Febbuaey 7, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



199' 



The Geological Society of London will this 

 year award the following medals and funds: 

 The Wollaston Medal to Professor E. Suess, the 

 the Murchison Medal to Mr. T. Mellard Eeade, 

 the Lyell Medal to Mr. A. Smith Woodward, 

 the proceeds of the Wollaston Fund and part 

 of the Barlow-Jameson Fund to Mr. Alfred 

 Harker, the proceeds of the Murchison Fund to 

 Mr. Philip Lake, the proceeds of the Lyell 

 Fund to Dr. W. F. Hume and Mr. W. C. An- 

 drews, and the proceeds of the Barlow- Jameson 

 Fund to Mr. Joseph Wright and Mr. John 

 Storrie. 



It is reported in the daily papers that Prof. 

 A. W. Wright and Prof. John Trowbridge 

 have repeated Prof. Bontgen's experiments 

 with the X-rays. A cablegram states that 

 Prof. Mosetig, of the University of Vienna, 

 has actually used the photography for diag- 

 nosis. The photographic pictures taken showed, 

 with the greatest clearness and precision, the 

 injuries caused by a revolver shot inthe left 

 hand of a man and the position of the small 

 projectile. In the other case, that of a girl, 

 the position and nature of a malformation in 

 the left foot were ascertained. 



The Bill for Adoption of the Metric System, 

 introduced in the House of Representatives by 

 Mr. Hui'ley {not Hurley), to which reference was 

 made in the last number of Science (January 

 31), has been considered by the Committee of 

 Coinage Weights and Measures, and certain 

 amendments have been suggested, to define 

 more distinctly what is meant by the metric sys- 

 tem, and to extend the time for the beginning 

 of its general use to the first day of the next 

 century. 



Mrs. Esther Hermann has contributed 

 $10,000 to the endowment of the New York 

 Botanical Garden, making the total amount 

 $260,000 in addition to plants of the value of 

 $5,000 given by Mr. J. A. Pitcher. 



The Russian government is expected to in- 

 troduce the Gregorian calendar in 1900. This 

 may be done suddenly or by omitting the 29th 

 of February in the first twelve leap years. 



Joseph Fiorblli, an Italian antequarian 

 and archaeologist, died at Naples, on January 

 29th, at the age of 73. 



The catalogue of members of the American 

 Institute of Electrical Engineers shows that on 

 January 1st there were just 1,000 members, in- 

 cluding two honorary members. Lord Kelvin 

 dnd Mr. W. H. Preece. 



The Journal of the Royal Statistical Society has- 

 published the report of the committee of the 

 Berne International Statistical Institute recom- 

 mending that a universal census be taken at 

 the beginning of 1900. The dates of the census 

 in different countries do not now coincide, but 

 it would be a great advantage to secure uni- 

 formity of date and also of methods, and the 

 committee hopes to accomplish this. 



Mr. J. Y. Buchanan contributes to Nature- 

 for January 9th an interesting account of the 

 capture of a sperm whale off the Azores wit- 

 nessed by the Prince of Monaco. The animal, 

 when dying, ejected the bodies of huge cuttle- 

 fish which were secured, together with others- 

 subsequently found in the stomach. Owing to 

 the absence of the heads it was impossible to pos- 

 itively identify them, but they probably repre- 

 sent a new species of Histioteuthis and of Cucio- 

 teuthis, and an entirely new genus and species 

 to which the name of Lepidoteuthis Qrimaldii is 

 given by Prof Joubain. The largest cuttle-fish 

 body was about two meters in length. Circular- 

 marks, believed to be the impression of suckers, 

 were found on the head and body of the whale. 

 This account corroborates the stories long told 

 by whalemen who have always insisted that the 

 sperm whale in his death agonies vomited up 

 fragments of squids ' as big around as a barrel.' 



At a special meeting of the Chemical Society 

 of London held recently, a memorial lecture 

 on the ' Life and Work of the late Prof, von 

 Helmholtz ' was delivered by Prof. G. F. 

 Fitzgerald, Trinity College, Dublin. It is per- 

 haps not known to every one that Helmholtz 

 was a great chemist as well as a great physicist, 

 mathematician, physiologist and psychologist. 

 He was a foreign member of the London Chem- 

 ical Society, and in 1881 filled the office of Fara- 

 day Lecturer, when he communicated to the 

 Society his famous memoir on the ' Connection 

 between Electricity and Chemical Action." 



The Zoologischen Adressbuch, already noted in 

 this journal, gives 2,458 addresses of zoologists. 



