804 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 50. 



A STATUE in honor of Pasteur will be erected 

 at Melun, near Fontainebleau, to commemorate 

 his experiments in vaccinating sheep suffering 

 from anthrax, which were first made in that 

 district. 



The great Bruce photographic telescope hav- 

 ing been tested at the Harvard Observatory 

 will shortly be forwarded to the branch of 

 the observatory in Arequipa, Peru. It will be 

 taken by a steamship from New York to Mo- 

 lendo, whence it must be transported a distance 

 of about 75 miles by rail and 3 miles by road, 

 which latter causes the most serious difficulties. 

 It is proposed to undertake systematic series of 

 photographs of the heavens, which, owing to the 

 great power of the instrument and its favorable 

 position in the southern hemisphere, will un- 

 doubtedly yield results of much scientific im- 

 portance. 



During the month of December the presi- 

 dents of the "Washington Scientific Societies de- 

 liver the annual addresses which are as follows: 

 The Philosophical Society, ' Alaska as it was 

 and is, 1865-95,' W. H. Dall; The Geological 

 Society, 'The Origin of Hypotheses,' G. K. 

 Gilbert ; The Biological Society, ' The Prac- 

 tical Results of Bacteriological Researches,' 

 Oeorge M. Sternberg ; The Entomological 

 Society, ' On the Phylogeny of Hymenoptera, ' 

 William H. Ashmead. 



It is reported that Prof Dyche, of Kansas 

 University has practically decided to make 

 another trip to the Arctic Ocean, having re- 

 ceived an offer of assistance from a source 

 which he declines to name. His plan is to fol- 

 low the west coast of Greenland, and then at- 

 tempt to reach the pole by sledge or boat. 



Dr. Eugene Dubois exhibited before the 

 Anthropological Society of London on Novem- 

 ber 25th the remains which he has named Pithec- 

 anthropus erectus. In the discussion which 

 followed. Sir W. H. Flower said that the frag- 

 ments were so few that the essential point of 

 difference between the human and the authro- 

 poid forms could not with certainty be defined, 

 but it showed more tendencies to the man side 

 than any other remains he had ever seen. 



Mr. Robert T. Hill, Geologist U. S. Geo- 

 logical Survey, will deliver, in the Catholic Uni- 



versity of Washington, seven lectures on Gen- 

 eral Geology, illustrated by the lecturer's re- 

 searches in the United States, Mexico and Cen- 

 tral America. The subjects are as follows : 



December 5th. — ' Modern Objects and Methods of 

 Geologic Research.' 



December 12th. — ' Origin of Topographic Form.' 



December 19th. — ' Migrations of Land and Sea, as 

 Exemplified in the Geologic History of the Gulf of 

 Mexico. ' 



January 9th. — ' Tlie Mountain Systems of America. ' 



January 16th. — ' The Great Plains and Basins of 

 the Western Hemisphere. ' 



January 23d. — ' The Relation of Geology to Civili- 

 zation.' 



January 30th. — 'Future of Geologic Eesearch in 

 the Americas. ' 



It is stated that Pasteur's will reads as fol- 

 lows : ' ' This is my testament. I leave to my 

 wife all that the law allows me. May my chil- 

 dren never forsake the path of duty, and always 

 cherish for their mother the tenderness she so 

 richly merits. L. Pasteur." 



Dr. D. G. Brinton and Dr. William Pepper 

 have been nominated for the vacancy of vice- 

 president of the American Philosophical Society 

 caused by the recent death of Dr. W. S. W. 

 Ruschenberger. Dr. Persifor Frazer and Mr. 

 Patterson DuBois have been nominated for the 

 secretaryship, vacant through the death of 

 Henry Phillips, Jr. The elections take place in 

 January and are exciting much interest in 

 members of the Society. 



The Columbia University Press is shortly to 

 publish an 'Atlas of Nerve Cells,' by Prof. M. 

 Allen Starr, professor of diseases of the mind 

 and nervous system in the College of Physicians 

 and Surgeons. The illustrations were prepared 

 with the assistance of Dr. O. S. Strong and Dr. 

 Edward Leaming. 



The New York Evening Post states that the 

 Perrine comet has been observed at the Yale 

 observatory, and an attempt to photograph it 

 was unsuccessful. It was rapidly approaching 

 the sun with slight signs, if any, of a nucleus, 

 appearing as about a star of the fifth magnitude, 

 distinctly visible through an opera glass and 

 almost visible to the naked eye. Since then 

 the brightness of the moon has interfered with 



