Maech 3, 1899.] 



SCIENCE, 



341 



tiring President, being in the chair. Mr. Edgar 

 Worthington, the Secretary, presented the 52d 

 annual report, which showed that the member- 

 ship in all classes had reached 2,684, represent- 

 ing a net gain of 191 on the previous year. 

 The receipts for the year were £8,452, and the 

 expenditure £7,588, leaving a balance of £863. 

 The total investments and other assets amounted 

 to £66,462. References were made to the ex- 

 periments carried on by Professor Beare at 

 University College as to the value of the steam- 

 jackets, and to those of Sir William C. Roberts- 

 Austen, who had carried to a successful con- 

 clusion a long series of experiments made at 

 the Royal Mint on the behavior of steels during 

 cooling. Congratulatory allusion was made to 

 the summer meeting held at Derby, and it was 

 stated that the next summer meeting would be 

 held at Plymouth. The report was adopted, 

 after which Mr. Johnson vacated the chair in 

 favor of the President-elect, Sir. W. H. White. 

 The fifth report of the Alloys Research Com- 

 mittee on Steel, drawn up by Sir William 

 Roberts- Austen, was afterwards read. 



A HYGIENIC institute is to be erected in 

 Posen, Prussia. According to the British Med- 

 ical Journal it will contain a hygienico-bac- 

 teriological and a pathologico-anatomical de- 

 partment, with the usual staff of directors and 

 assistants. Their sphere of work is to com- 

 prise supervision and improvement of water 

 supplies, of drainage works and the bestowal 

 of refuse ; soil and subsoil examination ; hy- 

 gienic supervision of works, factories, ware- 

 houses, etc.; prevention of the spread of in- 

 fectious diseases ; post-mortem examinations ; 

 courses of lectures, some popular, on subjects 

 connected with hygiene, bacteriology and 

 pathological anatomy. It is hoped that the 

 scientifically- conducted efforts of the institute 

 will be successful in arresting epidemics, such as 

 cholera, smallpox, typhus, etc., which fre- 

 quently have come into Prussia from across the 

 Russian frontier. 



The Times states that at the South Foreland 

 lighthouse, in the presence of representatives 

 from the Councils of Dover, Ramsgate, Margate, 

 Broadstairs, Sandgate, etc., trials have been 

 made, under the supervision of Signer Marconi, 



of his system of telegraphing without wires, be- 

 tween the East Goodwin lightship, twelve miles 

 out at sea, and the lighthouse. The system 

 acted well, the messages being received and re- 

 corded on the tape with absolute accuracy. 

 Signer Marconi had with him two assistants at 

 the lighthouse, Messrs. Kemp and Cohen, and 

 one on the lightship, Mr. Richards, but several 

 of the messages were sent by men on the ves- 

 sel who had been instructed in the work. The 

 height of the pole used for transmission was 

 130 feet, and Signer Marconi considered that 

 by this a message could be sent to the French 

 coast. The receiving wire on the lightship was 

 run 80 feet up the mast. During the recent 

 severe weather the system has worked per- 

 fectly, and the men on the ship have sent mes- 

 sages that have been transmitted to Ramsgate. 

 All present were impressed with the demonstra- 

 tion, and promises of support to a resolution 

 urging the Board of Trade and the Admiralty 

 to take up the system were given. 



A LAW was recently passed in Norway, says 

 the New York Medical Record, prohibiting the 

 sale of tobacco to any boy under sixteen years 

 of age without a signed order from an adult 

 relative or employer. Even tourists who offer 

 cigarettes to boys render themselves liable to 

 prosecution. The police are instructed to con- 

 fiscate the pipes, cigars and cigarettes of lads 

 who smoke in the public streets. A fine for the 

 offence is also imposed, which may be as much 

 as twenty-five dollars. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 

 MR. AGASSIZ AND HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 



The following minute on the Corporation 

 records of Harvard University concerning the 

 services and gifts of Mr. Alexander Agassiz are 

 given in the Annual Report of President Eliot : 



Voted, That in accepting from Mr. Alexander 

 Agassiz the deed of gift which has been read, 

 and which will be entered in full on the 

 record of this date, the Corporation wish to 

 enter on their records a statement of Mr. 

 Agassiz' s services and gifts to the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology : 



From 1860 to 1865 Mr. Agassiz was Agent 

 of the Museum and Assistant in charge of 

 Worms, Echinoderms and Acalephs. 



