57 2 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The laboratory will undertake the 

 training of observers for the various 

 national organizations, the testing of 

 instruments, the supply of standard 

 sea-water for controlling salinity de- 

 terminations, and also gas-analysis. It 

 will also carry out experiments with 

 improved apparatus and methods in 

 order to ensure a degree of accuracy 

 never before aimed at in work at sea. 

 It was recommended that the labora- 

 tory should, if possible, be opened in 

 October, and that the periodical cruises 

 be commenced as soon as possible, but 

 at the latest by the spring of 1903. 



SCIENTIFIC ITEMS. 



Dr. Alexander Agassiz and Lord 

 Avebury have been appointed mem- 

 bers of the Prussian order, ' pour le 

 merite.' We understand that Dr. 

 Agassiz is the only American on whom 

 this honor has been conferred except 

 the historian Bancroft. — Dr. Wilhelm 

 Wundt, the eminent psychologist and 

 philosopher, celebrated his seventieth 

 birthday on August 16. A volume of 

 researches carried out by his former 

 students was presented to him on the 

 occasion. — M. Levasseur, professor of 

 agriculture at the College de France, 

 has been elected president of the 

 French Association for the Advance- 



ment of Science. The Association will 

 hold its meeting in 1903 at Angiers. — 

 The Iron and Steel Institute of Great 

 Britain held its meeting at Diisseldorf 

 last month. Among those who made 

 addresses at the opening meeting was 

 Professor Henry M. Howe, of Colum- 

 bia University. Mr. Andrew Carnegie 

 has been elected president of the In- 

 stitute. — The centenary of the birth of 

 Hugh Miller was celebrated at Cro- 

 marty on August 22. The principal 

 address was made by Sir Archibald 

 Geikie. An address was also made by 

 Dr. John M. Clarke, of Albany.— The 

 centenary of the birth of the eminent 

 mathematician, Abel, was celebrated 

 at Christiania last month. On this 

 occasion honorary degrees were given 

 to a number of mathematicians, in- 

 cluding Professors Simon Newcomb 

 and J. Willard Gibbs. — The com- 

 mittee of the fund raised to com- 

 memorate the eightieth birthday of 

 Professor Virchow announces that it 

 has handed over a sum of over $12,000 

 to the Rudolf Virchow Foundation. — 

 Gilbert White's house at Selbourne is 

 for sale, and the suggestion is made 

 by Mr. E. A. Martin, member of the 

 council of the Selbourne Society, that 

 it should be purchased as a permanent 

 memorial of the father of British nat- 

 uralists. 



