Jahtjabt 22, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



141 



Peofessoe Hieam Bingham, of Tale IJniver- 

 sity, after attending the pan-American Scien- 

 tific Congress that has just closed at Santiago, 

 Chile, left for southern Peru, to engage in 

 historical research. 



Lieutenant Boyd Alexandee left England 

 on December 12 with the object of thoroughly 

 exploring the islands of Sao Thome, Principe 

 and Annobon, chiefly from a zoological point 

 of view. 



De. Sven Hedin has visited Japan on his 

 way home and has there received various hon- 

 ors, including the medal of the Japanese Geo- 

 graphical Society. Twenty-nine years ago the 

 late Baron Nordenskiold, after his accomplish- 

 ment of the northeast passage, received from 

 the society its medal, and a similar medal was 

 afterwards awarded to General Fukoshima for 

 his ride through Siberia. Dr. Hedin, it seems, 

 is only the third who has received this medal, 

 and the only two foreigners who have been 

 awarded this honor are Swedes. 



At the meeting of the College of Physi- 

 cians, Philadelphia, on January 6, the follow- 

 ing officers were elected : President, Dr. James 

 Tyson; Vice-president, Dr. G. E. de Schwein- 

 itz; Censors, Dr. Eichard A. Cleeman, Dr. 

 S. Weir Mitchell, Dr. Louis Starr and Dr. Ar- 

 thur M. V. Meigs; Secretary, Dr. Thomas R. 

 Neilson; Treasurer, Dr. Richard H. Harte. 



At the December meeting of the St. Louis 

 Chemical Society, the following officers were 

 elected for the ensuing year : President, H. E. 

 Wiedemann; Vice-president, C. J. Borgmeyer; 

 Recording Secretary, Geo. Lang, Jr. ; Corres- 

 ponding Secretary, J. J. Kessler; Treasurer, 

 A. A. Kleinschmidt ; Councilors, C. E. Cas- 

 par! and Leo Suppan. 



De. Henry Prentiss Armsbt, director of 

 the Institute of Animal Nutrition of the 

 Pennsylvania State College, delivered a course 

 of four lectures on the Principles of Animal 

 Nutrition at the New York State Agricul- 

 tural College, at Cornell University on Jan- 

 uary 12-15. 



On February 27, Professor Charles E. 

 Lucke, head of the department of mechanical 

 engineering of the Schools of Mines, Engi- 

 neering and Chemistry, of Columbia Univer- 



sity, will speak on the general subject of 

 "Gas Power" before the Society of Arts of 

 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



Peofessoe Haeey Govier Seeley, at one 

 time professor of geology and geography in 

 King's College, London, author of numerous 

 contributions to zoology and paleontology, 

 especially on fossil reptiles, has died at the 

 age of seventy years. 



By will of the late Professor Albert Gaudry, 

 thrice president of the Societe Geologique de 

 Prance, that body receives a bequest of forty 

 thousand francs, the income of which is to 

 be applied in making suitable awards in 

 recognition of meritorious work done in geol- 

 ogy or paleontology, either by Frenchmen or 

 foreigners. A portion of the fund may also 

 be used in aiding deserving students in these 

 branches. 



The late Professor Sacharjin has left two 

 millions of roubles for the erection of a hos- 

 pital in Moscow. 



The prize of the King of Belgium of the 

 value of 25,000 francs will be awarded this 

 year to the author of the best work on aerial 

 navigation. 



The prize of five hundred dollars which is 

 offered biennially by the Association of the 

 Alumni of the College of Physicians and Sur- 

 geons, Columbia University, will be awarded 

 in June, 1909. Essays in competition for the 

 prize must be forwarded to Dr. H. E. Hale, 

 752 West End Avenue, New York, on or be- 

 fore the first of April. 



It is announced that the recent fire at the 

 Geological Survey building on F Street in 

 Washington destroyed property to the value 

 of about $16,000. Ten thousand dollars' worth 

 of surveying instruments were destroyed, and 

 an expenditure of $2,000 will be necessarily 

 incurred for rewiring the building. The offices 

 of the survey, like those of many other gov- 

 ernment bureaus in Washington that occupy 

 rented buildings, are full of wooden partitions 

 and other inflammable material, exposing val- 

 uable public property to the danger of destruc- 

 tion by fire at any time. 



In view of the scientific interests of the 

 volcanic formation within the Rio Grande and 



