106 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1335 



The death is also announced of Professor 

 Max Fiirbringer, the well known comparative 

 anatomist of Heidelberg. 



M.. Eugene Auboxjeg de Boury died on 

 April 17, in France, at the age of sixty-three 

 years. A correspondent writes that M. de 

 Boury, though a long-time invalid, had de- 

 voted himself with ardor to the study and 

 collection of mollusks of the genus Scalaria. 

 He gathered in the last ten years an extra- 

 ordinary collection of these beautiful and rare 

 shells for the Paris Museum of Natural His- 

 tory, increasing their series from 300 sets to 

 3,000, exclusive of photographs and illustra- 

 tions of inaccessible species to the numbers of 

 1,800 more. This series far surpasses any 

 other extant. He published numerous papers 

 on the genus and indicated many new sub- 

 divisions of it, but the great monograph which 

 was his ideal must remain for other hands to 

 prepare. 



Under the able guidance of Mr. Jasper E. 

 Crane, a cellulose symposium was organized 

 as a part of the program of the Division of 

 Industrial and Engineering Chemistry at the 

 St. Louis meeting of the American Chemical 

 Society last April. One of the objects of this 

 symposium was to ascertain whether a cellu- 

 lose section, if formed, would secure the 

 interest and support of a sufficiently large 

 number of chemists. The object of such a 

 section would be to promote intercourse and 

 cooperation between the chemists in the va- 

 rious cellulose industries. This group con- 

 stitutes one of the largest and most important 

 of American industries; all branches of it are 

 intimately concerned in the problems of cellu- 

 lose, and it seems highly desirable to promote 

 technical activity in this country along these 

 lines. The proposed section would serve as a 

 clearing-house for papers and information on 

 cellulose technology, and should also play an 

 important part in promoting research on the 

 chemistry of celliilose. The symposium at 

 St. Louis was distinctly successful, and it 

 was voted to hold a second cellulose sym- 

 posiiun under the auspices of the Industrial 

 Section at the Chicago meeting during the 



week of September 6. At this time, the 

 advisability of forming a permanent cellulose 

 section will be considered. An interesting 

 program is being arranged, and a large attend- 

 ance of those interested in cellulose is antici- 

 pated. Titles of papers or suggestions for the 

 symposium should be sent to G. J. Esselen, 

 Jr., 30 Charles Eiver Eoad, Cambridge, 39, 

 Massachusetts. 



The British Medical Journal states that the 

 University of Paris has come to an under- 

 standing with the French government, through 

 the minister of health, and buildings have 

 been found in Paris which can be converted 

 into a large institute of hygiene. It will be 

 under the general direction of the professor of 

 hygiene. Dr. Leon Bernard, but there will be 

 five sections, each with its director. It will 

 have sections of epidemiology, of social hy- 

 giene, food, of industrial hygiene, and of sani- 

 tary technology; and a series of laboratories^ — 

 of bacteriology, chemistry, physics, and 

 physiology — a museum, a library and lecture 

 rooms. Courses of lectures of two standards 

 will be given, the one elementary, for ordinary 

 students of medicine, and the other advanced, 

 for doctors proposing to specialize in hygiene. 

 Instruction will also be given to persons em- 

 ployed in disinfection and as health and school 

 visitors. It is hoped eventually to extend the 

 opportunities for study by establishing 

 courses for architects, engineers and statistic- 

 ians. The food section will comprise three 

 departments, the first dealing with the chem- 

 istry of foods and of adulteration, the second 

 with the damage done by parasites and mi- 

 crobes, the third with the physiology of food 

 and nutrition. An institute of hygiene on 

 similar lines is also being established in the 

 University of Strasbourg. 



We learn from Nature that the bequests of 

 the late Er. Eudolf Messel include: £5,000 to 

 the Eoyal Institution of Great Britain ; £1,000 

 to the Chemical Society ; £2,000 and his plati- 

 num still, " in which I carried out with W. S. 

 Squire my experiments in connection with the 

 decomposition of sulphuric acid," to Mr. Squire, 

 requesting him on his death to leave it to the 

 Society of Chemical Industry; his platinum 



