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SGIENGR 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 170. 



the Chambers of Commerce of the United King- 

 dom at London a resolution was adopted de- 

 claring in favor of the compulsory adoption of 

 the metric system of weights and measures 

 within some limited period of time. 



The House Committee on Coinage, Weights 

 and Measures has reported favorably a resolu- 

 tion authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury 

 to make experiments to determine the best 

 materials for minor coinage and to submit new 

 designs for coins to Congress. It is claimed 

 that the copper cent is undesirable, because it 

 is easily corroded and that the five-cent nickel 

 piece is too soft. It is pointed out by the Com- 

 mittee that Switzerland, Austria-Hungary and 

 Italy have adopted pure nickel for their minor 

 coinage with very satisfactory results, the coins 

 being hard, durable and retaining their color, 

 while not corroding. 



A FIRST prize of $15, to be known as the 

 Massachusetts Woman's Club Prize, and a sec- 

 ond prize of $10 will be awarded to the public 

 school children in the State of Massachusetts 

 who present the best practical studies on the 

 value of our common toad. The prizes will be 

 given by a committee of Clark University on or 

 before November 1, 1898. All essays must be 

 sent in to Professor C. F. Hodge on or before 

 October 1st. 



The regulations for the Gedge prize, Cam- 

 bridge University, founded by a bequest of 

 £1,000 by the late Mr. Joseph Gedge, M.B., 

 of Gonville and Caius College, have been an- 

 nounced. The prize is to be offered for compe- 

 tition in every second year and to consist of the 

 interest on the capital sum. It is to be awarded 

 for the best original observations in physiology 

 or in any branch thereof, that is to say, in 

 histology, physiological chemistry or physi- 

 ological physics, the word physiology being 

 used in a wide sense. Candidates have to be 

 members of the University who during six 

 terms subsequent to the beginning of the term 

 of their matriculation have studied in the Uni- 

 versity laboratories or attended University lec- 

 tures, and who at the time of the award of the 

 prize are of not less than five years' and not 

 more than seven years' standing from matricu- 

 lation. 



Nature quotes from the Bendiconti del Beale 

 Istituto Lombardo the conditions of the prizes 

 offered for competition in 1898 and 1899. Most 

 of these prizes are open to all nations ; but the 

 essays must be written in Italian, French or 

 Latin, and forwarded under a motto to the 

 Secretary of the Istituto Lombardo, Palazzo di 

 Brera, Milan. The prizes of general interest 

 are the following : (1) The Institute's prize of 

 1,200 lire for the most complete catalogue of 

 extraordinary meteorological events from the 

 most ancient times down to 1800, excluding 

 auroras and earthquakes, which have already 

 been catalogued. Last date. May 1, 1899. (2) 

 The Cagnola prize of 2,500 lire and a gold medal 

 (value 500 lire) for a critical review of the theory 

 of electric dissociation, with new experiments. 

 Last date, April 30, 1898. (3) The Brambilla 

 prize of 4,000 lire to whoever shall have intro- 

 duced into Lombardy the most useful new 

 machinery or industrial process. Names to be 

 sent in by April 30, 1898. 



The British Medical Journal announces that 

 the services of Surgeon-Major Ronald Boss have 

 been placed at the disposal of the Surgeon- 

 General with the Government of India, in order 

 that he may undertake a special inquiry as to 

 the relation of the mosquito to the hsematozoon 

 of malaria. Surgeon-Major Ross has already 

 done very important work on this subject, and 

 it is not too much to hope that, with the special 

 opportunities which will now be afforded to 

 him, he will be able to clear up the question. 

 Should he be able to establish on a sure basis 

 the theory that the mosquito is the extracor- 

 poreal or alternative host of the malaria para- 

 site a great step in advance will have b.een 

 made. It may not improbably render possible 

 an intelligent prophylaxis against malarial 

 fevers for in no department of human activity 

 is it more true that ' knowledge is power ' than 

 in that of preventive medicine. 



A JOINT committee of the Parks and Open 

 Spaces Committee and the Technical Education 

 Board of the London County Council has been 

 considering the practicability of laying out plots 

 of ground in certain of the London parks in 

 such a manner as will afford assistance to 

 scholars at elementary and secondary schools in 



