240 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 293. 



Plymouth, and it is mucli to be regretted tha 

 more liberal funds cannot be provided to allow 

 the Association to carry on its investigations 

 on a more extended scale. The purpose of that 

 Association was stated by the late Professor 

 Huxley to be that of "establishing and main- 

 taining laboratories on the coasts of the United 

 Kingdom where accurate researches may be 

 carried on leading to the improvement of zo- 

 ological and botanical science and to an increase 

 of our knowledge as regards the food, life con- 

 ditions, and habits of British food-fishes and 

 molluscs." At the request of the Devon Sea 

 Fisheries Committee, Mr. W. Garstang, of the 

 Plymouth Association, some time since pre- 

 pared a report on the efficacy of the methods 

 heretofore adopted in sea fishery hatchers, to- 

 gether with an account of recent experimental 

 work bearing upon the rearing of the fry of sea 

 fishes, and of the bearings of experiments upon 

 practical proposals for artificially increasing the 

 stock of fish on depleted fishing grounds. In 

 the report in question Mr. Garstang expresses 

 the opinion that in no case has the utility of any 

 past operations in sea fish hatching been satis- 

 factorily demonstrated. He contends that the 

 methods heretofore adopted and the scale upon 

 which they have been carried out have been al- 

 together inadequate for the production of the 

 results which in all cases have been aimed at, 

 and which in several cases have been claimed 

 to have been attained. He believes that no 

 useful results can be expected to accrue from 

 sea fish hatcheries until the problem of feeding 

 and rearing the fry to a more advanced stage 

 has been satisfactorily solved. While he con- 

 siders that there is a fair prospect of an early 

 solution of this difficulty, he advises that in the 

 meantime, the most useful measure to adopt 

 would be to promote the artificial propagation 

 of sea fishes on board the fishing boats during 

 the spawning season, fertilized eggs to be re- 

 turned at once to the sea. Mr. Garstang al- 

 ludes to the sea fish hatcheries which claim to 

 have conducted their operations on more than 

 an experimental scale. These include the cod 

 fish hatcheries in Norway, the United States 

 Fish Commission's hatcheries at Woods Holl 

 and Gloucester, and the Newfoundland Govern- 

 ment hatchery at Dildo Island. In regard to 



the latter he says ; " The inconsistency of the 

 claims made for the work of this hatchery have 

 been exposed by Mr. Fryer in several recent 

 reports of the inspectors of fisheries, so that, 

 beyond expressing my conviction of the fairness 

 and accuracy of his criticisms, I need not dwell 

 upon the merits of this case." 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEW8. 



SiE James Chance has given £50,000 to the 

 endowment fund of the University of Birming- 

 ham, which now amounts to about $2,000,000. 



The residuary estate of the late James Gar- 

 land is left to Harvard University in the event 

 of no grandchildren surviving. The contin- 

 gency is perhaps rather remote, but the amount 

 of money involved is said to be several million 

 dollars. 



It appears that one of the nephews of the 

 late Jonas Clark is taking steps to dispute the 

 will leaving money to Clark University, but an 

 appeal has not yet been made to the court. 



The new building for the first chemical lab- 

 oratory of the University of Berlin was dedi- 

 cated on July 14th. Professor Emil Fischer, di- 

 rector of the laboratory, made an address after 

 which the new building was thrown open for 

 inspection. There were present the minister 

 of instruction, the rector of the University, the 

 permanent secretary of the Academy of Sci- 

 ences and a number of delegates from foreign 

 universities. 



De. Charles A. Kofoid, assistant professor 

 of zoology in the University of Illinois and sup- 

 erintendent of the Natural History Survey of 

 that State, has been appointed assistant profes- 

 sor of histology and embryology in the Univer- 

 sity of California to begin work January 1, 

 1901. 



Mk. R. S. Clay, late lecturer in physics at 

 the Birkbeck Institution, has been appointed 

 principal of the Wandsworth Technical Insti- 

 tute, London. 



De. Edwin Klebs has resigned the profes- 

 sorship of pathology in the Rush Medical Col- 

 lege of the University of Chicago. 



