JANUARY 25, 1901. 
land, near Washington, D. C., which is to form 
the principal base station of the magnetic sur- 
vey of the United States, is now ready for the 
installation of the instruments. The buildings 
were constructed under the superintendency of 
Mr. J. A. Fleming, of the Coast and Geodetic 
Survey, who also drew up the plans. Dr. W. 
G. Cady, a graduate of Brown University, 
and of the University of Berlin, and a mem~ 
ber of the Division of Terrestrial Magnetism 
during the past six months, will have principal 
charge of the observational work. It is the 
intention to carry out at this observatory 
magnetic, meteorological, seismological, atmo- 
spheric-electric, and earth current observa- 
tions. 
AT the meeting of the New York Zoological 
Society on January 15th the ‘following officers 
were reelected: President, Levi P. Morton; 
Executive Committee, Levi P. Morton, ex-offi- 
cio; Henry F. Osborn, chairman; John L. 
Cadwalader, counsel; Charles T. Barney, John 
S. Barnes, Philip Schuyler, Madison Grant and 
William White Niles. The report of the Ex- 
ecutive Committee sets forth the necessity for an 
increase of annual membership to 3,000. The 
income is now $7,900 annually, and what is 
needed is an income of $30,000 annually. The 
report speaks of the increasing attendance, and 
says that with the additional increase from 
rapid transit the walks, paths and buildings 
will be taxed to their utmost. The total at- 
tendance for the year was 325,925. Regarding 
the funds appropriated by the city for mainte- 
nance of the park, the report has this to say: 
‘(For two years there has been a deficiency in 
maintenance, owing to no lack of good will on 
the part of the city authorities, but a failure to 
appreciate the needs of the Park. In 1899 the 
City contributed $30,000 and the Society con- 
tributed $7,038.61 towards the maintenance of 
the Park. In 1900 the maintenance fund of 
$40,000 again resulted in a serious deficiency, 
which has been met by the Society by a contri- 
bution of $6,524.04. The Society estimated 
$80,000 as the fund needed for 1901, in order 
to meet the increased demand for food and ad- 
ditional keepers; the fund assigned is $65,000. 
We trust that this fund will enable the com- 
mittee by the greatest economy to maintain the 
SCIENCE. 
157 
Park on its present limited scale without a se- 
rious deficiency. 
Mr. CARNEGIE has offered to build at Syracuse 
a library for $200,000. The city will provide a 
site and $30,000 for maintenance. 
THE new building for the Boston Medical 
Library was formally opened on January 
12th. The speakers announced on the program 
were: Dr. Francis W. Draper, president 
of the Massachusetts Medical Society; Dr. 
William Osler, professor of medicine in 
Johns Hopkins University ; Dr. John 8. Bil- 
lings, librarian of the New York Public Library ; 
Dr. Horatio C. Wood, of the University of Penn- 
sylvania, and Dr. Henry P. Walcott, acting 
president of Harvard University. The new 
building, which is on the Fenway, is of stone and 
brick, and contains ample accommodation for 
the library of 32,000 volumes, together with 
rooms for lectures and meetings. 
THE Swiss Parliament has voted a permanent 
subsidy to the Concillium Bibliographicum, 
which assures the continuation of the work 
inaugurated and carried forward with so much 
energy by Dr. H. H. Field. The vote was 
passed without opposition in the lower house 
and nearly unanimously in the upper house. 
THE executive board of the Association for 
maintaining the American Women’s Table at 
the Zoological Station at Naples and for pro- 
moting Scientific Research by Women an- 
nounces that, in addition to maintaining a table 
at Naples, it is able to offer for the season 
1901 the free use of a table at the Marine Bio- 
logical Laboratory at Wood’s Holl. The ap- 
pointments are made by the executive board, 
with the cooperation of a regularly appointed 
board of advisors, on whose judgment the 
executive committee relies for decision in ques- 
tions relating to the scholarship of candidates 
based on the results of work presented for 
examination. The members of the present 
board of advisors are Professor Ethan A. An- 
drews, of Johns Hopkins University, Professor 
R. H. Chittenden, of Yale University, and Dr. 
W. T. Porter, of the Harvard Medical School. 
The year of the Association begins in April, and 
all applications for the year 1901, both for the 
table at Naples and for that at Wood’s Holl, 
