April 8, 



i.l 



SGIENGE. 



495 



nearest ice-free port from St. Petersburg, and 

 taken on board the boat to be employed in the 

 expedition, now lying at Christiania. Dr. Jeaf- 

 freson has been travelling during the winter in 

 the wilds of the Petchora and the tundras of 

 Kanin peninsula. This latter region, he found, 

 had been given up almost entirely to a colony 

 of pirates, who are probably the descendants of 

 Russian criminals formerly banished to the re- 

 gion of Archangel. Last year they wrecked a 

 Russian schooner, and the bodies of the crew 

 were subsequently found by the help of dogs 

 buried far off in the interior. Dr. Jeaflfreson 

 also explored the interior of the Yalmal Penin- 

 sula or Samoyed land, which has hitherto been 

 almost unknown, and he intends, if possible, to 

 organize an expedition to Novaya Zemlya." 



A DESPATCH from Stockholm states that Herr 

 J. Stadling, who accompanied Andr6e's expe- 

 dition to Spitzbergen in 1896, has been ap- 

 pointed by the Swedish Anthropological and 

 Geographical Society to undertake a search 

 through Siberia in order to make inquiries as 

 to the fate of Andree's balloon expedition. 

 For this purpose Herr Stadling has received the 

 Vega stipendium from the Society. He starts 

 with a companion from Stockholm early in 

 April, and the journey will last probably until 

 January next. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



The Maryland House has concurred with the 

 Senate, by a vote of 56 to 22, in appropriating 

 $50,000 a year for two years to Johns Hopkins 

 University. 



The proposed amalgamation of Harvard Uni- 

 versity and the Massachusetts Institute of 

 Technology has been the subject of conferences 

 between committees of both institutions, but 

 the plan has now been abandoned. 



The University of Chicago has received a 

 gift of about $150,000 from an anonymous 

 donor. 



Miss Gotjld has given a further gift of $10,- 

 000 toward the endowment of the engineering 

 school of New York University. 



Me. Chester W. Kingsley, whose gift to 

 Worcester Academy was reported last week, 

 has now given $25,000 to Colby University. 



The governing board of the Sheffield Scien- 

 tific School has established six new scholarships 

 of $100, the equivalent of remitted tuition for 

 the same number of students. 



Me. Harold Heath, now fellow of biology 

 at the University of Pennsylvania, has been ap- 

 pointed assistant professor of zoology in Stan- 

 ford University. 



Peofessoe F. W. Caed has resigned the 

 chair of horticulture in the University of Ne. 

 braska, which he has filled for five years, and 

 has accepted a similar position in the Rhode 

 Island Agricultural College. His resignation 

 takes effect in August and he assumes his new 

 duties on September 1st. 



Cornelius L. Shear, fellow in botany in 

 the University of Nebraska, has been appointed 

 Assistant Agrostologist in the Division of Agros- 

 tology of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 Washington, D. C, his duties to begin April 1st. 



The London University Commission Bill has 

 been read a third time before the House of 

 Lords and passed. It is said to be likely that 

 it will also be passed in the House of Commons 

 unless obstruction prevents its consideration. 



The University of Paris has been authorized 

 to borrow 1,700,000 fr. for the construction on 

 the rue Cuvier of buildings and laboratories for 

 instruction in the sciences preparatory to the 

 study of medicine, and for the completion of 

 the laboratory of physiological botany at Fon- 

 tainebleau. 



The government of Wiirttemberg has just 

 authorized the erection of a laboratory of hy- 

 giene in connection with the medical depart- 

 ment of the University of Stuttgart. 



SiE William Frasee, formerly Deputy- 

 Keeper of the Records of Scotland, who died on 

 March 13th, has, by his will, left to the Uni- 

 versity of Edinburgh £25,000 for the foundation 

 of a chair to be called the Sir William Fraser 

 Professorship of ancient history and palae- 

 ography, £10,000 for the purposes of the library 

 and one-half of the residue of his estate, which 

 is expected to amount to between £9,000 and 

 £10,000, for general requirements, bursaries, 

 research, publications, etc. 



The principalship of University College, 



