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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



A HANDBOOK OF VXIVEBSITIES 

 Minerva, which for twenty years has 

 been an invaluable annual for univer- 

 sity men, lias issued as a supplement a 

 volume containing details of the organ- 

 ization of universities and colleges 

 throughout the world. It is to be fol- 

 lowed by a second volume with similar 

 material in regard to libraries, mu- 

 seums, observatories, etc. A vast 

 amount of information is packed into 

 623 pages, printed in type almost too 

 small to be legible. Like the annual 

 issue of Minerva, it is edited with un- 

 usual accuracy, but, as is likely to be 

 the case, the material appears to be the 

 more satisfactory, the less the first- 

 hand knowledge of the reader. Thus 

 the only lectureship referred to under 

 American universities is the ' ' Sethman 

 (intended for Silliman) lecturer at 

 Yale. ' ' The following account of our 

 fraternities would not give a clear or 

 correct impression to foreigners: "In 

 the larger colleges and in the universi- 

 ties most students are members of one 

 or more 'fraternities.' The members 

 live in the college, usually together in a 

 chapter house. The most important is 

 the Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity, 

 founded in 1776." It is not true that 

 Columbia University was in 1890 

 ''completely reorganized on the model 

 of the German universities." There is 

 no reason to include the Cooper Union 

 and to exclude the West Point Military 

 Academy. But it seems captious to 

 point out minor inaccuracies in a book 

 covering such a wide field. The pub- 

 lishers and editors should rather be con- 

 gratulated on the production of a book 

 which could not be accomplished out- 

 side Germany. The frontispiece, here 

 reproduced, is a portrait of Dr. Ed. 

 Suess, professor emeritus of geology of 

 the University of Vienna, who has just 

 celebrated his eightieth birthday and 

 has retired from the presidency of the 

 Vienna Academy of Sciences. 



SCIENTIFIC ITEMS 

 YVf: record with regret the deaths of 

 Professor Edward Lee Hancock, pro- 

 fessor of applied mechanics in the 



Worcester Polytechnic Institute; of the 

 Rev. Mariam Balcells, professor of 

 mathematics at Boston College, pre- 

 viously director of the department of 

 solar physics at the Observatorio del 

 Ebro, and of Mr. Edward Whymper, 

 known for his explorations among the 

 Alps and in the Andes. 



Dr. C. Willard Hayes, chief geolo- 

 gist of the L. S. Geological Survey, has 

 retired to engage in technological 

 work in Mexico. — At the meeting of 

 the corporation of Yale University on 

 September 18, Sir William Osier, regius 

 professor of medicine at Oxford, was 

 appointed Silliman lecturer for 1912, 

 and Dr. Joseph P. Iddings, until 1908 

 professor of petrology in the University 

 of Chicago, and now engaged in geolog- 

 ical research, was appointed lecturer 

 for 1913. 



Owing to the epidemic of cholera, 

 the various international congi esses, 

 geographical, agricultural and tubercu- 

 losis, will not meet in Rome this au- 

 tumn. They have been postponed until 

 the spring of 1912, the exact dates not 

 yet being determined. — By invitation 

 oi the trustees of the New York Public 

 Library the autumn meeting of the 

 National Academy of Sciences will be 

 held in its new building, beginning on 

 November 21. 



Among the public bequests made by 

 Mr. George M. Pullman was that of 

 $1,200,00(1 for founding and endowing 

 the Pullman Free School of Manual 

 Training at Pullman, 111. This fund 

 has increased to more than $2,500,000. 

 The first step toward founding the 

 school was the purchase, in 1908, of a 

 campus of forty acres within the limits 

 of the town of Pullman at a cost of 

 $100,000. Mr. Laenas Gifford Weld, 

 until recently professor of mathematics 

 and dean of the faculty of liberal arts 

 in the Iowa State university, was ap- 

 pointed principal in May and entered 

 upon his new duties September 1. He 

 will visit the leading technical and 

 trade schools in this country and in 

 Europe before the preparation of defi- 

 nite plans is undertaken. 



