FEBRUARY 1, 1901.] 
ture, that M. Lagrange has resigned his office 
and has presented to the Belgian Academy of 
Sciences his two years’ arrears of salary, or a 
capital sum of ten thousand francs, to establish 
a prize to be awarded, at intervals of four years, 
for the best contribution to our knowledge of 
the physics of the globe. In expressing the 
thanks of the Academy for the gift, General 
Brialmont described the circumstances which 
led to M. Lagrange’s resignation. It appears 
that for the past two years the position of di- 
rector of the Observatory has been a humiliating 
one, because a young infantry officer, without 
scientific attainments, has controlled the estab- 
lishment, 
We are glad to notice that the House of Rep- 
resentatives has, under a suspension of the rules, 
passed a bill increasing the salary of the Com- 
missioner of Education for Porto Rico from 
$3,000 to $4,000. If, however, our Government 
is generous in disposing of the money of the 
Porto Ricans, it should be just in distributing 
the greater wealth at its disposal, and the emi- 
nent Commissioner of Education for the United 
States should receive as large a salary as the 
commissioner for Porto Rico. 
Mr. STARK has introduced into the House of 
Representatives a resolution of the Legislature 
of the State of Nebraska, requesting the pas- 
sage of the bill for the establishment and main- 
tenance of a school of mines in every State 
where such does not now exist, which has been 
referred to the Committee on Public Lands. 
AvT arecent meeting of the New England 
Anti-vivisection Society, Joseph L. Greene 
quoted from Senator Gallinger, of New Hamp- 
shire, to the effect that the bill against cruelty 
to animals in the district of Columbia would 
probably not be taken up at the present session, 
because of the pressure of business. 
THE German budget for 1901 includes 200,- 
000 Marks for the construction of a laboratory 
for hydraulic experiments at Berlin. The total 
cost of the laboratory will be about 365,000 
Marks. It will be used by the administrations 
of the Imperial Marine and Inland Waterways 
and by the students of the technical school. 
The budget also provides for non-recurring ex- 
SCIENCE. 
199 
penditures on science and art over 6,000,000 
Marks. 
GREAT interest is being taken in the immi- 
nent drying up of Great Salt Lake caused by 
irrigation. We are informed that the plan 
suggested by Mr. Marcus E. Jones to build a 
canal from the headwaters of the Snake river, 
and thus bring water into the Great Basin to 
replace the waste by evaporation is meeting 
with general favor. The Utah Legislature is 
expected to take up the matter at this session. 
The agricultural sections of Utah are threat- 
ened with disaster unless something is done 
soon. 
UNDER the auspices of the International Aéro- 
nautical Committee balloon ascents for meteoro- 
logical purposes were made on January 10th— 
in so far as the program was carried out—at 
London, Bath, Paris, Strasburg, Berlin, St. 
Petersburg and in Virginia. 
WE learn from the Electrical World that, at 
a recent meeting of the Frankfort-on-the-Main 
Association of Electrical Engineers, Herr Wolff, 
manager of the local branch of the Allgemeine 
Elektricitats-Gesellschaft, showed a new form of 
Nernst lamp. The necessary initial heating of 
this lamp is effected by a spiral of platinum 
embedded in fireproof composition. By means 
of a switch concealed within the base of the 
lamp, this spiral is automatically cut out of 
circuit after the lamp has been rendered suffi- 
ciently conductive by the imparted heat. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 
YALE UNIVERSITY has received a bequest of 
$50,000 by the will of Albert E. Kent of Chi- 
cago, a graduate in 1858. The money is to be 
used for the enlargement of the Kent Chemical 
Laboratory which Mr. Kent gave to the Uni- 
versity twenty years ago. Yale University has 
also received during the week, by the death of 
Benjamin Douglas Silliman, the oldest alumnus 
of the University, a sum, said to be $80,000, left 
by a brother in trust. It is expected that the 
University will also receive a bequest by the 
will of Mr. Silliman. Yale University would 
also receive a trust fund of $500,000, left by T. 
B. Winthrop, an alumnus, in case neither of his 
children should survive. 
