May 12, 1899.]" 



SCIENCE. 



693 



■Columbian Museum, Chicago ; Professor B. K. 

 Emerson, of Amherst ; Professor Bernard E. 

 Pernow, Dean of the School of Forestry, Cornell 

 University ; Dr. A. K. Fisher, Ornithologist 

 U. S. Biological Survey ; Henry Gannett, Chief 

 Geographer U. S. Geological Survey ; G. K. 

 Crilbert, Geologist U. S. Geological Survey ; Dr. 

 George Bird Grinnell, editor Forest and Stream; 

 ■Charles A. Keeler, Custodian of the Museum of 

 theCalifornia Academy of Sciences; Dr. C. Hart 

 Merriam, Chief U. S. Biological Survey ; Dr. 

 Lewis R. Morris, of New York ; Robert Ridg- 

 way, Ornithologist U. S. National Museum ; 

 Professor W. E. Bitter, of the University of 

 •California, and Professor William Trelease, 

 Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden. In 

 addition to these men of science and their as- 

 sistants, two artists accompany the expedition, 

 the landscape artist R. Swain Gilford, of New 

 York, and the bird artist Louis Agassiz Fuertes, 

 of Ithaca. 



Mr. Russell W. Porter writes that he will 

 conduct, during the coming summer, an expedi- 

 tion under the auspices of the Peary Club, the 

 main object of ■which is to communicate with 

 Lieutenant Peary. The steam-bark whaler 

 Hope will leave Sydney, Cape Breton, about 

 July 15th. She will then go directly north, 

 through the Gulf of St. Lawrence, up the Lab- 

 rador coast, through Baffin's Bay, to the west 

 Greenland coast, stopping probably at Uper- 

 navik, and then enter Melville Bay. After 

 passing through Melville Bay the ship enters 

 Whale Sound, where she will cruise until com- 

 munication is made with Lieutenant Peary or 

 his Eskimo representatives. The expedition 

 will reach Sydney on its return at the end of 

 September. The party will be limited to six 

 and there is at present one place vacant. While 

 intended primarily for hunting, the expedition 

 will afford an excellent opportunitjf for]^work in 

 natural history. Any man of science who would 

 like to join. the party should communicate with 

 llr. Russell W. Porter, 6 Beacon St., Boston. 



A State Bacteriological and Pathological 

 Laboratory has been established for Delaware. 

 Professor Chester, State Bacteriologist, has been 

 appointed director. 



We learn from the American Geologist that 



the State of Wisconsin has appropriated the 

 sum of $100,000 for two years to carry on the 

 new geological and natural history survey of 

 the State, of which Professor A. E. Birge, of 

 the University of Wisconsin, is director. 



The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine 

 was formally opened on April 22d by Lord 

 Lister. A visit was made to the Tropical Dis- 

 eases ward in the Royal Southern Hospital and 

 to the Thompson-Yates laboratories, and a ban- 

 quet was given in the evening, at which Lord 

 Lister made the principal speech. 



Dr. George Bruce Halsted has been in- 

 vited to present a Report on Progress in Non- 

 Euclidean Geometry at the coming Columbus 

 meeting of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science. 



The Paris Society of Biology has awarded its 

 Godard prize for the most important contribu- 

 tion to biology to Dr. Vidal, of Perigueux, for 

 his memoir on the influence of chloroform on 

 nutrition. 



The Lenval prize for an improvement in the 

 treatment of deafness will be awarded at the 

 International Otological Congress that will meet 

 in London from the Sth to the 11th of August 

 next. 



There will be a Civil Service examination in 

 the State of New York on May 27th for the 

 position of Assistant in Dietary Experiments, 

 Lunacy Commission, at a salary of SlOO per 

 month. The duties are to assist in the experi- 

 ments being conducted by Professor W. O. At- 

 water with a view to the establishment of scien- 

 tifically correct rations and dietary for the State 

 hospitals. The examinations will relate to tt^e 

 experience and training of candidates and theii- 

 knowledge of and ability to conduct scientific 

 experiments of the kind indicated. 



The French Chamber of Deputies has ap- 

 pointed a committee to take into consideration 

 the application of the decimal system to the 

 measurement of time. The Society of Geog- 

 raphy at Toulouse began to agitate the ques- 

 tion in 1893 and has been especially active in 

 the matter. It may be remembered that the 

 Convention which adopted the decimal system 

 applied it to time and it was actually used by 

 the French government in the year 179^i. 



