736 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 72. 



on account of the diversion of the interests of 

 several of the more active members into other 

 channels. The recent cessation of the Ameri- 

 can Meteorological Journal was finally the de- 

 termining step in the disbanding of the Society. 



Mme. Audiffeed has given the French 

 Academy of Sciences the sum of 800,000 fr., 

 the interest of which will be awarded, without 

 regard to nationality, for the discovery of a cure 

 for consumption. 



M. A. Eeniee has bequeathed 2,000,000 fr. 

 for the establishment of a physiological labora- 

 tory in Brussels. 



The Scientific American, which for fifty years 

 has been an important factor in the diffusion 

 and advancement of technical and general sci- 

 ence, will publish an anniversary number on 

 July 25th. It ofiers a prize of $250 for the best 

 essay, not exceeding 2,500 words in length, on 

 ' The Progress of Invention During the Past 

 Fifty Years,' which will be published in the an- 

 niversary number. 



The Issue of Nature for May 7th will contain a 

 photogravure of Sir Joseph Lister, President of 

 the Royal Society, accompanied by a biograph- 

 ical sketch and an appreciation by Prof. Till- 

 manns, of Leijizig. 



Messrs. Peesifor Frazer, AngeloHeilprin, 

 Benjamin Smith Lyman and Theodore D. Eand 

 have been appointed by the Academy of Natu- 

 ral Sciences of Philadelphia as the Committee on 

 the Hayden Memorial Geological Award for 

 1896. 



A NEW and thoroughly revised edition of 

 Lyell's Student's Elements of Geology is about 

 to be published by Murray. The work has 

 been carefully revised by Prof. J. W. Judd, 

 Dean of the Royal College and a former pupil 

 of Lyell's. 



A SPECIAL despatch to the New York Even- 

 ing Post from New Haven states that on Janu- 

 ary 13, 1893, John E. Lewis, of Ansonia, while 

 photographing Holmes' comet through a tele- 

 scope, caught upon the plate the path of a large 

 meteor showing its place among certain stars. 

 Prof. H. A. Newton, of Yale, made a very 

 careful computation showing that the meteorite 

 probably fell at a place about two miles north 



of Danbui-y, Conn., near Kohanza reservoir. 

 Prof. Newton has now received intelligence of 

 the finding of a meteorite at almost exactly the 

 computed point. It is described as an oval 

 specimen, fifteen and a-half inches long, and 

 seven and a-half inches in diameter, weighing 

 twenty-six pounds. 



The New York Medical Record states that an 

 offer has been made by an inventor to the mu- 

 nicipality of the city of Paris to sterilize five 

 thousand cubic meters daily of water for pub- 

 lic consumption at his av/n expense. After pre- 

 liminary inquiry the municipality has decided 

 to obtain an expert report upon the value of 

 the proposed measure, and if it is found to be 

 of practical utility the inventor's offer will be 

 accepted as a preliminary to adopting the sys- 

 tem in case the experiment is satisfactory. 



Nature states that the annual general meet- 

 ing of the British Ornithologists' Union was 

 held at 3 Hanover Square on April 22d. In 

 the absence of Lord Lilford, the President, Mr. 

 P. L. Sclater, F.R.S., took the chair. The re- 

 port of the Committee stated that The Ibis (the 

 journal of the Society) had been regularly pub- 

 lished during the preceding year, and that the 

 Union consisted of 269 ordinary members, be- 

 sides honorary and foreign members. Twenty- 

 nine new ordinary members and one new foreign 

 member were proposed and elected. Mr. 

 Sclater brought forward a scheme for a new 

 synopsis of the described species of birds, to be 

 arranged in six volumes, corresponding with 

 the six zoological regions of the earth's surface. 

 This was referred to a committee to report 

 upon. 



Volume I. , of the University Geological Sur- 

 vey of Kansas, by Prof. Erasmus Haworth and 

 assistants, is now ready for distribution and 

 may be had free by recipient paying transporta- 

 tion, which is twenty-two cents if sent by mail. 

 All applications should be sent to Chancellor 

 F. H. Snow, University of Kansas, Lawrence, 

 Kansas. 



Dk. George A. Dorset, who has been an in- 

 structor at the Peabody Museum during the last 

 five years, has accepted a call to the Field 

 Columbian Museum of Chicago, to take the 

 position of curator in the department of anthro- 



