344 NATURAL SCIENCE. November. 1896. 



The Bradshaw Lecture at the Royal College of Surgeons will be delivered on 

 November 5 by Dr. W. R. Gowers, and will be entitled " Subjective Sensations of 

 Sound." Dr. Bastian and Dr. Luff are to be respectively Lumleian and Goulstonian 

 lecturers for next year, while the Croonian Lecture of 189S will be delivered by 

 Professor Sidney Martin. 



The Teiith Congress of Russian Naturalists and Physicians will be held at 

 Kiev, from August 21 to 30, 1897. 



A SECOND national congress of the Mexican scientific societies will be held in 

 Mexico City in July, 1897. 



On the South bank of the Lake of Sils, in the Engadine, an erratic block of 

 granite has recently been erected, bearing the inscription, " In memory of the 

 illustrious English writer and naturalist, Thomas Henry Huxley, who spent many 

 summers at the Kursaal Hotel, Majola." 



An amount of nearly ;^2,ooo (of which the Emperor of Russia contributed 

 over ;^30o) has now been raised by international subscription for the monument to- 

 Lavoiser proposed two years ago, and money is still coming in. 



Professor Sollas, writing to the Royal Society, reports that the borings made 

 in two places at Funafuti were unsuccessful, owing to a quicksand which was struck 

 at a depth of about 70 feet and choked the borehole. But in the collection of fauna 

 and flora good results were obtained, while a complete series of soundings was made 

 by Captain Field. 



An expedition to Madagascar, under the auspices of the French Government, to 

 be directed by Messrs. Milne Edwards and Grandidier, is being prepared at a cost 

 of 600,000 francs. We wish them all success. 



Messrs. Barbier intend to fit out a boat of 2,000 tons for an expedition to West 

 Africa, to take back the negroes whom they brought to Paris and Rouen. The- 

 voyage there and back will occupy forty-five days : by way of Lisbon and Las 

 Palmas, the boat will proceed to Dakar, Ste. Marie de Bathurst and Konakry. As 

 L'Anthropologie points out, this is a splendid opportunity for anthropologists and 

 naturalists. 



The plan elaborated by the amateur Arctic tripper, Mr. George J. Gould, of 

 attacking the North Pole with the help of a cordon of depots established a point 

 further north from year to year, is thrown somewhat out of joint by the discovery of 

 a deep Polar sea, with nothing more secure than floating masses of ice. 



Julius von Payer's scheme for an Antarctic expedition seems to have met with 

 some obstacles, and should these not be removed, the veteran explorer will start 

 next summer for Franz Josef Land to meet Mr. Jackson. It is said that Mr. 

 Harmsworth has offered his vessel to Von Payer for a new expedition. 



The Peary Expedition has been unsuccessful in bringing back the large meteorite 

 from Greenland, since the implements taken were not strong enough to lift the 

 enormous weight of forty tons. Valuable collections and observations compensated 

 for the disappointment, and another journey will probably be undertaken. 



Some exceedingly valuable zoological results have been obtained by Commodore 

 Wandel and his party in the Danish boat " Ingolf," which returned on August 27 

 from a two years' cruise in Icelandic waters. 



