422 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 169. 



the Zoological Station at Naples. Efforts are now 

 being made to collect a second sum of $500 for the 

 expenses of the holder of the table. Four sub- 

 scriptions of $50 have been received, the sub- 

 scribers being : Bryu Mawr College, Sage Col- 

 lege of Cornell University, the women students 

 of Brown University and Miss L. V. Sampson. 



The House of Representatives has agreed to 

 the conference report on the Legislative, Execu- 

 tive and Judicial Appropriation Bill. As passed, 

 it provides for a new division for the Patent 

 Oflace and the opening of the Library of Con- 

 gress at night after October 1st next. 



An exhibition of the Durr Light was given, 

 on Wednesday, the 23d inst., from 7 to 9 p. 

 m., in the Court of the Library Building, Co- 

 lumbia University. The light is generated by 

 automatic evaporation and superheating of 

 vapors of ordinary kerosene, without employ- 

 ing compressed air, and is odorless and smoke- 

 less. Lamps of 1,500 and .3,500 candle-power 

 were used. 



The German Balneological Society held its 

 ninth public meeting on March 11th and fol- 

 lowing days in Berlin, under the presidency 

 of Professor Liebreich, who delivered the 

 opening address. Among the communications 

 were : ' The Question of Contagiousness of 

 Tuberculosis,' by Dr. Eompler, of Gorbers- 

 dorf; the 'Effect of the so-called Indiffer- 

 ent Mineral Waters,' by Professor Liebreich ; 

 the 'Hydrotherapy of Simple Ulcer of the 

 Stomach,' by Professor Winternitz, of Vienna, 

 and 'Vegetable Diet Cures,' by Dr. Strosser, of 

 Vienna. 



The fourth Congress for the Study of Tuber- 

 culosis will be held at Paris from the 27th of 

 July to the 2d of August, under the presidency 

 of M. Noccard. 



THte annual spring exhibition of the Massa- 

 chusetts Horticultural Society will be held at 

 Horticultural Hall, 101 Tremont street, open- 

 ing on March 22d, and lasting four days. Prizes 

 to the amount of eleven hundred and thirty 

 dollars will be awarded. 



A COMMITTEE of the American Chemical So- 

 ciety consisting of E. E. Ewell, Chairman, 

 Washington, D. C; G. E. Barton, Millville, N. 

 J. ; C. E. Linebarger, Chicago, 111. ; F. P. Ven- 



able, Chapel Hill, N, C, apd L. P. Kinnicutt, 

 Worcester, Mass. , has been appointed to study 

 and report upon the means by which the So- 

 ciety can hasten the adoption of uniform sys- 

 tems of graduation, definite limits of accuracy 

 and standard methods for using all forms of 

 measuring instruments in use in chemical lab- 

 oratories. Further the committee has been in- 

 structed to cooperate with other scientific bodies 

 which have already undertaken this work, or 

 which may enter upon it in the future. 



The Revue des Revues contains an illustrated 

 account of the laboratory of physiological psy- 

 chology at the Sorbonne, under the auspices of 

 the Ecole des Hautes-Eludes, directed by M. 

 Binet. It appears from the article that in ad- 

 dition to the laboratories at Paris there are 

 laboratories at Rennes, Louvain, Liege and 

 Geneva. 



The public libraries division of the Univer- 

 sity of the State of New York, following recent 

 precedent, has issued a list of ' 500 leading 

 books,' selected from the 4,928 published in 

 1897. This list was submitted to the librarians 

 of the State, to ' obtain an expression of opinion 

 respecting the best 500 books of 1897 for a vil- 

 lage library.' The result of 157 replies shows, 

 as might be expected, that the favorite books 

 are novels. Five books on natural science were 

 indeed included, but confined to the popular 

 study of birds and insects. 



At a meeting of the Zoological Society of 

 London on February 15th Mr. G. A. Bou- 

 lenger, F. R. S., described a new species of Sea- 

 snake from Borneo, which he proposed to name 

 Mydrophis flowri, after Mr. Stanley Flower, its 

 discoverer. Mr. Boulenger also gave an ac- 

 count of the Reptiles and Batrachians lately 

 collected by Mr. W. F. H. Rosenberg in 

 western Ecuador. Seventy-seven species were 

 enumerated, of which twenty-three, viz.: 

 eleven Reptiles and twelve Batrachians, were 

 described as new. 



The Londoa Local Government Board has 

 given orders that the new form of vaccine 

 mixed with glycerine is to be served out to all 

 vaccination ofiicers following upon the recom- 

 mendations of the Special Commission on 

 Vaccination, which recently examined all the 



