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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



that people which in the future history 

 of the world will exert an influence out 

 of comparison with the pretty fables of 

 antiquity. But in the widening cur- 

 rent of democracy and the broader fields 

 of modern culture room is left for 

 those who cling to the classical tradi- 

 tions, and there seems to be no reason 

 to desecrate their particular shrine. 



SCIENTIFIC ITEMS. 

 We regret to record the death of 

 Professor A. S. Packard, the eminent 

 zoologist of Brown University; of Mr. 

 William Sellers of Philadelphia, the 

 well-known engineer; of M. Paul Henry, 

 the French astronomer, and of Pro- 

 fessor Ernst Abbe, known for his im- 

 provements of optical instruments. 



Scientific societies that met at 

 Philadelphia during convocation week 

 elected presidents as follows : The 

 American Society of Naturalists, Pro- 

 fessor William James, of Harvard Uni- 

 versity; the Geological Society of 

 America, Professor Raphael Pumpelly, 

 of Newport, R. I. ; the Botanical Society 

 of America, Professor R. A. Harper, of 

 the University of Wisconsin; the So- 

 ciety of American Bacteriologists, Pro- 

 fessor E. 0. Jordan, of the University 

 of Chicago; the American Anthropolog- 

 ical Association, Professor F. W. Put- 

 nam, of Harvard University; the 

 American Physiological Society, Pro- 

 fessor W. H. Howell, of the Johns Hop- 

 kins University; tlie American Psycho- 

 logical Association, Professor Mary W. 

 Calkins, of Wellesley College; the 

 American Philosophical Association, 

 Professor John Dewey, of Columbia 

 University. 



The city of Berlin has arranged a 

 competition for plans for a monument 

 to Rudolf Virchow. It is to be placed 



j at the intersection of Karl and Luisen 

 Streets, a square which will henceforth 

 be known as Virchow Platz. — The 

 famous singing master, Senhor Manuel 

 Garcia, of London, who invented the 

 laryngoscope fifty years ago, will be 

 100 years old March 17, 1905. The Lon- 

 don Laryngological Society and other 

 societies have arranged a celebration 

 which includes the presentation of a 

 portrait by Mr. John Sargent. — The 

 Danish government has issued a stamp 

 bearing the head of the late Professor 

 Finsen with the object of placing within 

 reach of the poorer classes a means of 

 subscribing to the national monument 

 by which it is proposed to commemorate 

 his work. 



Professor Ernest Rutherford, of 

 McGill University, has been appointed 

 Silliman lecturer at Yale University 

 for 1905. The previous Silliman lec- 

 turers have been Professor J. J. Thom- 

 son, of Cambridge University, and Pro- 

 fessor Charles S. Sherrington, of Liver- 

 pool University. — Dr. Livingston Far- 

 rand, professor of anthropology at 

 Columbia University, has been placed in 

 charge of the work of the National 

 Association for the Study and Preven- 

 tion of Tuberculosis. 



President Eliot, of Harvard Uni- 

 versity, has been elected a correspond- 

 ing member of the Academy of Moral 

 and Political Sciences of the Institute of 

 France. — Professor Lewis Boss, astron- 

 omer of the Dudley Observatory of 

 Albany, N. Y., has been awarded the 

 medal of the Royal Astronomical So- 

 ciety. — M. L. Troost, honorary pro- 

 fessor of chemistry at the University 

 of Paris, is this year president of the 

 Academy of Sciences in succession to 

 M. E. L. Mascart, professor of physics 

 at the College de France. 



