144 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 761 



Mr. Baker will stop at London, Hamburg and 

 Mombasa, to perfect details of shipment. 



It is intended to secure for the park from 

 Mr. Henry Tarleton, of one of the farms near 

 Nairobi, two Coke's hartebeests, a female 

 water-buck and several zebras, specimens of 

 which are not now owned by the park. 



PROFESSOR NEWCOMB'S LIBRARY 



The executor of the estate of the late Pro- 

 fessor Simon Newcomb (Mrs. Anita Newcomb 

 McGee, 1620 P Street, Washington, D. C.) 

 offers for sale his complete library of books 

 and pamphlets on astronomy, mathematics 

 and allied subjects. During the working years 

 of his life it had been his policy to possess for 

 himself, so far as circumstances allowed, the 

 books necessary in his work. As years passed 

 on it seemed to him that the collection would 

 prove to be of permanent scientific value and 

 he therefore enlarged it by the addition of 

 books which he did not need at the time but 

 which he deemed most useful to the future 

 investigator, especially the student of scien- 

 tific history. It had been his hope that his 

 library would help in the training of some 

 future great scientist, or in his work. This 

 being his motive, he was especially anxious 

 that the library should not be divided, but 

 should belong to some institution in which 

 astronomical and kindred branches of research 

 are carried on. 



With this end in view the value of the li- 

 brary is estimated at only $Y,000, which is the 

 estimated cost of the purchased books alone, 

 although the number of transactions of socie- 

 ties and other gift books together with the 

 many thousand pamphlets form a very consid- 

 erable portion of the value of the library. 



There are nearly 4,000 volumes and about 

 4,000 pamphlets in the library; the pamphlets 

 are all classified and arranged for easy refer- 

 ence and include reprints of memoirs of as- 

 tronomy, mathematics and physics. In round 

 numbers 1,000 volumes are complete sets of 

 publications of learned societies and observa- 

 tories. 



There is a complete set of Crelle's journal. 

 There are 75-100 catalogues of precision (star- 



places). The library is especially rich in all 

 branches of astronomy, including popular 

 works, history of astronomy, ancient astron- 

 omy, mathematical astronomy, astrophysics, 

 stellar astronomy and photographic astron- 

 omy. The large number of volumes on celes- 

 tial mechanics, including the works of the 

 most celebrated writers is worthy of special 

 mention. The bulk of the library is of course 

 on astronomy and mathematics, the former 

 predominating, but there are also several hun- 

 dred volumes on physics, geography and 

 meteorology, and many of the transactions 

 cover general science. It is believed that this 

 is the most complete library of its kind in 

 America except, perhaps, that at Harvard 

 University and including the Harvard Ob- 

 servatory library. 



In addition to the above and not as yet cata- 

 logued, are several hundred — possibly ap- 

 proaching 1,000 — books, reports and volumes 

 of periodicals on economic subjects. This is 

 also for sale with or apart from the above. 



A typewritten catalogue of this library has 

 been prepared under Professor Newcomb's 

 personal direction in which the: works are 

 classified approximately on the system now 

 current in catalogues of astronomical litera- 

 ture. This will be sent to any one contem- 

 plating purchase of the collections as a whole. 

 Until about the middle of September the 

 library will remain in place and may be ex- 

 amined. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

 Professor Samuel William Johnson, emer- 

 itus professor of agricultural chemistry in 

 Yale University, where he has held a pro- 

 fessorship for fifty-three years, a member of 

 the National Academy of Sciences since 1866, 

 past president of the American Chemical So- 

 ciety, eminent for his contributions to agri- 

 cultural chemistry, died in New Haven on 

 July 21 in his eightieth year. 



Professor Newcomb's daughter, Mrs. Anita 

 Newcomb McGee, 1620 P street, Washington, 

 is engaged in the preparation of a biography 

 of her father, and will be most appreciative of 

 any assistance which his friends may render. 



