224 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



piece which she had played a number of 

 times. This he did absolutely independ- 

 ently of any teaching whatever. Only a 

 special anatomical basis for musical 

 ability seems competent to explain a 

 case like this. 



Among recent events of scientific in- 

 terest, we note the following: Dr. Henry 

 S. Pritchett, superintendent of the 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey, was in- 

 augurated as president of the Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology on Oc- 

 tober 24. — Sir Michael Foster has been 

 reelected a member of the British Par- 

 liament, representing the University 

 of London. — Cambridge University has 

 conferred the degree of Doctor of 

 Science on Professor S. P. Langley, di- 

 rector of the Smithsonian Institution. 

 — Professor George F. Barker, for twen- 

 ty-eight years professor of physics in 

 the University of Pennsylvania, and 

 Professor F. H. Bonney, for thirty-three 

 years professor of geology in University 

 College, London, have retired. — A com- 

 mittee has been appointed to erect a 

 memorial to the late Spencer F. Baird 

 at Wood's Holl. Subscriptions may be 

 sent to the Hon. E. G. Blackford, Ful- 

 ton Market, New York City.— The 

 Rumford Committee of the American 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences has 

 voted a grant of $200 to Mr. C. E. Men- 

 denhall of Williams College for the fur- 

 therance of his investigations on a hol- 

 low bolometer, and a grant of $500 to 

 Professor George E. Hale of the 

 Yerkes Observatory in furtherance of 

 his researches in connection with the 

 application of the radiometer and a 

 study of the infra-red spectrum of 

 the chromosphere. — Professor Ernst 

 Haeckel is at present in Java, seeking 

 for further remains of Pithecanthropus 

 erecUts. — Dr. Eobert Koch has re- 



turned to Berlin after fifteen months 

 spent in the study of malaria, chiefly 

 in the German colonies. — Harvard Ob- 

 servatory has sent an expedition to 

 Kingston, Jamaica, to observe the 

 planet Eros in its approaching opposi- 

 tion. — Mr. E. P. Baldwin is planning 

 an expedition to the North Polar re- 

 gions, the expenses of which will be de- 

 frayed by Mr. Ziegler, of New York 

 City.— The New York Board of Health is 

 building, at a cost of $20,000, a labora- 

 tory to be wholly devoted to the study 

 of the bubonic plague. — The great Ser- 

 pent Mound of Ohio, which has long 

 been a subject of study and research for 

 American archeologists, has been given 

 by the Harvard Corporation to the 

 Ohio State Archeological and Histori- 

 cal Society. — The fine new lecture hall 

 of the American Museum of Natural 

 History was opened with appropriate 

 exercises on Tuesday, October 30. At 

 the same time the new anthropological 

 collections were exhibited. — The new 

 National Museum at Munich, contain- 

 ing the collection of Bavarian antiqui- 

 ties, has been opened, and the valuable 

 collections can be viewed to much bet- 

 ter advantage than hitherto. The build- 

 ing contains more than a hundred 

 rooms and has been erected at a cost 

 of about $1,000,000.— The Authors' Cat- 

 alogue of the British Museum, contain- 

 ing four hundered large volumes and 

 numerous supplements, has now been 

 completed. The compilation of the cata- 

 logue has occupied twenty years and 

 cost $200,000. A subject-catalogue is 



now in course of preparation The 



Russian Government has decided to 

 adopt the metric system of weights and 

 measures, and the ministry of finance 

 is now engaged in considering the time 

 and manner of introducing this re- 

 form. 



