OcToBER 20, 1899. ] 
Ira Remsen, Clifford Richardson, 8S. P. Sadtler ; 
Section V.—Sugar Industry, Edward Gude- 
man, W. D. Horne, G. L. Spencer, M. Swen- 
son, Edward B. Vorhees; Section VI.—Fer- 
mentations, C. A. Crampton, W. B. Rising, 
Alfred Springer; Section VII.—Agricultural 
Chemistry, Fertilizers, Cattle’ Feeding, Dairy, G. 
C. Caldwell, L. L. Van Slyke, H. W. Wiley ; 
Section VIII.—Hygiene, Medical and Pharma- 
ceutical Chemistry, W. O. Atwater, R. H. Chit- 
tenden, J. U. Lloyd, Wm. P. Mason, Wm. J. 
Schieffelin; Section IX.—Photography, C. F. 
Chandler, J. H. Stebbins, Jr., E. R. Hewitt ; 
Section X.—Electro-Chemistry, Elihu Thomson, 
Edgar F. Smith, Charles A. Doremus, Chair- 
man of the American committee. 
THE Twelfth Congress of Orientalists con- 
vened at Rome on October 4th, with about 400 
delegates in attendance. 
AT a meeting of the Trustees of New York 
Public Library on October 11th, the Director, 
Dr. John S. Billings submitted his annual re- 
port. The number of books received for the 
‘shelf department’ and catalogued in the year 
was 34,182, of which 16,994 were purchases and 
17,188 gifts. The Ford gift is estimated at 
about 100,000 volumes and pamphlets. The 
total volumes actually received was 55,593, and 
the pamphlets 101,698. On the shelves and 
available for use at the end of the year were 
459,248 volumes and about 117,000 pamphlets. 
The number of readers who visited the two 
buildings was 111,038. This is an increase of 
7,000 over the previous year. 
ACCORDING to Natural Science an interesting 
experiment is being made by the government of 
Bosnia and Herzegovina in connection with the 
subject of the migration of birds. A number of 
observatories are being established all over these 
two countries, on the coasts, plains, mountains, 
rivers and lakes—in fact, in every spot which 
seems likely to yield results of interest to those 
engaged in researches on bird migration. Under 
the auspices of the government of the two coun- 
tries named, a meeting of ornithologists was con- 
vened at Sarajevo from the 25th to the 29th 
of September, with a view to similar observa- 
tions conducted on uniform methods being in- 
stituted elsewhere. A report was presented on 
SCIENCE. 
583 
the bird life of the Balkan States, illustrated by 
a fine collection from those districts. 
BorTaNIsts should feel under obligations to us 
for calling their attention to the description of 
a new species, as it appeared in a daily paper 
where it might be overlooked. We regret that 
the n. sp. is not figured. The description is in 
the following paragraph from the London Daily 
Chronicle : 
The Pope takes great interest in an electric plant, 
to which he has given the name ‘Officina Electrica 
Vaticana Alessandro Volta,’ in honor of Volta. A 
few days ago his Holiness made a special inspection of 
these plants, and the employees of the Vatican gardens 
were presented to him hy the chief. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 
In fulfillment of the terms of the will of the 
late Edward Austin, the president and fellows 
of Harvard College, have voted that, until they 
shall give further orders, $2,000 shall be as- 
signed yearly from the income of his bequest of 
$500,000 to establish eight scholarships, each 
with an annual value of $250, to be awarded for 
one year to superintendents of schools and to 
teachers in secondary schools and colleges, who 
have been recently in service and intend to re- 
turn to service. Several of these scholarships 
have been awarded including one to R. E. 
Gaines, professor in Richmond College, and C. 
V. Piper, professor of biology in the University 
of Washington. 
D. F. CoNVERSE, a mill owner of Spartan- 
burg, S. C., who died a week ago, left one- 
third of his estate, valued at $500,000, to Con- 
verse College, an institute for the higher 
education for women founded by him in Spar- 
tanburg ten years ago. 
THE expenses of the University of Chicago 
for printing and publishing during the academic 
year ending June 380, 1899, were over $44,000, 
whereas the receipts were only $17,000. It is 
probable that no other university supports its 
publications with such liberality. 
PROFESSOR GEORGE HARRIS was formally in- 
augurated as President of Amherst College on 
October 11th. In the course of his inaugural 
address President Harris clearly stated that a 
scientific education has a culture value equal to 
