358 
DeGiaxa, Delpino, Di Vestea, Emery, Fano, Fi- 
calbi, Foa, Fusari, Gaglio, Giacosa, Golgi, 
Grassi, Guarnieri, Luciani, Lustig, Marcacci, 
Marchiafava, Martinotti, Mattirolo, Mosso, Pag- 
liani, Pavesi, Pirotta, Romiti, Roster, Schron, 
Stefani, Tizzoni and Todaro. The first meeting 
of the Society will probably be held in Rome dur- 
ing the coming Eastertide. The object of the 
Society is to promote the study of the biological 
sciences and everything relating to the advance- 
ment and teaching of these. The Society will 
publish a bulletin giving an account of its 
proceedings. It is divided into eight sections 
as follows: anatomy, physiology, pathological 
anatomy, general pathology, pharmacology, 
hygiene, zoology and botany. 
THE February meeting of the Faculty Science 
Club of Wellesley College was held in the li- 
brary of the Whitin Observatory, the paper 
being by Dr. Eleanor Gamble, of the Depart- 
ment of Psychology, on ‘Certain Data for the 
Classification of Smells.’ 
THE Royal Geographical Society held a meet- 
ing on February 12th in commemoration of the 
reign of Queen Victoria, who was for sixty-three 
years the patron of the Society. The chair was 
taken by the president, Sir Clements Markham, 
who read the first paper on ‘Her Majesty’s 
Connection with the Society and Interest in 
Geography and on Polar Exploration during 
her Majesty’s Reign.’ 
PROFESSOR WILLIAM H. BREWER, of the Yale 
Scientific School, lecturing at New Haven on 
the Antarctic Continent on February 15th, said, 
according to the report in the New York Times, 
that ‘‘This, the seventh and last continent of 
the world, which for several hundred miles 
extends parallel to the Antarctic circle, offering 
an effectual barrier to farther navigation south, 
a New Havener had the honor of discovering. 
He was Lieut. Eld of the United States Navy. 
The memorial tablet to Lieut. Eld, which now 
stands in the Grove Street Cemetery, reads that 
he was born in New Haven in 1814 and died of 
yellow fever on board the U. S. 8. Ohio in 
1850. He was a member of the exploring ex- 
pedition sent into the Antarctic regions by the 
United States Government in 1838-42 under 
command of Capt. Wilkes.”’? ‘‘At 10 A.M. on 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Vou. XIII. No. 322. 
January 16, 1839,”’ so reads the tablet, ‘‘ Lieut. 
Eld cried out ‘Land.’ Turning to Lieut. Reyn- 
olds who stood by he pointed out the range of 
icebound cliffs, along which the expedition 
afterward skirted for several hundred miles be- 
fore it was compelled to turn back homeward. 
The peak which Eld first discovered was named 
Eld’s Peak. The Antarctic continent which 
has never been penetrated goes by the name 
of Wilkes Land.’’ The date of the tablet, 
which reads January 16, 1839, was discovered 
to be erroneous by Professor Brewer, while 
he was preparing this lecture. In looking 
through the ship’s log of the expedition he 
found the true date to be January 16, 1840. 
REUTER’s Agency gives out the following 
interview with Captain Joseph C. Bernier, of 
Quebec, regarding his proposed polar expedi- 
tion: ‘‘T have two plans to lay before the 
Canadian Government on my return, each of 
which are based upon my long personal ac- 
quaintance of Arctic seas and have been ap- 
proved by the best Arctic authorities. My first 
plan is to start by way of Behring Straits, fol- 
low the coast of Siberia and enter the ice 
between 165 and 170 degrees of longitude East. 
I shall then push north as far as the ice will 
permit. When my ship gets into the ice I shall 
then place myself in the hands of nature. If she 
gets into a better position than the track of the 
Jeannette I shall expect to reach the Pole, and 
return in between three and four years. This 
will not be so difficult as in the case of the 
Jeannette, because the polar basin at the present 
time has more openings than in past years, this 
being due to the changed climatic conditions, 
My second plan, which has already been pri- 
vately submitted to the Quebec Geographical 
Society, is to start from Franz Josef Land with 
a large number of dogsand reindeer and travel 
during the summer to the Pole by sleighs, tak- 
ing with me concentrated provisions and killing 
my reindeer day by day for food. Elaborate 
calculations have been made as to the number 
of dogs and reindeer required for sleighing and 
for food. Traveling at an average of six miles 
per day the journey to the Pole should occupy 
150 days, at the end of which time I should still 
have enough provisions to return towards 
Spitzbergen before winter set in. The point of 
