878 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1147 



in the International Exposition at St. Louis, 

 1904, I have had a plaque prepared which forms 

 a lasting memento of the cordial and pleasant 

 relations which prevailed there. I take the lib- 

 erty of forwarding for your acceptance a speci- 

 men with your name engraved on it. ' ' The 

 plaque is inscribed on one side ' ' Simon New- 

 comb, Arta Artis Vincula" and in small letters 

 "Peter Breuer," and on the other side: "Zur 

 Erinnerung an Deutschlands Beteiligung an der 

 Weltausstellung in St. Louis, MCMIV. " See 

 also 1903-04. 



1907, Jan. 5: Made Commandeur de l'Ordre Na- 

 tional de la Legion d'Honneur, France. A bill 

 granting permission to accept this decoration 

 was deemed unnecessary in view of the permis- 

 sion already given to accept the rank of Officer 

 of the Lfigion d'Honneur. 



1907, Eeb. 8: Elected one of the 12 Honorary 

 Eellows of the Physical Society, London. 



1907, March 22: Elected a Foreign Member of the 

 mathematics-natural science class of the Viden- 

 skabs Selskabet (Society of Sciences), Chris- 

 tiania. (Number limited to 100.) 



1907, June 3 : Elected Honorary Member of the 

 Socifite' Scientifique ' ' Antonio Alzate, ' ' Mexico. 



1907, July: Lecturer at the Summer School of the 

 University of California. 



1907, July 20: Elected Foreign Member of the 

 Honigliche Gesellschaft der Wissensehaften, 

 Gottingen. Election royally confirmed Oct. 4. 

 See also 1888. 



1908, April 6-11 : One of the 11 Vice-presidents 

 and one of the 9 principal speakers of the 

 Fourth International Congress of Mathemati- 

 cians held at Rome, Italy. He was the only 

 American on the International Committee (61 

 members) for organization of the Congress. He 

 was also a Delegate from the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution and the American Philosophical Society. 

 See also 1879. 



1908, Aug.: Delegate from the National Geo- 

 graphic Society at Washington to the Interna- 

 tional Congress of Geography at Geneva, Switzer- 

 land. 



1908, Aug. 17: Received in audience by Emperor 

 William II. at Wilhelmshbhe, Germany, and 

 lunched with his Majesty and the Empress. 



1908, Nov. 13 : Appointed one of the Committee of 

 19 on the ' ' Charles William Eliot Fund. ' ' 



1908, Dec. 19: Elected President of the Philo- 

 sophical Society of Washington. See also 1871. 



1909, Jan. 1: Elected Vice-president of the Ameri- 

 can Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, Pa. See 

 also 1878. 



1910, July: At this time the two bronze doors for 

 the West Entrance of the TJ. S. Capitol, de- 

 signed and modeled by Professor Louis Amateis, 

 of Washington, were cast in New York. In the 

 Science panel of one of the doors is a medallion 

 of Newcomb. At present the doors are in the 

 north vestibule of the National Museum, new 

 building. 



Died at Washington, D. O, July 11, 1909 



E. C. Archibald 



THE BIOLOGY OF THE MALAYAN 

 ISLANDS i 



There are not many biologists who have 

 not read with absorbing interest, the account 

 by Wallace of his experiences in the Malayan 

 countries, and his conclusions therefrom. 

 Likewise, there are but few biologists unfam- 

 iliar with the story of Beccari's experiences 

 in Borneo, or with the account of d'Albertis's 

 expedition to the Fly Biver. Frobably no 

 similar area of land surface has ever yielded, 

 on superficial examination, such a wealth of 

 unique living organisms and striking biolog- 

 ical problems. We have reason to know that 

 all of the early work in these regions has been 

 in the nature of pioneer reconnaisance — the 

 breaking of trails — and that the field as a 

 whole is to-day as near a virgin field as any 

 remaining on earth. 



It is doubtful if the geography of any other 

 similarly extensive region of earth is so un- 

 familiar to Americans as that of the Malay 

 Feninsula Begion, and the Malay Archipelago. 

 When we speak of the Sunda Group, the 

 Moluccas, or even the large and important 

 Islands of Celebes, Gilolo, Ceram, or Bouru, 

 Americans commonly have but dim idea of 

 their location. And how many Americans know 

 the difference between Macassar and Malacca, 

 or Sulu and Sula? Yet this whole region, 

 including the Bhilippines, extends from 2 

 degrees north to 10 degrees south, for a dis- 

 tance of some 2,300 miles, and more than 

 2,000 miles from east to west. Its northern- 

 most limit falls in the latitude of Mexico City, 

 Santiago de Cuba and Bombay. Its southern- 

 most limit falls in the latitude of Central 



i Letter addressed to Dr. David Starr Jordan. 



