294 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 738 



Hitchcock foundation, provided for by the 

 bequest of C. M. Hitchcock in 1885. 



SiK Jagadis Chunder Bose, M.A., Sc.D., 

 professor of physics and biology at the Presi- 

 dency College, Calcutta, India, recently lec- 

 tured at the University of Illinois on the 

 subjects of the polarization of electric waves, 

 the mechanical responses of plants, and the 

 electric responses of plants. 



Professor William T. Sedgwick, of the 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will 

 give a series of lectures at the University of 

 Ulinois, from April 19 to 24, under the general 

 head of " Science in the Service of Public 

 Health." 



A series of public lectures is to be given at 

 Columbia University on March 8, 15 and 22 

 at 5:10 P.M. by Alexander S. Chessin, professor 

 of mathematics in Washington University, on 

 the gyrostat. The first lecture will be devoted 

 to a brief history of the gyrostat showing its 

 development from a mere toy into a scientific 

 instrument and a mechanism of great value. 

 The second lecture wiU be on the influence of 

 the world's rotation on the motion of gyro- 

 stats, Foucault's top and the applications of 

 the gyrostat to astronomy and to surveying. 

 The third lecture will be upon the gyrostat in 

 modern industries, and will be devoted to the 

 devices for torpedoes, the steadying of ships 

 at sea, the Schlick marine gyrostat, the mono- 

 rail car, and the experiments of the German 

 navy, aU fully illustrated. 



At the last meeting of the Middletown Sci- 

 entific Association, held on February 9, Pro- 

 fessor William North Rice spoke on the life 

 of Darwin. 



In accordance with the plan which we have 

 already announced, a heroic bronze bust of 

 Darwin, by the sculptor Mr. William Couper, 

 was presented by the New York Academy of 

 Sciences to the American Museum of Natural 

 History on February 12. The address of pre- 

 sentation was made by Mr. C. P. Cox, presi- 

 dent of the academy, and the bust was ac- 

 cepted on behaK of the trustees of the museum 

 by Dr. H. P. Osborn, president. Addresses 

 were then made on " Darwin and Geology," 

 by Professor J. J. Stevenson ; " Darwin and 



Botany," by Dr. N. L. Britton, and " Darwin 

 and Zoology," by Dr. Hermon C. Bumpus. 

 In connection with the celebration a special 

 exhibition has been installed in the museum, 

 consisting of Darwiniana and series of speci- 

 mens and groups of specimens bearing upon 

 the Darwinian theory of evolution throagh 

 natural selection. The exhibition will con- 

 tinue for one month. 



Professor August Weismann finds himself 

 imable, in consequence of his advanced age, 

 to accept the invitation of the University of 

 Cambridge to attend the Darwin Centenary 

 celebrations and to deliver an address. 



Dr. George E. Hale, of the Solar Observa- 

 tory on Mount Wilson, has been appointed a 

 delegate to represent the National Academy of 

 Sciences at the Darwin Celebration at Cam- 

 bridge. 



The Cambridge University Press wiU pre- 

 sent to each invited guest at the approaching 

 Darwin centenary celebration a copy of the 

 first draft of " The Origin of Species," which 

 is being prepared for press and edited by 

 Mr. Francis Darwin. This is the draft of 

 which Mr. Darwin speaks in his autobiography : 

 " In June, 1843, I first allowed myself the 

 satisfaction of writing a very brief abstract 

 of my theory in pencil in 35 pages." 



Mr. Walter Morrison Allen, known as a 

 designer of telescopes, died in Cleveland on 

 February 8, at the age of forty-two years. 



Mr. Wilfred Huddleston, F.E.S., the emi- 

 nent British geologist, died at his home at 

 Dorset on January 29, in his eighty-first year. 

 The death is also announced of M. A. Le- 

 goux, who for many years occupied the chair 

 of mechanics at Toulouse. 



The general secretaries of the British Asso- 

 ciation have issued a preliminary circular in 

 regard to the meeting at Winnipeg beginning 

 on August 25. No reduction in rates is made 

 by the steamship companies, but special accom- 

 modation will be reserved on the Canadian 

 Pacific steamship Empress of Ireland, sailing 

 from Liverpool to Montreal on August 13. It 

 is expected that a single fare will be granted 

 on the Canadian railways for the return trip 

 from Montreal to Winnipeg and from Winni- 



