890 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. n. No. 52. 



greater care in selection, however, not only can 

 tlie duration of the supply be extended, but 

 more satisfactory results will accrue from its 

 use." 



GENERAL. 



The Results of the motocycle contest pro- 

 moted by the Times-Herald of Chicago are more 

 hopeful in promise than in performance. When 

 the prizes were oflered on July 11 there were 

 only known to be three self-driven road vehicles 

 in the United States, but there were about 

 seventy-five entries for the contest on Novem- 

 ber 2. As the time drew near, however, it be- 

 came evident that only a small part of the ve- 

 hicles would be ready. . The contest was conse- 

 quently postponed until November 28, but a 

 a purse of $500 was offered for a preliminary 

 race on November 2. The only tw-o wagons to 

 start were the Durea and the Benz-Miiller, both 

 gasolene motors, and only the latter completed 

 the course of 92 miles, which it accomplished 

 in 9 h., 30 min. On November 28, after snow 

 and on roads as bad as possible, six contestants 

 started, four with gasolene motors and two 

 with storage batteries, but only the two wagons 

 mentioned above completed the course. 



We learn from the American Naturalist that 

 the Australian Museum at Sydney still suffers 

 from small approj)riations by Parliament, and 

 during the year 1894 it was working with a 

 reduced staff and with practically no money for 

 increase or publication. Dr. Ramsay, owing 

 to ill health, has resigned his position as curator 

 after 20 years' service, but still retains a connec- 

 tion with the Museum. Mr. Robert Etheridge, 

 Jr. , has been appointed as his successor. The 

 total income for the year 1895 was about £6,000. 

 120,000 persons visited the museum during the 

 year, 34,000 coming on Sundays. Among the 

 most interesting additions to the museum were 

 a number. of relics of Capt. Cook, the list of 

 which would seem to indicate that this antipo- 

 dal museum has about as large a collection of 

 specimens collected by Capt. Cook and of me- 

 morials of him as has the museum at Oxford. 

 The museum has also received a considerable 

 collection of aboriginal pottery from Arkansas. 



Twenty-six fellows and foreign members of 

 the Royal Society died during the year preced- 



ing the recent anniversary meeting. It is per- 

 haps worthy of note that the average age of 

 these distinguished men of science at the time 

 of their death was 76.8 years, which is far 

 beyond the average. This is in part due to the 

 fact that members are not elected to the Royal 

 Society at an early age, but it indicates that 

 scientific pursuits are conducive to a long life. 

 Three members lived respectively to 95, 97 and 

 98, and eleven were over eighty years of age. 



Mr. M. S. Bebb, known for his researches 

 and publications upon American Willows, died 

 at San Bernadino, California, on December 5, 

 at the age of 62 years. Mr. Bebb had published 

 numerous and important papers on the genus 

 Salix, and was preparing a monograph on the 

 subject at the time of his death. 



We have received from Prof Elisee Reclus a 

 pamphlet describing his plan for the construc- 

 tion of a terrestrial globe on the scale of 1 : 

 100,000. This globe would have a circumfer- 

 ence of about 400 metres, and elevations of 1 

 kilometer would be represented by 1 centimeter. 

 It is proposed to cover the , globe with a second 

 globe for protection, this to be painted on the 

 outside so that the large features may be seen 

 at a distance. M. Reclus believes that such a 

 globe wovild promote geographical discovery 

 and topographical knowledge. It should be 

 erected in the neighborhood of London, New 

 York or Paris, and w'ould cost about $4,000,- 

 000 (!), apart from the details of the relief. 



Work is now being commenced for the first 

 time on the coal fields of Newfoundland. Cook 

 announced to the Royal Society as long ago as 

 1766 that he had discovered coal on the island, 

 and several workable seams of coal have been 

 discovered and explored by Mr. J. P. Howley, 

 director of the Geological Survey of Newfound- 

 land. Newfoundland has important copper 

 mines (it is eighth among the copper producing 

 countries of the world), iron mines, etc., and 

 the discovery of coal adds greatly to the pro- 

 ductiveness of the mines and manufactures of 

 the island. 



The Field Columbian Museum of Chicago 

 has issued the first number of a series of Botani- 

 cal Monographs (56 800 pp. and an index), 

 which is entitled ' Contribution to the Flora of 



