•CIENGE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 234. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



Secretary Long, of the Navy Department, 

 has appointed a Board of Visitors to examine 

 and report upon the U. S. Naval Observatory, 

 to consist of Senator Wm. E. Chandler; Repre- 

 sentative Alston G. Dayton ; Professor Geo. C. 

 Comstocli, Director of the Observatory of the 

 University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.; Pro- 

 fessor Geo. E. Hale, Director of the Yerkes 

 Observatory, Williams Bay, Wis. ; and Professor 

 Edward C. Pickering, Director of the Harvard 

 College Observatory, Cambridge, Mass. This 

 Board of Visitors will meet at the Naval Ob- 

 servatory on the 80th of the month. 



We learn from Dr. Tiessen, of Berlin, that 

 the Norwegian Storthing has passed an act regu- 

 lating the administration of the Nobel founda- 

 tion. The prizes, which it will be remembered 

 are in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature 

 and for the promotion of peace, will each be of 

 the value of 15,000 crowns (about $11,000) an- 

 nually. The prizes are to be conferred on the 

 anniversary of Nobel's death, on the ISth of 

 December, and for the first time in 1901. The 

 prizes in physics and chemistry are to be 

 awarded by the Swedish Academy of Sciences 

 and the prize in medicine or physiology by the 

 Medico-Surgical Institute of Stockholm. Any 

 one making application for one of the prizes is 

 thereby excluded. A prize may be divided be- 

 tween two persons who have carried out a joint 

 work. It appears that part of the income is to 

 be used for the establishment of Nobel Insti- 

 tutes, regarding the scope of which we are not 

 informed. 



Several years ago Dr. Robert Lamborn be- 

 queathed to the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Natural Sciences his entire estate, valued at 

 over $600,000. The will was contested and a 

 compromise has now been effected by which 

 half of the property is received by the Academy. 



The American Geographical Society, New 

 York, has bought a plot of land 50 x 102 feet on 

 the north side of West 82d St., near Central 

 Park, and facing the open square on which 

 stands the American Museum of Natural His- 

 tory. In addition to the legacy of General 

 CuUum, subscriptions amounting to $30,400 

 have been received, and the Council proposes to 



begin the construction of a fire-proof building, 

 completing it at present only so far as may be 

 necessary to provide for a library and offices. 



On the occasion of the official inspection of 

 the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, on June 

 .3d, the new buildings were opened to visitors. 

 The new Observatory building, which has been 

 in progress since 1891, was completed last 

 March by the addition of the east and west 

 wings, and a new magnetic pavilion, in an en- 

 closure in Greenwich Park, about 360 yards from 

 the Observatory, was completed last September. 

 Among the distinguished visitors present were 

 M. Cornu and Professor Newcomb. 



THEUniversity of Oxford, on June 8th, enter- 

 tained the delegates to the centenary of the 

 Royal Institution and conferred the honorary 

 D.C.L. upon the following : Henri Becquerel, 

 Membre de I'lnstitut, professor of physics at 

 the Ecole Polytechnique, Paris ; Guglielmo 

 Korner, professor of chemistry in the Scuola 

 Superiore d'Agricultura, Milan ; Matthias Eu- 

 gen Oscar Liebreich, Director of the Pharma- 

 cological Laboratory, and professor of pharma- 

 cology in the University of Berlin ; Henri 

 Moissan, professor of toxicology in the Ecole 

 Superieure de Pharmacie, Paris, and Simon 

 Newcomb, U. S. Navy and Johns Hopkins Uni- 

 versity. At the luncheon, given in the hall of 

 Christ Church, Professor Newcomb responded 

 to the toast in honor of the guests. 



The following have been elected foreign 

 members of the Royal Society : Dr. Ludwig 

 Boltzmann, professor of theoretical physics in 

 the University of Vienna ; Dr. Neumayer, 

 of the Hamburg Observatory; Dr. Anton Dohrn, 

 Director of the Zoological Station, Naples; Pro- 

 fessor Emil Fischer, professor of chemistry at 

 the University of Berlin, and Dr. Melchior 

 Treub, Director of the Buitenzorg Botanical 

 Gardens. 



Ernst A. Bessey, A.M., of the University 

 of Nebraska, has been appointed to the position 

 of Assistant Vegetable Pathologist in the Di- 

 vision of Vegetable Physiology and Pathology 

 in the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, the appointment dating from June 1st. 



The subjects of Professor Emile Picard's lec- 

 tures to be delivered at Clark University, in 



