OCTOBER 27, 1899. ] 
was the study of life itself in its universality. 
He was the first to use the microscope in re- 
searches on living beings; he was the first to 
disclose to us the fauna of the seas. His ex- 
ample inspired the deep-sea researches of our 
own day, of which the German scientific station 
in Naples formed a center. Professor Koester, 
Rector of Bonn University, speaking as the 
representative of the Monument Committee, 
handed over its charge to the mayor and 
municipality of Coblentz. Professor Waldeyer, 
Rector of the Berlin University, made the clos- 
ing speech as the delegate both of the Berlin 
University, where Miller’s chief teaching years 
were spent, and of the Prussian Academy of 
Sciences. In these two institutions, said Wal- 
deyer, Johannes Miller had raised a monument 
to himself that no time could destroy. 
THE Seventeenth Congress of the American 
Ornithologists’ Union will convene in Philadel- 
phia, at the Academy of Natural Sciences, 19th 
and Race Sts. (Logan Square), on Monday, No- 
vember 13th, at 8 o’clock p.m. The evening 
session will be for the election of officers and 
members and the transaction of other routine 
business. The meetings open to the public, 
and devoted to the reading and discussion of 
scientific papers, will be held in the Lecture 
Hall of the Academy, beginning Tuesday, No- 
vember 14th at 11 a. m., and continuing for 
three days. Information regarding the Con- 
gress can be had by addressing the Secretary, 
Mr. John H. Sage, Portland, Conn. 
A TELEGRAM has been received at the Har- 
vard College Observatory from Professor J. E. 
Keeler, at Lick Observatory, stating that the 
following elements and ephemeris of Comet e, 
1899, were computed by Perrine from observa- 
tions on October 1, 7, 16: 
Time of passing perihelion =7' = Sept. 15.04 G. M. T. 
Perihelion minus node =w— 10° 52/ 
Longitude of node =N= 272° 13/ 
Declination == 76° 557 
Perihelion distance =q= 1.7854 
EPHEMEBRIS. 
1899. Oct. 24, R.A. 17" 5™ 8°. Dec.++-2°17./ Light 0.72 
GB OG Of, OS alge TUL TD, SG Lg} onl. 
Soo Nove dy Siz 7245) 36) al 95: 
OS SR FA? OB} SYS, OG ILS), ** 0.63 
SCIENCE. 
621 
THE American Museum of Natural History, 
New York, will hereafter be opened free to 
visitors on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and 
Saturdays, on Sunday afternoons and on Tues- 
day and Saturday evenings. The free lectures 
given under the auspices of the Board of Edu- 
cation are on Tuesday evenings and the lectures 
by Professor A. S. Bickmore to teachers in the 
public schools are on Saturday mornings. 
THE London correspondent of the New York 
Evening Post states that two expeditions will 
soon take the field in South America. Profes- 
sor Zittel, of Munich, is arranging to send a sci- 
entific expedition to Patagonia, and it is very 
probable that a similar undertaking will be or- 
ganized in London on very comprehensive lines, 
the Argentine Government having promised to 
render aid and grant all facilities to a British 
expedition under responsible or official control. 
Nature, quoting from the Civil and Military 
Gazette, Lahore, states that the Indian Govern- 
ment has under its consideration a somewhat 
comprehensive scheme for the establishment of 
research laboratories in various parts of India, 
and the appointment of health officers to take 
charge of them. The present laboratory at 
Muktesar will, it is understood, be further de- 
veloped ahd the staff increased, the establish- 
ment becoming the central research laboratory 
for India, and health officers will be appointed 
to the charge of laboratories at Calcutta, Mad- 
ras, Bombay, Agra and Lahore, the new de- 
partment of bacteriology being ordinarily 
manned by officers of the Indian Medical Ser- 
vice. 
THERE has been an active and somewhat 
acrimonious discussion in the English journals 
in regard to the extent to which physicians re- 
ceive commissions. It is said that in the 
United States physicians do not receive com- 
missions from pharmacists to any considerable 
extent, but suit has just been brought by a San 
Francisco physician for $300, which he claimed 
as a commission on prescriptions sent to a drug- 
gist. Complaint is also made that some of the 
younger surgeons in New York ophthalmic 
hospitals receive commissions from opticians. 
A MEETING of the Society of Engineers was 
held at the Royal United Service Institution, 
