Decembee 14, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



789 



Dr. Hiram Bingham has sailed for Vene- 

 zuela, where he will make explorations in the 

 region of eastern Colombia. 



Mr. a. B. Stout, of Baraboo, Wisconsin, is 

 working out plans for the preservation of the 

 man mound described in his bulletin on the 

 'Archeology of Eastern Sauk County.' It is 

 the last of the three mounds of that character, 

 and is said to be the only man mound now 

 known to be in existence. 



The Swiss government has awarded a pre- 

 mium of 5,000 francs to Dr. M, Eickli, of 

 Zurich, and Professor H. Bachmann, of 

 Lucerne, toward the expenses of a botanical 

 expedition to Greenland. 



A MONUMENT in honor of Servetus is to be 

 erected at Vienne in the department of Isere 

 where he lived for twelve years. It will be 

 remembered that Michael Servet, who was 

 burned at Geneva in 1533 for his theological 

 opinions, discovered the pulmonary circulation 

 and made important contributions to geog- 

 raphy. 



Dr. Wilhelm Lossen, formerly professor of 

 chemistry at Konigsburg, has died at the age 

 of sixty-seven years. 



We learn from the British Medical Journal 

 of the death of Dr. Nikanor Chrzonszczewski, 

 sometime professor of general pathology in 

 the University of Kieff, aged seventy; Dr. 

 Lew Pawlow, of St. Petersburg, physician to 

 the Czar and president of the Russian Medi- 

 cal Association, aged fifty-nine; Dr. Plantau, 

 professor of histology in the Medical School 

 at Algiers; Professor Liugu Casati, for many 

 years editor of the Baccoglitore Medico, and 

 founder, in conjunction with Professor Euata, 

 of the Institute for the Orphans of Medical 

 Practitioners at Perugia, aged seventy-six ; and 

 Dr. Eeincke, who reorganized the public 

 health administration of Hamburg. 



There will be a civil service examination on 

 December 26, to fill the position of chief of 

 the Laboratory of Physiological Chemistry, in 

 the Bureau of Chemistry, Department of 

 Agriculture, at a salary of $2,500. On Jan- 

 uary 4, there will be examinations to fill the 

 positions of laboratory assistants, qualified in 

 chemistry, in the Bureau of Standards, at a 



salary of from $900 to $1,000; and to fill the 

 position of dairy chemist in the Bureau of 

 Animal Industry, at a salary of $1,200 to 

 $1,800. 



Professor Rajna, of Bologna, is making an 

 appeal for funds to rebuild the observatory 

 there on a new site, and provide it with instru- 

 ments suited to modern requirements. 



Peabody Museum, Yale University, has re- 

 ceived as a gift from Professor Schuchert a 

 collection of antiquities gathered by him dur- 

 ing his recent trip through Mexico. 



The annual dinner of the National Geo- 

 graphic Society will be given in Washington 

 December 15. Invitations have been issued 

 by Professor Willis L. Moore, president of the 

 society, and a dinner committee. 



The New York Association of Biology 

 Teachers will hold its next meeting at the 

 High School of Commerce on December 14 

 at 8:15 p.m. Dr. C. Stuart Gager, director 

 of the laboratories at the New York Botanical 

 Garden, and Dr. M. A. Bigelow, head of the 

 department of biology of Teachers College, 

 will lead a discussion on ' How can secondary 

 school teachers of biology maintain a spirit 

 of investigation while engaged in teaching.' 



The ninth International Congress of Geog- 

 raphy will be held at Geneva from July 27 

 to August 6, 1908. 



The fourth International Congress for the 

 WeKare and Protection of Children will be 

 held in Berlin on May 22-26, 1907. 



According to foreign papers, the Journal 

 Offlciel is about to publish statistics of the 

 marriages, births and deaths that took place 

 in France in 1905. The figures show that, 

 while marriages increased as compared with 

 1904, births fell off, the rate being the lowest 

 on record. In forty-four departments (as 

 compared with thirty-six in the previous year) 

 the deaths were actually in excess of the 

 births, and in certain provinces the difference 

 was enormous, the record being three deaths 

 as against two births. An increase in the 

 death rate helps to aggravate the situation. 



Nature states that visitors to the old 

 Swedish cathedral and university town of 



