Apeil 1, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



459 



the present, after consultation with the Foreign 

 Office. 



The German Meteorological Society will 

 meet at Frankfort- on-Main on April 14th-16th. 



The ninth General Congress of Teachers of 

 the Blind will be held in Berlin on July 25th 

 next. Further information can be obtained 

 from Herr Matthies, Secretary of the Congress 

 of Teachers of the Blind, Steglitz, near Berlin. 



A Congress of the Italian Medical Associa- 

 tion of Hydrology and Climatology will be held 

 at Parma on April 3d, 4th and 5th. 



The Trustees of the Philadelphia Museums 

 will, at their next meeting, consider the ques- 

 tion of establishing branch museums in the 

 principal cities of the Union. 



The National Museum has received from Mr. 

 J. O. Cates, of Port Townsend, Washington, a 

 five-foot example of the remarkable ragfish, 

 Acrotus ivilloughhyi, which was discovered and 

 described in 1887. Another strange fish re- 

 ported several years ago, but not preserved, 

 was probably an Acrotus. The present exam- 

 ple, although somewhat mutilated about the 

 head, has been cast and is now preserved in al- 

 cohol. Illustrations of this and allied forms 

 are to be seen in Oceanic Ichthyology by 

 Goode & Bean, PI. LXII. 



It is reported that the German Government 

 is considering the creation of a department of 

 health under a responsible minister, replacing 

 the present medical bureau under the Depart- 

 ment of Public Instruction. 



There is a bill at present before the New 

 York Legislature providing that no patent medi- 

 cine shall be sold or exposed for sale in the 

 State, unless the formula is printed on the label 

 of the bottle or package containing such medi- 

 cine, and also on the outside wrapper. 



The Government of India has decided that it 

 is unable to undertake the establishment of a 

 physical laboratory. 



M. Philippe Plautamour has bequeathed 

 to the city of Geneva 300,000 francs and his 

 estate of Secheron, which it is expected will be 

 used as a botanic garden. 



Governor Black signed, on March 26th, the 

 bill authorizing the establishment of a College 



of Forestry at Cornell University and appropri- 

 ating $10,000 therefor. The Trustees of the 

 University are authorized to purchase, with the 

 consent of the State Forest Preserve Board, not 

 more than thirty thousand acres of land in the 

 State park in the Adirondacks for the purpose 

 of establishing the proposed college. The 

 faculty of the college will consist of a professor, 

 two instructors, a forest manager and such 

 rangers, superintendents and other subordi- 

 nates as may be required. The college will be 

 conducted so as to give instruction and experi- 

 ment in the latest scientific forestry. 



A BILL is before Congress appropriating $25,- 

 000 for the purchase of land to be added to the 

 National Zoological Park, Washington, D. C. 



The United States Senate has passed a bill 

 for the protection of song birds, providing that 

 the importation into the United States of birds, 

 feathers or parts of birds for ornamental pur- 

 poses be prohibited, and prohibiting the trans- 

 portation or sale of such articles in any Territory 

 of the United States or in the District of Colum- 

 bia. 



The Prussian Minister of Agriculture, Baron 

 von Hammerstein-Loxten, has issued an official 

 report on the San Jose scale, setting forth that 

 recently numbers have been found in all stages 

 of development on apples. He adds that it 

 must be presumed that German orchards and 

 nurseries are already infected, and he calls for 

 an immediate and general investigation of the 

 reports and the results. 



At the last meeting of the Council of the Royal 

 College of Physicians, London, a petition was 

 presented from members of the College resident 

 in Italy, asking the support of the Council in 

 protecting their interests as British practitioners 

 in that country in view of the proposed legisla- 

 tion of the Italian Government enacting that 

 qualified medical men of other countries shall 

 not in future be allowed to practice in Italy 

 without holding the degree of an Italian uni- 

 versity. It was referred to the President and 

 Vice-Presidents of the College to consider and 

 report thereon. 



There were 1,259 deaths from the plague 

 during the week ending March 24th. 



At the recent meeting of the Association of 



