Febbuaby 19, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



295 



peg to Victoria. The official party -will leave 

 Winnipeg at midnight on September 2 for the 

 trip to the Pacific coast, and will return to 

 Winnipeg on September 13. 



The fiftieth anniversary of the founding of 

 the Paris Society of Anthropology will be cele- 

 brated July 7-9, 1909. Anthropological socie- 

 ties and institutions are invited to send dele- 

 gates. The program includes a discourse by 

 the minister of public instruction and fine 

 arts, an address by the president of the society, 

 a report by the general secretary on the scien- 

 tific activities of the society since its founda- 

 tion, and messages from delegates who are to 

 be the guests of the society at a luncheon and 

 a dinner. 



The Eoyal Institution, London, has re- 

 ceived from a lady who wishes to remain 

 anonymous a gift of £10,000. 



The trustees of the Elizabeth Thompson 

 Science Fund are prepared to receive applica- 

 tions for appropriations in aid of scientific 

 work. All applications should reach, before 

 March 15, 1909, the secretary of the board. 

 Dr. C. S. Minot, Harvard Medical School, 

 Boston, Mass. 



According to the Berlin correspondfent of 

 the London Times the latest available details 

 of the new German airship Zeppelin II., which 

 will be launched in March, state that the 

 total length of the vessel is 446 feet, the diam- 

 eter 42 feet 8 inches, and the cubic contents 

 about 530,000 feet of hydrogen. There are 

 17 ballonets', of which 16 are of india-rubber- 

 treated cotton, and the seventeenth is of gold- 

 beaters' skin, and is supplied by a well-known 

 firm of English aeronauts. The two Daimler 

 motors weigh 798.8 pounds, and produce to- 

 gether about 200 horse power. The two alumi- 

 nium cars form cabins for the captain, ham- 

 mocks being provided for the men. The cars 

 are furnished underneath with soft fenders 

 in order to lessen the shock of landing on the 

 hard ground. An immense shed is being 

 built to accommodate Zeppelin II. as soon as 

 it is launched. 



The production of petroleum in the United 

 States in 1908, according to a preliminary 



estimate made by David T. Day, of the 

 United States Geological Survey, amounted 

 to between 175 and 180 million barrels, an in- 

 crease between 5 and 9 per cent, as compared 

 with the production of 166 million- barrels in 

 1907. The total value of the product showed 

 an even greater proportionate gain, for the 

 price of oil increased in California and re- 

 mained steady in other fields except the Gulf. 

 The increases are attributed to steady growth 

 in Ulinois and California, though neither field 

 showed phenomenal development. 



Mr. D. O. Mills has given to the depart- 

 ment of mammalogy of the American Museum 

 of Natural History eight specimens of the fur 

 seal, to be utilized in the preparation of a 

 group illustrating a seal rookery. The speci- 

 mens were collected at the Pribilof Islands,. 

 Alaska, expressly for the museum, by order of 

 Mr. Mills, who had special permission from 

 the Department of Commerce and Labor for 

 their capture. The series consists of male 

 seals two, three, five and seven years old, 

 female seals three and four years old and two 

 pups six weeks old. 



Baron de Lenval, on the occasion of the 

 Third International Otological Congress, 

 founded a prize of 3,000 francs to be awarded 

 to such person as should invent and produce 

 a small portable instrument materially as- 

 sisting the hearing of the deaf. As no such 

 instrument has yet been forthcoming to the 

 satisfaction of the international jury ap- 

 pointed to adjudicate upon the matter, the ac- 

 cumulated interest of four years, amounting 

 to about 400 francs, will be awarded as a prize 

 for the best work that has been published 

 during the last four years in the departments 

 of the anatomy, physiology, or pathology of 

 the organ of hearing. Competing works 

 should be sent to the president of the jury. 

 Professor Dr. A. Politzer, I. Gonzagasse 19, 

 Vienna, before the end of February. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 



The two hundred thousand dollars required 



to secure the gift of $600,000 from Mr. John 



D. Rockefeller for the Harper memorial 



library at the University of Chicago has now 



