822 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 232. 



astronomy in Mount Holyoke College, died on 

 May 28tli at the age of 67 years. 



Mr. G. F. Lyster, a well-known English 

 engineer, has died at the age of 76 years. 



The British Association will, at its Dover 

 meeting, not only exchange visits with the 

 French Association, but will also entertain the 

 Belgian Geological Society. 



The "United States Weather Bureau, which 

 was opened at Colon, Colombia, last September, 

 has finally been closed, its site being out of the 

 track of the hurricanes. The instruments are 

 to be transferred to Jamaica. 



King Humbert opened at Como on Blay 

 20th the International Electrical Exhibition or- 

 ganized to celebrate the centenary of Volta. 



The Biological Survey of the Department of 

 Agriculture has sent Mr. W. H. Osgood and 

 Mr L. B. Bishop to study the geographical dis- 

 tribution of animals in Alaska. 



The scientific expedition visiting Alaska on 

 the invitation of Mr. Edward H. Harriman, to 

 which we have already called attention, left 

 Seattle on May 31st. It is expected that the 

 expedition will return about August 1st. 



The Entomological Society of Albany has 

 recently been organized with an initial mem- 

 bership of about twenty, under the following 

 officers : Dr. E. P. Felt, President ; Professor 

 Charles S. Gager, Vice-President ; Mr. Charles 

 S. Banks, Recording Secretary ; Miss Margaret 

 F. Boynton, Corresponding Secretary ; Profes- 

 sor H. M. Pollock, Treasurer. The headquar- 

 ters of the Society will be, for the present, at 

 the office of Dr. Felt, the State Entomologist, 

 where the regular meetings will be held the 

 second Friday in each month. The objects of 

 the organization are the promotion of interest 

 in entomological science and the furtherance of 

 fellowship, among those interested, for their 

 mutual benefit and enjoyment. 



The Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 

 is holding a conference during the present 

 week. According to the program Mr. W. II. 

 Preece, the President, makes an address, and 

 various engineering subjects will be taken up 

 in seven sections. The subjects for discussion 

 range over the whole field of engineering ser- 



vice and practice, and include railways, harbors 

 docks, canals, machinery, shipbuilding, mining 

 and metallurgy, water works, gas works, sewer- 

 age and electricity. It is proposed that each 

 subject be introduced by a short paper, to be 

 read by the author and discussed by the meet- 

 ing. 



Nature states, in reference to the scientific 

 commission which was appointed a short time 

 ago by the Colonial Office and the Royal So- 

 ciety to investigate the mode of dissemination 

 of malaria, with a view to devising means of 

 preventing the terrible mortality which now 

 takes place among Europeans resident in trop- 

 ical and subtropical climates, that Dr. Patrick 

 Manson, chief medical adviser to the Colonial 

 Office, has made a statement to a representative 

 of the Exchange Telephone Company. Dr. 

 Manson states that Dr. C. W. Daniels, of the 

 Colonial Medical Service, British Guiana (who 

 first proceeded to Calcutta to familiarize him- 

 self with the work which had been carried on 

 by Surgeon-Major Ross for determining the re- 

 lation of mosquitoes to the dissemination of 

 malaria), has now arrived at Blantyre, in the 

 Central African Protectorate, where he has 

 been joined by Dr. J. W. W. Stephens and Dr. 

 R. S. Christophers. At Blantyre all the re- 

 sources of the Protectorate will be placed at 

 the disposal of the commissioners, who, before 

 their return to London, will probably pay a 

 visit to the west coast of Africa. 



The State Board of Health of Pennsylvania 

 has passed resolutions in view of the attempt of 

 the Health Department of Philadelphia to con- 

 ceal the presence of contagious diseases in that 

 city. As the matter is one of scientific impor- 

 tance from several points of view, we quote 

 the resolutions : 



Resolved, That the State Board of Healtli and 

 Vital Statistics earnestly deprecates the declared in- 

 tention of the Director of Public Safety of the city of 

 Philadelphia to conceal the presence and number of 

 cases of smallpox, or any other commnnicable dis- 

 ease in that city, and for the following reasons : 



First. Attempts of this kind invariably end disas- 

 trously, defeating their own object. Rumor always 

 maguilies danger, creating suspicion, anxiety and 

 panic. The publication of the exact truth indicates- 

 that the authorities are vigilant, possessing full 



