350 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 167. 



mission for the Paris Exposition of 1900 was 

 held on February 18th, at Marlborough House. 

 The Prince of Wales, the chairman, made an 

 address, in the course of which he said that the 

 exhibits will be divided into 18 groups, com- 

 prising 120 classes, in which provision will be 

 made for the display of every kind of art, in- 

 dustry and manufacture. The guiding prin- 

 ciple is that similar products, from whatever 

 part of the world they may come, should be 

 shown side by side, and in this respect the Ex- 

 hibition of 1900 will diflPer from its predecessors, 

 in which the products of each country have 

 usually been collected together. The arrange- 

 ment, though less favorable to a striking 

 national display, has many advantages, and 

 admits of a ready comparison of the arts and 

 industries of one country with similar arts and 

 industries of others. The Prince of Wales 

 stated that in comparison with the appropria- 

 tion of Germany, £250,000, and of Switzerland, 

 £66,000, that of Great Britain was inadequate, 

 and he hoped that the Treasury might be pre- 

 vailed upon to increase it. 



An international exhibition of products, of 

 industry and aliments is to take place at Prague 

 from the 15th to the 22d of May, this year. The 

 exhibits will include all industrial products, 

 food articles, eatables, and all kinds of bever- 

 ages, hygienic and pharmaceutic products, 

 general novelties, inventions and sporting ac- 

 cessories. 



At its annual meeting, Feb. 2d, the Russian 

 Geographical Society awarded, says Nature, a 

 special Constantine medal to Dr. Nansen ; a 

 Constantine medal to V. I. Roborovsky, for his 

 journeys in Central Asia; the Count Liitke's 

 medal to I. I. Strelbitzky, for his journeys in 

 Persia and Manchuria in 1891-96 ; the new Sem- 

 enofF's medal to Dr. Sven Hedin, for his three 

 years' journeys in Central Asia. A large gold 

 medal of the Society was awarded to I. K. Zhda- 

 noflf, for his ethnological works, and especially 

 for work on ' Russian Epical Poetrj',' and small 

 gold medals to Th. Witram, for pendulum 

 measurements in the far East ; to F. Sperck, for 

 his large work on the climate of the Astrakhan 

 region ; to S. Rybakoff, for the collection of 

 specimens of musical texts of songs amongst 



the Ural natives ; and to S. Gulishambaroff, 

 for his work ' The World's Trade in the Nine- 

 teenth Century and Russia's Part in it.' Silver 

 medals were awarded to MM. PastukhoflF, for 

 his ascension of the Elbrus ; Abels, for hypso- 

 metrical measurements in the Urals ; D. A. 

 Fedchenko, for a communication on the Talas 

 Alatau ; Timonoflf, for a paper on the water- 

 communications on the tributaries of the Amur ; 

 Sapozhnikoff, for work on the glaciers of the 

 Altai ; Kovanoko and Semkovskiy, for the or- 

 ganization of international balloon ascensions in 

 which the Society took a part ; and to Prince 

 Obolensky, Tomilovskiy and UtyeshefF, for 

 their daily observations upon the motions of the 

 clouds. 



The London correspondent of the New York 

 Evening Post cables that the polar expedition 

 upon which the Duke of the Abruzzi will start 

 this summer will be both expensive and exten- 

 sive. King Humbert contributes $100,000 ; the 

 Duke devotes his whole income of $30,000 a 

 year to the object, and, if necessary, also will 

 draw upon his capital. After leaving Franz 

 Josef Land, on foot or in sledges, the expedi- 

 tion will establish posts along the route. The 

 Duke takes twenty experienced Italians, fifty 

 Esquimaux and a number of dogs. 



The German Antarctic Expedition Commit- 

 tee have decided to send an expedition to the 

 South Polar regions under the direction of Dr. 

 Erich von Drygalski. 



Secretary Wilson, of the Agricultural De- 

 partment, in pursuance of his determination as 

 far as practicable to utilize the agricultural 

 seed appropriation in securing ' new, rare and 

 valuable ' seeds, dispatched Professor Nilse E. 

 Hansen, professor of horticulture at Brookings, 

 S. D., to eastern Europe and Asia to secure 

 new seeds and plants. Professor Hansen is 

 now preparing his report for publication, after 

 an extended trip through eastern Russia, 

 Trans-Caucasia, Russian Turkestan, western 

 China and Siberia. Many promising varieties 

 were obtained, and about three car-loads of 

 seed will be distributed to State experiment sta- 

 tions and others. These seeds, it is expected, 

 will be chiefly of value in the arid regions, the 

 purpose of Professor Hansen's trip being to ob- 



