312 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



German physicist, of Dr. William 

 Bradley Rising, professor of chemistry 

 in the University of California, and of 

 Dr. William George light, formerly 

 professor of geology at Denison Uni- 

 versity and the University of New 

 Mexico. 



A national testimonial to Com- 

 mander Robert Peary was held at the 

 Metropolitan Opera House, New York 

 City, on February 8. Governor Hughes 

 presided and a telegram was read from 

 President Taft which expressed the 

 hope that congress would take some 

 substantial notice of Commander 

 Peary's great achievement. Governor 

 Hughes presented Commander Peary 

 with a purse containing $10,000, which 

 he immediately contributed toward fit- 

 ting out an Antarctic expedition. — The 

 Langley medal of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution, created in 1908 in commem- 

 oration of Professor Langley and his 

 work in aerodromics, was presented to 

 Messrs. Orville and Wilbur Wright on 

 February 10. Dr. Alexander Graham 

 Bell and Senator Lodge made addresses 

 and Chief Justice Fuller presented the 

 medals. 



A statue of the late Morris K. 

 Jesup, for many years president of the 

 American Museum of Natural History, 

 was unveiled in the foyer of the mu- 



seum on February 9. Addresses at the 

 unveiling were made by Dr. Henry 

 Fairfield Osborn, who has succeeded 

 Mr. Jesup as president of the museum, 

 and Mr. Joseph H. Choate, one of the 

 founders of the museum. 



A department of experimental biol- 

 ogy has been organized in the Rocke- 

 feller Institute. Professor Jacques 

 Loeb, of the University of California, 

 has been elected head of the depart- 

 ment. — The Geological Society of Lon- 

 don has awarded the Wollaston medal 

 to Professor W. B. Scott, of Princeton 

 University. — The French Academy of 

 Moral and Political Sciences has elected 

 Professor William James, of Harvard 

 University, a foreign member of the 

 society, in the room of the late M. de 

 Martens, of St. Petersburg. Professor 

 James has been a corresponding mem- 

 ber of the academy since 1898. 



The late Darius Ogden Mills, of New 

 York City, has bequeathed $100,000 to 

 the American Museum of Natural His- 

 tory, $50,000 to the New York Botan- 

 ical Garden and $25,000 to the Amer- 

 ican Geographical Society of New York 

 City.— The Sheffield Scientific School of 

 Yale University has received from 

 Messrs. George G. Mason and William 

 S. Mason $250,000 for a laboratory of 

 mechanical engineering-. 



