i5 6 NEWS [august 



Science reports the following gifts and bequests : — Mr. B. N. Duke lias within 

 the year given $183,000 to Trinity College; an anonymous donor has offered 

 •$25,000 for a biological laboratory for Vassar College, on condition that an 

 equal sum be raised ; according to the will of Mr. Jeremiah Halsey, the Norwich 

 Free Academy receives nearly $100,000, and Trinity College, Hartford, $20,000 ; 

 the Rev. H. Latham, of Cambridge, has given £2000 for the proposed Sedgwick 

 Memorial Museum ; Miss S. Dyckmann, $300 for a zoological scholarship in 

 Columbia University for the present year; Dr. D. K. Pearson, $125,000 to 

 Olivet College ; Oberlin College has received $50,000 for a chemical laboratory, 

 and two other anonymous gifts of equal amount ; the late R. C. Billings of 

 Boston left $100,000 to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and $50,000 

 for scholarships, besides $100,000 to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. 



We learn from Science that Mr. Charles H. Senff has given $5000 to the 

 zoological department of Columbia University, which will be in part used for 

 the publication of a memoir on Polypterus, to be undertaken conjointly by 

 Messrs. Bashford Dean, Harrington, M'Gregor, Strong, Herrick, and Wheeler. 

 Messrs. Harrington and Sumner hope to make a second expedition to the Nile 

 in search of the fish. Prof. E. B. Wilson's recent efforts to obtain the eggs 

 were disappointed. 



A compromise has been effected in regard to the contested will of Dr. 

 Robert Lamborn, and the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences will 

 receive over 300,000 dollars, or half of the testator's bequest. 



In Science of June 30 there are details of the magnificent endowments of 

 the Leland Stanford Jr. University, said to be the richest University in the 

 world. Mr. Stanford left $2,500,000 in cash to the University, Mrs. Stanford 

 deeded her own private fortune of about a 'million dollars, and has recently 

 transferred the residue of the estate, which would probably bring in the market 

 about $13,000,000. 



At the second of the two annual conversazioni of the Royal Society on June 

 21, Prof. E. Ray Lankester exhibited collections of mosquitoes received at the 

 Natural History Museum for study in reference to the connection between 

 mosquitoes and malaria ; Dr. P. Manson exhibited the malaria parasite ; Messrs. 

 Walter Gardiner and A. W. Hill showed intercellular bridges in plant tissues. 



The Geologists' Association is the real centre of geological activity in 

 London, in that it practically demonstrates the science in the field, and thus is 

 an educational institution of real value. It is as active as ever in making excur- 

 sions to places of geological interest in England, and has for the fourth time visited 

 the Continent. Last Witsun, Dr. Barrois took a large party over the Brittany 

 district, seeing to every detail of interest and comfort in the most careful way. 

 The long excursion will be spent in Derbyshire from August 3 to 9 under 

 the general guidance of Mr. Arnold-Bemrose, and promises great things for 

 those especially interested in matters carboniferous. 



At a meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh on July 17, Sir John 

 Murray gave an interesting account of the progress which has been made in the 

 hydrographic survey of Scottish lakes conducted by Mr. Pullar and himself. 

 The biological contrast between the deep and shallow lakes was touched on, 

 and its probable partial dependence on differences of temperature was hinted at. 

 Dr. Hepburn exhibited a simple " osteometric board " for the more accurate and 

 uniform measurement of bones. 



At a meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh on July 3, Dr. Hepburn 

 submitted an improved form of craniometer for the measurement of the 

 transverse, vertical, and antero- posterior diameters of the cranium. Dr. 

 Hepburn claimed that by means of this improved instrument measurements 

 of the cranium would be more mathematically accurate, and that fully a dozen 

 more measurements might be taken by means of it than had hitherto been 



