24 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 731 



the collection of Anglo-Saxon jewelry and 

 other relics bequeathed to him by his father, 

 the late Sir John Evans. With it is also a 

 comparative series illustrating the early Teu- 

 tonic art of the continent, including specimens 

 of Scandinavian, Prankish, Lombard and 

 Gothic work. 



It is announced that the collection of im- 

 plements of the bronze age, formed by Canon 

 William Greenwell, of Durham, will be pre- 

 sented to the British Museum. This collection 

 of implements of the bronze age is regarded as 

 the most extensive of its kind in private hands, 

 and is said to compare well in many respects 

 with that already in the British Museum. It 

 includes specimens from nearly all parts of 

 Great Britain and other countries of Europe, 

 and also from Asia. 



The Royal Society has given to Cambridge 

 University the stellar spectroscopic equipment 

 which has been in the care of Sir William 

 Huggins since 1871. It consists of the follow- 

 ing instruments : A refracting telescope with 

 an object glass 15 in. in diameter and 15 ft. 

 in focal length, to which is attached a spectro- 

 scope arranged for both visual and photo- 

 graphic work ; and a Cassegrain reflecting tele- 

 scope with a mirror made of speculum metal 

 18 in. in diameter and about 7 ft. in focal 

 length, to which a spectroscope is attached 

 with optical parts made of Iceland spar and 

 quartz for photographing the ultra-violet spec- 

 trum of stars. These two telescopes are 

 mounted equatorially on a single polar axis, in 

 such a way that they can be moved inde- 

 pendently in declination. They are at present 

 installed in a dome about 20 ft. in diameter 

 in Sir William Huggins's garden at Tulse-hill. 

 The telescopes and the equatorial mounting 

 were made by Sir Howard Grubb in Dublin, 

 and the spectroscopes by Messrs. Troughton 

 and Simms. The instruments are described 

 as being in excellent working order, and would 

 only require such insignificant changes as are 

 usually needed in passing from one series of 

 observations to another in the ordinary work 

 of an observatory, but a suitable dome will 

 have to be provided for the proper installation 

 of the telescopes. 



A PLAN for a new exhibition room on the 

 second floor of Peabody Museum of Yale Uni- 

 versity has been given up and the restored 

 mastodon is being set up in an exhibition room 

 on the third story. The museum has become 

 so overcrowded that future plans for exhibi- 

 tion have to be restricted. An increasing 

 amount of the space in the building is de- 

 manded for scientific laboratories and class- 

 room work. 



The Rev. Joseph Beech, missionary in West 

 China, has presented to the museum of Wes- 

 leyan University a collection of ethnological 

 specimens from China ' and Tibet, which in- 

 cludes about 800 coins and about 300 other 

 specimens. Among these are idols and other 

 objects used in worship, domestic utensils, 

 carvings in jade, ivory and other materials, 

 pictures and boolis. From the widow of the 

 Rev. Merrill Hitchcock the museum has re- 

 ceived Mr. Hitchcock's herbarium. 



Mr. James Gordon Bennett has offered the 

 Aero Club of Erance a new international 

 prize. A cup of the value of £500 is to be 

 competed for next year in France under the 

 auspices of the International Aeronautic Fed- 

 eration and the French Society for the En- 

 couragement of Aerial Locomotion. Besides 

 this cup Mr. Gordon Bennett offers three sums 

 of £1,000 each to be given to the winner of 

 each of the first three annual competitions. 



At the monthly meeting of the British 

 Astronomical Association, on November 25, 

 by the permission of the astronomer-royal, the 

 long series of photographs of comet 1908c 

 Morehouse taken with the 30 in. reflector of 

 the Royal Observatory were shown on the 

 screen and described by Mr. Melotte. 



As already announced, the Australasian As- 

 sociation for the Advancement of Science will 

 meet in Brisbane on January 11. According 

 to Nature, the association will come of age 

 next year, and the meeting will inaugurate the 

 jubilee year of Queensland, the history of 

 which as a separate state dates from 1859. 

 The new president of the association is Pro- 

 fessor W. H. Bragg, of Adelaide, while the 

 sectional presidents are Professor Pollock, 

 of Sydney (astronomy, mathematics, and 



