162 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 32. 



laws absolutelj' protecting useful birds. 

 They are to be neither killed nor taken 

 alive under any circumstances. 



According to TJie Lancet the number of 

 cases treated gratuitously in the London 

 clinics rose from about two and a-half mill- 

 ions in 1890 to more than four millions in 

 1894. 



As FAE as can be judged from the cable 

 dispatches, the topic which attracted 

 most attention at the International Geog- 

 raphical Congress was polar exj)loration. 

 A resolution was passed affirming that the 

 greatest geographical exploration yet to be 

 undertaken was to be pursued in Antarctic 

 fields, in view of great additions to geog- 

 raphical knowledge which must result from 

 such exploration. It was therefore recom- 

 mended that the assembled scientific soci- 

 eties throughout the world urge in what- 

 ever way seems to them most effective that 

 this work be undertaken before the close of 

 the century. The Congress adopted the reso- 

 lution of the Vice-Presidents recommending 

 Berlin as the place for the meeting of 1896. 



Prof. S. J. Brown, of the United States 

 N"aval Observatory, has been sent on a 

 mission with instructions to visit the obser- 

 vatories at Greenwich, Paris and Berlin, 

 and report to the de2)artment on their oper- 

 ations and administration. 



It is proposed to erect a statue of the 

 anatomist Corydon L. Ford, on the campus 

 of the University of Michigan. Subscrip- 

 tions are invited for this purpose, which 

 may be sent to Dr. C. E. Stroud, Sandusky, 

 Ohio. 



The revised edition of von Helmholtz's 

 great work, ' Handbuchder physiologischen 

 Optik,' is now a^jproachiug completion, the 

 12th part having just been issued. The 

 publication of the new edition was begun in 

 1885, but proceeded slowly, vou Helmholtz 

 being occupied with other work. The 

 eighth part was issued in 1894, but since 



the death of von Helmholtz four parts have 

 been published under the editorship of Prof. 

 Arthur Konig. The part now issued con- 

 tains sections on binocular ^ision, on rivalry 

 of the fields of vision and the beginning of 

 a discussion on the psychological theories of 

 binocular vision. 



Mr. John K. Hillees, photographer of 

 the Geological Survej^, has prepared, under 

 the supervision of Mr. Charles D. Walcott, 

 Director of the Survey, a collection of pho- 

 tographic transparencies for the Atlanta 

 Exposition. 



A NUMBER of transfers and promotions 

 have been made in the Weather Bureau by 

 order of Secretary Morton, among which 

 we may note that Edward E. Gerriot has 

 been placed in charge of the Station at Chi- 

 cago with a salary of $2,500 per annum, 

 succeeding Willis N. Moore, now Chief of 

 theWeather Bureau, and that Mr. Alexander 

 McAdie has been transferred from Washing- 

 ton to San Francisco. 



Hie Literary Digest is doing excellent 

 work in the popularization of science by 

 publishing each week four pages which con- 

 tain abstracts and quotations, selected and 

 edited with much skill, in reference to the 

 more generally interesting aspects of sci- 

 entific progress. 



According to the Washington Star a new 

 departure has been made in the publication 

 work of the Agricultural Department. 

 Hereafter it will call upon specialists in 

 certain lines of agricultural work, though 

 not connected with the office, to make in- 

 vestigations of importance to agricultural 

 interests and to prepare brief papers or 

 articles embracing the results of the work. 

 These wiU be paid for at rates which the 

 Department regards as reasonable, the funds 

 being provided for in the Congressional ap- 

 propriations. Many persons well known 

 here and abroad Avill be asked to contrib- 

 ute. 



