October iS, 1900] 



ATA TURE 



603 



The works of the late Prof. E. Beltrami (consisting of three 

 or four large volumes) are to be issued on subscription by the 

 Faculty of Science of the University of Rome. 



A Reuter telegram from Kingston, Jamaica, states that the 

 scientific expedition sent by Harvard University, to observe the 

 minor planet Eros during the approaching opposition, has 

 arrived there under the leadership of Prof. Pickering. 



Sir Lowthian Bell, F.R.S., has been elected president of 

 the Institution of Junior Engineers in succession to the Hon. 

 C. A. Parsons, F.R.S. 



The anniversary meeting of the Mineralogical Society will be 

 held on Tuesday, November 13, at 8 p.m., when a new set of 

 bye-laws will be recommended for adoption by the committee 

 and council of the Society. 



A Reuter telegram reports that Mr. William Zeigler, a 

 wealthy citizen of New York, will supply the funds for an expe- 

 dition to start early in 1901 under Mr. Evelyn Baldwin, in the 

 hope of reaching the North Pole. The expedition will sail in 

 two steamers. 



At the recant meeting: in Paris the International Geodetic 

 Association discussed the difiference of longitude between Paris 

 and Greenwich, with special reference to the discordant results 

 obtained by the French and English astronomers in 1888 and 

 1892. (ieneral Bassot attributed the want of agreement to an 

 imperfect knowledge of the constant of electrical transmission of 

 the signals. The difference of longitude will be measured again 

 next year. 



A NEW departure, which should be of much assistance to 

 lecturers, has been made by the Sanitary Institute. Frequent 

 applications having been made to the Institute for the 

 loan of lantern slides and diagrams for lecture purposes, the 

 council have collected a large number of such slides relating to 

 sanitary arrangements and appliances, diseases, &c. , which can 

 be borrowed by members and associates for lecture purposes at 

 a small charge. A li.st of 611 slides at present available can be 

 obtained from the secretary of the institute. 



The Board of Trade Journal says that information has just 

 been received, by the Imperial Academy of Science, of the dis- 

 covery of diamondiferous deposits on the Kamenka, a tributary 

 of the Sanarka. This, it is reported, is the first time that 

 diamonds have been discovered in this region, although the 

 existence of such deposits in the neighbourhood of the Sanarka 

 had already been indicated. It is stated that in structure and 

 colour the diamonds found resemble those of Brazil. 



The annual general meeting of the London Mathematical 

 Society will be held on November 8, at 5 30 p.m. The follow- 

 ing nominations for the new council have been made : — Dr. 

 Hobson, F. R. S. , president. Lord Kelvin, Prof. Burnside, F. R. S. , 

 and Major MacMahon, F. R.S., vice-presidents. Other mem- 

 bers: — J. E. Cimpbell, Lieut. -Colonel Cunningham, R.E., 

 Prof. Elliott, F.R.S., Dr. Glaisher, F.R.S., Prof. M. J. M. 

 Hill, F.R.S , A. B. Kempe, F.R.S. , H. M, Macdonald, A. E. 

 Western and E. T. Whittaker. The treasurer (Dr. Larmor, 

 F.R.S.) and hon. secretaries (R. Tucker and Prof. Love, 

 F.R.S.) are renominated. Lord Kelvin will probably not be 

 able to give a valedictory address. 



The foundation stone of the Imperial "Limes" Museum, 

 which is to be erected in the restored Roman fort of the 

 Saalburg in the vicinity of Homburg, was laid by the German 

 Emperor on Thursday last. The museum is to contain the 

 Roman relics which have been discovered in the excavations in 

 the neighbourhood of the " Limes Transrhenanus," the great 

 Roman wall which extended from the Danube to the Rhine. The 

 NO. I 6 16, VOL. 62] 



excavations were begun in 1873, and have brought to light many 

 objects of great interest, which have hitherto been placed in the 

 Saalburg Museum 'at Homburg. They will be removed to the 

 new museum as soon as it is completed. The Emperor sent a 

 congratulatory telegram in Latin to Prof. Mommsen, who was 

 unable to be present at the ceremony. 



The Philosophical Faculty of the University of Gottingen has 

 (says Science) proposed the following subject for prizes on the 

 Benecke Foundation : A critical investigation, based upon 

 experimental research, of those complex chemical compounds 

 which cannot be explained upon the ordinarily received theory 

 of valence, or can be so explained only by a forced interpretation 

 of the theory. This investigation should specially consider how 

 far the phenomena of molecular addition play a part in the 

 formation of these compounds and as to whether it is possible to 

 formulate a comprehensive theory of these complex compounds* 

 The first prize is 3400 marks and the second prize 680 marks. 

 Papers in competition must be written in a modern language, 

 and be accompanied by a sealed envelope containing the name, 

 a motto on the outside of the envelope corresponding to the same 

 motto on the paper. They should be sent to the Faculty of the 

 University of Gottingen not later than August 30, 1902. 



In the year 1895 the Academy of Sciences of Berlin announced 

 the following problem for the Steiner prize :— "To completely 

 solve any important hitherto unsolved problem relating to the 

 theory of curved surfaces, taking into account, so far as possible, 

 the methods and principles evolved by Steiner. It is required 

 that sufficient analytical explanations shall accompany the 

 geometrical investigations to verify the correctness and com- 

 pleteness of the solution. Without wishing to limit the choice 

 of subject, the Academy takes the opportunity to call attention 

 to the special problems to which Steiner has referred in his 

 general remark at the end of his second paper on maximum and 

 minimum in figures in a plane, on a sphere, and in space." 

 The foregoing problem having remained unsolved up to the 

 present, the Academy again announces it for the year 1905. 

 For its solution a prize of 4000 marks is offered, with an addi- 

 tional sum of 2000 marks. Papers sent in competition may be 

 written in German, French, English, Italian, or Latin, and 

 must be submitted before December 31, 1904, to the Bureau of 

 the Academy, Universitats-Strasse 8, Berlin N.W. The re- 

 sult will be announced at the Leibnitz meeting of 1905. Each 

 manuscript submitted must bear a mark or nom de plume, and 

 be accompanied by a sealed envelope containing the name and 

 address of the author, and bearing outside the corresponding 

 mark or assumed name. 



The Society for the Protection of Birds is offering two prizes, 

 of 10/. and 5/. respectively, for the best papers on the protection 

 of British birds. The mode of dealing with the subject is left 

 entirely to competitors, but among the points suggested for 

 treatment are the utilisation and enforcement of the present 

 Acts and County Council Orders ; the modification or improve- 

 ment of the law ; educational methods ; and the best means of 

 influencing landowners and gamekeepers, agriculturists and 

 gardeners, collectors, bird-catchers and bird-nesters. Essays 

 are to be sent in by November 30. Particulars may be obtained 

 from the hon. sec, at the Society's offices, 3, Hanover Square, 

 London, W. 



During the last few weeks even the scientific recluse, 

 occupied as he mostly is in the recherche de fabsolu, has had 

 forced upon him, by serious and comic papers alike, the question 

 of electioneering cries. Perhaps, however, it will be news to him 

 that the subject of vivisection, so-called, has been pushed into 

 the forefront of electioneering polemics. Warning was indeed 

 given months ago that this might ^be Jthe case^ as is evidenced 



