344 
kola trees, which should be a source of future 
wealth to the colony, as the kola nut seems to 
be almost an essential stimulant to every 
Hausa, and it is at present imported at great 
expense from Ashanti, where it is indigenous. 
The members of the expedition suffered from 
the usual malarial fever, but fortunately not to 
such an extent as to incapacitate them from 
much useful scientific work. 
A RECENT issue of the British Medical Journal 
gives an abstract of the report of the Principal 
Chemist of the Government Laboratory for the 
year ending March 31, 1899, which has been is- 
sued as a Parliamentary paper. The number of 
samples of butter examined was 1,083, and only 
two were reported adulterated, as against 25 
last year and 46 the year before. Experiments 
made at Wye and in the laboratory are held to 
have proved beyond doubt that the character- 
istic constituent of cotton-seed oil passes into 
the milk of cows fed upon cotton cake. Cer- 
tain samples of butter examined during the 
year gave reactions for cottonseed oil, 
but the amount indicated was held to be 
not more than might be due to feeding on 
eotton cake. The Danish and Scandinavian 
butters examined were entirely free from boric 
preservatives, but those from France, Holland, 
Australia and New Zealand contained such 
preservatives. The use of coloring matters de- 
rived from coal tar seems to be most prevalent 
in the United States, but is also met with in 
samples from Holland. The majority of the 
margarines contained cotton-seed oil, boric 
preservative and aniline coloring matters. 
Samples of cream imported from Holland, Den- 
mark, Norway and Sweden were examined at 
the instance of the Local Government Board, 
and all found to be genuine. The laboratory 
also made a number of analyses in connection 
with the Home Office inquiries into the use of 
lead in pottery manufacture, and phosphorus in 
the manufacture of lucifer matches. Among 
the samples of food substances from various 
canteens examined for the War Department 
many proved to be of low quality. A number 
of medicinal preparations were examined for 
the Army Medical Department, and in several 
instances were found to be markedly inferior to 
the standards of the British Pharmacopeia. 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Von. X. No. 245. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 
THE late Madame Halfon has bequeathed 
£1,600 to University College, London, for the 
foundation of two prizes. 
A DINNER will be held at the end of Novem- 
ber in aid of the fund to provide new labora- 
tories for King’s College, London. The Hon. 
A. J. Balfour will preside. 
THE chair of botany at Yale University held 
by the late Daniel C. Eaton is hereafter to be 
known as the Eaton professorship of botany. 
The chair was endowed for Professor Eaton, but 
we believe not largely, and it is to be hoped that 
the corporation will appropriate the funds nec- 
essary to secure the services of a representative 
botanist. 
Proressor W. M. WHEELER, assistant pro- 
fessor of embryology in the University of Chi- 
cago, has been elected professor of zoology in 
the University of Texas. His address after 
September 15th will be Austin, Texas. 
ProFEssOR J. L. KELLOGG, of Olivet College, 
Michigan, has been elected assistant professor 
of biology at Williams College, Williamstown, 
Mass. 
ARTHUR ST. C. DusTAN, associate professor of 
physics, University of Kansas, has been elected 
professor of physics and electrical engineering 
in the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn, 
Ala., in the place of Professor A. F. McKissick, 
who has resigned. 
WALTER W. Davis, of the Psychological 
Laboratory of Yale University, has been ap- 
pointed professor of physical culture and Di- 
rector of the Gymnasium at Grinnell College, 
Iowa. 
Dr. RICHARD STOERNER, docent in chemis- 
try in the University at Rostock, has been pro- 
moted to an assistant professorship. 
THE following have qualified as docents 
in German universities: Dr. Behn, in physics 
in the University of Berlin; Dr. Neumann, in 
applied mathematics, and Dr. Grassmann, in 
mathematics in the University at Halle ; Dr. 
VY. Schmeidler, in physics, and Dr. Figdor, in 
plant anatomy and physiology, in the Univer- 
sity of Vienna. " 
