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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 776 



money to his own private purposes Dr. Eoux 

 made over the sum to the Pasteur Institute. 

 This seK-denying action so impressed the 

 millionaire that he left the bulk of his for- 

 tune to the institute as a token of admiration 

 for the scientific attainments and self-abne- 

 gation of Dr. Eoux. M. Osiris could not have 

 made a better disposition of his wealth; the 

 Pasteur Institute is greatly in need of funds, 

 and this endowment will firmly establish it as 

 a monument worthy of the great master. The 

 m.emory of M. Osiris as a benefactor of the 

 human race is effectively perpetiiated by this 

 princely munificence, and the scope and influ- 

 ence of the valuable work of the Pasteur In- 

 stitute will be vastly increased. 



We learn from the London Times that the 

 new Astronomical and Meteorological Ob- 

 servatory at Hampstead, the undertaking of 

 the Hampstead Scientific Society, is now 

 nearing completion. On the reservoir, near 

 the Whitestone Pond, Hampstead-heath, are 

 to be seen the small observatory house and the 

 railed enclosure in which will be placed those 

 meteorological instruments that require to be 

 in the open. It is expected that the next fort- 

 night will see the telescope placed in position, 

 and the rain gauge, thermometer screen, sun- 

 shine recorder and barometer ready to give 

 account of the climate of London's highest 

 hill. The revolving dome of the telescope 

 house has been designed and made by Mr. 

 John Reid, of Manchester, and the meteoro- 

 logical instruments are being supplied by Mr. 

 James J. Hicks. The telescope, which has 

 been presented to the society by Dr. P. 

 Womack, professor of physics at Bedford Col- 

 lege and St. Bartholomew's Hospital, is an 

 equatorially mounted reflector; the mirror is 

 by Sir Howard Grubb, of Dublin, and the 

 mounting by Wray. To the appeal for funds 

 to defray the cost a generous response has 

 been made. The sum involved will be about 

 £250, and towards this £239 has been re- 

 ceived. 



The recently founded Italian national 

 league against malaria held its first meeting 

 on October 6 at Milan under the presidency 



of Professor Baccelli. The British Medical 

 Journal states that Senator Golgi, as chairman 

 of the local organizing committee, delivered 

 the opening address, in which, he referred to 

 the vast improvement due to the law of com- 

 pulsory supply of quinine to laborers ; in a few 

 years the mortality from the disease had dim- 

 inished by three fourths. As regards agricul- 

 tural and water-supply betterments, he recog- 

 nized that so far the results had not been very 

 encouraging ; he hoped, however, that the laws 

 made on the subject would not continue to 

 remain a dead letter. In regard to human 

 beings, the improvement was beyond all ques- 

 tion. Where the measures were carried out 

 rigorously, it had been shown by Negri that 

 the disease disappeared so completely that not 

 a single case was to be found in the following 

 year. Golgi did not, however, think that the 

 general adoption of prophylaxis by the sys- 

 tematic administration of quinine to healthy 

 people was justified. On the other hand, 

 mechanical prophylaxis by the use of mosquito 

 netting on the doors and windows of dwellings 

 gave satisfactory results. The efforts of the 

 league should, he urged, be directed to the 

 application and perfecting of the methods 

 already known, and to the study of new means 

 of combating the disease. Professor Baccelli, 

 who next spoke, suggested that a national, or 

 even an international, congress against malaria 

 should be held in Rome in 1911. Then the 

 league would have the opportunity of demon- 

 strating publicly the work it had done up to 

 that time. He announced that the govern- 

 ment would hand over for the purposes of the 

 league the profits made on the sale of quinine 

 by the state. The central committee was then 

 constituted as follows : Professor Baccelli, 

 president; Professor Golgi, Professor Lustig, 

 Professor Gosio, Dr. Picchi, Professor Gobbi, 

 Professor Di Mattel, Professor Ganalis, Sen- 

 ator Ponti and Signori Badaloni, Villaresi 

 and Cabrini. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

 The appropriation for the College of the 

 City of New York for the year 1910 amounts 

 to $613,000. Of this sum $440,000 is for 

 instruction. 



