848 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 51. 



The Third Annual Congress of Teachers of 

 Chemistry will be held in the Kent Chemical 

 Laboratory of the University of Chicago, on 

 Monday, December 30, at 2:00 P. M., and on 

 Tuesday, December 31, at 9:00 A. M. The 

 following subjects will come up for discussion 

 in the order named : (1) Report of committee 

 (Messrs. Freer, Noyes and A. Smith) on 

 reasons why the study of physics should precede 

 that of chemistry in the high schools. (2) Ee- 

 port of committee (Messrs. Freer, Swan and 

 Linebarger) on a detailed outline of study of 

 chemistry for the secondary and high schools. 



(3) Which method — the lecture, or the text-book 

 system — is, on the whole, the most advantageous 

 to use in teaching chemistry in the colleges? 



(4) Mendelejeifs periodic law ; its place and its 

 function in an elementary (say one year's course) 

 in chemistry? (5) To what extent should 

 physical chemistry be introduced into a course 

 in college general chemistry? There will be 

 no set papers read and the discussion will be 

 entirely informal. Every teacher of chemistry 

 in a high school or a college will be welcome 

 and is invited to be present, no special invita- 

 tion being necessary. 



The Astronomischen Gesellschaft has decided, 

 because of the expense connected therewith, no 

 longer to maintain a library. The announce- 

 ment is made that the Society does not desire to 

 receive any publications in the future and that, 

 with the completion of the 30th year of the 

 Vierteljahresschrift, no exchanges with other 

 scientific bodies will be continued. 



During the winter of 1876-77, the cormor- 

 ants of the Commander Islands, Phlacrocorax 

 pelagicus, were almost exterminated by an epi- 

 demic, dying in such numbers that the beach 

 was strewn with thousands of dead birds. They 

 recovered ft'om this and by 1882 were again 

 abundant, although by no means as plentiful as 

 before. Dr. Stejneger reports that the species 

 has again suffered from the ravages of disease 

 and the cormorants are now exceedingly rare 

 where they formerly abounded. 



The U. S. Geological Survey, and its ofiicers, 

 were awarded several gold medals and as many 

 diplomas at the Atlanta Exposition, for the in- 

 structive, interesting and admirably installed 



exhibits that it placed there. There is a grand 

 prize and a gold medal for the exhibit of relief 

 maps, etc., a medal and diploma for the Chief 

 Chemist of the Survey, Prof. F. W. Clarke, in . 

 ' grateful recognition ' of his services in the in- 

 stallation of various exhibits, and a grand prize 

 and gold medal to Dr. D. T. Day, of the Survey 

 staff, for a study and exhibit, made with the 

 cooperation of the Exposition Company, of the 

 mineral resources of the South. 



A MARK of the high esteem in which the work 

 of the Geological Survey is held abroad has 

 just been received by the Director. The recent 

 Exposition of Mining and Metallurgy, held at 

 Santiago, Chili, awarded the Survey the first 

 premium for the Geologic Atlas of the United 

 States and a collection of its publications. 

 The maps and reports referred to constituted 

 virtually the whole exhibit of the Survey at 

 Santiago. 



A NEW Russian medical journal, Ruschisches 

 Archiv filr Pathologie, Clinische Medezin und Bac- 

 teriologie, will be published monthly after Jan- 

 uary next. It will be edited by Prof. W. W. 

 Podevyssotzky, of Kieflf. 



The Secretary of the Royal Malacological 

 Society of Belgium, Prof. Hugo de Cort, 47 Rue 

 Veydt, writes us that he wishes to arrange ex- 

 changes of Belgian for foreign shells. 



The eleventh annual meeting of the Indiana 

 Academy of Sciences will be held in Indian- 

 apolis on Friday and Saturday, December 27th 

 and 28th. The State has undertaken the pub- 

 lication of the proceedings of the Academy. 



It is expected that the Astronomical Observ- 

 atory of the University of Berlin will be re- 

 moved to Dahlem, to which suburb, as recently 

 stated in this journal, it is proposed to remove 

 the Botanical Garden. 



Suegeon-Majoe Dobson, F. R. S., died on 

 November *26th, at West Mailing. He was the 

 author of numerous original researches in Zo- 

 ology and comparative Anatomy. 



The Argentine Medical Club of Buenos Ayres 

 offers three prizes, the first of $300 for re- 

 searches in bacteriology, to be presented before 

 May 31, 1897. The prizes are offered to honor 

 the memory of Pasteur. 



