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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 936 



Ames, professor of physics in the Johns Hop- 

 kins University. 



Dr. F. a. Pax has been appointed curator 

 of the Zoological Museum of the University 

 of Breslau. 



Dr. Charles B. Davenport, director of the 

 Station for Experimental Evolution of the 

 Carnegie Institution, lectured upon " Heredity 

 and Eugenics " before the Syracuse Univer- 

 sity Chapter of Sigma Xi and invited guests, 

 on the evening of November 20. The chapter 

 is planning for a series of public scientific 

 addresses, of v^hich this was the first, to be 

 given during this college year. 



Professor H. J. Webber, of Cornell Uni- 

 versity, vffill give in April a lecture on 

 " Eugenics," for which Mrs. Huntington Wil- 

 son, of Washington, has given the university 

 the sum of $100. 



Dr. E. L. Thorndike, professor of genetic 

 psychology, Teachers College, Columbia Uni- 

 versity, has given lectures on " Man's Orig- 

 inal Nature," " Social Instincts " and other 

 subjects at the University of Michigan, North- 

 western University and the University of 

 Illinois. 



Mr. N. H. Darton, of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey, presented an illustrated lecture to 

 the New York Section of the American Insti- 

 tute of Mining Engineers at its November 

 meeting. The subject was Structure of the 

 Northern Anthracite Coal Basin relative to 

 forms of folds. A map was shown in which 

 the structure of the basin was represented by 

 100-foot contours. 



Arthur H. Blanchard, professor of high- 

 way engineering in Columbia University, on 

 November 25 delivered an address entitled 

 " The Art and Science of Highway Engineer- 

 ing " at the celebration of Founder's Day at 

 the Clarkson School of Technology. 



Dr. James Woods McLane, a distinguished 

 obstetrician, formerly dean of the College of 

 Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia Univer- 

 sity, died on November 25 at the age of 

 seventy-three years. 



Dr. Wilhelm Ebstein, professor of internal 

 medicine at the University of Gottingen from 

 1877 until 1906, died on October 22 at the age 

 of seventy-six years. 



The deaths are also announced of Professor 

 Franz Kamienski, director of the botanical 

 garden at Odessa, and of Dr. Arnoldo Minozzi, 

 professor of chemistry in the Technical Insti- 

 tute at Padua. 



Through the initiative of the medical de- 

 partment of the University of Pennsylvania 

 the Rush Society has been established for the 

 purpose of the diffusion by lectures of knowl- 

 edge concerning recent advances in the med- 

 ical and general biological sciences and in 

 public hygiene. The objects are similar to 

 those of the Harvey Society of New York. 

 It is proposed to present during each academic 

 year a program of not less than six or more 

 than eight lectures. The first lecture will be 

 given in January and arrangements are being 

 made for three others before May 1. The 

 program of lectures will be issued shortly. 

 Lectures by Professor Theodore 0. Janeway, 

 of Columbia University, and by Professor M. 

 J. Eosenau, of Harvard University, have al- 

 ready been arranged. At the meeting for 

 organization of the society held on November 

 21, the following officers were elected: Presi- 

 dent, Eichard M. Pearce; Vice-president, 

 Alfred Stengel; Secretary-treasurer, William 

 Pepper; Councilors, A. E. Taylor, A. C. Ab- 

 bott, H. H. Donaldson. 



The American Museum of Natural History 

 has received from Mr. D. C. Stapleton the 

 gift of valuable prehistoric objects in gold 

 and platinum from the province of Esmer- 

 aldas, Ecuador, and the headwaters of the 

 San Juan River, Colombia, and has placed 

 the collection on exhibition in the South 

 American gallery on the third floor. The 

 objects show examples of easting and beating, 

 of plating where copper has been covered with 

 thin gold, of the union of two pieces of gold 

 by welding and of the soldering of two minute 

 surfaces in such manner that it is difficult to 

 detect the solder. The objects in platinum 

 are of most interest, as it is not known that 



