APEIL29, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



595 



earlier figures of Becquerel: silver 960°, 

 gold 1092°. Among earlier observations 

 for silver are Guyton de Morveau 1034°, 

 Princep 1000°, Ledebur 960° and Daniell 

 1223°; for gold, Pictet 1100°, Pouillet 1200° 

 and Wegele 1250°. The variation is not 

 surprising vplien one considers the meagre 

 means for determination at the hands of 

 the early observer ; it is rather surprising 

 that they came so near the truth. 



The Mitglleder- Verzeichniss of the Deutsche 

 chemische Gesellschaft for 1898 is just at 

 hand and shows a list of 2989 members, 

 making it the largest chemical society and 

 perhaps the largest scientific society of the 

 world. Its members are by no means con- 

 fined to Germany, 1268 or over 42% being 

 from other countries, so that it may almost 

 be considered international in its scope. It 

 also indicates the domination of Germany 

 in chemistry. Almost every civilized and 

 some hardly civilized countries are repre- 

 sented in its membership. This country 

 has 285 members and Great Britain 282, 

 these two furnishing over 40% of the mem- 

 bership outside of Germany. ISText to these 

 come Austria with 141 members, Switzer- 

 land with 131, and Eussia with 118. 



J. L. H. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OP SCIENCES. 



The Washington Academy of Sciences adopted 

 on March 29th the following schedule of func- 

 tions : 



1. The holdiDg of meetings to receive the annual 

 addresses of the Presidents of the affiliated societies. 



2. The holding of meetings («) to listen to scien- 

 tific communications from prominent authorities 

 specially invited for the- purpose, and (6) to hear 

 from selected members of the affiliated societies 

 r^sum^s of recent progress, statements of important 

 questions pending in their respective branches, and 

 other matters of general scientific interest. 



3. The publication of proceedings in cooperation 

 ■with the affiliated societies. 



4. The inauguration of measures looking to the 



provision of a building for the use of the Academy 

 and the affiliated societies. 



5. The acquisition of a fund to be used in aid of 

 scientific research. 



The Medical Society has been added to the 

 affiliated societies. The list of officers for 1S9S 

 is as follows : 



President, J. E. Eastman. 



Vice-Presidents : From the Anthropological Society, 

 J. W. Powell ; from the Biological Society, L. O. 

 Hovfard ; from the Chemical Society, H. N. Stokes ; 

 from the Entomological Society, W. H. Ashmead ; 

 from the Geographic Society, A. Graham Bell ; from 

 the Geological Society, Charles D. Walcott ; from the 

 Medical Society, S. C. Busey ; from the Philosophical 

 Society, F. H. Eigelovc. 



Secretary, G. K. Gilbert. 



Treasurer, Bernard E. Green. 



Managers : Class of 1901 — Marcus Baker, Henry S. 

 Pritchett, George M. Sternberg. Class of 1900— F. 

 W. Clarke, C. Hart Merriam, Lester F. Ward. Class 

 of 1899— Frank Baker, Carroll D. Wright. 



THE HONOEARY WALKER PRIZE. 



In 1864 the late Dr. William Johnson Walker 

 gave to the Boston Society of Natural History a 

 prize fund from which the Council of the So- 

 ciety may, not oftener than once in five years, 

 grant a Grand Honorary Prize. This award 

 may be five hundred or a thousand dollars, at 

 the option of the Council. In previous years 

 this prize has been awarded four times: first, in 

 1873 to Mr. Alexander Agassiz for his investi- 

 gations into the embryology, geographical dis- 

 tribution and natural history of the echinoderms; 

 secondly, in 1880 to Professor Joseph Leidy for 

 his prolonged investigations and discoveries in 

 zoologjf and paleontology ; thirdly, in 1884 to 

 Professor James Hall for his contribution to 

 North American paleontology; and fourthly, in 

 1892 to Professor James Dwight Dana for his 

 distinguished services in natural history. 



At the meeting of the Council of the Society 

 held April 20th it was voted to award the Grand 

 Honorary Walker Prize of one thousand dollars 

 to Mr. Samuel Hubbard Scudder, of Cambridge, 

 for his contributions to entomology, recent and 

 fossil. It is surely unnecessary here to dwell 

 upon Mr. Scudder's life-long devotion to sci- 

 ence. His contributions to the study of fos- 

 sil insects of all orders and from all formations, 

 and of the Orthoptera and the Lepidoptera, are 



