382 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 219. 



Here he labored till the close of his life, and did 

 much to develop the practical teaching of phys- 

 iology, both in lectures and by the institution 

 of practical classes. His chief work was ' The 

 Action of Drugs on the Secretion of Bile,' and 

 he was also the author of ' Outlines of Practical 

 Histology,' and a 'Text-book on Physiology,' 

 besides many papers on various scientific sub- 

 jects. His recent efforts were chiefly directed 

 to the study of hearing, sight and other special 

 senses. He was also the inventor of the freez- 

 ing microtome, which has proved of great value 

 in microscopical research and demonstration. 

 In 1876 Professor Rutherford was elected a Fel- 

 low of the Royal Society of London. 



The French Mathematical Society is making 

 active arrangements for the International Con- 

 gress of Mathematicians, to be held at Paris, 

 from the 6th to the 12th of August, 1900. Re- 

 plies have already been received from 900 in- 

 tending members. A meeting was recently 

 held at Gottingen, at which representatives of 

 the Academies of Vienna, Munich and Leipzig 

 were present for the purpose of planning a pro- 

 gram for the Congress. 



A COMMITTEE, of which Professor Newcomb 

 is the chairman, is collecting Information in 

 regard to the best methods for observing the 

 total eclipse of the suu on May 28, 1900. The 

 track of the shadow runs from New Orleans to 

 Norfolk and across to Spain and Algeria. Ar- 

 rangements are also being made by the British 

 Astronomical Society. A paper was read by Mr. 

 A. C. D. Krommelin before the Society on 

 February 22d. As a result of a close study of 

 the weather statistics the conclusions he drew 

 were : (1) That Algiers was certainly worth 

 occupying on account of its low cloud ratio, it 

 accessibility and its excellent harbor ; (2) that 

 the Portuguese stations had a higher cloud 

 ratio, but a longer totality (1 min. 36 sec, as 

 compared with 1 min. 6 sec. at Algiers) ; (3) the 

 region south of Madrid had a low cloud ratio, 

 and several railway lines cut the shadow track, 

 so that there would be no difficulty in trans- 

 porting instruments ; (4) the Alicante region 

 seemed less clear than central Spain, but more 

 so than Portugal. The Association's special 

 steamer could land detachments at various 



points on the Portuguese and Spanish coasts, 

 and then proceed to Algiers with the remainder 

 of the party. It could remain at Algiers as a 

 floating hotel to the party, and after the eclipse 

 return by the same route, picking up the various 

 detachments. 



American Gardening, New York City, ofiers 

 prizes amounting to $150 for papers on hybrid- 

 ization treated from the point of view of its 

 relations to science and horticulture. The 

 papers must be between 1,000 and 5,000 words 

 in length and must be sent in before April 15th. 



The Paris Academy of Sciences has received 

 a legacy of 35,000 fr. from M. Paul Frederic 

 Hely d'Oissel. 



The late Dr. E. F. A. Obach has bequeathed 

 his scientific library to the Siemens' Engineer- 

 ing Society, Woolwich, with the exception of 

 his special library on India rubber, which, with 

 specimens, -etc., is left to the Botanical Museum, 

 Berlin. 



The Zoological Society of London has sub- 

 scribed £200 towards the fund being collected 

 for a British Antarctic expedition. 



The Goldsmith's Company, London, has 

 made a further grant, this time of £500, for the 

 the continuation of experiments on the anti- 

 toxin treatment of diphtheria undertaken un- 

 der the direction of the Royal Colleges of Physi- 

 cians and Surgeons. 



A Hundred- Yeae Club has been established 

 in New York City, and will be glad to receive 

 members whose only duties are to pay the an- 

 nual fees and to try to pledge themselves to en- 

 deavor to live and persuade others to live more 

 than a hundred years. A beginning has been 

 made by a dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria. 



In connection with the work on pear blight 

 conducted by Mr. M. B. Waite, of the Division 

 of Vegetable Physiology and Pathology, United 

 States Department of Agriculture, an interest- 

 ing feature has been developed in the way of 

 growing the bacillus of blight on dormant pear 

 shoots. The fact that the organism could be 

 grown in this way was discovered by Mr. Waite 

 about two years ago, and it furnishes means of 

 throwing light on a number of points connected 



