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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 229. 



of various zoological and botanical subjects; 

 Mr. Carus-Wilson's specimens of decomposed 

 flints; Wehnelt's electrolytic contact breaker! 

 which seems capable of producing extraordi- 

 nary results ; Mr. Everard im Thurn's beautiful 

 water- color sketches of Guiana orchids ; Mr. 

 Shelford Bidwell's experiments demonstrating 

 multiple vision ; Mr. Josejih Goold's intersec- 

 tion patterns in compound-vibration curves ; 

 Sir Norman Lockyer's photographs of stellar 

 spectra, and a very delicate and threadlike 

 photograph of a meteor taken by Mr. C. P. 

 Butler on the night of April 8, 1899. 



Among the new instruments which specially 

 attracted attention was the radiation recorder 

 of Professor H. L. Callendar, so delicate that it 

 shows when the slightest haze passes across the 

 sky. The microscopic specimens illustrating 

 the further researches which have been made 

 into the effects of strain in metals by Professor 

 Ewing and Mr. W. Rosenhain are noteworthy. 

 Mr. A. Mallock's ingenious adaptation of thin 

 films of pyroxyline for use as mirrors deserves 

 mention, as do also Mr. H. N. Dickson's series 

 of charts illustrative of temperature and salinity 

 in the North Atlantic. The lantern exhibitions 

 were particularly attractive, especially Mr. 

 Kearton's slides illustrating the haunts and 

 habits of British birds. Dr. Sorby also used the 

 lantern to show some beautiful slides of Actinife 

 and other marine animals, and Mr. W. Duddell, 

 oscillographs, applied to alternate current wave- 

 forms, and to the Wehnelt interrupter. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 The next meeting of the American Society 

 of Naturalists will be held at New Haven, 

 Conn., during Christmas week. Most of the 

 'affiliated societies' have signified their inten- 

 tion of meeting at the same place. 



At the annual meeting of the American 

 Academy of Art and Sciences, held May 10, 

 1899, the Piumford medal was, on the recom- 

 mendation of the Rumford Committee, awarded 

 to Mr. Charles F. Brush, of Cleveland, for 'the 

 Practical Development of Electrical Arc Light- 

 ing.' 



Professor C. F. Chandler, of Columbia Uni- 



versity, has received the regular nomination 

 for President of the Society of Chemical In- 

 dustry. The election takes place in July at the 

 annual meeting. This Society numbers 3,200 

 chemists, of whom nearly 600 reside in the 

 United States. Its headquarters are in Lon- 

 don ; it has sections also in Liverpool, New- 

 castle, Nottingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Manches- 

 ter and New York. In the list of former Presi- 

 dents appear the names of Sir Henry E. Ros- 

 coe. Sir Frederick Abell, Walter Welden, W. 

 H. Perkin, E. K. Muspratt, David Howard, 

 Professor James Dewar, Ludwig Mond, Sir 

 Lowthian Bell, E. Rider Cook, J. Emerson 

 Reynolds, Sir John Evans, E. C. C. Stanford, 

 T. E. Thorpe, Thomas Tyrer, Dr. Edward 

 Schunck, F. Clowes and George Beilby. 



Cambridge University has conferred the 

 honorary degree of Doctor of Science on Sir 

 William Turner, professor of anatomy of the 

 University of Edinburgh, and on the Rev. 

 Thomas Wiltshire, emeritus professor of geol- 

 ogy in King's college, London. 



At the annual meeting of the American 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences on May 10, 1899, 

 the following officers were elected: President : 

 Alexander Agassiz ; Vice-President for Class 

 I.: John Trowbridge ; Vice-President for Class 

 II. : Alpheus Hyatt ; Vice-President for Class 

 III.: Augustus Lowell; Corresponding Secre- 

 tary : Samuel H. Scudder ; Recording Secretary : 

 William Watson ; Treasurer : Francis Blake ; 

 Librarian: A. Lawrence Rotch ; Member of the 

 Committee of Finance : Augustus Lowell ; Coun- 

 cillors from Class I. : Henry Taber, Theodore 

 W. Richards, Harry M. Goodwin ; Councillors 

 from Class II. : Benjamin L. Robinson, William 

 T. Councilman, John E. Wolff ; Councillors 

 from Class III.: Barrett Wendell, Edward 

 Robinson, James B. Ames ; Rumford Committee: 

 Erasmus D. Leavitt, Edward C. Pickering, 

 Charles R. Cross, Amos E. Dolbear, Arthur G. 

 Webster, Theodore W. Richards, Thomas C. 

 Mendenhall ; CM. Warren Committee : Francis 

 H. Storer, Charles L. Jackson, Samuel Cabot, 

 Henry B. Hill, Leonard P. Kinnicut, Arthur 

 M. Comey, Robert H. Richards. 



The following 15 candidates have been se- 

 lected by the Council of the Royal Society to be 



