APKIL22, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



569 



form of this most modern of naval weapons and 

 points to its complete invisibility in action, its 

 power of carrying armor if desired, its perfect 

 liberty of movement under water and safety 

 and certainty in placing its torpedo, as well as 

 the comfort and safety of its own crew, as con- 

 siderations that must inevitably ultimately give 

 it the leading place in a naval establishment, 

 and especially for one like that of the "United 

 States, planned mainly for defense. 



The commercial reporters of Industries and 

 Iron state that Messrs. L. Lowe & Co., of Ber- 

 lin, Germany, manufacturers of electric supplies, 

 have ordered from the United States an Allis- 

 engine of 900 h. p. to furnish light and power 

 at their works. The Societe des Eailways 

 economiques de Liege, Seraing et Extensions, 

 and the Compagnie generale des Railways a 

 Voie etroite, have sent to the United States for 

 a complete electrical equipment of the Westing- 

 house Company's make. A large business has 

 been secured by builders of heavy machinery 

 in the United States, for delivery in Great 

 Britain, and it now seems probable that they 

 may find a profitable and an extensive market 

 on the Continent of Europe. The manvifacturers 

 of Europe are, however, reported to have good 

 business, and competition from this side of the 

 ocean has not produced any sensible effect in 

 the direction of transfer of trade to this country. 



It will be remembered that the Paris Interna- 

 tional Meteorological Conference of 1896 ap- 

 pointed a permanent Committee on Terrestrial 

 Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity, and 

 submitted to it a number of questions for report. 

 In order that these questions may be well dis- 

 cussed, s&ysNature, it has been decided to hold an 

 international conference on terrestrial magnet- 

 ism and atmospheric electricity in connection 

 with the forthcoming meeting of the British As- 

 sociation at Bristol, which will begin on Septem- 

 ber 7th. Letters of invitation are being sent out 

 by the Committee; and all foreigners who propose 

 to attend the conference may obtain tickets of 

 membership of the British Association, free of 

 charge, on application to the Assistant General 

 Secretary of the Association. Among the sub- 

 jects to be discussed are : The calculation of 

 monthly means with and without taking dis- 



turbed days into account ; the publication of 

 the monthly means of the components X, Y, Z, 

 and the differences /\X, /\Y, AZ, of the 

 monthly means from the preceding means ; the 

 establishment of temporary observatories, es- 

 pecially in tropical countries ; and the relative 

 advantages of long and short magnets. The 

 decisions of the conference upon these questions 

 will be reported direct to the International 

 Meteorological Conference. But though the 

 first business of the conference will be to report 

 upon the questions submitted to them, papers 

 and communications on other subjects connected 

 with terrestrial magnetism and atmospheric 

 electricity are also invited. It is desired that 

 such papers be sent to the Committee some time 

 before the opening of the British Association 

 meeting. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



At a meeting of the Board of Trustees of 

 Cornell University on April 14th it was decided 

 to establish a medical department to be located 

 in New York City. The faculty will consist 

 chiefly of the members of the faculty of the New 

 York University Medical College who have been 

 dissatisfied with the relations between the Col- 

 lege and the University. The new medical col- 

 lege, like other departments of Cornell Uni- 

 versity, will be open to women on the same 

 terms as to men, and students appointed to State 

 scholarships by the Superintendent of Public In- 

 struction may obtain free tuition from Cornell 

 University in medicine hereafter, as they now 

 obtain it in art, law, engineering, architecture, 

 etc. It appears that Colonel Oliver H. Payne 

 has given $500,000 toward an endowment and 

 that buildings will be erected at once. The Col- 

 lege will be opened next year with Dr. W. M. 

 Polk as Director. 



At the same meeting Dr. B. E. Fernow, 

 Chief of the Division of Forestry, United States 

 Department of Agriculture, was elected Direc- 

 tor of the College of Forestry, recently estab- 

 lished by an appropriation from the Legislature 

 of the State of New York. 



Professor Eabl Barnes, lately professor 

 of education in Stanford University, will, it is 



