February 24, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



301 



surrounding regions, with a view to studying 

 the fauna and flora. Dr. Fiilleborn will act as 

 zoologist and Dr. Gotze as botanist of the expe- 

 dition. 



Nature states that Dr. Don Francisco P. 

 Moreno, Director of the La Plata Museum, and 

 Commissioner of the Argentine Republic in the 

 boundary delimitation with Chile, has arrived 

 in London from Buenos Ayres. 



Professor F. Kustner, Director of the Ob- 

 servatory at Bonn, has been appointed Director 

 of the Hamburg Observatory, Professor G. Riim- 

 ker having resigned this position on account of 

 ill health. 



Mr. J. H. Holland has been appointed 

 Director of the Botanical Gardens in Calabar. 



The annual meeting of the Malacological So- 

 ciety, London, was held on February 9th. The 

 Presidential Address was delivered by Lieut. - 

 Colonel H. H. God win- Austen, F.R.S. 



Lectures on geology will be given at the 

 American Museum of Natural History during 

 March as follows : March 4th, Professor James 

 F. Kemp, on ' The Newer Gold Regions of the 

 West,' with especial reference to the Cripple 

 Creek country of Colorado, Mercur, Utah, and 

 the Yukon basin ; March Uth, Mr. Walter H, 

 Weed, of the United States Geological Survey, 

 on ' The Gold and Silver Mines of Montana;' 

 March 18th, Dr. Hieurich Ries, of Cornell Uni- 

 versity, on ' Clay and Its Uses ;' March 25th, 

 Dr. David T. Day, on ' The Geology of Petro- 

 leum.' 



The Vienna Medical Club has voted the sum 

 of three hundred gold crowns for the founda- 

 tion of a prize in memory of Dr. Hermann 

 Franz Miiller, whose recent death from the 

 plague will be remembered. 



We learn from Nature that at its annual meet- 

 ing, on January 10th, the Russian Academy of 

 Sciences awarded its Helmersen premium to A. 

 Mickwitz for his work, ' Die Brachiopoden. 

 Gattung Oholus, Eichwald'; the Lomonosoflf 

 premium to N. I. Andrusoff for his work, 'The 

 fossil and the living jDrmseraidae of Eurasia'; 

 to E. Burinsky, for his improvements in pho- 

 tography ; and to P. I. Brounow, for his works 

 in meteorology. The large Tolstoi medal was 



awarded to L. Besser and K. Ballod, for their 

 researches into the natality and mortality of 

 the populations of European Russia, the Baltic 

 provinces, and different countries of Europe, 

 including Great Britain ; and the small medal 

 to P. G. Matsokin, for a MS. work on the half- 

 breeds of Transbaikalia. 



Mr. E. a. Martel has been awarded the 

 grand medal of the French ' Societe de Topog- 

 raphic. 



The second award of the Weber-Parkes prize 

 and medals of the Royal College of Physicians 

 of London (awarded triennially to the writer 

 of the best essay upon some subject con- 

 nected with the aetiology, prevention, pathol- 

 ogy or treatment of tuberculosis, especially 

 with reference to pulmonary consumption in 

 man) will be made in 1900. The value of the 

 prize is 150 guineas and a silver medal. A 

 similar medal, distinguished as the second 

 medal, will be awarded to the essayist who 

 comes next in order of merit. 



We learn, with regret, of the death, from pneu- 

 monia, of Professor Wilbur Wilson Thoburn, 

 professor of biomechanics, at Leland Stanford 

 Jr. University. 



We regret also to record the following deaths: 

 Dr. G. Wolffhiigel, professor of hygiene in the 

 University at Gottingen ; Dr. Rupert Bock, 

 professor of mechanics in the Technical Insti- 

 tute of Vienna, and Dr. Lench, assistant in 

 the Observatory at Zurich. 



In the British House of Commons on Febru- 

 ary 8th Mr. Akers Douglas (Kent, St. Au- 

 gustine's) said: "All the new buildings for 

 South Kensington Museum on the east side of 

 the Exhibition-road will be devoted to the art 

 collections. The existing science building on 

 the east side of the road will be the only por- 

 tion which will continue to be used for science 

 purposes. The new science buildings will be 

 erected on the west side of the road. The 

 plans have been prepared by the architect in 

 communication with the officers of the art and 

 science branches, and meet with the approval 

 of the Lord President and his department. It 

 is proposed to commence the new buildings in 

 front of the South Kensington Museum within 

 the next few weeks." 



