May 22, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



173 



The Flower Astronomical Observatory of the 

 University of Pennsylvania is now completed 

 and preparations are being made for its dedica- 

 tion. Prof. Charles L. Doolittle now occupies 

 the director's residence and with the instructor 

 in astronomy, Mr. H. B. Evans, has commenced 

 preliminary work. In addition to the Flower 

 Observatory, it is proposed to erect a small 

 working observatory on the University grounds 

 in West Philadelphia. The building will be 

 equipped with a transit instrument, zenith tele- 

 scope and a 4-inch equatorial, which have been 

 presented to the University by Mr. Horace 

 Howard Furness, Jr. 



The University of Buda-Pesth in connection 

 with its millenium celebration will confer the 

 honorary degree of doctor of medicine on Dr. 

 John S. Billings. 



At a recent meeting of the Board of Man- 

 agers of the New York Botanical Garden, Judge 

 Addison Brown submitted a report from the 

 committee on plans which stated that plans for 

 the museum building are being prepared by ten 

 competing firms of New York architects. Two 

 hundred and fifty-three persons, paying §10 a 

 year each, have qualified for annual member- 

 ship. 



Me. T. D. a. Cockeeell, Las Cruces, New 

 Mexico, proposes to found a biological station, 

 and a beginning will be made this summer, if 

 students can be found. There is in New Mexico 

 a great abundance of new and interesting forms 

 of life, especially among the insects, and many 

 general problems, such as those of the life 

 zones, can also be studied to great advan- 

 tage. 



The Metric System, will be discussed by Her- 

 bert Spencer in a series of letters to appear 

 in Appletons' Popular Science Monthly for 

 June. Mr. Spencer opposes the further spread 

 of the system, and points out the advantages of 

 a duodecimal over a decimal system. 



We learn from the English papers that the 

 following fifteen candidates have been recom- 

 mended by the Council for election to the Royal 

 Society : Sir George Sydenham Clarke, known 

 for his publications on projectiles and fortifica- 

 tions ; Dr. J. Norman Collie, Assistant Pro- 



fessor of Chemistry, in University College, 

 London ; Arthur Matthew Weld Downing, 

 Superintendent of the Nautical Almanac; Francis 

 Elgar, Professor of Naval Architecture and 

 Marine Engineering in the University of Glas- 

 gow ; Andrew Gray, Professor of Physics in 

 University College of North Wales ; Dr. George 

 Jennings Hinde, geologist and paleontologist ; 

 Henry Alexander Miers, known for bis re- 

 searches in mineralogy ; Frederick Walker 

 Mott, Lecturer in Physiology in Charing Cross 

 Hospital ; Dr. John Murray, editor of the Chal- 

 lenger publications ; Karl Pearson, Professor of 

 Mathematics and Mechanics at University Ool^ 

 lege, London ; Thomas Roscoe Kede Stebbing, 

 known for his researches in natural history ; 

 Charles Stewart, Hunterian Professor of Hu- 

 man and Comparative Anatomy in the Royal 

 College of Surgeons ; William E. Wilson, 

 astronomer ; Horace Bolingbroke Woodward, 

 of the Geological Survey of England and 

 Wales, and William Palmer Wynne, Assistant 

 Professor of Chemistry in the Royal College of 

 Science, South Kensington. 



The first of the two annual Converzationes of 

 the Royal Society was held on May 6th. The ex- 

 hibits included X-ray photographs by Messrs. 

 Swinton, Jackson and Sydney Rowland. Mr. 

 F. E. Ives exhibited his method of color pho- 

 tography and Prof. Mendola gave a demonstra- 

 tion by means of the electric lantern of Prof. 

 Lippmann's color photographs by the in- 

 ferential method. Prof. Worthington showed 

 photographs of the splashes produced by a 

 falling drop of water taken with the electric 

 spark, the exposure being less than three mil- 

 lionths of a second. A method was shown by 

 which two or three thovisand copies of a photo- 

 graj)h can be printed, developed and fixed in an 

 hour. The exhibits seem to have been largely 

 in photography, but in addition Prof. Dewar 

 repeated his experiments with liquid air, and 

 the new binocular field glasses and stereo-tele- 

 scopes of Mr. Carl Zeiss were exhibited. 



At the recent annual meeting of the members 

 of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, the 

 report of the committee stated that the property 

 of the Institution now amounts to more than 

 £100,000. 63 lectures and 19 evening discourses 



