138 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. VoD. LI. No. 1310 



turned to the laboratory at Kisaran, Asahan, 

 Sumatra, after a five-weeks stay in Java, 

 where he represented the research department 

 of his company at the First Scientific Con- 

 gress of the Netherlands East Indies, and at 

 the First Technical Meeting of the Personnel 

 of the Experiment Stations for the Eubber 

 Culture. 



We learn from Nature that Mr. Willoughby 

 Lowe has recently started on a mission to the 

 west coast of Africa for the purpose of collect- 

 ing specimens for the South Kensington Nat- 

 ural History Museum. Captain Hubert Lynes, 

 E.N., has just left England on an expedition 

 to Darfur, where he intends to make a special 

 survey of the avifauna of the Jeb-Maria Moun- 

 tains for the bird department. 



Mr. D. Franklin Fisher, formerly connected 

 with the Bureau of Chemistry, U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, New York, N. T., in the 

 capacity of food and drug inspector, has re- 

 cently resigned from that position to become 

 research chemist in the laboratories of the Van 

 Camp Packing Co., Indianapolis, Ind. 



The annual Darwin Lecture at New York 

 University will be given on Friday, February 

 13, at 4 P.M., in the auditorium at University 

 Heights by Robert Cushman Murphy, curator 

 of natural science at the Brooklyn Museum. 

 Mr. Murphy sailed for Peru last August to 

 iconduct the Brooklyn Museum Peruvian Lit- 

 toral Expedition. He has made a comprehen- 

 sive study of the avian marine fauna of the 

 Humboldt Current and of the Coastal Islands. 

 He has been successful in taking hundreds of 

 pictures — still and moving — of birds and other 

 animals. 



Dr. William J. Humphreys, of the U. S. 

 Weather Bureau, gave the address of the re- 

 tiring president before the Philosophical So- 

 ciety of Washington on January 31, on " A 

 bundle of meteorological paradoxes." 



Dr. S. W. Stratton delivered an address on 

 the " Advantages of the general adoption of 

 the metric system in Easton, Pa.," on January 

 16, under the auspices of the Lehigh Valley 

 Section of the American Metric Association. 

 Under the same auspices Dr. Harrison E. 



Howe lectured on December 12, on the work 

 of the National Research Council. 



On the alumni lectureship in chemistry, 

 Oberlin College has had Colonel W. D. Ban- 

 croft, chairman of the division of chemistry. 

 National Research Council, lecturing on " Col- 

 loid chemistry," and Mr. Marsh, of the Her- 

 cules Powder Co., lecturing on " High ex- 

 plosives." 



At the meeting of the Royal Society on 

 February 5, by the council, the program con- 

 sisted of a discussion on " The theory of rela- 

 tivity," opened by Mr. Jeans and continued by 

 Professor Eddington, the Astronomer Royal, 

 and others. 



We learn from Nature that active steps are 

 now being taken in the government to estab- 

 lish a memorial to Lord Lister in Edinburgh. 

 The university and the Royal Colleges of 

 Physicians and Surgeons in Edinburgh, under 

 the control of which the memorial will be es- 

 tablished, have determined to provide an insti- 

 tute for research and teaching in medicine. A 

 site has been secured, and a committee is now 

 being formed to make an appeal to the public 

 for a sum of £250,000. Mr. Balfour, chancellor 

 of the university will be president of the com.- 

 mittee. 



There has been established at Case School 

 of Applied Science, in memory of the late 

 Professor Sabine, of Harvard University, the 

 Wallace Clement Sabine Research Fellowship 

 in Acoustics. Its purpose is the encourage- 

 ment of investigation in the science of acous- 

 tics. The holder of the fellowship will pursue 

 his studies and carry on original investigation 

 under the direction of Professor Dayton C. 

 Miller. The facilities afforded by his labora- 

 tory for research in any part of acoustics are 

 unusual, and this is particularly true as re- 

 gards the analysis and synthesis of sound. A 

 candidate for this fellowship must be a college 

 graduate and should have had at least one 

 year of advanced study in physics. The sti- 

 pend is $1,000 a year. 



Rear Admiral John Elliott Pillsburt, U. 

 S. N., retired, president of the National Geo- 

 graphical Society, distinguished for his con- 



