Febeuaky 21, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



281 



The positions of the Nova derived from these 

 plates differ from each other by only 0*.l in 

 right ascensions and 1" in declination. The 

 mean position for 1875 is R. A. = IS" 32» 51 '.8 

 Dec. = —30° 59' 58". It will be noticed that 

 according to these measures, the Nova follows 

 N. G. C. 5253 by 1^7, and is 24" north. 



Edward C. Pickering. 

 January 31, 1896. 



GENERAL. 



Me. Morrill's bill in the Senate appropria- 

 ting $250,000 for the erection of an additional 

 building for the U. S. National Museum will 

 be reported favorably by the Committee on 

 Public Buildings and Grounds. The bill pro- 

 vides for a fire-proof building 300 feet square, 

 having two stories and a basement. 



The daily papers contain much discussion 

 regarding a dispatch purporting to come from 

 Irkutsk, Siberia, and stating that Dr Nansen 

 has reached the North Pole, has found land 

 there and is now returning. 



The herbarium bequeathed by the late John 

 H. Redfield to the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Natural Sciences will be sold and the money 

 used for a Redfield fund for the Botanical De- 

 partment of the Academy. 



M. RoucHi has been elected on the second 

 ballot, by 33 votes as compared with 29 cast for 

 M. Lauth, Memhre libre of the Paris Academy 

 of Sciences. M. Moissan has been elected 

 President of the Paris Chemical Society. 



A BILL for the preservation of the Palisades, 

 ceding to the United States jurisdiction over 

 that part of the Palisades which lies in the State 

 of New York, has been passed by the Legisla- 

 ture and will be signed by Gov. Morton. 



The Imperial German Health Bureau has 

 reported that aluminum is especially suitable 

 for cooking utensils, as it does not communicate 

 any poisonous salts such as may arise from the 

 use of copper, tin and lead. 



A CABLEGRAM states that Prof. Rontgen was 

 expected to conduct experiments on the X-rays 

 before the German Reichstag, and that the 

 Reichstag would be asked to make an appro- 

 priation for further researches. The daily 

 p.apers continue to publish long accounts of ex- 



periments on the Rontgen rays, chiefly noticea- 

 ble for their repetitions and inaccuracies. It 

 is probable that no scientific advance has been 

 made beyond what is contained in Prof. Ront- 

 gen's own paper published in the last number 

 of this journal. It is, however, worth noting 

 that Prof. Rontgen in his paper makes no men- 

 tion of the possible applications of his discovery 

 to surgery or elsewhere, but lays special weight 

 on the speculation, having no apparent relation 

 to his experiments, that the rays may be longi- 

 tudinal vibrations in the ether. 



Nature states that Mr. F. E. Willey, of the 

 Royal Gardens, Kew, has been appointed 

 Curator of the newly-founded Botanic Station 

 at Sierra Leone. Mr. J. M. Henry has retired 

 from the post of Superintendent of the Baroda 

 State Gardens. He was sent out from Kew in 

 1867, and after twelve years' service in Madras 

 and Bengal was appointed to Baroda in Novem- 

 ber, 1879. 



The Prussian Budget recommends the ap- 

 propriation of 17,500 for the maintenance of a 

 control station for diphtheria serum in connec- 

 tion with the Institute for Infectious Diseases. 



The Bender hygienic laboratory, now being 

 constructed in Albany, will be completed during 

 the present year and will contain every requisite 

 of bacteriological investigations. 



A CABLE dispatch states that a large aerolite 

 exploded above the city of Madrid at 9:30 

 A. M. to-day. There was a vivid glare of light 

 and a loud report. Buildings were shaken and 

 many windows were shattered. According to 

 the officials of the Madrid Observatory the ex- 

 plosion occurred twenty miles above the earth. 



There is now a bill before the New York 

 Assembly repealing the law compelling the 

 schools to include the study of alcohol and 

 narcotics in conjunction with the studies of 

 physiology and hygiene. The Board of Educa- 

 tion of the city of New York has voted to sup- 

 port this bill, and it has the support of the 

 leading philanthropists and educators. The 

 law passed last year by the Legislature of the 

 State of New York and the similar laws in 

 other States are regarded by those best compe- 

 tent to judge as injudicious and injurious to the 

 cause of temperance. 



