520 



THE POP I ' LA R SCIENCE MONTHLY 



figs, guavas, papayas, etc., are far more 

 dangerous. They have, however, little 

 commercial importance. If they are 

 taken on board at all, they must either 

 be consumed or thrown overboard be- 

 fore the ship reaches the United States. 



SCIENTIFIC ITEMS 



WE record with regret the deaths of 

 Dr. Edward Singleton Ilolden, astron- 

 omer and librarian of the United States 

 Naval Academy, formerly director of 

 the Lick Observatory; of Mr. George 

 Westinghouse, the distinguished inven- 

 tor and engineer; of Dr. Alexander F. 

 Chamberlain, professor of anthropol- 

 ogy at Clark University; of Adolph 

 Francis Alphonse Bandelier, an author- 

 ity on South American archeology, lee 

 turer in Columbia University, and of 

 Dr. John Henry Poynting, professor of 

 physics at Birmingham University. 



A portrait of Sir William Ramsay, 

 painted by Mr. Mark Milbanke, has 



been presented to University College, 

 London, by former colleagues and past 

 students. Professor J. Norman Collie 

 made the address. A replica of the por- 

 trait has been presented to Lady Bam- 

 say. 



The former students of Dr. J. Mc- 

 Keen Cattell, professor of psychology 

 in Columbia University, at a dinner 

 held in New York on April 8, pre- 

 sented him, in celebration of his com 

 pletion of twenty-five years as pro- 

 fessor of psychology, with a "Fest- 

 schrift" in the form of reviews of his 

 researches and of the work in psychol- 

 ogy to which they have led. On April 

 6, 7 and 8, there was held at Columbia 

 University a Conference on Individual 

 Psychology by former students of the 

 department of psychology, at which 

 thirty papers were presented. 



The Rockefeller Institute for Med- 

 ical Research, New York, announces 

 that it has received from Mr. John D. 

 Rockefeller an additional endowment of 

 $1,000,000 for the purpose of organiz- 

 ing a department for the study of ani- 

 mal diseases. A gift of $50,000 has 

 also been received from Mr. James J. 

 Hill, for the study of hog cholera. 



Following the disastrous fire at 

 Wellesley College the General Kduea- 

 tion Board has promised to give $750,- 

 000 to the college on condition that the 

 balance of the $2,000,000 restoration 

 and endowment fund is completed by 

 • Ian nary 1, 1915. 



Mr. Andrew Carnegie has given 



$100,000 to the New York Zoological 

 Society to provide a pension fund for 

 the Now York Zoological Park and the 

 Aquarium. The scientific staff and the 



employees will contribute annually 2 

 per cent, of their salaries, and any sum 

 that may be lacking will 1 e made up by 

 the Zoological Society. 



As has already been noted in Scu no . 

 the American Chemical Society held its 

 spring meeting at Cincinnati, Ohio, dur- 

 ing the week of April 6. Each of the 

 sections had a full and important pro- 

 gram. At the general session on the 

 first day, after addresses of welcome 

 by the mayor of the city and the presi- 

 dent of the University of Cincinnati, 

 and a reply by the president of the so- 

 ciety. Professor Theodore W. Richards, 

 the following papers were announced : 

 Arthur L. Day, "The Chemical Prob- 

 lems of an Active Volcano"; L. J. 

 Henderson, ' ' The Chemical Fitness t>f 

 the World for Life"; W. D. Bancroft, 

 "Flame Reactions"; Irving Langmuir, 

 "Chemical Reactions at Low Pres- 

 sures. ' ' 



