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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 213. 



pictures and written novels, has been given a 

 baronetcy, and Dr. Herman Weber, known for 

 hisworli on the prevention of consumption, has 

 been knighted. Sir Charles Cameron, Medical 

 Officer of Health of Dublin, has been made C.B. 



Professor Henry Alleyne Nicholson, 

 regius professor of natural history at the Uni- 

 versity of Aberdeen, died on January 19th, aged 

 fifty-four years. He was in 1871 called to the 

 chair of natural history in the University of 

 Toronto, and afterwards to Aberdeen. He was 

 the author of important contributions to paleon- 

 tology. 



Major Jed. Hotchkiss, who in 189-5 was 

 Vice-President forGeology of the American As- 

 sociation for the Advancement of Science, and 

 who was the author of contributions to eco- 

 nomic geology and engineering, died on January 

 18th, aged 71 years. 



Dr. Wilhelm Dames, professor of geology 

 and paleontology in the University of Berlin, 

 died on December 22d, aged 55 years. 



Sir James Mouat, K. C. B., a distinguished 

 army surgeon, formerly Inspector-General of 

 Hospitals in Great Britain, died in Loudon on 

 January 4th, aged 84 years. 



The death is announced of Dr. Eugen P. A. 

 Obach, at the age of 46 years. He had made 

 important contributions to electrical engineer- 

 ing and had made a thorough study of the 

 chemistry of gutta percha. 



Dr. Giuseppe Bosso, of the Turin University, 

 died on January 17th, from infection contracted 

 while cultivating bacilli in his laboratory. 



Drs. Ehlert and Monnich have lost their 

 lives by an Alpine accident on the Susten Pass. 

 Dr. Ehlert had made valuable contributions to 

 seismology, working at the University of Stras- 

 burg. Dr. Monnich was Assistant to the Ba- 

 varian Meteorological Central Station. 



The directors of the Benjamin Apthorp Gould 

 fund, which, it will be remembered. Miss Alice 

 Bache Gould gave somewhat more than a year 

 ago to the National Academy of Sciences, an- 

 nounce that they are now prepared to receive 

 applications for appropriations from the income 

 of the fund, which will amount to about $1,000 



annually. Preference will be given to investi- 

 gators working in America or to Americans 

 working abroad, and to work in the astronomy 

 of precision rather than in astrophysics. The 

 directors of the fund, to one of whom applica- 

 tions should be addressed, are Messrs. Lewis 

 Boss, Seth C. Chandler and Asaph Hall. 



The Cartwright prize of the Alumni of the 

 College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Med- 

 ical Department of Columbia University, will 

 be awarded for an essay received not later than 

 April 1st, of the present year. The essay must 

 contain original investigations made by the 

 writer. The value of the prize is $500 and is 

 open to universal competition. 



The Swiss Society of Chemical Industry of- 

 fers a prize of 2,000 fr. for an essay that will 

 promote electro-chemical interests in Switzer- 

 land. Essays must be sent by May 1, 1900, 

 to the President of the Society, Mitlodi, Swit- 

 zerland. 



The Washington Botanical Club was organ- 

 ized by a gathering of botanists held at the 

 residence of one of its members November 11, 

 1898. The limit of membership was fixed at 

 20, and it was determined that the meetings 

 should be, for the present at least, of a dis- 

 tinctly social and informal nature, with free 

 scope for discussion and the general interchange 

 of ideas. At a subsequent meeting, held De- 

 cember 14th, the organization was perfected by 

 the election of Professor Edward L. Greene as 

 President and Mr. Charles L. Pollard as Secre- 

 tary. The Club is to hold monthly sessions, 

 devoting itself chiefly to systematic and eco- 

 logical work, the field of plant physiology and 

 pathology being covered by the already existing 

 Botanical Seminar. 



At the annual meeting of the American 

 Geographical Society, on January 16th, Judge 

 Charles P. Daly, whose services to the Society 

 have been so important, was re-elected President. 

 The other officers elected are : Vice-President, 

 the Rev. C. C. Tiffany ; Treasurer, Walter T. 

 Jones ; Secretary, Chandler Roberts ; Council- 

 ors, Rear-Admiral Bancroft Gherardi, William 

 Hamilton, Henry Holt, Clarence King and 

 Charles A. Peabody. 



At the annual meeting of the Philadelphia 



