January 2, 1896] 



NATURE 



203 



be used for the biological departments. This gift carries with it 

 1,000,000 dollars conditionally pledged by Mr. John D. Rock- 

 feller on November 2. It is probable that a school of medicine 

 will be established. 



The death has just occurred of Dr. George H. Kidd, dis- 

 tinguished for his researches and discoveries in surg6ry. We 

 have also to record the death of Prof. A. von Brunn, Professor 

 of Anatomy in Rostock University, and of Dr. Sickenberger, 

 Professor of Botany and Chemistry in the Medical School at 

 Cairo. 



A MONUMENT to Dr. John Rae, the Arctic explorer, was 

 unveiled on Monday, in St. Magnus's Cathedral, Kirkwall. 

 The base of the monument is of Aberdeen granite, the pedestal 

 of Peterhead granite, and the figure of Portland stone. The 

 sculptor is Mr. Joseph Whitehead. On the pedestal is an 

 inscription setting forth the dates of Dr. Rae's different 

 geographical expeditions. 



Dr. W. Huggins, F.R.S., has been elected a corresponding 

 member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, and also of the 

 American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia. 



The twenty-third annual dinner of the Old Students of the 

 Royal School of Mines will take place on Friday, January 24. 

 The chair will be taken by Mr. A. G. Charleton, and a number 

 of well known men of science are expected to be present. 



The annual meeting of the Association for the Improvement 

 of Geometrical Teaching will be held at University College, 

 (lower Street, on Saturday, January 11. The morning meet- 

 ing (at 11) will be devoted to the ordinary business of the 

 .Association. At the afternoon meeting (at 2), Dr. Larmor will 

 read a paper on " Geometrical Methods," and visitors interested 

 in the subject will be cordially welcomed. 



We learn through Science that the Astronomischen Gesell- 

 schaft has decided, because of the expense connected therewith, 

 no longer to maintain a library. The announcement is made 

 that the Society does not desire to receive any publications in 

 the future, and that, with the completion of the thirtieth year of 

 the Vierteljahresschrift, no exchange with other scientific bodies 

 will be continued. Our contemporary also publishes the news 

 that the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Berlin 

 will probably be removed to Dahlem, to which suburb it is pro- 

 posed to remove the Botanical Garden. 



An ingenious system of purifying atmosphere and regulating 

 temperature is in operation at Chicago, for the switchboard 

 room of the Telephone Company; where dust formerly interfered 

 seriously with the connections on the switchboard. The air for 

 the room is forced through a chamber, where it is thoroughly 

 sprayed ; then passed through rapidly rotating spiral coils, which 

 strip it of superfluous moisture, and afterwards through a 

 chamber kept at nearly uniform temperature by the use of ice or 

 of heating apparatus, as may be required. Access to the switch- 

 board room is through an ante-chamber ; and the temperature of 

 the room itself shows a variation of not more than two degrees 

 in a month. 



Upon application by the East Suffolk County Council, the 

 Home Secretary has made the following order : The taking or 

 destroying of wild birds' eggs is prohibited in the years 1896, 

 1897, and 1898, in the following places within the administrative 

 county of East Suffolk— namely, the sea coast, beach, foreshore, 

 sandhills, saltings, or salt marshes, situate between the sea or 

 estuaries and the land side of the sea or estuarial wall, embank- 

 ment, ditch, fence, or other artificial or natural boundary 

 separating the same from the cultivated land, from the north 

 ide of the river Blyth to Landguard Point (excluding the 



luary of the Aide above the ferry at Slaughden Quay, Alde' 



urgh). 



NO. 1366, VOL. 53] 



The Duke of Devonshire has not had to wait long for the- 

 further information which he expressed a desire to have, when, 

 the deputation waited on him on November 28 to supjwrt the 

 appointment of a Statutory Commission for the establishment of a 

 teaching University for London. It will be remembered that 

 the Duke, in the course of the interview, expressed a desire for 

 information with reference to the attitude of the graduates 

 towards the scheme contained in the Rejwrt of Lord Cowper's 

 Commission, and upon other points. A long memorial, signed 

 by sixty representatives of colleges, medical schools, and other 

 institutions, has now been forwarded to the Duke of Devonshire, . 

 as President of the Council. The memorial deals seriatim with 

 the attitude of the graduates, the amendments proposed in the 

 interest of external students, the suggested procedure by way of 

 charter, and the rights of veto under the existing charter. It 

 should assist the Duke to form an opinion as to the unreasonable 

 and unconstitutional nature of the opposition to the scheme. 



Mr. Leon Clerc, Secretary of the Chambre de Com- 

 merce Fran9aise de Londres, writes as follows: — " The town 

 of Dole (Jura), the birthplace of Pasteur, has decided to 

 erect a monument to that great man. A Committee, at 

 the head of which is M. FeUx Faure, President of the 

 Republic, and many of the present Cabinet, Senators, and 

 Deputies, has been formed, and a list of subscriptions opened 

 throughout the civilised world. The French Chamber of Com- 

 merce in London has been requested to take the necessary steps 

 to bring this subscription to the notice of the British public. The 

 work of Pasteur has been fully recognised in England, where 

 his admirers are very numerous, and many will cherish his 

 memory to the end of their days. We feel certain that, in this 

 universal manifestation of gratefulness towards a benefactor of 

 mankind, Englishmen will respond liberally. Our President, 

 M. Marius Duche, Monument.«House, E.C., in conjunction with 

 the whole of our Committee, will be pleased to receive all dona- 

 tions, which will be acknowledged in the Press ; and should any 

 representative men desire to join our Committee, we shall be 

 pleased to accept their aid." 



During this month the first number of The Journal of 

 Experimental Medicine, a periodical devoted to original inves- 

 tigations in physiology, pathology, bacteriology, pharmacology, 

 physiological chemistry, hygiene and medicine, will be pub- 

 lished by Messrs. D. Appleton and Co., New York. The 

 journal will be devoted exclusively to the publication of original 

 work in the experimental medical sciences, with special references 

 to work done in America. It will doubtless stimulate scientific 

 investigation, and should extend the influence of scientific 

 medicine. The practitioner who wishes to keep abreast of 

 the times will appreciate the value of such a publication. That 

 the journal will be of high character, and truly representative of 

 scientific medicine in America, is assured by the character of 

 those whose co-operation has been secured. Dr. William H. 

 Welch, Professor of Pathology in the Johns Hopkins University, 

 is to be the editor of the new journal, and with him will co- 

 operate a board of twelve associate editors, all of whom are 

 eminent workers in scientific medicine. The journal will appear 

 in, at least, four numbers during the year, and oftener when 

 necessary. 



Another periodical, the first number of which will appear 

 in America this month, is entitled Terrestrial Magnetism^ 

 an international quarterly journal to be published under the 

 auspices of the Ryerson Physical Laboratory, University of 

 Chicago, and edited by Dr. L. A. Bauer, with the co-operation 

 of numerous eminent workers in terrestrial physics in many 

 parts of the world. The journal will be devoted exclusively to 

 terrestrial magnetism, and its allied subjects, such as earth 

 currents, auroras, atmospheric electricity, <S:c. The magnetic 

 needle has become such a promising instrument of research, not 



