Junk 23, 1899.] 



SCmNGE. 



885 



connection with the Decennial Celebration, 

 July 5th to 8th, are as follows: (1) Sur le 

 developpement des math^matiques, et en par- 

 ticulier de I'idee de fonctiou, depuis un siecle. 

 (2) Quelques vues gen^rales sur la thfiorie des 

 Equations differentielles. (3) Sur la th6orie 

 generale des fonctions analytiques et sur quel- 

 ques fonctions sp6ciales. 



The statue of Benjamin Franklin, presented 

 to the city of Philadelphia by Mr. Justus C. 

 Strawbridge, was unveiled on June 14th with 

 ceremonies under the auspices of the University 

 of Pennsylvania, the American Philosophical 

 Society, the Franklin Institute, the Library 

 Company of Philadelphia, and the Pennsylva- 

 nia Hospital. The oration was delivered by U. 

 S. District Attorney James M. Beck. 



The death is announced of Dr. A. Charpen- 

 tier, professor in the faculty of medicine in the 

 University of Paris, and the author of contribu- 

 tions on vision numbering over 100. His pub- 

 lications concern especially the time phenomena 

 of vision, intensity, contrast, etc. 



Dk. Lawson Tait, a surgeon of Birmingham, 

 England, who was eminent for his operations 

 in abdominal surgerj', died in London on June 

 13th, aged fifty-five years. 



The next meeting of the International Com- 

 mittee on Meteorology has been called for Au- 

 gust 25th of the present year at St. Peters- 

 burg. 



The annual meeting of the Royal Geograph- 

 ical Society, London, was held on June 5th, when 

 the medals were awarded in accordance with 

 the announcement that we have already made. 

 A banquet was held in the evening. Among 

 the speakers were Count du Pontavice de Heus- 

 sey, who had received one of the medals in the 

 afternoon, and the American Ambassador, Mr. 

 Choate. 



The 21st Congress of French Geographical 

 Societies will be held at the building of the 

 Paris Society of Geography, from the 23d to 

 the 29th of July, 1900. 



Dr. Cyeus Abler informs us that Comte 

 Angelo De Gubernatis, President of the 12th In- 

 ternational Congress of Orientalists, to meet at 

 Eome, October 12, 1899, states that a special 



section of this Congress will be devoted to re- 

 searches concerning the origin of the American 

 Indians, and that papers from students of 

 American archa3ology, ethnograjjhy, mythology 

 and folklore will be welcome. 



A Reuter telegram from Stockholm, dated 

 June 6th, says that the Anthropological and 

 Geographical Society of Stockholm has received 

 the following telegram from Herr Vathne, a 

 shipowner at Mandal : "Captain Hueland, of 

 the steamship Vaagen, who arrived there on 

 Monday morning, reports that when at Kola 

 Fjord, Iceland, in 65° 34' north lat., 21° 28' 

 west long. , on May 14th, he found a drifting 

 buoy marked ' No. 7.' Inside the buoy was a 

 capsule, marked 'Andree's Polar Expedition,' 

 containing a slip of paper, on which was writ- 

 ten the following : ' Drifting buoy, No. 7. This 

 buoy was thrown out from Andree's balloon on 

 July 11, 1897, 10:55 p. m., Greenwich mean 

 time, 82° north lat., 25° east long. We are at 

 an altitude of 600 metres ; all well. Andr6e, 

 Strindberg, Praenckel.' " Herr Andree made 

 his ascent from Danes Island on July 11, 1897, 

 at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, so that when the 

 buoy was thrown out the explorer had only 

 travelled seven hours and 55 minutes. 



The Stella Polare, with the Duke of Abruzzi, 

 nephew of the King of Italy, and his polar ex- 

 pedition on board, sailed from Christiania on 

 June 12th. 



Among those who will embark on the steam- 

 ship Hope for the Arctic regions are' Professor 

 Wm. Libbey, of Princeton University, and Dr. 

 Robert Stein, of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey. Dr. Stein will spend the winter in 

 Ellesmereland, and will be accompanied by Dr. 

 Leopold Kann, who will pay special attention 

 to the study of terrestrial magnetism. 



The New Mexico Biological Station will be 

 conducted this summer at Las Vegas, N. M. 

 beginning work about June 25th. Mr. T. D 

 A. Cockerell will be in charge, and will be 

 assisted by Miss W. Porter. It is also ex 

 pected that two parties will undertake field-in 

 vestigations in New Mexico, Professor C. L 

 Herrick having charge of a geological party 

 and Professor E. L. Hewitt of an anthropolog- 

 ical one. Professor E. O. Wooton will also be 



