NOTES. 835 



If the total score is 96 or above, and each division is 18 or above, the dairy is con- 

 sidered excellent; if the total score is 90 or above, and each division is 16 or above, 

 the dairy is good; if the total score is 80 or above, and each division is 12 or above, 

 the dairy is medium; and if the total score is below 80, or any division is below 12, 

 the dairy is poor. It would seem as if some such score card as this might prove 

 useful in dairy inspection. 



Summer Course in Experimental Zoology. — The Ohio State University Lake Labo- 

 ratory, at Cedar Point, offers a new course of study for the coming summer in 

 experimental zoology, which will interest those who are engaged upon the problems 

 of breeding. The course is to cover especially the questions of animal variation and 

 heredity, and will be accompanied so far as practicable by laboratory and tield 

 experiments. It will be in charge of Dr. William E. Kellicott, of Barnard College, 

 Columbia University. The locality is said to possess some excellent advantages for 

 this special work. 



Study of Skeletons of the Horse. — The natural history branch of the British Museum is 

 attempting to collect the skulls and limb bones of horses of known pedigree, without 

 regard to breed, and has invited the cooperation of horse owners. In commenting 

 upon this undertaking, Nature suggests that while the purpose for which the collec- 

 tion is being made is not specified, those who have kept abreast of zoological litera- 

 ture for the last year or two have noticed the attention which is being directed by 

 naturalists to the problem of the origin of the various breeds of domesticated horses, 

 and especially to the idea that thoroughbreds and Arabs have a different parentage 

 from the "cold-blooded" horses of western Europe. 



"The circumstances that some horses of eastern origin show a vestige of the cavity 

 for the 'tear-gland' of the hipparions has been recently brought to notice as an 

 important factor in the problem. To ascertain the frequency of this feature is 

 probably one of the objects of making the collection, while a second may be to 

 ascertain the constancy of certain proportionate relations between the limb bones of 

 racers and cart-horses." The museum already possesses the skeletons of several 

 famous horses, and has the promise of others. 



Personal Mention. — Prof. Emerich Meissl, of the Austrian ministry of agriculture, 

 died February 15 at the age of 50. Professor Meissl was for more than twenty years 

 connected with the agricultural experiment station at Vienna, being director from 

 1886 to 1898. At that time he was called to the ministry of agriculture as an 

 agricultural-technological expert, and was promoted to the charge of a section in 

 the ministry in 1902, which position he occupied at the time of his death. He was 

 widely known among agricultural chemists, having made many contributions upon 

 agricultural analysis, and the chemistry of sugars, milk, and the fermentation 

 industries. He also conducted investigations upon the physiology of animal nutri- 

 tion and upon plant nutrition. For the latter work he built and equippeda thoroughly 

 modern vegetation house at Korneuburg, near Vienna. Dr. Meissl also gave atten- 

 tion to the subject of moor culture, and is spoken of as a pioneer in rational moor 

 culture in Austria. He had long been prominent in the leading agricultural organ- 

 izations of his country and in all public matters relating to agriculture. A quite full 

 account of his life, by Dr. F. Strohmer, is given in No. 16 of the current volume of the 

 Wiener Landwrtschaftliche Zeitung, to which he was a frequent contributor. 



A complimentary banquet was tendered Dr. W. C. Stubbs by the Louisiana Sugar 

 Planters' Association at the St. Charles Hotel, New Orleans, March 18, the occasion 

 being the retirement of Doctor Stubbs from public service, as previously announced. 

 The banquet was attended by about one hundred persons, including the governor of 

 the State, leading representatives of the sugar industry in the various parts of the 

 State, merchants, bankers, scientists, and educati >rs. High tribute was paid to Doctor 

 Stubbs by the speakers for his distinguished services to the sugar industry of the 

 22868— No. 8—05 8 



