416 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



of vertebrates there, and no better nor 

 more scientific installations of mam- 

 mals are to be seen in any museum. 

 The arrangement and labeling both 

 from scientific and artistic standpoints 

 are unique. 



The especial purpose of the president 

 and trustees of the American Museum 

 of Natural History in the selection and 

 appointment of Dr. Lucas as director 

 is the advancement of the educational 

 arrangement and exhibition of the vast 

 collections which the museum has been 

 acquiring from various parts of the 

 world, especially during the past 

 decade. In this field Dr. Lucas is 

 recognized as the leading expert in this 

 country. The trustees realize that the 

 American Museum is very strong and 

 well arranged in certain departments, 

 while others lack sequence, and that 

 either geographic, systematic or evolu- 

 tionary sequence is necessary in order 

 to give the collections their full educa- 

 tional value and effect. 



SCIENTIFIC ITEMS 

 We regret to record the deaths of 

 Dr. Francis A. March, professor emer- 

 itus of comparative philology and Eng- 

 lish literature at Lafayette College, of 

 Dr. Thomas Dwight, professor of anat- 

 omy at Harvard University, and of 



Professor Franklin H. King, of Madi- 

 son, Wis., known for his publications 

 on agriculture. 



Dr. E. A. Schafer, professor of 

 physiology at Edinburgh, has been 

 elected president of the British Asso- 

 ciation, for the meeting to be held next 

 year at Dundee, beginning on Septem- 

 ber 4. The meeting of 1913 will be 

 held at Birmingham. 



The annual Herter lectures will be 

 delivered at the Johns Hopkins Univer- 

 \ sity on October 4, 5 and 6, by Professor 

 Dr. Albrecht Kossel, of the University 

 of Heidelberg, who was awarded the 

 Nobel prize last year for his discoveries 

 in medical chemistry. 



Next year the American Geograph- 

 ical Society celebrates its jubilee, and 

 in connection with this event a trans- 

 continental excursion for the purpose 

 of geographical study is planned, under 

 the leadership of Professor W. M. 

 Davis. The start from New York, by 

 special train, will take place some time 

 in August, and the excursion will con- 

 clude in October, its duration being six 

 or seven weeks. 



The South Australian Cabinet has 

 decided to contribute £5,000 towards 

 the cost of the Mawson Antarctic Ex- 

 pedition. 



