Mabch 26, 1909J 



SCIENCE 



497 



Darwin's birth on March 26, the program 

 being : " Darwinism and Experimentation," 

 Dr. D. T. MacDougal, director, department 

 botanical research, Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington ; " Evolution of Organisms in 

 Eelation to Environment," Professor W. L. 

 Tower, department of zoology. University of 

 Chicago. 



The Wellesley College Science Club held its 

 one hundredth meeting on March 9 in the 

 Whitin Observatory, when the program was 

 devoted to Charles Darwin. Dr. Eobertson 

 gave an account of the status of biology be- 

 fore Darwin's tinie and the changes wrought 

 by him. Dr. Ferguson followed, giving an 

 account of the influence of Darwin's work on 

 botanical science. Dr. Wiegand then gave a 

 paper on " Modern Theories of the Origin of 

 Species and their Eelation to Natural Selec- 

 tion." Professor Hayes was the last speaker. 



Darwin memorial exercises were held at the 

 Michigan Agricultural College on March 

 4, with the following program : " Early Im- 

 pressions of Darwinism," Dr. W. J. Beal; 

 "Darwin, the Worker," Professor W. B. Bar- 

 rows; "Darwin's Influence on Thought," Dr. 

 E. M. Wenley. 



The daily papers state that it is proposed 

 to offer the ambassadorship to Great Britain 

 to President Eliot after his retirement from 

 the presidency of Harvard University. Mr. 

 Eliot, who is at present making addresses' in 

 the south, reached his seventy-fifth birthday 

 on March 20. 



A BANQUET in honor of President Angell 

 was given in New York City on March 19 by 

 alumni of the University of Michigan. 



The seventh annual meeting of the South 

 African Association for the Advancement of 

 Science will be held at Bloemfontein at the 

 end of September under the presidency of Sir 

 Hamilton J. Goold-Adams. 



Dr. Sven Hedin has lectured in the pres- 

 ence of Emperor William before the Berlin 

 Geographical Society, which awarded to him 

 its Humboldt medal. He has also lectured at 

 the Sorbonne, Paris. 



Professor W. M. Davis, of Harvard Uni- 

 versity, has finished his courses at Berlin and 



has gone to Scotland to deliver a series of lec- 

 tures on geology before Edinburgh University. 



Sir E. Eay Lankester wiU deliver the 

 Huxley lecture for the present session at Bir- 

 mingham University. 



Professor Wm. T. Sedgwick, of the Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology, expects to 

 leave Boston in the middle of April to make 

 a number of addresses in the middle west. 



At the meeting of the Society of Arts of the 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology on 

 March 25, President E. S. Woodward, of the 

 Carnegie Institution, was expected to lecture 

 on the work of the institution. On April & 

 Professor George E. Hale, director of the 

 Solar Observatory of the Carnegie Institution, 

 is announced to lecture on " Solar Cyclones 

 and Magnetic Fields." 



Dr. a. M. Stein will give a lecture under 

 the auspices of the Eoyal Asiatic Society on 

 Tuesday, March 30, on his recent explorations 

 in eastern Turkestan. 



Mr. D. Carruthers, who took part in the 

 British Museum expedition to Euwenzori 

 as a zoological collector under Mr. E. B. Woos- 

 nam in 1906, is at present exploring central 

 Arabia. 



Dr. Chevalier, who since the conclusion of 

 his expedition to the upper Shari basin, has 

 been on the Guinea coast, has started on a 

 new expedition to west Africa. 



The National Society of Acclimatization 

 of Prance has conferred on Mr. W. Percival 

 Westell its bronze medal in recognition of his 

 natural history writings. 



William Stuart, for the past ten years pro- 

 fessor of horticulture in the Agricultural De- 

 partment of the University of Vermont, has 

 received an appointment in the plant bureau 

 of the Department of Agriculture, Washing- 

 ton, and will enter upon his new duties at the 

 close of the college year. 



Mrs. Tyndall, in pursuance of the wishes 

 of the late Professor Tyndall, who was a mem- 

 ber of the Eoyal Commission appointed in 

 1879 to inquire into the causes of explosions 

 in coal mines and who took a deep interest in 

 problems concerning the safety of miners, pro- 

 poses to found a gold medal to be awarded 



