June 5, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



839 



Wistar and Homer collections during the past 

 three or four years. A second building is de- 

 signed to furnish heat and light to the Institute. 

 When the Institute was established General 

 Wistar endowed it sufficiently to provide for 

 beginning the advanced and original work for 

 which it was intended. Every facility will 

 now be provided for the work of original in- 

 vestigators under the supervision of a compe- 

 tent director and skilled assistants. The gra- 

 ding of the ground previous to the erection of 

 the new buildings has already been begun, and 

 it is expected that the work will be completed 

 by the beginning of the fall term. 



The managers of the Department of jSTatural 

 Science Instruction in the National Educational 

 Association are putting forth strenous efforts to 

 make the first meeting of the new department 

 a most successful one. Many scientific men 

 have already signified their intention to be 

 present to take part in the meetings. The 

 scientific men of Buffalo have taken hold of the 

 matter, also, and are now proposing to organize 

 a New York State Association of Natural 

 Science Teachers. The movement for better 

 science teaching thus promises to spread 

 rapidly, and it appears that there will now be 

 afforded such an opportunity for the effective 

 urging of better methods and better aims as 

 has never before occurred. This movement 

 should be of especial interest to college and 

 university men, since it will deal largely at 

 first with secondary instruction, or, in other 

 words, with preparation for college, and it is 

 hoped that many college men will be in at- 

 tendance. The local Science Committee in 

 Buffalo has designated the Genesee Hotel as 

 headquarters. This is now the Y. M. C. A. 

 Building, where so many of the meetings will be 

 held. The officers of the department will be in 

 attendance at headquarters early in the week 

 to confer with teachers and all interested in 

 science as a factor in education. 



The United States Civil Service Commission 

 will hold an examination on June 9th to fill two 

 vacancies in the position of Assitant Geologist 

 in the United States Geological Survey. The 

 competitors must possess certain linguistic ac- 

 complishments, but the examination will relate 



in the main to general geology and petrography, 

 and one of the two appointed will be required 

 to have a special training in economic geology. 

 All competitors must show that they have had 

 practical experience in the field under an expert 

 geologist. The examination will be held in 

 Washington and in other large cities where 

 there are applicants. The number of com- 

 petitors will be large. Persons desiring to 

 compete should write to the United States 

 Civil Service Commission, Washington, D. C. 

 This is the first Civil Service Examination 

 for the geologic force since the Survey was 

 placed in the classified service, which covers 

 all the scientific and technical places. Vacan- 

 cies in other branches of the work have long 

 been filled in this way. 



It has been reported to the State Department 

 by the United States Consul at Aden that 

 Prof. Daniel C. Elliot, of the Field Columbian 

 Museum of Chicago, with Mr. C. H. Akeley 

 and Mr. Dodson, who accompanied Dr. Donald- 

 son Smith on his recent expedition to Lake Ru- 

 dolph, in Central Africa, arrived at Aden, at the 

 mouth of the Red Sea, on April 14th, and after 

 a stay at that point of a week, securing men, 

 camels and stores, proceeded on their scientific 

 exploration into Central Africa, the main pur- 

 pose of which is to collect specimens of the ani- 

 mals which are rapidly disappearing. 



The death is announced of Dr. Carleton 

 Pennington Frost, Dean of Dartmouth Medical 

 College and professor of medicine, who died on 

 May 24th at the age of sixty-six ; also of Mr. 

 Thomas Maine, a mechanical engineer and the 

 author of a work on the history of the steam 

 engine. 



The Philadelphia Bulletin announces that 

 work will probably soon begin on the Museum 

 of Art and Science of the University of Penn- 

 sylvania, for which the city has turned over to 

 the institution twelve acres of ground adjoining 

 the site of the Philadelphia Museum. Plans 

 have been completed for the building, which 

 will be an imposing structure, costing upwards 

 of $1,000,000. A portion of the appropriation 

 from the State in 1895 was for the purpose of 

 erecting the museum building. This appropri- 

 ation, together with the private subscriptions,. 



