FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



H3 



of an individual by an examination of the 

 cadaver and of the successive generations of 

 insects which are found inhabiting it. The 

 author has established the important fact 

 that these successive inhabitants always ar- 

 rive in the same order from the time of 

 death to that of complete disintegration of 

 the body. . . . The importance of this work 

 from a medico-legal point of view can not be 

 overestimated, and that it is capable of prac- 

 tical application the author shows by a num- 

 ber of interesting cases." 



NOTES. 



THE presidents of sections of the British 

 Association, nominated for the coming meet- 

 ing at Toronto, are : Section A, Mathemat- 

 ical and Physical Science, Prof. A. R. For- 

 syth, F. R. S. ; B, Chemistry, Prof. W. 

 Ramsay, F. R. S ; C, Geology, Dr. G. M. 

 Dawson, C. M. G. F. R. S. ; D, Zoology, Prof. 

 L. C. Miall, F. R. S. ; E, Geography, Mr. J. 

 Scott Keltie ; F. Economic Science and Sta- 

 tistics, Prof. E. C. K. Gonner ; G, Mechan- 

 ical Science, Mr. G. F. Deacon; H, Anthro- 

 pology, Prof. Sir W. Turner, F. R. S. ; I, Phys- 

 iology, Prof. M. Foster, Sec. R. S. ; K, Botany, 

 Prof. H. Marshall Ward, F. R. S. The even- 

 ing discourses will be delivered by Prof. 

 Roberts-Austen, C. B., F. R. S., and Prof. 

 John Milne, F. R, S. 



A BANQUET was recently given by scien- 

 tific men of France to Mme. Clemence Rover 

 in celebration of her seventieth birthday. 

 She is eminent in the study of the mental 

 traits of animals ; translated Darwin's work 

 into French; is an advocate of evolution; 

 and is the author of articles on the Mental 

 Faculties of Monkeys, and Animal Arithme- 

 tic, which were published in the Popular 

 Science Monthly several years ago. 



MR. HERBERT SPENCER was offered the 

 honorary degree of Doctor of Science by the 

 authorities of the University of Cambridge, 

 but, adhering to his uniform practice, from 

 which he says he can not depart, has de- 

 clined it. 



THE Emperor of Germany has just deco- 

 rated Dr. Roux, the discoverer, with Dr. 

 Behring, of the vaccine against diphtheria. 

 Two years ago Pasteur refused a similar 

 honor, for reasons of his own. Dr. Roux, 

 although the intimate friend and successor 

 of the great scientist, did not allow his loy- 

 alty toward his master to stand in the way 

 of accepting this mark of recognition from 

 the foreign potentate. 



THE Paris Academy of Sciences has 

 awarded an Arago medal to Lord Kelvin, on 

 the occasion of the jubilee of bis professor- 

 ship in Glasgow University. In conferring 



it, M. Cornu, the president, touching on the 

 te&timonies coming from all parts of the 

 world, said : " Nothing is more consoling 

 for the future than the spectacle of these 

 honors rendered by delegates of all nations 

 to great men of science like Kelvin and Pas- 

 teur, who so worthily represent science in 

 its loftiest and at the same time most be- 

 neficent aspect." 



ACCORDING to the Times, the Government 

 intends to introduce next session a bill to 

 promote free vaccination throughout Eng- 

 land, following continental methods. A 

 small committee, headed by Dr. Thome 

 Thorne, of the Local Government Board, has 

 investigated these methods in Paris at the 

 Institut Vaccinal and the Academic de Mede- 

 cine, and in Brussels at the Ecole de Mede- 

 cine, and at Dr. Janssen's vaccination de- 

 partment under the municipality of the city. 

 They intend also to investigate the modes of 

 procedure in Germany. 



EDWARD D. COPE, Professor of Zoology 

 and Comparative Anatomy in the School of 

 Biology at the University of Pennsylvania, 

 died in his museum in Philadelphia, April 

 12th, aged about fifty-seven years. The 

 illness which took him away was one from 

 which he had been a sufferer for many years. 

 He delivered his last lecture at the university 

 two weeks before his death, had been able 

 to attend to some scientific work the Wednes- 

 day previous, and his condition had been 

 alarming only for four days. A sketch of 

 his life and work to that time, and a portrait, 

 were given in the Popular Science Monthly 

 for May, 1881. He was presiding officer of 

 the Biological Section of the American Asso- 

 ciation in 1884, and was president of the 

 Buffalo meeting of the association in 1896. 

 His later publications since our sketch have 

 been : Origin of Man and other Vertebrates, 

 1885 ; Tertiary Vertebrates, 1885 ; The En- 

 ergy of Life Evolution, and how it has Acted, 

 1885 ; The Origin of the Fittest, 1886 ; and 

 The Primary Factors of Organic Evolution, 

 1896. Prof. Cope was most eminent in 

 paleontology, but was distinguished in many 

 other branches of biology. 



PROF. JAMES JOSEPH SYLVESTER, of the 

 University of Oxford, died in London, March 

 15th, in the eighty- third year of his age. He 

 was born in London, September 3, 1814, 

 was graduated from St. John's College, Cam- 

 bridge, in 1837, as second wrangler, was 

 appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy 

 in the University of London, and in 1841 

 became a professor in the University of Vir- 

 ginia. He did not, however, remain there 

 quite a year, but returned to London, found 

 employment as an actuary and conveyancer, 

 and was called to the bar in 1850. He was 

 appointed Professor of Mathematics in the 

 Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, retired 

 from this position in 1862, and was appointed 

 Professor of Mathematics in Johns Hopkins 



