62 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 602. 



A NATIONAL dairy congress is to be held at 

 The Hague, in 1907. Among the subjects to 

 be discussed are unification of chemical meth- 

 ods for the examination of milk, butter and 

 cheese, and of milk, butter and cheese control, 

 etc. 



Nature states that a banquet was given by 

 the Institution of Electrical Engineers on 

 June 25 in honor of the delegates from kin- 

 dred institutions in Canada, France, Ger- 

 many, Italy, Switzerland and the United 

 States who were visiting England. Mr. John 

 Gavey, C.B., president of the institution, pre- 

 sided, and there were about 450 guests and 

 delegates present. The toast of the visiting 

 delegates, proposed by the president, was re- 

 sponded to by Professor J. L. Earny, repre- 

 senting the Association Suisse des Electri- 

 ciens; Mr. P. J. B. E. Auzepy, consul-general 

 of Erance; Professor E. Budde, president, 

 Verband Deutscher Elektrotechniker ; Dr. 

 Emil Naglo, representing the president of the 

 Elektrotechnischer Verein; Mr. S. S. Wheeler, 

 president of the American Institute of Elec- 

 trical Engineers; and Mr. Guido Semenza, 

 honorable general secretary of the Associa- 

 zione Elettrotecnica Italiana, who during his 

 response presented to the institution, in the 

 name of the Associazione Elettrotecnica, a 

 bust of Alessandro Volta. A conversazione 

 in honor of the visitors was held at the Nat- 

 ural History Museum on the evening of the 

 twenty-sixth. 



The third International Conference on 

 Plant Breeding will be held in London, from 

 July 30 to August 3, under the auspices of 

 the Eoyal Horticultural Society. Conferences 

 on this subject were held in London in 1899 

 and New York in 1902. The president of the 

 forthcoming conference will be Mr. W. Bate- 

 son, E.E.S. 



The Eoyal Institute of Public Health has 

 fitted up a laboratory for the study of para- 

 sitology. Dr. Sambon has been appointed 

 director of the parasitological department, and 

 Dr. Giordani and Dr. Bonelli are working 

 with him. Systematic investigations have 

 already been started, and many interesting 

 specimens of parasites can be seen at the 



laboratory. Attention is in particular being 

 given to parasites conveyed by domestic ani- 

 mals, by cattle and by rats. 



We learn from the Scottish Geographical 

 Journal that an Oceanographical Museum has 

 been established at Berlin in connection with 

 the Institut fiir Meereskunde. The formal 

 opening took place on March 5, in the presence 

 of the Emperor and the Prince of Monaco, 

 just five months after the death of Baron von 

 Eichthofen, to whose initiative the new mu- 

 seum owes its origin. The museum is 

 divided into four sections: (1) A collection 

 illustrating the imperial navy, containing 

 pictures and models of warships, and speci- 

 mens of guns, torpedoes, etc.; (2) a popular 

 and historical collection illustrating the prog- 

 ress of navigation, with models of modern and 

 primitive vessels, life-saving apparatus, and 

 so forth; (3) a collection of instruments, etc., 

 used in the study of the ocean and its con- 

 tents, with numerous models showing the 

 height of the continents and the depth of the 

 ocean, the weight and volume of land and sea, 

 respectively, in relation to those of the whole 

 earth, the amount of salt in the sea, and so 

 forth; (4) a collection illustrating the biology 

 of the ocean and the fisheries, with examples 

 of the products of economic value. 



The second International Congress of the 

 Association for the Promotion of Hygiene 

 and Salubrity in Dwellings will be held at 

 Geneva from September 4 to 11. The pro- 

 gram of the congress is as follows : A, dwelling 

 houses; B, lodgings and places of assembly; 

 C, movable and temporary dwellings; D, art 

 and decoration in relation to the wholesome- 

 ness of houses; E, sanitary administration. 

 The general secretary is M. Albert Waurin, 

 1 Eue des Moulins, Geneva. 



At the meeting of the London Zoological 

 Society, held on June 21, the report of the 

 council for the month of May was read by 

 the secretary (Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell), in 

 which it was stated that 391 additions had 

 been raade to the society's menagerie during 

 that month, of which 169 had been acquired 

 by presentation, 14 by purchase, 25 by birth 

 in the gardens, four received in exchange, and 



