 tine Republic, was elected president of 

 the Congress. — In order to make the 

 free distribution of seeds by the United 

 States Department of Agriculture as 

 useful as possible. Secretary Wilson has 

 secured authority to send out young 

 trees as well as seeds. 



