894 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1068 



greatly improved. Miss Ellen B. Scripps has 

 announced to the regents of the University of 

 California her intention to give to the univer- 

 sity during the next two years $100,000 for 

 further equipment. 



A concrete pier a thousand feet in length 

 vfill be built, at which can lie the Alexander 

 Agassiz, the sea-going vessel owned by the in- 

 stitution and used exclusively for its work. 

 Additional aquarium facilities will be pro- 

 vided, all planned to be useful for scientific 

 purposes, but in part to be available for public 

 educational objects. A salt-water pumping 

 plant and settling basin are also to be pro- 

 vided, and living quarters for a group of scien- 

 tific assistants, graduate students, etc. 



The Scripps Institution has a site of 177 

 acres, with a half mile of ocean frontage, well- 

 equipped laboratories, residences for the scien- 

 tific stafF, a good working library, and excel- 

 lent equipment. The land was given by the 

 city of San Diego, while for the most part the 

 other equipment has come by the gift of Miss 

 Scripps, who has created also an endowment 

 of $150,000 for its work. The state of Cali- 

 fornia gives to the University of California 

 $7,500 per annum as a contribution toward the 

 work of the institution, and Director William 

 E. Eitter and his staff give their whole time to 

 the research work. It is much resorted to also 

 by visiting investigators and special facilities 

 are arranged every summer for competent 

 graduate students. 



' SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



The Albert medal of the Eoyal Society of 

 Arts for the current year has been awarded to 

 Sir J. J. Thomson, for his researches in phys- 

 ics and chemistry, and their application to the 

 advancement of arts, manufactures and com- 

 merce. 



The gold medal of the first class of the 

 Panama-Pacific Exposition has been awarded 

 to Mr. Thomas A. Edison, for his storage bat- 

 tery. 



Dr. Simon Elexner, director of medical re- 

 search of the Rockefeller Institute, has been 

 given the honorary degree of LL.D. by the 

 University of Maryland. 



The University of Maine has conferred its 

 doctorate of laws on Professor E. F. Ladd, 

 professor of chemistry in the North Dakota 

 College and food commissioner of the state. 



A COMPLIMENTARY dinner was given at the 

 Harvard Club of Boston on the evening of 

 June 2 to Dr. Theobald Smith, who has re- 

 signed the George Fabyan professorship of 

 comparative pathology in Harvard University 

 to take charge of the department of animal 

 pathology in the Rockefeller Institute. About 

 200 men, many of whom are prominent in the 

 scientific world, were present, and President 

 Lowell, who presided, said he had received a 

 great number of letters and telegrams from all 

 parts of the world. The speakers at the din- 

 ner were: Dr. Frederick C. Shattuck; Dr. 

 William S. Thayer, of the Johns Hopkins 

 University; Dr. Simon Flexner, of the Rocke- 

 feller Institute; President Emeritus Charles 

 W. Eliot; Dr. William H. Welch, of the Johns 

 Hopkins University; Dr. E. H. Bradford, dean 

 of the Harvard Medical School, and Dr. 

 Smith. 



As the coming commencement at Amherst 

 College marks the fiftieth anniversary of Pro- 

 fessor B. K. Emerson's graduation from the 

 college and the forty-fifth year of his work as 

 a teacher, the forthcoming number of the 

 Amherst Graduates' Quarterly will contain an 

 editorial in appreciation of his work in geol- 

 ogy. The article will be illustrated with a 

 portrait of Professor Emerson, and with views 

 of the old and new geological lecture rooms in 

 which most of his college instruction has been 

 conducted. 



A TESTIMONIAL dinner was given, on June 3, 

 in honor of Dr. Francis Clifford Phillips and 

 Mrs. Phillips at the German Club, Pittsburgh, 

 Pa., by one hundred former students and 

 friends who desired to show their love and es- 

 teem upon the occasion of Dr. Phillips's retire- 

 ment from active service as professor of chem- 

 istry in the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. 

 Phillips, who is well known professionally be- 

 cause of his contribiitions to the chemistry of 

 gases and his active participation in the in- 

 terests of the American Chemical Society, has 

 occupied the chair of chemistry at Pittsburgh 



