530 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1137 



in so much detail in future ; and that it recom- 

 mends (a) that officers attending the next In- 

 dian Science Congress should be regarded as 

 on duty, (6) that a catalogue of scientific 

 serials prepared by the Asiatic Society of Ben- 

 gal should be published at the expense of gov- 

 ernment, and (c) that experiments should be 

 undertaken, as requested by the Punjab Veteri- 

 nary Department, to determine the vitality of 

 rinderpest virus under Indian conditions. Na- 

 ture remarks : " Of any far-reaching advisory 

 purpose, of any great original directive enter- 

 prise, of anything in the nature of spontane- 

 ous movement, this report shows no record; 

 one looks in vain for any reference to scien- 

 tific education, or even for a connected ac- 

 count — as contrasted with bald, disjointed de- 

 partmental summaries — of the general prog- 

 ress of science in India, vital affairs in which 

 a board of scientific advice might be expected 

 to exercise a missionary influence, if not to 

 take a commanding lead. The simple fact is 

 that, so far as the advisory business goes, this 

 Report of the Board of Scientific Advice for 

 India is a document of the ex-officio genus; 

 and it can scarcely be otherwise when the 

 president of the board is merely an ex-officio 

 hierarch of the Indian Secretariat, instead of 

 being a man of science specially selected for 

 his critical knowledge of scientific affairs." 



We learn from the Journal of the Amer- 

 ican Medical Association that as a result of 

 the report on the inexactitude of clinical 

 thermometers, read by Mr. Woog at a recent 

 meeting, the Paris Academy of Sciences ap- 

 pointed a commission to study the question. 

 Mr. Grimbert, the reporter of this commis- 

 sion, believes that it is necessary to prohibit 

 the sale of all thermometers the precision of 

 which is not guaranteed by official control. 

 The war having suppressed the importation 

 from Germany, Prance depends for her supply 

 on Switzerland, England and the United 

 States, and there has been a considerable rise 

 of price without a corresponding guarantee 

 of precision. According to Mr. Woog, the 

 central pharmacy of the army has been obliged 

 to refuse as much as 80 per cent, of the ship- 



ments offered. The French manufacturers 

 have assured the commission that they will 

 soon be in a position to supply clinical ther- 

 mometers at the same price as those obtained 

 from Germany before the war, and that they 

 are prepared to submit to official control. 

 Furthermore, the director of tests at the Con- 

 servatory of Arts believes that it is feasible 

 to reduce considerably the fee paid for test- 

 ing thermometers. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



Under the will of Eckley Brinton Coxe, Jr., 

 late president of the University of Pennsyl- 

 vania Museum, the university was bequeathed 

 the sum of $500,000 as an endowment fund 

 for the maintenance of the museum, its publi- 

 cations and expeditions. He also bequeathed 

 the sum of $100,000 to the university, the in- 

 come of which is to be used towards increas- 

 ing the salaries of professors. 



Seth Low, president of Columbia Univer- 

 sity from 1890 to 1901, and trustee from 1881 

 to 1914, by his will, bequeathed $15,000 to a 

 cousin and $12,000 to the daughter of his 

 former nurse, half of these sums to go to Co- 

 lumbia University on their deaths. On the 

 death of Mrs. Low several educational be- 

 quests became effective. Canton Christian 

 College will receive about $70,000, the Univer- 

 sity of Virginia, Berea College and the Tus- 

 kegee Normal and Industrial Institute will 

 each receive about $50,000. Mr. Low gave 

 large gifts to Columbia University during his 

 presidency, including the sum of $1,200,000 

 for the erection of the library building in 

 memory of his father. 



Beginning with this fall the course of in- 

 struction in veterinary medicine at the Uni- 

 versity of Pennsylvania has been placed upon 

 the same basis as other departments of the 

 university in regard to the length of course, 

 four full years now being required for the 

 professional degree. 



At New York University Professor John 

 Charles Hubbard succeeds Emeritus Professor 

 Daniel W. Hering as professor of physics ; and 



