370 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 925 



chief of the City Hospital, Frankfort, Ger- 

 many, a course on pathology and treatment of 

 diabetes, radium therapy and arteriosclerosis, 

 October 28-31 inclusive.. 



The Eev. Egbert Ashington Bullen, the 

 well-known English naturalist, died on August 

 15, aged sixty-two years. 



Me. Clinton Thomas Bent, a distinguished 

 British surgeon, known also for explorations 

 in the Caucasus and elsewhere, died on Au- 

 gust 26, aged sixty-one years. 



Dr. Fritz Kotter, professor of applied 

 mathematics at the Berlin Technological In- 

 stitute, died on August 17, aged sixty-one 

 years. 



Dr. Eudolf Hornes, professor of geology 

 at Gratz, died on August 20, aged sixty-two 

 years. 



The fourth National Conservation Con- 

 gress will be held at Indianapolis on October 

 1, 2, 3 and 4, under the presidency of Mr. J. 

 B. White, of Kansas City, Mo. 



The late Mr. Allan Octavian Hume, known 

 as an ornithologist and botanist, bequeathed 

 about £14,000 to the South London Botanical 

 Institute, to which in 1907 he gave £10,000. 



The late Professor Lombroso offered every 

 second year in connection with the Archiv 

 d'Anthropologia Crimincle a prize of Fr. 500 

 for the best work in connection with criminal 

 anthropology. His family have now offered 

 to the organization committee of the Eighth 

 International Congress of Criminal Anthro- 

 pology a prize of Fr. 1,000 for the best work 

 reported to the congress which is to be held 

 in Budapest in the summer of 1914. 



A DESPATCH received from the American 

 ambassador to Brazil relative to the approach- 

 ing eclipse of the sun (October 10 next), 

 which will be visible in that country states 

 that : " The Brazilian minister of agriculture, 

 desirous of assisting the foreign astronomical 

 expeditions which propose to observe the 

 eclipse, has petitioned the federal congress 

 to appropriate $23,000 for their reception and 

 entertainment. He has also requested that 

 their professional instruments and private 



effects may be granted the privilege of free 

 customs entry, that repairs to their instru- 

 ments may be made in government workshops 

 and that railroad passes and telegraphic 

 franks may be given them. It is probable 

 that the federal congress will act favorably 

 upon the minister's petition, which has al- 

 ready received the endorsement of the 

 executive." 



The sundry civil bill, as passed by the last 

 session of congress, contained an appropria- 

 tion of $1,440,520 for the U. S. Geological 

 Survey. Most of the appropriations for the 

 survey are included in this great government 

 supply bill, but in addition to the above 

 amount $37,400 was appropriated in the 

 " legislative bill," for rents, so that the total 

 amount appropriated is $1,477,920. The prin- 

 cipal items in the appropriations for the 

 Geological Survey for the fiscal year ending 

 June 30, 1913, are as follows: 



Topographic surveys $350,000 



Geologic surveys 300,000 



Mineral resources of Alaska 90,000 



Mineral resources of the United States 75,000 



Chemical and physical researches 40,000 



Geological maps of the United States . 110,000 



Gauging streams, etc 150,000 



Surveying national forests 75,000 



The bill also appropriates $145,000 for print- 

 ing and binding survey reports, to be expended 

 by the public printer. 



A REMARKABLE deposit of remains of extinct 

 animals is now to be explored by the Univer- 

 sity of California. This is the fossil beds in 

 the Eancho La Brea, in the outskirts of Los 

 Angeles. There oil has oozed to the surface, 

 and in the tar pools so formed animals have 

 become mired and have lost their lives, and 

 their skeletons, even to the most fragile por- 

 tions, have been preserved- Madam Ida Han- 

 cock Eoss, the owner of the Eancho La Brea, 

 has given to the university the privilege of 

 excavating these fossil beds, and work has 

 just begun, under the direction of Dr. John 

 Campbell Merriam, professor of paleontology 

 and historical geology. 



