452 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 40. 



in Cornell University, was recently an- 

 nounced, died on September 23d, of typhoid 

 fever, on his arrival from Germany. The 

 ISTew York Tribune gives the following par- 

 ticulars concerning his life: Ernst Eitter 

 was born at Waltershausen, Germany, on 

 Januarj' 9th, 1867. He spent twelve years at 

 the gymnasium at Gotha, and afterwards 

 studied mathematics and natural science 

 under Thomas, at Jena, and under Klein and 

 Schwartz, at Gottingen. In 1890 he passed 

 the government teacher's examination with 

 the highest distinction, after two years of 

 pedagogical work at Cassel, and at the 

 Wohlerschule in Frankfurt. He took the 

 degree of Ph. D., smnina cum laude, at Got- 

 tingen in 1892. In 1893 he was appointed 

 assistant to Professor Klein, and began to 

 devote his entire time to mathematics, con- 

 tributing regularly to mathematical peri- 

 odicals. Last year he lectured on geom- 

 etry and the theory of automorphic func- 

 tions, in which he was an authority. He 

 was appointed to his Cornell professorship 

 last June. 



The death is announced of Samuel C. 

 Booth, mineralogist and naturalist. Mr. 

 Booth began life as a poor farmer, but at 

 the age of fifty years had gained a compe- 

 tency. He spent, however, much time in 

 scientific study and became recognized as 

 an authority in his chosen branches, and 

 was able to leave behind much valuable in- 

 formation on scientific subjects, and a col- 

 lection of rare minerals. 



The Institute of France has appointed a 

 large and influential committee to further 

 the object of erecting a statue of Lavoisier 

 at Paris. It has been decided to make the 

 memorial international and the committee 

 have issued a circular asking help from all 

 who wish to do honor to the memory of the 

 great chemist. 



The Danish Academy of Sciences offers 

 five prizes for papers which must be pre- 



sented before the end of October, 1896, to 

 Secretary of the Academy, Prof. G. H. 

 Zeuthen, Copenhagen. The subjects are as 

 follows: (1) The Electi-olysis of Organic 

 Substances; the gold medal of the Academy 

 valued at 320 kr. (2) Algebraic Equations 

 with their Numerical CoefiBcients in Eela- 

 tion to the Abel Equations; the gold medal 

 of the Academy. (3) Field Mice and their 

 Food ; prize of 400 kr. (4) The Physical 

 Constitution of Cultivated Earth ; prize of 

 600 kr. (5) The bactei-iological products 

 in sour milk ; prize of 400 kr. 



La Societe de Medecine Publique et 

 d'Hj'giene Professionelle, according to an 

 announcement in the British Medical 

 Journal, offers a prize for an essay on 

 the following subject: 'Preventable Dis- 

 eases: Means of Preserving Oneself from 

 them and Preventing their Diffusion.' 

 The prize is open to competitors of 

 all nationalities. The essays, which must 

 be written in French, must be sent in — 

 with the usual precautions as to anonymity 

 — before October 10th, to M. Cheysson, 115 

 Boulevard St. Germain, Paris. The first 

 prize is of the value of £48, the second of 

 £32. The sum of £20 will be distributed 

 among ' honorable mentions.' 



Professor Hallock writes that, in the 

 list of colors given in the abstract of J. H. 

 Pillsburj^'s paper on page 353, green should 

 be inserted, making the colors: red, orange, 

 yellow, green, blue and violet, with black 

 and white. 



The Third South African Medical Con- 

 gress was held at Durban from July 12th 

 to 19th. 



It is reported that news has been received 

 from a Danish trading station that a three- 

 masted ship corresponding to Dr. Nansen's 

 vessel, the ' Fram,' was seen bj' Eskimos 

 last July embedded in an ice drift, and 

 somewhat to the southward of 66° N. lati- 

 tude. 



