JULY 21, 1899. ] 
sioners of her Majesty’s Treasury to inform you 
that the First Lord has laid before the Board 
the memorial signed by your lordship as Presi- 
dent of the Royal Society, by the President of 
the Royal Geographical Society and by other dis- 
tinguished representatives of various branches 
of science, by which memorial application is 
made for a government grant in aid of the ex- 
pedition now being organized by the Royal So- 
ciety and the Royal Geographical Society for 
the exploration of the Antarctic regions. This 
application has received the careful considera- 
tion of her Majesty’s government, and I am 
directed to inform you that they are prepared 
to ask Parliament for grants amounting, in all, 
to £45,000 towards the expense of the proposed 
expedition, provided you are able to assure 
them that no less than equal amounts will be 
forthcoming from other sources, so as to enable 
the scheme to be efficiently carried out. 
In making this announcement I am to call 
attention to the latter part of the speech of the 
First Lord to the deputation which waited on 
him on this subject, as indicating that her Maj- 
esty’s government must not be regarded, in 
making this promise, as inaugurating a new era 
of more extensive grants than formerly from 
the Exchequer in aid of scientific enterprises. 
Rather, it is to be understood that the very ex- 
ceptional importance of the present scheme, so 
strongly represented by the deputation, is being 
recognized by the promise of a special grant. 
At the present time it is only necessary to add 
that the applications to Parliament for instal- 
ments of the grant will be spread over four 
years, of which 1900-1901 will be the first. 
ALTHOUGH the Paris municipality voted to 
dismiss M. Bertillon from the Anthropometric 
Bureau on account of his testimony in the Drey- 
fus case, the Prefect of Police maintains that 
this ought not to affect his position as a muni- 
cipal officer, and it is understood that the reso- 
lution will not take effect. 
THE anti-vivisection people are arranging an 
exhibit for the Paris exposition. From a booth 
documents will be distributed and petitions 
circulated. It has been proposed to exhibit in- 
struments used in vivisection and models of 
animals under vivisection. 
SCIENCE. 
93 
A DINNER was given by the Folk-lore So- 
ciety of Great Britain on June 26th, in honor 
of Professor Frederick Starr, of the Uni- 
versity of Chicago. The London Times states 
that Mr. E. S. Hartland, Chairman of the So- 
ciety, presided, and among others present were 
Mr. Bryce, M.P., Mr. Andrew Lang, Miss 
Kingsley, Sir R. Temple, Professor Rhys 
Davids, Professor and Mrs. Haddon, Mr. Ed- 
ward Clodd and Professor Ridgway. The 
toasts ‘The Queen’ and ‘ The President of the 
United States’ having been honored, Mr. Lang 
proposed the health of the guest of the evening. 
Professor Starr, he said, had conducted several 
expeditions into the heart of Mexico. He con- 
gratulated the University of Chicago on its pos- 
session of a professor of anthropology. He con- 
fessed that the University of St. Andrews had 
never yet had a professor of anthropology and 
was not likely to have one, though Chicago was 
not founded, like St. Andrews, in the interests 
of culture. No saint ever dwelt there, so far as 
he knew, and its University was not the original 
center of the city. Chicago, had, however, 
‘taken hold of’ culture, and one of the indica- 
tions of its intention to do so thoroughly was its 
possession of Mr. Starr as a professor of anthro- 
pology. He concluded by proposing the toast 
with Highland honors, which were duly ac- 
corded, amid considerable laughter at the com- 
plete incongruity of the preceedings. The 
chairman announced that the committee of the 
Folk-lore Society had unanimously elected Pro- 
fessor Starr as honorary member of the Society, 
and had resolved to ask his acceptance of a set 
of the Society’s publications. Professor Starr 
responded, expressing his high appreciation of 
the honor that had been accorded him. Mr. 
Clodd proposed ‘Our Kindred Societies,’ Pro- 
fessor Haddon replying for the Royal Society 
and Mr. C. H. Read for the Society of Anti- 
quaries and the Anthropological Institute. ‘The 
Folk-lore Society’ was proposed by Sir Richard 
Temple; the Chairman, Mr. Alfred Nutt, re- 
sponding. During the evening Mrs. Kate Lee, 
Hon. Secretary of the Folk-song Society, sang 
some folk-songs which she had recently col- 
lected. 
THE second of the receptions held annually 
by the Royal Society took place on June 21st. 
