768 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 49. 



by experiments on plants of the same spe- 

 cies grown at high and low levels, and on 

 minute observations of modifications of 

 structure at high levels, the subject assumes 

 a decidedly botanical flavor. Botanists as 

 well as geographers will therefore find in- 

 teresting matter in Bonnier's account of 

 his gardens in the Alps and the Pyrenees, 

 where for some j^ears past he has cultivated 

 plants taken from lower lands. The figures 

 illustrating the difference between plants 

 grown ft"om two parts of a single rootstock, 

 one in the Alps, the other in the lowlands, 

 are particularly instructive from the re- 

 markable modifications of the normal form 

 produced by the Alpine habitat. 



W. M. Davis. 

 Haevaed Univeesity. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



We are extremely glad to state that the re- 

 port of the death of Dr. George M. Dawson, 

 quoted in the last issue of this journal from the 

 Loudon Standard, was false. It was due to con- 

 fusing the cable dispatch announcing the death 

 of Dr. George Lawson. Nature states, in its 

 issue of November 21st, "after a part of last 

 week's issue of Nature had been printed oif, 

 containing a note announcing the death of 

 Dr. George Dawson, we were rejoiced to be 

 able to stop the press and cancel it, as a cable- 

 gram contradicted the rumor. ' ' We also should 

 have been able to contradict the accounts con- 

 tained in the English papers, had we not been 

 compelled to go to press one day earlier than 

 usual owing to the Thanksgiving holiday. 



The administrative council of the Pasteur In- 

 stitute, at a recent meeting, presided over byM. 

 Bertrand, permanent secretary of the Academic 

 des Sciences, decided to appoint a subscription 

 committee, with a view to the erection of an in- 

 ternational monument to perpetuate the mem- 

 ory of Louis Pasteur. 



The first meeting of the General Commit- 

 tee of the Huxley Memorial was called for 

 Wednesday, November 27th, in the Museum 

 of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street, his Grace 

 the Duke of Devonshire, Lord President of the 



Council, in the chair. Resolutions with respect 

 to the form of the memorial were to be sub- 

 mitted to the meeting. 



A MEETING of the Council of the Royal So- 

 ciety on December 12th will be devoted to the 

 discussion of the question of Antarctic research. 

 The discussion will be opened by Dr. John 

 Murray, who will be followed by other special- 

 ists, each dealing with his own particular branch 

 of science. It is expected that the Council will en- 

 dorse the report of the Society's Antarctic Com- 

 mittee, urging the necessity for the resumption 

 of Antarctic exploration by means of an ade- 

 quately equipped Government expedition. It 

 is stated that a well equipped German expedi- 

 tion to the Antarctic continent is now being 

 prepared. 



SiE Joseph Listee has been nominated by 

 the retiring president and council for election 

 as president of the Royal Society. The election 

 will take place at the anniversary meeting on 

 November 30th. Prof Michael Foster has been 

 nominated for reelection as one of the secre- 

 taries. 



Calveet Vaux, the landscape architect, was 

 drowned on November 20th. He was born in 

 Loudon about 71 years ago and came to Amer- 

 ica at the age of twenty-four to become the 

 partner of A. J. Downing. He planned many 

 of the most important parks in America, and 

 New York City is especially indebted to him 

 for the design of Central Park and for his long 

 and able service in the Department of Parks. 



The health committee of the Glasgow Town 

 Council has decided to establish and equip a com- 

 plete bacteriological department in the sanitary 

 buildings now in course of erection. The lab- 

 oratory is to be iu charge of an expert in bac- 

 teriology. 



A. M. Villon died on November 4th, of ty- 

 phoid fever, at the age of twenty-eight. He was 

 the author of ' Dictiouaire de chimie industri- 

 elle' (in course of publication at the time of his 

 death) and other works and editor of ' La revue 

 de chimie industrielle.' 



M.de Bbenadi)j;res reported to the Paris Aca- 

 demy of Sciences on November 11th that with 

 the cooperation of the ministers of the marine 

 seven expeditious had been sent out witli a view 



