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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



erous zone as being south of a line be- 

 tween Eatontown and Salem. Between 

 these two lines is an area about sixteen 

 miles wide where these zones overlap, 

 which the author calls the " tension 

 zone," because a constant state of strain 

 or tension in the struggle for existence 

 prevails in it. In the deciduous zone 

 the geological formations are numerous, 

 with various soils and every gradation 

 of topography, and the diversity of trees 



is great. Its southern line is cotermi- 

 nous with the southern edge of the Tri- 

 assic formation. The coniferous zone 

 presents but little diversity in geology 

 or topography, and little variety of 

 trees. Its northern border is cotermi- 

 nous with the northern border of Ter- 

 tiary gravels, sands, and sandy clays. 

 The " tension zone " includes practically 

 the whole of the Cretaceous plastic 

 clays, and the clay-marls and marls. 



MINOR PARAGRAPHS. 



A conference was appointed, to be 

 held at Wiesbaden, Germany, October 

 9th and 10th, to promote the formation 

 of an International Federation of Sci- 

 ence — a scheme which was referred to 

 in Sir Michael Foster's presidential ad- 

 dress before the British Association. 

 This idea for the establishment of an in- 

 ternational association of great learned 

 societies appears, the London Athe- 

 naeum says, to be the outcome of dis- 

 cussions carried on at Gottingen in 1898. 

 For some time past the Academies of 

 Vienna, Munich, Gottingen, and Leipsic 

 have been federated into an association 

 or " Castell," each meeting in turn at 

 their respective headquarters to talk 

 over scientific matters of joint interest. 

 At two or three recent meetings ques- 

 tions were brought up, such as antarctic 

 research and the cataloguing of scientific 

 literature, which, besides being of suffi- 

 cient interacademic value to come before 

 the " Castell," were of prime importance 

 to English men of science. English dele- 

 gates were therefore invited to attend, 

 and did so; and out of this invitation 

 has grown a desire for a wider interna- 

 tional basis for the association. The 

 adherence of the principal learned socie- 

 ties of the world, including our National 

 Academy, is said to have been secured 

 to the movement. 



The thirteenth season of the De- 

 partment of Botany at the Marine Bio- 

 logical Laboratory, Woods Holl, Mass.. 

 will open July 5th and continue till 

 August ICth. Three laboratory courses 

 are provided, accompanied by lectures, 

 including the subjects of cryptogamic 

 botany, plant physiology, and plant 

 cytology and micro-technique. The 

 principal instructors are Dr. Bradley 

 R. Davis, Mr, George T. Moore, and Dr. 



Rodney H. True. The department ex- 

 tends a special welcome to investigators, 

 and desires their co-operation in the de- 

 velopment of the laboratory. Woods 

 Holl offers great attractions in variety 

 of material and facilities for biological 

 research, and is proposed as an excel- 

 lent center of resort where the botanists 

 of the country may meet for a few 

 weeks. A six weeks' course in Nature 

 study, including both animals and 

 plants, and consisting largely of field 

 work, is a new feature offered this year 

 for the first time. 



On Friday, March 9th, occurred the 

 death of two of the six surviving 

 founders of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science — Dr. 

 Charles E. West, of Brooklyn, and 

 Professor Oliver Payson Hubbard, of 

 Manhattan. Both were distinguished 

 teachers. Dr. West was born in Wash- 

 ington, Mass., in 1809, and after being 

 graduated from Union College, began 

 his career as a teacher in the Albany 

 Female Academy. He was afterward 

 principal of the Rutgers Female Insti- 

 tute, the Buffalo Female Seminary, and 

 the Brooklyn Heights Seminary, where 

 lie remained twenty-nine years. He 

 also assisted in preparing the original 

 courses of instruction of Vassar Female 

 College. He was one of the founders of 

 the Long Island Historical Society; was 

 a fellow of the Royal Antiquarian So- 

 ciety of Denmark ; and was a member of 

 the American Ethnological, the Ameri- 

 can Philosophical, and the New York 

 and the Long Island Historical Societies. 

 Professor Hubbard was born at Pom- 

 fret, Conn., in 1809, was graduated from 

 Yale College in 1828, and was appointed 

 Professor of Chemistry, Pharmacy, and 

 Mineralogy at Dartmouth College in 



