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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tions now on record. Of indiscriminate 

 observation there has already been too 

 much; what is needed is discrimina- 

 tion. There is danger that the camera 

 may become as powerful a fetish as the 

 microtome has been. To spend hours 

 in most uncomfortable positions en- 

 deavoring to secure a nature picture is 

 not necessarily self-sacrifice in the pur- 

 suit of science; it may result in the 

 securing of a pretty picture but it may 

 result in nothing more. Pretty photo- 

 graphs are of no more value than 

 pretty microscope slides; both are 

 valuable only for what may be learned 

 from them, and it is the exercise of a 

 discrimination between what may be 

 merely pretty and what may be in- 

 structive that gives an observation 

 scientific value. It is not more amateur 

 photographers that are wanted but 

 more historians of nature. 



SCIENTIFIC ITEMS. 

 We regret to learn of the death at 

 the age of sixty- six years of Edward 

 W. Claypole, professor of geology at 

 Throop Institute, Pasadena, Cal., and 

 of the death of A. F. W. Schimper, 

 professor of botany at Basle, who died 

 on September 9, at the age of forty-five 

 years. 



The eightieth birthday of Professor 

 Eudolf Virchow, which occurred on 

 October 13, has been celebrated in Ber- 

 lin with elaborate ceremonies. There 

 was a reception in the Pathological In- 

 stitute in the afternoon and a banquet 

 in the dining hall of the Prussian Diet 

 in the evening, followed by an official 

 reception in the parliament hall. Pro- 

 fessor Waldeyer, secretary of the Berlin 

 Academy of Sciences, presented 50,000 

 Marks, subscribed by medical men in 

 Germany toward increasing the Vir- 

 chow research fund. The event was 

 also celebrated in New York and other 

 cities. The municipality of Berlin has 

 resolved to call its new hospital, con- 

 taining beds for 1,700 patients, the 

 Virchowkrankenhaus. 



A STATUE of Pasteur was unveiled on 

 September 9, at Arbois, where he spent 

 his childhood and his holidays in later 

 life. The monument, erected at a cost 

 of over $10,000, was designed by M. 

 Daillon and represents Pasteur seated. 

 On the pedestal are two bas-reliefs, one 

 representing inoculation against rabies 

 and the other agriculture profiting 

 from Pasteur's discoveries. On the 

 occasion of the unveiling addresses 

 were made by M. Decrais, French min- 

 ister of the colonies, and M. Liard, rep- 

 resenting the Department of Public In- 

 struction. 



President Seth. Low presented his 

 resignation to the trustees of Colum- 

 bia University on October 7. It was 

 accepted with expressions of deep 

 regret, and Dr. Nicholas Murray But- 

 ler, professor of philosophy and edu- 

 cation, was made acting president. 



Suegeon-geneeax George M. Stern- 

 berg has returned to Washington after 

 a tour of inspection in the Philippines. 

 — Mr. John A. Fleming, of the U. S. 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey, has arrived 

 in Honolulu for the purpose of erect- 

 ing and conducting a station for the 

 study of terrestrial magnetism. 



Mb. J. E. Spurr, of the U. S. Geo- 

 logical Survey, who has been employed 

 for geological surveys by the Sultan of 

 Turkey, has begun work in Macedonia 

 and Albania. 



The Fifth International Congress of 

 Physiology was opened on September 

 17 in the physiological laboratory of 

 the University of Turin, under the 

 presidency of Professor Angelo Mosso. 

 Sir Michael Foster was elected honor- 

 ary president. More than 200 physi- 

 ologists were present, and 186 com- 

 munications were announced. — The 

 Congress of the International Associa- 

 tion for Testing Materials was held at 

 Budapest, from September 9 to 14, un- 

 der the presidency of Professor L. von 

 Tetmajer, and was largely attended by 

 engineers from all parts of the world. 



