February io, 1898] 



NATURE 



349 



public subscription, a number of scientific societies and institu- 

 tions of general learning, should contribute the amount required, 

 each sending representatives to the expedition in proportion to 

 the sums subscribed. 



We are glad to hear that the Zoological Society of London 

 has contributed lOO/. towards the expenses of the International 

 Congress of Zoology ; and we hope to hear that other natural 

 history societies have followed this excellent example. 



Sir Dyce Duckworth has been appointed to deliver the 

 Harveian Oration before the Royal College of Physicians of 

 London for 1898. Dr. G. V. Poore has been nominated 

 Milroy Lecturer for 1899. 



The Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers have 

 resolved that the " Engineering Conference," inaugurated in 

 1897, is to be biennial, and that, accordingly, the next meeting 

 will be held in London in the spring of 1899. 



A LARGE and representative Royal Commission has been 

 appointed to advise as to the best means by which the products 

 of British industry, agriculture, and the fine arts may be pro- 

 cured and sent to the International Exhibition to be held at 

 Paris in the year 1900. Among the Commissioners, which 

 include the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York, are the 

 following representatives of science and the arts, in alphabetical 

 order : — Sir F. A. Abel, Sir George Birdwood, Major-General 

 Sir Owen Tudor Burne, Sir G. H. Chubb, Major-General Sir 

 John Donnelly, Lord Kelvin, Sir James Kitson, Sir Trevor 

 Lawrence, Lord Lister, Sir John Lubbock, Sir Clements 

 Markham, Mr. W. H. Preece, Mr. E. Windsor Richards, Earl 

 Spencer, Mr. W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, Sir E. Maunde Thompson, 

 and Sir W. H. White. 



M. Franchet has been elected President of the Botanical 

 Society of France for the current year ; MM. Zeiller, Boudier, 

 Clos, and Roze Vice-Presidents. 



Prof. O. Mattirolo, of Bologna, has been appointed 

 Professor of Botany and Director of the Museum and Botanical 

 Garden at Florence ; Prof. F. Morini, of Messina, takes his 

 place at Bologna. 



On December 18, 1897, a hall was opened at Bologna for 

 the reception of the herbaria, preparations, and sections of the 

 botanist Aldrovandi. It has been erected at the cost of the 

 city and province. 



The part of Malpighia comprising fascs. 9 and 10 for the 

 year 1897, edited by Prof. O. Penzig, contains a view of the 

 very handsome monument erected to the memory of Malpighi 

 at Crevalcore. , 



The post of Government botanist to Victoria, vacant by the 

 death of Baron Ferdinand v. Mtiller, has been conferred on 

 Mr. J. G. Luchman. 



The death is announced of Dr. Waldemar v. Schroeder, 

 professor of pharmacology in the University of Heidelberg, and 

 author of a number of treatises on physiological chemistry. 



We learn from Science that the Bruce gold medal of the 

 Astronomical Society of the Pacific has been awarded to Prof. 

 Simon Newcomb, for his distinguished services to astronomy. 



The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has elected 

 M, Elias Metschnikoflf, of Paris, Foreign Honorary Member in 

 the Section of Zoology and Physiology. 



The twenty-sixth general meeting of the Federated Institu- 

 tion of Mining Engineers will be held at Newcastle-upon-Tyne 

 on February 22 and 23. 



NO. 1476, VOL. 57] 



At the annual general meeting of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society, held on Tuesday, the Council announced that they had 

 j appointed the Rev. George Henslow to be professor of botany 

 to the Society, and that Prof. Henslow had kindly undertaken 

 to give addresses at a number of the 1898 meetings, drawing 

 attention to interesting points connected with some of the 

 plants, &c., exhibited. The Council believe that these 

 "demonstrations" will be greatly appreciated by the Fellows 

 of the Society. 



At the general monthly meeting of the members of the 

 Royal Institution, on Monday, the special thanks of the members 

 were returned to Mrs. Tyndall for her liberal donation of 1000/. , 

 presented in the name of the late Prof. Tyndall, for the pro- 

 motion of science Thanks were also returned to Sir Frederick 

 Abel, Sir Andrew Noble and Prof. Dewar for donations to the 

 fund for the promotion of experimental research at low tem- 

 peratures. It was announced that the centenary of the Royal 

 Institution would be celebrated next year. 



The meeting of the Manufacturers' Association of America 

 at New York, on January 25-27, was the most notable gathering 

 of the masters of industry ever held in America, or probably in 

 the world. It was estimated that the 966 persons who attended 

 the closing banquet represented industries which produce 

 9,000,000,000 dollars of manufactures annually. In the meet- 

 ings of the Association prior to the banquet the subject of the 

 metric system was presented by the committee, together with a 

 resolution strongly favouring it ; which resolution met with sup- 

 port from many of the most influential members of the Associa- 

 tion, but was opposed by the chairman of the committee on the 

 grounds of the expense of making new gauges and tools in 

 changing from the present standard. The final result was that 

 the resolution was not carried. 



Further particulars of Prof. O. C. Marsh's valuable gift to 

 Yale University (see p. 322) are given in the Yale Alumni 

 Weekly. From a scientific point of view, the value of the 

 collections now presented to Yale is beyond price, each one 

 containing many specimens that can never be duplicated, and 

 are already of historical interest in the annals of science. 

 Among the prominent features of one of these collections, that 

 of extinct Vertebrates, may be mentioned (i) the series of fossils 

 illustrating the genealogy of the horse, as made out by Prof. 

 Marsh, and accepted by Huxley, who used it as the basis of his 

 New York lectures ; (2) the birds with teeth, nearly two 

 hundred individuals, described in Prof. Marsh's well-known 

 monograph " Odontornithes " ; (3) the gigantic Dinocerata, 

 several hundreds in number, Eocene mammals described in his 

 monograph on this group ; (4) the Brontotherid^e, huge 

 Miocene mammals, some two hundred in number ; (5) Ptero- 

 dactyles, or flying dragons, over six hundred in number ; 

 (6) the Mosasaurs, or Cretaceous sea-serpents, represented 

 by more than fifteen hundred individuals ; (7) a large number 

 of Dinosaurian reptiles, some of gigantic size. Besides these 

 are various other groups of mammals, birds, and reptiles, most 

 of them including unique specimens. 



In referring to the priceless collections which have now 

 become the property of Yale University, by Prof Marsh's 

 generosity, the Alumni Weekly remarks that Prof. Marsh is a 

 Yale graduate of the Class of i860. He is a nephew of the 

 late George Peabody, and thus he secured the donation that 

 gave Yale the present Peabody Museum, as well as a reserve 

 building fund that then seemed adequate for future additions. 

 After obtaining this great gift for Yale, Prof. Marsh served his 

 alma mater faithfully, without salary, for thirty years, as 

 professor of palceontology, refusing all offers to go elsewhere. 

 Besides bringing together with untiring zeal these vast scientific . 



