November 19, 1909] 



SCIENCE- 



101 



School." Among other educators on the 

 program are: Professor Richard E. Dodge, 

 of Teachers College, Columbia University; 

 Professor A. A. Michelson, University of Chi- 

 cago ; Dr. Norman A. Du Bois, Case School of 

 Science, Cleveland; Professor Chas. E. Mann, 

 University of Chicago; Dr. J. A. Drushel, 

 Teachers College, St. Louis; Professor J. W. 

 A. Toung, University of Chicago; Professor 

 Fred. T. Charles, University of Illinois. 



At the invitation of the staff of the depart- 

 ment of natural history of the College of the 

 City of New York, twenty-two working biol- 

 ogists from the various laboratories of New 

 York dined in the faculty dining rooms of 

 the college on Tuesday evening, November 9. 

 After the dinner, which was served by the 

 college caterer, the men inspected the biolog- 

 ical laboratories of the department. The fol- 

 lowing institutions were represented: the 

 Eockefeller Institute, The College of Physi- 

 cians and Surgeons, The New York Hospital, 

 The College of Pharmacy, Cornell University 

 Medical College, Columbia University and 

 Barnard College. 



A RUBBER pilot-balloon sent up on October 

 •8 from Blue Hill Observatory to determine 

 the air currents, was visible for one hour and 

 ten minutes and in that time rose to a height 

 of about 18,000 meters, or llj miles. Prob- 

 ably this is the greatest height at which at- 

 mospheric movement has been observed in the 

 United States, since the highest clouds meas- 

 ured at Blue Hill do not exceed 15,000 meters, 

 or 9 J miles. 



The magnetic survey yacht Carnegie had 

 many distinguished visitors while at Fal- 

 mouth, England, among them being the Earl 

 of Plymouth, the Honorable W. Peel, Sir Ar- 

 thur Eiicker and Professor Arthur Schuster. 

 The latter two gentlemen made ofSeial visits 

 as members of the advisory board of the de- 

 partment of Terrestrial Magnetism of the 

 Carnegie Institution of Washington. The 

 magnetic data already secured on board the 

 Carnegie have been communicated to the 

 principal hydrographic offices and were pre- 

 sented by General M. EykatschefF before the 

 Eussian Geographic Society, St. Petersburg, 



on October 27. The director. Dr. L. A. Bauer, 

 returned to Washington on November 11. 

 The Carnegie left Falmouth under the com- 

 mand of Mr. W. J. Peters, on November 8, 

 bound for Madeira and Bermuda. 



It will be remembered that the late Dr. H. 

 C. Sorby, F.E.S., of Sheffield, bequeathed a 

 sum of £15,000 to the Eoyal Society of Lon- 

 don to be held in trust for the establishment 

 of a professorship or fellowship for original 

 scientific research, the testator expressly de- 

 siring the professorship or fellowship thus 

 founded to be associated with the University 

 of Sheffield. Accepting this trust, the council 

 of the Eoyal Society appointed a committee 

 to confer with representatives of the Univer- 

 sity of Sheffield with the view of drawing up 

 a scheme for giving effect to the intentions 

 of Dr. Sorby's wiU. A scheme, prepared by 

 this committee for the establishment of a 

 " Sorby Fellowship for Scientific Eesearch " to 

 be associated with the University of Sheffield, 

 has now been approved and adopted by the 

 council of the Eoyal Society, and by the senate 

 and council of the University of Sheffield. 

 The fellow will be required to carry out his 

 research, when possible, in one of the labora- 

 tories of the University of Sheffield, and pro- 

 vision is made under the regulations for the 

 setting aside of a simi not exceeding £50 a 

 year to form an apparatus fund, from which 

 grants may be made from time to time to the 

 fellow for the purchase of special apparatus 

 and material required in his research. The 

 stipend of the Sorby Eesearch Fellow will 

 probably be about £500 per annum. 



The geological department of the Univer- 

 sity of Wisconsin has recently completed a 

 relief map of the state of Illinois for the 

 University of Illinois, on a scale of five miles 

 to the inch horizontally and 1,320 feet to the 

 inch vertically. The low relief of the prairie 

 region between the Mississippi, the Ohio and 

 Lake Michigan, with the contrasting sharply 

 cut stream valleys and gorges in the lead and 

 zinc district in the northwest and the Ozark 

 plateau extension in the extreme south are 

 well shown on the map. The topography is 

 based on the contour maps prepared for the 



