May 20, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



711 



Academy of Sciences (Section of Rural Econ- 

 omy). 



At the Royal Institution, London, on May 

 12tli, Lord Rayleigh delivered the first of a 

 course of three lectures on ' Heat,' and on May 

 21st Mr. J. Arthur Thomson will begin a course 

 of two lectures on 'The Biology of Spring.' 

 The Friday evening discourse on May 6th was 

 by Mr. E. A. Minchin, whose subject was ' Liv- 

 ing Crystals.' 



Professor H. G. Seeley, F. R. S., is again 

 conducting the annual course of excursions of 

 the London Geological Field Class, arranged to 

 illustrate the physical geography and geology 

 of hills, valleys and rivers in the basin of 

 the Thames. The following meetings were 

 arranged for the present month : May 7th, 

 Greenwich Park and Charlton ; May 14th, 

 Aylesbury ; May 21st, Highgate and Hamp- 

 stead. 



A MEETING of the New England Association 

 of Chemistry Teachers was held in the United 

 States Hotel, Boston, on May 14th. There was 

 a short business session and a dinner. Professor 

 Theodore William Richards, of Harvard Uni- 

 versity, spoke on ' The Aim of the Harvard 

 Requirements in Chemistry.' 



The Horticultural College at Swanley is for 

 the first time opening courses of instruction to 

 non-resident students of both sexes. Courses 

 of lectures will be given during the summer — 

 on 'Soils,' by Professor Warington, of Oxford ; 

 the ' Psychology of Plants, ' by Professor Hen- 

 slow, of the Royal Horticultural Society ; and 

 on the ' Culture of Flowers and Vegetables,' by 

 the Misses Dean. Classes will also be held in 

 bee and poultry keeping. 



The Russian government has decided to in- 

 troduce the metric system of weights and meas- 

 ures throughout the Empire, and by order of 

 the Czar a decree to this effect has been sub- 

 mitted to him for signature. 



The steam yacht 'Windward,' loaned to 

 Lieutenant Peary for his Arctic expedition by 

 Mr. Harmsworth, has arrived in New York, 

 fifty-two days after leaving London. 



An electrical exhibition of much interest is 

 now in progress in the Madison Square Garden, 



New York. Many of the exhibits are chiefly 

 of technical interest, and others are arranged 

 to attract spectators. But the exhibit as a 

 whole deserves the attention of the student of 

 physical science. 



We incidentally noticed last week that a 

 kinematograph of the eclipse of the sun taken 

 by Rev. C. M. Bacon, at Buxar, had disap- 

 peared. The London papers announce ' a re- 

 ward of fifty pounds for the arrest of the per- 

 son or persons who on Wednesday last stole a 

 kinematograph negative of the last total eclipse 

 of the sun, between the Royal Albert Docks 

 and Egyptian Hall, in Piccadilly.' 



The House of Representatives has passed a 

 bill appointing three commissioners to propose 

 necessary revision of the statutes relating to 

 patents, trade and other marks, and trade and 

 commercial names. The commissioners are to 

 be named by the President, and are to report to 

 Congress such proposed revisions as maj' ap- 

 pear necessary to make the laws conform to re- 

 cent international agreements. 



Ambassador White has forwarded to the 

 State Department a copy of a note from the 

 German Foreign Ofiice in regard to restrictions 

 placed on United States fruit imported into 

 Germany, from which it appears that the Im- 

 perial Chancellor has, in accordance with the 

 opinion of experts, divided plants into three 

 groups, namely: 1. Those absolutely prohib- 

 ited. 2. Those admitted unconditionally; and 

 3. Those admitted upon being found free from 

 the San Jos6 scale, after examination. 



An extraordinary feat was performed by the 

 engineers of the Great Northern Railway at 

 Hatfield ; and by the engineers of the Pennsyl- 

 vania Railroad, later, a greater feat was per- 

 formed in the replacement of bridges on those 

 lines. In the one case the replacement of the 

 structure was effected in fifty minutes ; in the 

 other instance it required but two minutes and 

 twenty-eight seconds. An English technical 

 journal, at the time, asserted that the first 

 statement was 'creditable and credible,' but 

 that the second was entirely beyond belief. The 

 whole story of the second of the two wonder- 

 ful performances is, however, told by Mr. 

 Joseph Richards, of the A. S. C. B. , in a paper 



