70 NATURAL SCIENCE [July 



The books bearing on lichens and the dried specimens belonging to the late Dr J. 

 Midler, generally known as Miiller-Argau, became at his death the property of the 

 Boissier Herbarium, at Chambesy near Geneva. Following the example of the trustees 

 of another important lichenological library, the " Tuckerman Memorial Library" at 

 Amherst College, Massachusetts, the directors of the Boissier herbarium have instituted 

 the " Foundation Midler- Argau," and the curator, M. Eugene Autran, now appeals to 

 botanists generally for copies of publications bearing on lichens which have appeared 

 since Midler's death, or may hereafter appear. Also that specimens of new or rare 

 species, or " materials for morphological and biological research " may be deposited in 

 the Lichenotheca Universalis Midler- Argau, in which is included the herbarium of the 

 Bernese F. Schaerer (1785-1853). Gifts will be acknowledged in the Bulletin of the 

 Boissier herbarium. 



In connection with the Autumn Meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute at Cardiff, on 

 August 3rd to 6th, Professor Herman Wedding of the Berlin School of Mines has issued 

 a circular letter asking for subscriptions towards establishing a Central Laboratory for 

 the Testing of Iron and Steel. Such a Laboratory would be founded at Zurich under 

 the auspices of the International Society for the Unification of the Methods of Testing 

 Materials of Construction, which was formed in 1895, and the proceedings at which were 

 reported in the Journal of the Iron ami Steel Institute for 1895. The Secretary of the 

 Institute, Bennet H. Brough, has consented to receive the names of those who are 

 interested. 



The Radcliffe Library at Oxford is known to scientific men for its wealth in 

 their peculiar literature, and to librarians for the excellence of its arrangements. Such 

 libraries grow rapidly nowadays. Want of room long felt has urged the Drapers' Com- 

 pany to offer to erect a new building, from plans by Mr T. G. Jackson, at a cost of 

 £15,000. The offer has been gratefully accepted by the University, which proposes to 

 transfer the space thus gained in the museum to the medical school, and especially to 

 start a library of pathology. 



The new museum at Winchester College, built as a memorial of the quingentenary of 

 the school's foundation, was formally opened on June 16, 1897. There was an interest- 

 ing exhibit of Wykehamical antiquities, and the art department made a fine show, but 

 the arrangement of the natural history collections has hardly begun. When these last 

 are more advanced, we shall hope to give a detailed account of the building and its 

 contents in our series : Museums of Public Schools. 



The first annual meeting of the South-Eastern Union of Scientific Societies was held 

 at Tunbridge Wells at the end of May. The Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing presided, and 

 delivered the inaugural address. He dealt with the changes in the attitude of the 

 public mind towards scientific research within modern times. Mr W. Cole contributed 

 the first paper on the objects and methods of local museums, referring especially to the 

 new Epping Forest museum. Prof. Boulger next discussed the duties of the com- 

 mittees of Field Clubs. Prof. Seeley described a geological section in the New 

 Athletic Ground at Tunbridge Wells, showing current-bedding in clay. ' ' The Search 

 for Coal in the South-East of England," the subject of a paper by Mr H. E. Turner, led 

 to a long and interesting discussion. The Mayor of Tunbridge Wells extended his 

 hospitality to the assembled delegates, and an interesting geological excursion ter- 

 minated the proceedings. 



