600 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 174. 



are they, a fish or a vegetable ? I'm darned if I know, 

 and I guess there are a whole lot like me. 



"Col. Jones also confesses to being a 'jollier,' 

 but adds that lie will curb his 'jollying' habit 

 for a time at least, and attend to business. His 

 favorites in the Aquarium are the seals, because 

 they are 'just too funny for anything,' pai'- 

 ticularly one who 'squirts water over people.' 

 Are they, I should like to know, any funnier 

 than Col. Jones ? He has said enough to 

 cause his instant dismissal by any other govern- 

 ment than one that made its way into power 

 ■with the battle-cry, ' To Hell with reform.' " 



. A SCIENTIFIC expedition underthe direction of 

 Dr. Nordenskiold has been organized in Sweden 

 to explore the Klondike region. The expe- 

 dition, the expenses of which will be defrayed 

 by Mr. Elk, director of a large banking house 

 in Stockholm, was expected to leave Sweden on 

 March 23d. Dr. Gunnar Andersson, docent in 

 geology in the high school at Stockholm, will 

 accompany the party, which is expected to be 

 absent about two j'ears. 



The Government Statist of Victoria estimates 

 the population of the Australasian colonies at 

 the end of 1897 at 4,410,124. When the census 

 of 1891 was taken the numbers were 3,809,895, 

 so that there has been, an increase since then of 

 15.75 per cent. The population of Victoria is 

 estimated at 1,176,288, an increase of 85,833. 

 The births exceeded the deaths during the 

 period by 127,418, but the loss by emigration 

 91,000. The increase per cent, in Victoria was 

 3.14 ; in New South Wales, 16.89 ; in south 

 Australia; 13.29, and in Western Australia, 

 225.23. 



The Council of the Imperial Institute have 

 authorized the holding of an exhibition of 

 acetylene-gas apparatus in the grounds of the 

 Institute at an early date, and, in order to en- 

 sure that no apparatus should be admitted to 

 the exhibition unless it was shown to fulfil the 

 requisite conditions of safety, the Council of 

 the Society of Arts have appointed a commit- 

 tee to decide upon those conditions and to lay 

 down rules for the admission of apparatus. 

 The following gentlemen have been appointed 

 to act on this committee : Major-General Sir 



Owen Tudor Burne (Chairman of the Council), 

 Sir Frederick Bramwell, Professor James De- 

 war, Mr. Harry Jones, M. Inst. C. E., Profes- 

 sor Vivian B. Lewes, Professor Boverton Red- 

 wood, Professor W. C. Roberts- Austen, Profes- 

 sor J. M. Thomson and Sir Henry Trueman 

 Wood (Secretary). Full particulars will shortly 

 be issued as to the regulation and rules laid 

 down. 



A FEW weeks hence, says the London Times, 

 work will be begun upon an important new 

 building in the neighborhood of Dulwich — the 

 Horniman Free Museum, which its founder, 

 Mr. Frederick J. Horniman, M. P., intends to 

 present as a free gift to the inhabitants of that 

 neighborhood. The new building will consist 

 of two galleries, each upwards of 100 feet long, 

 lighted from the top. In addition, there will 

 be a large lecture-hall having a seating capacity 

 for 300 persons. Altogether, the museum, in- 

 cluding the administrative block, will be some 

 300 feet in length, and will present a very 

 handsome appearance, its front being con- 

 structed entirely in stone, with a clock tower 

 of striking design, over 100 feet in height. The 

 galleries will be divided into various courts, 

 each devoted to a separate class of the interest- 

 ing objects of which the museum proper con- 

 sists. Thus there will be a pre-historic court, 

 an Egyptian court, an Indian court, a colonial 

 court, a Japanese court, and so-forth, while 

 there will be special departments for the zoolog- 

 ical and entomological specimens as well as 

 for the large library. During the last 35 years 

 Mr. Horniman has been acquiring the freeholds 

 of the various properties adjacent to the house 

 in which, for seven years, his collection has 

 been on public view. The 15 acres so acquired 

 he intends to convert into a public park and 

 recreation ground, while Surrey Mount, an ex- 

 isting mansion therein — from which is to be ob- 

 tained one of the finest views in the district — 

 is to be fitted up as a free library and club house, 

 separate rooms being devoted to the free use of 

 the scientific and other clubs in the vicinity. 

 The new museum, of which Mr. C. Harrison 

 Townsend is the architect, will be within three 

 or four minutes' walk of Lordship-lane and For- 

 est-hill railway stations, and will thus be in the 

 center of a rapidly extending neighborhood. 



