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NATURE 



[December 5, 1S95 



above that devoted to found the prize will go towards erecting 

 two busts of Lobatchefsky— one outside the University of Kazan, 

 and the other in the interior of the University Buildings. The 

 former bust, with its pedestal, will cost three thousand roubles, 

 of which two thousand will come from the Lobatchefsky 

 fund, and one thousand from the Municipal Council of Kazan. 

 In the case of the second bust, which will be placed in the 

 meeting-room of the University, two hundred roubles will be 

 given from the fund ; and the remainder of the cost will be 

 defrayed by the Professors. All memoirs referring to Lobatchefsky 

 and his geometry, together with the printed papers and manu- 

 scripts of the great geometer himself, are to be arranged in a 

 separate collection, and named the ' ' Bibliotheca LoVjatche- 

 oskiana." 



Mr. John D. Rockefeller's recent gift of an additional 

 million dollars (^200,000) to his munificent donations to the 

 University of Chicago, and his promise of a similar contribution 

 of two million dollars, were noted at the beginning of last 

 month. Our readers will be interested to read Mr. Rockefeller's 

 letter to the Trustees of the University, printed in Science of 

 November 15 : — "October 30, 1895. To the Trustees of the 

 University of Chicago, T. W, Godspeed, D.D., Secretary. 

 Gentlemen : I will contribute to the University of Chicago 

 $1,000,000 for endowment, payable January i, 1896, in cash, or 

 at my option, in approved interest-bearing securities at their fair 

 market value. I will contribute in addition, $2,000,000 for 

 endowment or otherwise, as I may designate, payable in cash, or, 

 at my option, in approved interest-bearing securities at their fair 

 market value, but only in amounts equal to the contributions of 

 others, in cash or its equivalent not hitherto promised, as the 

 same shall be received by the University. This pledge shall be 

 void as to any portion of the sum herein promised, which shall 

 prove not to be payable on the above terms, on or before 

 January i, 1900. Yours very truly (signed), John D. Rocke- 

 feller." These gifts, remarks our contemporary, make the 

 entire amount of Mr. Rockefeller's donations to the University of 

 Chicago about 7,600,000 dollars, probably the largest gift ever 

 made by an individual for educational or public purposes. " 



A QUARTER of a million dollars (;^50,ooo) was, we under- 

 stand from Science, granted by the last U.S. Legislature to the 

 Regents of the University of California for the erection of a 

 suitable building for the departments situated in San Francisco, 

 the Colleges of Law, Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, and 

 Veterinary Surgery. Mr. Adolph Sutro, Mayor of San Fran- 

 cisco, has given a tract of thirteen acres as a site for the building. 

 On the adjoining thirteen acres Mr. Sutro proposes to erect a 

 building for his magnificent library of about two hundred and 

 fifty thousand volumes. 



It is announced that at the instance of the Bureau des 

 Longitudes, the French Minister of Marine has provided ships, 

 men, and instruments for some seven expeditions, which are to 

 miake accurate (and as far as possible simultaneous) obs«rvations 

 in different parts of the globe. One of the chief defects of the 

 present state of knowledge of this important branch of terrestrial 

 physics arises from the fact that past observations have been 

 made in various ways, under very various conditions, and that 

 a great part of it depends upon the scarcely scientific records of 

 ordinary seamen. The P'rench expeditions are to observe strict 

 uniformity in their method of observation, and cannot fail to 

 enhance the value of the work which England and America have 

 begun in this direction. 



At the recent annual meeting of the Royal Society of Edin- 

 burgh, the following officers and members of Council were 

 elected for the ensuing session :— President : The Right Hon. 

 NO. 1362, VOL. ^l\ 



Lord Kelvin, F.R.S. Vice-Presidents: Prof. Copeland, Prof. 

 James Geikie, F.R.S., the Hon. Lord Maclaren, the Rev, Prof. 

 Flint, Prof. J. G. McKendrick, F.R.S., and Prof. Chrystal. 

 General Secretary : Prof. P. G. Tait. Secretaries to Ordinary 

 Meetings: Prof. Crum Brown, F.R.S., and Dr. John Murray. 

 Treasurer : Mr. Philip R. D. Maclagan. Curator of Library 

 and Museum : Dr. Alexander Buchan. Councillors : Dr. Alex- 

 ander Bruce, Prof. Frederick O. Bower, F.R.S., Mr. A, 

 Beatson Bell, Sir Arthur Mitchell, K.C.B., Prof. T. R. 

 Eraser, Mr. Robert Munr.5, Dr. M, D. Noel Pat on, Mr. C. G. 

 Knatt, Sir W. Turner, F.R.S., Sir Stair Agnew, K.C.B., James 

 Burgess, and Dr. John S. Mackay. 



As one of the results of the late Medical Congress, the 

 Pharmaceutical Journal states that the Govern.Tient of India 

 have decided to institute an inquiry into the subject of the 

 desirability of a more extended use of indigenous drugs. The 

 Committee to which the Indian Government has decided to refer 

 the whole question consists of Dr. George Watt, C. I. E. , Surgeon 

 Lieut. -Colonel C. J. H. Warden; and Brigade-Surgeon 

 Lieut. -Colonel George King, F.R.S., CLE., Surgeon 

 Lieut. -Colonel J. F. P. McConnell, and Rai Bahadur 

 Kanny Loll Dey, CLE. The points to which the Government 

 of India has particularly invited the attention of the Com- 

 mittee, with a view to their careful consideration, are the 

 practicability as well as the utility of {a) encouraging the 

 systematic cultivation of medicinal plants indigenous to India ; 

 {b) encouraging the increased use in medical depots of drugs of 

 known therapeutic value ; and [c) sanctioning the manufacture 

 of stable preparations of certain drugs at the depots. With 

 regard to these points, the Government of India desires that the 

 members of the Committee shall consider, and report their 

 opinion, as to the action which would be best calculated to give 

 the suggested encouragement. The Committee will further 

 consider, from a practical point of, view, the question of initiat- 

 ing, as a Government measure, experiments to test the reputed 

 therapeutic value of indigenous drugs. 



The next session of Parliament will, the British Medicar 

 Journal remarks, have before it a scheme for providing a supply 

 of sea water for London and certain places on the route. The 

 intention is to take in tlie water from the sea opposite Lancing, 

 in Sussex, where all the pumping machinery will be situated. 

 It will be pumped thence to a large reservoir in an elevated 

 position at Steyning, whence it will flow by gravitation to another 

 reservoir at Epsom. From this reservoir it will be distributed 

 over London, the parts to be first supplied being the West-end 

 and central portions. It is stated that local authorities will be 

 supplied with sea water for flushing sewers, watering streets, 

 and other public uses, such as swimming baths, and that sea 

 water baths will be supplied to hotels, hospitals, schools, &c. 

 As to any relief to present sources of water supply by using sea 

 water for public purposes, it should be mentioned that the quan- 

 tity proposed to be provided is stated to be only 10,000,000 gal- 

 lons per day, while the average daily supply of water to London 

 amounted in 1893 to over 190,000,000 gallons. If the scheme is- 

 carried into effect, it will have an important bearing upon the 

 health of London. 



On Friday last, the new Museum of Natural History which 

 has been erected at Perth by the Perthshire Society of Natural 

 Science, at a cost of about ;^4000, was formally declared open 

 by Sir William Flower, in the presence of a large and repre- 

 sentative gathering. Mr. Henry Coates, the President of the 

 Society, occupied the chair, and, in introducing Sir William 

 Flower, he remarked that the idea of forming a Museum had 

 been kept before their Society from its commencement, twenty- 

 eight years ago. The first attempt to form a collection dated 

 from 1869. In 1877 the late Sir Thomas Moncreiffe brought 



