756 
will hold its next meeting in London in 1904. 
It does not seem possible to obtain information 
in regard to the recent meeting until the Comptes 
rendus are published. 
THE Thirty-ninth Congress of the Sociétés 
Sa vantes met at Nancy last month with about 
two hundred and fifty delegates in attendance. 
A CONFERENCE of State University presidents 
will be held at the University of Illinois on 
May Ist and 2d. The following presidents are 
expected to attend the meeting: James H. 
Baker, of the University of Colorado; Joseph 
Swain, of the University of Indiana; George 
EK. McLean, of the University of Iowa; Acting 
Chancellor W. C. Spangler, of the University 
of Kansas; James B. Angell, of the University 
of Michigan ; Cyrus Northrop, of the Univer- 
sity of Minnesota; R. H. Jesse, of the Univer- 
sity of Missouri; Chancellor E. B. Andrews, of 
the University of Nebraska; W. C. Thompson, 
of the University of Ohio; W. E. Stone, of 
Purdue University, and Acting President EH. S. 
Birge, of the University of Wisconsin. 
A Merric Association is being organized in 
Canada, the object of which is to prepare the 
people for the adoption of the metric system. 
THE French Association of Anatomists held 
its third meeting at Lyons in April under the 
presidency of M. Renaut. There were about 
fifty students of anatomy in attendance, includ- 
ing a number of foreigners. The next meeting 
of the Association will be held at Montpellier 
in 1902 under the presidency of M. Sabatier. 
THE committee of the British National Phys- 
ica] Laboratory announces that it is prepared to 
receive applications for appointments as mem- 
bers of the staff of this laboratory, the build- 
ings of which will be in the grounds of Bushey- 
house, Teddington. It will appoint a su- 
perintendent of the engineering department, 
with a salary of £400 per annum; one or two 
assistants in the physics department, with sal- 
aries of from £200 to £250 per annum; and 
one assistant in the physics department to take 
charge of such chemical investigations as may 
be required, with a salary of £200 per annum. 
The committee is also prepared to receive ap- 
plications for a small number of junior assist- 
antships, at salaries of from £100 to £150 per 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Vou. XIII. No. 332. 
annum. Applications, accompanied by a lim- 
ited number of testimonials, should be made, 
not later than May 24th, to the director, 
National Physical Laboratory, Old Deer Park, 
Richmond, Surrey. 
PREPARATIONS are being made by the Di- 
vision of Forestry of the Department of Agri- 
culture to remove from its present crowded 
quarters to offices on the sixth, seventh and 
eighth floors of the Atlantic building. Under 
the reorganization plan of the Department of 
Agriculture, authorized by the last Congress, 
the Forestry Division will, on July 1st, be- 
come a bureau of the Department. 
THE American Museum of Natural History, 
New York, has acquired a valuable collection 
of Peruvian antiquities, including Indian pot- 
tery, musical instruments, stone implements, 
gold and silver vessels, and the like. 
THE New York Academy of Medicine has 
been given a fund of $10,000 by Mrs. S. B. 
Gibbs and Miss G. B. Gibbs for the establish- 
ment of the Edward N. Gibbs memorial prize 
fund. 
M. SAnTos-DumonT, to whom the prize of 
the Paris Aeronautical Club was awarded in 
1900, has returned the money to the Club to 
be used as the foundation for a new prize. 
The amount is 100,000 fr., and the income is to 
be given to the members of the Club who can 
make a circuit of the Hiffel Tower and return 
to the point of departure at St. Cloud. 
A TELEGRAM has been received at the Harvard 
College Observatory, dated May 2d, from its 
station at Arequipa, stating that a very bright 
comet was seen at eleven hours thirty-five min- 
utes (Greenwich mean time) in R. A. 3" 30™ and 
Dec.—1°. This is presumably the comet an- 
nounced by Dr. Gill, April 24, 1901. It seems 
to be no longer visible in the northern hemis- 
phere. 
THE Electrical World states that the Admin- 
istration of Posts and Telegraphs contemplates 
the introduction of wireless telegraphy in Spain 
on a large scale. It is rumored that Marconi 
will soon go to Madrid to arrange matters with 
the Government. The Balearic and Canary 
Islands are first to be connected by this system, 
which will then be extended from these islands 
