1899] NEWS 157 
taken in connection with the skull. In Dr. Hepburn’s instrument a graduated 
bar has been arranged to present zero at its centre, from which the figures 
proceed in duplicate in opposite directions. Opposite the centre of the 
graduated bar a straight pair of callipers has been introduced. Dr. Hepburn 
stated that, so far as he was aware, this was the only form of callipers to which 
the principle of a third limb had been applied. At the same meeting Professor 
Sir William Turner gave communications on the Craniology of the People of 
the Empire of India, the Hill Tribes of the North-East Frontier and the People 
of Burma, and on Decorated and Sculptured Skulls from New Guinea. 
At the annual general meeting of the Marine Biological Association, held in 
the rooms of the Royal Society on June 28, the president, Prof. E. Ray 
Lankester, in the chair, it was noted that seventeen naturalists and eleven 
students had worked in the laboratory during the past year. 
The Science Section of the Women’s International Congress was held in 
the Westminster Town Hall on June 29, and Mrs. Ayrton occupied the chair. 
Astronomy was represented by Mlle. Klumpke from the Paris Observatory ; 
geology by Miss Raisin, of Bedford College; chemistry by Miss Dorothy 
Marshall, of Girton ; bacteriology by Mrs. Perey Frankland; and biology by 
Miss Ethel Sargant. 
The forty-eighth meeting of the American Association for the Advancement 
of Science will be held at Columbus, Ohio, from the 21st to the 26th of 
August, under the presidency of Prof. Edward Orton. Ten societies in 
affiliation with the Association will meet at the same time. 
The fourth international congress of Psychology will be held at Paris from 
the 20th to 25th August 1900, under the presidency of Prof. Th. Ribot. Prof. 
Ch. Richet will be vice-president, and Pierre Janet general secretary. 
It is a cause for much gratification that the Government has conditionally 
promised £45,000 for the Antarctic expedition. This still leaves much to be 
raised, since the best authorities declare the minimum necessary to be £100,000. 
The Queensland Parliament is to be asked for £1000. 
The Liverpool School of Tropical Diseases sends out their newly appointed 
lecturer, Major Ross, to the West African Coast to investigate malaria and other 
diseases. 
The New Mexico Biological Station in charge of Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell is 
being conducted this summer at Las Vegas. Geological, anthropological, and 
botanical, as well as zoological, work is being carried on. 
Col. W. S. Brackett, of Peoria, Ill., has organised an expedition of twelve 
mountaineers to explore the geological features of the almost unknown region 
between Buffalo Hump, in Idaho county, and the Nez Pierce Pass, in the Bitter 
Root range. 
The United States Fish Commission is about to send out an expedition on 
the “ Albatross,” in charge of Prof. Agassiz, to explore portions of the Pacific 
Ocean. Some of the islands to be visited are the Marshall, Society, Friendly, 
Fiji, and Gilbert groups. It is expected that the trip will require eight months. 
The party will leave San Francisco in August. 
There are already four polar expeditions under way, or almost ready to 
start, and to these must soon be added that of Capt. Bernier, a Frenchman. 
His course will be toward Franz Josef Land, for the part lying to the east of 
Cape Mary Harmsworth. After pushing on as far north as possible, he will 
disembark with all the provisions, dogs, reindeer, sledges, etc. He intends 
to pass the winter at Petermann’s Land, and at the first opportune moment 
to make a dash for the pole. 
Prof. W. A. Setchell, of the University of California, and some other botanists 
have gone on an expedition to study the flora of the Aleutian Islands. 
