3§4 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



study of Mendel's law and the muta- 

 tions of de Vries. The monograph de- 

 scribes the breeding of the eel, the gray 

 mullet, the oyster and other forms. 

 As Professor Mitsukuri says : " While 

 the pasturage of cattle and the cultiva- 

 tion of plants marked very early steps 

 in man's advancement toward civiliza- 

 tion, the raising of aquatic animals 

 and plants, on any extensive scale at 

 all events, seems to belong to much 

 later stages of human development. In 

 fact, the cultivation of some marine 

 animals has been rendered possible only 

 by utilizing the most recent discoveries 

 and methods of science. I believe, how- 

 ever, the time is now fast approaching 

 when the increase of population on the 

 earth, and the question of food supply 

 which must arise as a necessary conse- 

 quence, will compel us to pay most 

 serious attention to the utilization for 

 this purpose of what has been termed 

 the ' watery waste.' For man to over- 

 fish and then to wait for the bounty 

 of nature to replenish, or, failing that, j 

 to seek new fishing grounds, is, it seems 

 to me, an act to be put in the same 

 category with the doings of nomadic 

 peoples wandering from place to place 

 in search of pastures. Hereafter, 

 streams, rivers, lakes and seas will have, 

 so to speak, to be pushed to a more 

 efficient degree of cultivation and made 

 to yield their utmost for us. It is, 

 perhaps, superfluous for me to state 

 this before an audience in America, for 

 1 think all candid persons will admit 

 that the United States, with her Bu- \ 

 reau of Fisheries, is leading other na- 

 tions in bold scientific attempts in this 

 direction." 



SCIENTIFIC ITEMS. 



We regret to record the death of 



Dr. Win. Thos. Blanford, F.R.S., the 



well-known British geologist, and of 



I Mr. Geo. H. Eldridge, geologist of the 



J U. S. Geological Survey. 



The Berlin municipality has appro- 

 priated $20,000 to erect a statue in 

 honor of Rudolf Virchow, which will 

 be placed on the Karlsplatz, close to 

 the Charity Hospital. — The faculty and 

 students of the medical and dental de- 

 partments of the George Washington 

 University have erected, in the main 

 hall of the department of medicine, a 

 bronze tablet to the memory of their 

 late dean and professor of chemistry 

 and toxicology, Dr. Emil Alexander de 

 Schweinitz. 



At a meeting of the General Educa- 

 tion Board, held on June 30, a gift of 

 ten million dollars was announced from 

 Mr. John D. Rockefeller, as an endow- 

 ment for higher education in the United 

 States. The announcement of the gift 

 was made in a letter from Mr. Fred- 

 erick T. Gates, Mr. Rockefeller's rep- 

 resentative, which reads as follows: 



I am authorized by Mr. John D. Rockefeller 

 to say that he will contribute to the General 

 Educational Board the sum of 810,000,000 to be 

 paid October 1 next in cash, or, at his option, 

 in income pro lucing securities, at their market 

 value, the principal to be held in perpetuity as 

 a foundation for education, the income, above 

 expenses and administration, to be distributed 

 to or used for the benefit of such institutions 

 of learning at such times, in such amounts, for 

 such purposes and under such conditions, or 

 employed in such other ways as the Board may 

 deem best adapted to promote a comprehen- 

 sive system of higher education in the Uhite^ 

 States. 



Mr. Rockefeller has also given one mil- 

 lion dollars to Yale University. 



