252 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 737 



The executive council of the Britisli Sci- 

 ence Guild has considered the matter of 

 naming London streets after distinguished 

 men of science. The members of the execu- 

 tive committee were requested to send in 

 names which were reduced to the following 

 thirty-one: Nevrton, Darwin, Harvey, Jenner, 

 Huxley, James Watt, Gilbert, Kelvin, Fara- 

 day, Joule, Clerk Maxwell, Stokes, Tyndall, 

 Captain Cook, Livingstone, Franklin, Eoss, 

 Bruce, Mungo Park, Cavendish, Dalton, 

 Priestley, Boyle, Andrews, Halley, Herschel, 

 Horrocks, Adams, Bradley, Howard, Pidding- 

 ton. 



At the meeting of the American Philosoph- 

 ical Society, on February 5, Professor E. G. 

 Conklin, of Princeton University, offered a 

 minute in commemoration of the centenary 

 of the birth of Charles Darwin. 



The Botanical Society of Pennsylvania has 

 arranged a special meeting to commemorate 

 the one hundredth anniversary of Darwin's 

 birth and the fiftieth anniversary of the pub- 

 lication of the " Origin of Species." This will 

 be held on Friday evening, February 12, in 

 Biological Hall, University of Pennsylvania. 

 The program consists of " A Short Sketch of 

 Darwin's Life," by Dr. Henry Leffman ; " Pre- 

 Darwinian Theories of Plant Life," by Dr. 

 Louis Krautter; "Darwin's Contribution to 

 Botany," by Dr. J. W. Harshberger; and 

 "Present Day Views on Organic Evolution," 

 by Dr. C. H. Shaw. 



The deaths are announced of Dr. Hermann 

 Minkowski, professor of mathematics at Got- 

 tingen, and Dr. Otto Rupp, professor of geom- 

 etry at Briinn. 



The U. S. Civil Service Commission an- 

 nounces an examination on February 24, to 

 fill a vacancy in the position of scientific as- 

 sistant, $720 per annum, in the Bureau of 

 Fisheries, and vacancies requiring similar 

 qualifications as they may occur. 



The next meeting of the Physical Society 

 will be held at Columbia University, New 

 Tork, on Saturday, February 27. 



Peopessor W. a. Setchell has made a gift 

 to the University of California of his her- 

 barium, consisting of 15,468 specimens of alg». 



Numerous requests are received by the 

 Geological Survey from educators, publishers 

 and lecturers for photographs and lantern 

 slides, in most cases those desiring them being 

 willing to defray the expense of making the 

 prints or slides, but there is at present no pro- 

 vision of law under which they can be fur- 

 nished by sale. Some of these views taken 

 by members of the survey have been used in a 

 limited way by the survey in its publications; 

 but many of these are out of print, leaving 

 the photographic negatives to a large extent 

 an unused resource of the public — data belong- 

 ing to the public, but not available to it. If 

 response could be made by the survey to the 

 demands for prints from such negatives it 

 would be in the interest of education and the 

 dissemination of knowledge ; and the survey 

 being willing to supply reproductions from its 

 great collection of photographic material. Sen- 

 ator Flint, of California, has introduced a 

 proposed amendment to the civil service bill 

 which reads as follows: 



That the director of the Geological Survey shall 

 hereafter furnish to any person, concern, or insti- 

 tution, in the interest of education and the dis- 

 semination of knowledge, that shall pay in ad- 

 vance the whole cost of material and services 

 thereof, copies of any photographs or lantern 

 slides in the possession of the United States 

 Geological Survey; and the moneys received by 

 the director for the same shall be deposited in the 

 United States Treasury to the credit of the appro- 

 priation " Geological maps of the United States " 

 of the said Geological Survey, and this provision 

 shall become effective immediately. 



A BILL to establish a bureau in the Depart- 

 ment of the Interior to be known as the Chil- 

 dren's Bureau, has been introduced in the 

 House of Representatives. It reads as follows : 



Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Rep- 

 resentatives of the United States of America in 

 Congress assembled, That there shall be estab- 

 lished in the Department of the Interior a bureau 

 to be known as the Children's Bureau. 



Sec. 2. That the said bureau shall be under 

 the direction of a chief, to be appointed by the 

 President, by and with the advice and consent of 

 the Senate, and who shall receive an annual com- 

 pensation of five thousand dollars. The said 

 bureau shall investigate and report upon all mat- 



