THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



603 



ceed as far north as possible. In the 

 meanwhile, JMr. Baldwin is making a 

 similar attempt from another direc- 

 tion, and there are a number of other 

 expeditions in the far north. Baron 

 Toll, who started from Russia in 

 May, 1900, was recently in the Strait 

 of Tarmour, while from the same 

 country. Admiral Markaroflf is testing 

 his ice-breaking steamship. From 

 Norway, Captain Sverdrup on the 

 Fram has for three years been making 

 explorations about Greenland and west 

 of Ellesmere land. From Germany, 

 Captain Banandahl was, when last 

 heard from, advancing north from 

 Spitzbergen. None of the expeditions 

 in the north are of the same scientific 

 importance as the national antarctic 

 expeditions of Great Britain and Ger- 

 many, but it seems certain that the 

 next year will add greatly to our 

 knowledge of the unknown regions of 

 the north as well as of the south. 



SCIENTIFIC ITEMS. 

 Professor William Theodore Rich- 

 ards, of Harvard University, has de- 

 clined a call to a newly-established 

 research professorship of chemistry in 

 the University of Gottingen. It is a 

 special compliment to the United 

 States that Germany should seek here 

 a professor for such a chair, especially 

 when we remember the large number 

 of chemists that are trained at the 

 German universities. — On the applica- 

 tion of the Government of Victoria, 

 Australia, for a director of agriculture, 

 officers of the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture have recommended Pro- 

 fessor B. T. Galloway, chief of the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, and Pro- 

 fessor Willett M. Hays, agriculturist 

 of the Minnesota Experiment Station. 



The Reale Accademia dei Lincei of 

 Rome has elected eight foreign mem- 

 bers, including from the United States 

 Edward C. Pickering, director of the 

 Harvard College Observatory; Samuel 



r. Langley, Secretary of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, and Chas. D. Wal- 

 cott, director of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey. — The Veitch silver medal has 

 been awarded to Mr. Thomas Meehan, 

 of Philadeli^hia, 'for distinguished ser- 

 vices in botany and horticulture.' Mr. 

 Meehan is the third American on whom 

 this medal has been conferred, the 

 others being Professor Charles S. Sar- 

 gent, of the Arnold Arboretum, and 

 Professor Liberty H. Bailey, of Cornell 

 University. 



Professor Ed. Suess, the eminent 

 geologist, gave on July 13 a formal 

 lecture to his present and former 

 students on the occasion of his retire- 

 ment from the chair of geology. He 

 has reached his seventieth year and his 

 forty-fourth year as a university 

 teacher. — Dr. Ernst Mach, professor 

 of philosophy in the University of 

 Vienna, has been compelled by ill 

 health to retire from the active duties 

 of his professorship. — Professor E. 

 Haeckel, of Jena, has made public the 

 announcement that owing to the state 

 of his health, his advanced age and 

 pressure of work, he will not in future 

 make any pixblic addresses or attend 

 any scientific congresses. 



A royal commission has been ap- 

 pointed in Great Britain to study the 

 relation of bovine and human tuber- 

 culosis, consisting of Sir Michael 

 Foster, Dr. Sims Woodhead, Dr. Harris 

 Cox Martin, Professor J. McFadyean 

 and Professor R. W. Boyce. 



The British Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science held its meeting 

 at Glasgow from September 11-18 un- 

 der the presidency of Professor A. W. 

 Riicker, the eminent physicist. The 

 Congress of German Men of Science 

 and Physicians is being held at Ham- 

 burg from September 22-28, under the 

 presidency of Professor R. Hertmg, 

 the well-known zoologist. 



