208 



BGIENGE. 



[N. S. Vol. Vil. No. 163. 



bill providing for the creation of a department 

 of public health. The report is adverse to 

 the proposition, and it recommends, as a substi- 

 tute, the bill for the enlargement of the powers 

 of the Marine Hospital service by giving the 

 President, through this service, the right to 

 resort to measures to prevent the spread of con- 

 tagious diseases from one State to another. 



Secretary Bliss has sent to the Public Land 

 Committees of the Senate and House a bill pre- 

 pared by Colonel Young, the acting Superin- 

 tendent of the Yellowstone National Park, for 

 an extension of the limits of that reservation by 

 about 3,000 square miles. 



President Skirm has introduced in the 

 Senate of New Jersey a bill entitled ' An act to 

 prevent the introduction into"and spread of in- 

 jurious insects in New Jersey, and to provide a 

 method for compelling their destruction.' The 

 bill has the endorsement of the State Board of 

 Agriculture. 



Professor Alfred C. Haddon contributes 

 to the issue of Nature for January 20th an ac- 

 count of the plans for a proposed Cambridge 

 Expedition to Torres Straits and Borneo. A 

 committee of members of the University of 

 Cambridge is acting in cooperation with Pro- 

 fessor Haddon, and part of the cost of the 

 expedition will be defrayed by a grant from 

 the Worts' Fund, which is administered by 

 the University. The expedition will be al- 

 most entirely anthropological in character, 

 but the land flora and fauna will not be 

 neglected, and certain geographical observa- 

 tions will also be made. Its main object is to 

 continue and, as far as practicable, complete 

 the earlier observations made in Torres Straits; 

 but, for the sake of comparison, it is hoped 

 that observations will be made on Australians, 

 Papuans, Melanesians and Polynesians, as op- 

 portunities present themselves. After spend- 

 ing a few months in the Straits a short visit 

 will be paid to the mainland of New Guinea, 

 in order to trace the relationship of the island- 

 ers. In addition to Professor Haddon the 

 members of the expedition are Dr. W. Mc- 

 Dougall, Fellow of St. John's College, Cam- 

 bridge, and of St. Thomas Hospital, London ; 

 Dr. C. S. Myers, Caius College, Cambridge, and 



St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London; Mr. S. 

 H. Ray, Dr. W. H. R. Rivers, St. John's Col- 

 lege, Cambridge, lecturer on experimental 

 psychology at Cambridge and at University 

 College, London ; Dr. C. G. Seligmann, of St. 

 Thomas's Hospital, and Mr. A. Wilkin, of 

 King's College, Cambridge. In describing the 

 work assigned to each member of the party 

 Professor Haddon writes : Drs. Rivers, Mc- 

 Dougall and Myers will initiate a new departure 

 in practical anthropology by studying compara- 

 tive experimental psychology in the field. They 

 will test the senses and sensibility of the natives 

 as far as it will be possible under the local con- 

 ditions, and make whatever observations they 

 can on the mental processes of the natives. Be- 

 sides the ordinary instruments for anthropom- 

 etry, there will be a small, carefully selected 

 collection of apparatus for experimental psy- 

 chology. Two mechanical phonographs will 

 be taken to record the native songs, music and 

 languages. There will also be a complete 

 photographic equipment, including a cinemato- 

 graph for reproducing native dances, cere- 

 monies and certain characteristic actions. At 

 the close of the article Professor Haddon ex- 

 presses his willingness to make any special 

 inquiries that any ethnologist may require. 

 The expedition will start about March 2d, and 

 will return early in the summer of 1899. 



It is reported in the New York Evening Post 

 that, at a recent meeting of the Quebec Geo- 

 graphical Society, Capt. Bernier explained his 

 proposal for the discovery of the north pole. 

 He plans to go by ship to the point north of 

 Siberia where Nansen's vessel, the Fram, 

 crossed the eightieth parallel of latitude. Here 

 he intends to leave the vessel and take to the 

 ice, with eight men, fifty dogs and fifty rein- 

 deer, carrying 36,000 pounds of provisions, for 

 two years. He will also have sleds, kyacks 

 and a portable boat made of aluminum and 

 wood. By crossing the ice-floes he expects to 

 reach the pole from the vessel in a little over a 

 hundred days, afterwards making for Spitz- 

 bergen or Franz Josef Land. Capt. Bernier 

 is applying to the government for assistance, 

 and his demand will be supported by the So- 

 ciety, which adopted a resolution to that 

 effect. He proposes to proceed by Bering Sea, 



