July 13, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



79 



and Professor George Darwin. The Astron- 

 omer Royal exhibited photographs of the 

 corona taken at Ovar, Portugal, compared 

 with those taken in India, under similar condi- 

 tions, in 1898. Other work reported upon was 

 the observations and photographs taken with 

 the 28inch refractor and the Thompson equa- 

 torial, including observations of Capella, with 

 a view to determining whether it could be ob- 

 served as a double star. 



It appears from a recent report of the British 

 Museum that the visitors to the natural history- 

 collections at South Kensington rose from 419,- 

 004 in 1898 to 422,290 in 1899. In 1899 the 

 weekday visitors numbered 366,572 and the 

 Sunday visitors 55,718, as compared with 368,- 

 572 and 50,432 in the previous year. The vis- 

 its paid to the particular departments for the 

 purpose of study fell from 20,177 in 1898 to 

 19,120 in 1899. The trustees have agreed to 

 co-operate with the Egyptian Government in a 

 survey of the Nile to determine the species of 

 fishes inhabiting the river. A scientific expedi 

 tion is to be dispatched to Lake Tanganyika - 

 Particulars are given of the expedition to Soko 

 tra undertaken by Mr. Ogilvie-Grant and Dr 

 H. O. Forbes, and of Dr. J. W. Gregory's exl 

 ploration of West Indian Islands. 



The Boston Appalachian Mountain Club 

 held its 35th field^meeting from June 30th to 

 July 7th. Professor C. H. Hitchcock, of 

 Dartmouth College, was one of the guides and 

 was the principal speaker at the evening meet- 

 ing. 



The large flying cage of the New York 

 Zoological Park, built at a cost of $8000, has 

 been completed and numerous birds have been 

 placed in it. It is the largest cage ever con- 

 structed, being 150 feet long, 75 feet wide and 

 55 feet high. 



An institute for the study of oceanography 

 is to be established at Berlin. Among questions 

 proposed for special study is the mixing of 

 the waters of the Baltic and the North Sea in 

 the canal connecting them. The Baltic, owing 

 to the numerous rivers flowing into it, is less 

 salt than ocean water and its fauna becomes 

 modifled as it passes along the canal. 



The daily papers report that Baron E. von 



Toll will head a Russian expedition which is to 

 search the Arctic coast of Europe and Asia for 

 traces of Andree. It will start from Norway, 

 proceed by way of Nova Zembla, pass the en- 

 suing winter at Cape Chelyuskin, Taimyr Pe- 

 ninsula, and, searching the Siberian coast dur- 

 ing the summer of 1901, endeavor to reach 

 Bering Strait. This dangerous passage has not 

 been attempted since its accomplishment by 

 Baron Nordenskjold in 1871-3. Capt. W. Bode 

 will this summer take a party of Germans to 

 Franz Josef Laud and communicate with the 

 Italian expedition under the Duke of Abruzzi. 

 A Swedish and a Russian expedition will oper- 

 ate in Spitzbergen. Three expeditions, one 

 Swedish, under Professor VatthpflP; a Danish 

 one under Professor Amdrup, and an English 

 one, under Capt. Robertson have already started 

 for the east coast of Greenland. 



The University of Pennsylvania has issued a 

 directory of its graduates in engineering which 

 will be sent on application. The graduates 

 number 469, of whom 445 are living. Of these, 

 about seventy-one per cent, are engaged in en- 

 gineering practice, twelve per cent, lines in re- 

 lated to engineering, thirteen per cent, in other 

 professions and pursuits, and the addresses of 

 the remaining four per cent, are unknown. 



The British Medical Journal reports that the 

 German Government proposes to establish spe- 

 cial plague laboratories at Freiberg and Heidel- 

 berg for the diagnosis of any suspicious cases of 

 the plague that may occur, and for the prosecu- 

 tion of researches as to the cause of the disease. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



By the will of Captain George S. Towle, 

 U. S. A., Wellesley College receives practi- 

 cally the whole of his estate which is said to 

 amount to about $100,000. The income estab. 

 lishes a fund to assist worthy students. 



By the will of the late Mrs. Rebecca Rey- 

 burn of Baltimore, $20,000 is bequeathed to the 

 Catholic University of America. 



Berea College has secured subscriptions 

 for $150,000 which makes available Dr. Pear- 

 son's gift of $50,000. 



A Jesuit priest of Mindanao has presented to 

 the Roman Catholic College, at Georgetown, a 



