April 14, 1898] 



NATURE 



56: 



NOTES. 



The preliminary circular forthejubileemeetingof the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science to be held at 

 Boston, August 22-27, has just been issued. Prof. Frederick 

 W. Putnam, the president-elect, repeats the assurance given to 

 the nominating committee at the last meeting, that this second 

 Boston meeting, held on the fiftieth anniversary of the found- 

 ation of the Association, " gives promise of being the most im- 

 portant scientific gathering ever held in the United States." A 

 special effort will be made to increase the membership, in the 

 hope that at least one thousand new members will be added. 

 The meetings will be held at the rooms of the Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology, and of the Boston Society of Natural 

 History, occupying three closely adjoining buildings. The 

 Association will be for one day a guest of Harvard University, 

 and for another of the Essex Institute of Salem ; the latter 

 being the place of the museum of the Association, and its per- 

 manent office. A larger number than usual of the affiliated 

 societies will meet in connection with the Association, including 

 the American Forestry Association, the American Geological 

 Society, the American Chemical Society, the Society of 

 Economic Entomologists, the Society for the Promotion of 

 Engineering Education, the Society for the Promotion of 

 Agricultural Science, the American Mathematical Society, and 

 several more. After the meeting excursions will be made to 

 the ^^^lite Mountains and to Cape Cod. The local com- 

 mittee has been fully organised under the honorary presidency 

 of Governor Roger Wolcott. The honorary vice-presidents in- 

 clude the presidents of fourteen colleges and universities, besides 

 many other prominent gentlemen. The local secretary is Prof. 

 H. W. Tyler, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 491 

 Boylston Street, Boston ; and the general committee is a large 

 and representative one, composed of the foremost citizens. The 

 chairmen of the other committees are : Finance, the honorary 

 treasurer, Colonel Henry L. Higginson ; Reception, Dr. J. R. 

 Chadwick ; Rooms for meeting. Prof. Charles R. Cross ; In- 

 vitations to foreign guests, Dr. Henry P. Bowditch ; Excursions, 

 General Francis H. Appleton ; Cambridge committee, Prof. 

 Charles W. Eliot, of Harvard University ; Salem committee, Hon. 

 Robert S. Rantoul, president of the Essex Institute ; Executive 

 committee. Prof. W. T. Sedgwick. An unusual feature is the 

 committee for the reception of foreign guests. The circular 

 explains that special efforts will be made to secure the presence 

 of many eminent men of science from abroad. 



A BUST of the late Prof. P. Schiitzenberger, the distinguished 

 chemist, was unveiled at the Paris Ecole de physique et de 

 chimie industrielles on April 3. Prof. Schiitzenberger was the 

 founder and first director of the school, and the bust is a 

 testimony of the affection in which his memory is held by old 

 students. 



Old students and admirers of Dr. W. K. Brooks, professor 

 of zoology in the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, pre- 

 sented him with his portrait, painted by Mr. T. C. Corner, upon 

 the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his birth on March 25. 

 Many leading zoologists of the United States took part in this 

 expression of esteem for Prof. Brooks. 



The autumn congress of the Sanitary Institute will be held 

 this year in Birmingham, under the presidency of Sir Joseph 

 Fayrer, Bart, K.C.S.I., F.R.S., commencing on September 27. 



The annual exposition organised by the Societe Fran9ais de 

 Physique will open to-day with a visit to the works of the Paris 

 Compressed Air Company. On Friday and Saturday evening a 

 l^rge collection of apparatus used in recent physical investigations 

 will be on view in the rooms of the Society ; and on Saturday 



NO. 1485, VOL. 57] 



afternoon short addresses will be delivered by MM. Ducretet, 

 Morin, and Hurmuzescu. 



The Liverpool Marine Biology Committee's Easter party, 

 now at the Port Erin Biological Station, includes Mr. Isaac C 

 Thompson, Mr. Frank J. Cole, Mr. R. A. Dawson, Mr. H. C. 

 Chadwick, Prof. Herdman, and several students from University 

 College, Liverpool. Prof. Boyce and others are expected later 

 in April. The Lancashire Sea Fisheries steamer is also at Port 

 Erin, and several dredging and trawling expeditions are taking 

 place. Spawn of several fishes has been obtained, and fertilised, 

 and is now developing in the tanks. Under the care of Mr. 

 Chadwick, Curator of the Station, the aquarium is in a flourishing 

 condition, and contains a number of interesting animals, some 

 of which are spawning. A recent addition to the laboratory 

 accommodation at the Station has been completed, which gives 

 five additional work windows for students, so that there is now 

 plenty of room for other workers. 



Dr. H. M. Fernando will probably be the" director of the 

 Bacteriological Institute to be opened in Colombo shortly. 

 The final plans for the building have been completed, and the 

 work will be taken in hand at once. It is expected that the 

 Institute will be opened by the beginning of next year. 



We learn from Science that the United States Senate has 

 passed a Bill for the protection of song birds, providing that the 

 importation into the United States of birds, feathers, or parts of 

 birds for ornamental purposes be prohibited, and prohibiting 

 the transportation or sale of such articles in any territory of the 

 United States or in the District of Columbia. 



The vanguard of exploring expeditions for the season is that 

 of Dr. Carl Lumholtz and Dr. Hrdlicka, who left the American 

 Museum of Natural History a few days ago in search of anthro- 

 pological specimens for the museum. This will be followed in 

 a few weeks by an expedition to the North-west, undertaken 

 also for anthropological research, by Dr. Laufer, Mr. Gerard 

 Fowke, Mr. R. Dixon, and Mr. H. Smitli. 



The most violent earthquake in California since 1872 was felt 

 on Thursday night, March 31. The shock was felt only in 

 Northern California. The direction of vibrations was from 

 east to west ; and they were very heavy in a small area. The 

 seismograph showed the duration of the earthquake to have been 

 between thirty and forty seconds at the University of California, 

 Berkeley. Damage was done to buildings at San Francisco 

 and Vallejo ; but no loss of life has been reported. 



The death of Prof. Salomon Strieker, the distinguished pro- 

 fessor of experimental and general pathology in the University 

 of Vienna, at the age of sixty- five, is announced in the British 

 Medical Journal. Only a week or two ago Prof. Strieker cele- 

 brated the twenty-fifth anniversary of his appointment as pro- 

 fessor, and the occasion was celebrated by presenting him with a 

 Festschrift entitled " Thirty Years of Experim.ental Pathology," 

 the list of contributors including the names of E. Albert, A. 

 Spina, G. Gaertner, Dr. E. Klein, and many other pathologists 

 and histologists of note. 



M. DE Fonvielle writes :— The 1898 session of the inter- 

 national balloon scientific conference was held in Strasburg 

 with great success. A large number of resolutions were adopted, 

 referring to the ascent of free balloons carrying registering 

 apparatus, and balloons with meteorological and photographic 

 instruments. The conference passed a vote in favour of the 

 extension of kite experiments with recording apparatus or kite- 

 balloons to the international meteorological stations, in order 

 to procure better information on prevailing meteorological in- 

 fluences. It was resolved that an international experiment 



