414 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 613. 



chemistry. (4) The establishment of a 

 niicleus of a fund for the foundation, at the 

 Chemists' Club, in New York City of a refer- 

 ence and circulating library, covering the en- 

 tire field of theoretical and applied chemistry, 

 which is to be in charge of a salaried librarian 

 and to contain duplicate sets, one of them to 

 be used for circulation among American 

 chemists. 



It was estimated that $5,000 would be amply 

 sufficient to cover the expenses of the personal 

 token and the Perkin medal, while the sum 

 of at least $50,000 would be necessary for 

 placing the library on a permanent basis. 



At the dinner the first Perkin medal and a 

 silver tea service will be presented to Sir 

 William Perkin, and there will be addresses 

 on the development of the coal tar industry 

 and after-dinner speeches. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



The Smithsonian Institution was repre- 

 sented by Mr, S. P. Emmons at the Interna- 

 tional Geological Congress held in Mexico 

 City from, the sixth to the fourteenth of the 

 present month and by Dr. Walter Hough at 

 the fifteenth International Congress of Amer- 

 icanists, held in Quebec from the tenth to the 

 fifteenth. Dr. Hough also represented the 

 U. S. National Museum. 



Professor Wilhelm Hittorf, professor of 

 physics at Miinster, will be presented with a 

 marble bust on the occasion of his jubilee, 

 which will shortly be celebrated. Professor 

 Hittorf has himself given 25,000 Marks for 

 the scientific work in the Miinster Academy. 



Dr. Max Toepler, professor of physics at 

 the Dresden Technological Institute, cele- 

 brated on September 7 his seventieth birthday. 



Dr. a. E. Crook, for the past twelve years 

 professor of mineralogy and econoraic geology 

 at Northwestern University, has been appoint- 

 ed curator of the Illinois State Museum of 

 Natural History at Springfield. During the 

 past summer Professor Crook has visited mu- 

 seums of natural history in this country and 

 abroad with a view to studying their methods 

 of administration and installation. 



Dr. Maynard M. Metcalf, professor of biol- 

 ogy in the Woman's College in Baltimore 

 since 1893, and now professor-elect of zoology 

 in Oberlin College, has received the appoint- 

 ment to the Smithsonian seat in the Naples 

 Zoological Station for the months of March 

 and April, 1907. Dr. Stewart Paton, formerly 

 of Johns Hopkins University, whom Dr. Met- 

 calf succeeds at Naples, by extension of a 

 former appointment, will occupy the Smith- 

 sonian seat for five months from the first of 

 October of the present year. It is announced 

 that the Smithsonian has decided to renew its 

 lease of a table at the station for an additional 

 term of three years from January 1, 1907, 

 and that applications, which are acted on in 

 order of receipt, may now be submitted. In 

 view of the number of students who desire to 

 avail themselves of this opportunity for study 

 at Naples, a Smithsonian appointment is not 

 approved for a longer period than six months, 

 though in exceptional cases an extension may 

 be asked for and granted, if such action does 

 not interfere with the occupancy of other ap- 

 plicants. 



The first meeting of the California Branch 

 of the American Folk-Lore Society during 

 1906-07 was held September 11, at 8 p.m.. In 

 South Hall, University of California, Berke- 

 ley. Mr. Charles Keeler presided. On mo- 

 tion a nominating committee' was appointed 

 consisting of Professor Dresslar, Professor 

 Fryer and Mrs. Dickson. The committee re- 

 ported the following nominations for officers 

 for 1906-07 : 



President — Charles Keeler. 



First Vice-president — John Fryer. 



Second Vice-president — ^W. F. Bade. 



Treasurer — S. A. Barrett. 



Secretary — A. L. Kroeber. 



Councilors — Charles F. Ltmimis, W. C. Mitchell, 

 Mrs. Thomas B. Bishop, John E. Matzke, C. Hart 

 Merriam, E. J. Molera. 



On motion the report of the committee was 

 adopted, the nominees being thereby elected. 

 Professor A. L. Kroeber thereupon gave an 

 address on ' California Indian Myths and 

 Songs,' illustrated by graphophone records. 



We learn from Nature that the government 

 of Cape Colony has placed a sum upon the 



