December 15, 1898] 



NATURE 



15; 



A careful consideration of the details of the expenditure 

 las led the Committee to the conclusion that in order to 

 ■nable Mr. Moore to successfully lead another expedi- 

 ion for two seasons, and to accomplish the above-stated 

 ibjects, a sum of not less than 5000/. wtll be required, 

 rhe Committee have already received encouraging offers 

 if support, including one of 1000/. from a gentleman 

 onnected with the commercial and political interests of 

 5ritish Africa. They point out, however, that the results 

 be obtained will increase almost in the ratio of the 

 quare of the initial expenditure ; and in a private cir- 

 ular, which has been issued, the members of the Com- 

 nittee appeal to those who feel interest in the objects of 

 he expedition, for assistance in carrying out an enterprise 

 vhich is not only of the highest scientific importance, 

 )ut is also of great significance in securing British 

 nfluence in a critical region of the African interior. 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGE AND THE 

 UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. 



W'E are glad to be able to publish the following text 

 of a resolution adopted by the Council of Uni- 

 versity College, London, at their session on December 10. 

 rhe offer contained in the resolution is a noble one ; and 

 ive hope that the example afforded by it will be followed 

 Dy other similar institutions, in order that the labour of 

 the Statutory Commission may be simplified. 



' That a Deputation be appointed to represent to the Statu- 

 tory Commission that — inasmuch as 



] (l) University College, London, was founded as the Univer- 

 liity of London, with the object of providing a complete 

 jUniversity education in London of the highest type. 



(2) The intention of the founders and benefactors of Univer- 

 oity College will only be carried out by the incorporation of 

 the College in the University, so that its resources shall still 

 *be utilised for the furtherance of the highest educational work 

 knd for research. 



The Council are prepared to summon a general meeting of 

 (he members of the College, and to propose to them that such 

 (steps should be taken as may be necessaiy for placing the site, 

 land, buildings and endowments of the College at the complete 



disposal of the reconstituted University. 



.' In making this offer the Council do not desire to throw any 

 lobstacle in the way of any other institutions in London which 



may be disposed to place their resources at the disposal of the 

 'Governing Body of the University. 

 I It will be necessary in accordance with the precedent afforded 



by the Universities Act (O.sford and Cambridge) to protect the 

 jinterests of the existing teachers and executive staff of the 

 (College. The existing teachers are, however, to have no claim. 

 i as such to any rank in the re-constituted University, or to any 

 I vested interest other than that they now have in the College. 

 ( Special provision will probably have to be made as to the 

 |boys' school and its endowments, and perhaps for appropriate 

 ' buildings on another site being provided for this department of 

 'the College work. Arrangements will also have to be made 



(with regaril to the Hospital and its funds, of which the College 

 is now the Trustee. 



] (Signed on behalf of the Council), 



\ J. Gregory Foster, 



I Acting-Secretary. 



• NO TES. 



( Prof. M.-^RSh has been elected a correspondant of the Section 

 I of Mineralogy of the Paris Academy of Sciences, in succession 

 \ to the late Prof. James Hall. 



' The Geographical Society of Berlin (Gesellschaft fiir Erd- 

 vkundezu Berlin) have sent out a circular inviting the friends 



iand promoters of geography in all countries, and especially the 

 members of geographical societies and cognate scientific bodies, 

 to be present at the seventh International Geographical Congress, 

 j to be held in the German capital from Thursday, September 28, to 

 '1 NO. 1520, VOL. 59] 



Wednesday, October 4, 1899. Before the beginning and after 

 the close of the Congress, excursions will be arranged through 

 such parts of Germany as are of interest from the points of view 

 of physical or economic geography. The subjects which are 

 to be discussed at the Congress will be arranged in the following 

 groups: (i) mathematical geography, geodesy, cartography, 

 geophysics ; (2) physical geography (geomorphology, ocean- 

 ology, climatology) ; (3) biological geography ; (4) industrial 

 and commercial geography; (5) ethnology; (6) topical geo- 

 graphy, exploring travels ; (7) history of geography and of 

 cartography ; (S) methodology, school geography, bibliography, 

 orthography of geographical names. According to the usual 

 custom, the English, French, German, and Italian languages 

 will be admitted as languages of the Congress, and all papers 

 must be written in one of them. The latest date for receiving 

 papers is June i, 1899 ; and the subjects should be notified by 

 April I, 1899. All correspondence relating to the Congress 

 should be addressed to the VII. International Geographical 

 Congress, 90 Zimmerstrasse, Berlin, S.W. 



Dr. Capitan has been elected president of the Paris 

 Anthropological Society for 1899. 



The Desniazieres prize has been awarded by the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences to Dr. J. B. de Toni for his " Sylloge 

 Algarum." 



The Paris correspondent of the Chemist and Druggist sl2.tt^ 

 that a "Retrospective Museum of the History of Chemistry" 

 is being organised to figure in the Paris Exhibition of 1900. It 

 will comprise objects relative to scientific discoveries and 

 industrial improvements — in fact, everything that can clearly 

 show the successive progress accomplished in the chemical 

 industry and the importance of the discoveries made by French 

 savants. Amongst the objects indicated as admissible are labor- 

 atory apparatus, reports on discoveries, portraits of inventors, 

 investigators, and manufacturers, descriptions of processes, 

 products obtained by inventors or in scientific laboratories, 

 drawings, plans, models in relief, &c. Industrial museums, 

 faculties, schools, manufacturers, and private individuals are 

 invited to send a list of articles they may be willing to lend. 



A prize of 1000 marks is offered by the Economic Society 

 of Mohrungen, near Konigsberg, for the best work on the 

 relations of electricity to living organisms. The work must 

 discuss either fundamentally new phenomena in plant or animal 

 electricity, or, from the point of view of physics, discuss the 

 sources of organic electricity, or its significance for life in 

 general or for certain functions. 



Very little is at present known of the flora of Porto Rico^ 

 This is not likely to remain long the case, since the attention of 

 the Americans has been turned to the island. An American 

 citizen, Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt, has offered to bear the 

 expense of a botanical expedition to the island by Mr. A. A. 

 Heller, under the auspices of the New York Botanical Garden 



An informal Committee will shortly meet in Calcutta to 

 consider the reports by the Astronomer Royal and Sir Norman- 

 Lockyer, who were recently asked for advice regarding Indiar* 

 astronomical and solar observatories. The future working of 

 these observatories will be discussed, and Sir James Westland, 

 Messrs. T. Holderness and J. Eliot, and General Strahan, 

 Surveyor-General, will probably be members of the Committee. 

 It is announced that the Royal Academy of Medicine of 

 Belgium has appointed a Commission to consider the follow- 

 ing proposal :— "The Royal Academy of Medicine asks the 

 Government to enter into negotiations with foreign Govern- 

 ments with a view to drawing up an International Pharma- 

 copoeia." 



