August 17, 1900. ] 



SCIENCE. 



279 



about ten miles ; fastest time made, five miles 

 in seventeen and one-half minutes ; highest 

 possible revolution of the propellers, 600 per 

 minute. The cause of the sudden stoppage in 

 the flight of the ship was proved to be a slight 

 mishap to the steering apparatus, but the colos- 

 sus floated gently with the wind until it settled 

 upon the surface of the lake without taking 

 any water. The raft was then brought up and 

 the ship was easily placed upon it and brought 

 back to the balloon house. The weight is 

 200 centners (22,000 pounds). 



A COEKESPONDBNT writes to the London 

 Times : The International Congress of Hygiene 

 and Demography is to meet this year in Paris 

 from the 10th to the 17th of August, corres- 

 ponding exactly in date with the meeting held 

 nine years ago in London. Forming as it does 

 one of a succession of congresses that are being 

 held in Paris during the Exposition, it cannot 

 perhaps be expected to arouse the same atten- 

 tion as the meeting in 1891, under the presi- 

 dency of the Prince of Wales and the chair- 

 manship of Sir Douglas Galton. During the 

 nine years that have passed since the London 

 meeting the science of hygiene has steadily de- 

 veloped, and the reports to be presented to the 

 Paris meeting include questions that had hardly 

 been formulated in 1891, and many that have 

 claimed a great deal of attention in the past 

 few years, such as bacteriology, prevention of 

 tuberculosis, preservatives in food, and school 

 hygiene. The program set out for the nine 

 sections into which the work of the congress 

 is divided covers a very wide field, show- 

 ing how intimately hygiene enters into every 

 branch of life. The several sections include 

 — (1) bacteriology ; (2) hygiene of alimenta- 

 tion, and chemical and veterinary science ; 

 (3) engineering and architecture ; (4) per- 

 sonal hygiene and the hygiene of communities 

 (schools, hospitals, prisons), cremation ; (5) 

 hygiene of professions and trades (unhealthy 

 dwellings) ; (6) military, naval and colonial hy- 

 giene ; (7) general and international hygiene, 

 infectious diseases and sanitary legislation and 

 administration ; (8) hygiene of travelling and 

 communications (railways, ships, public con- 

 veyances) ; and (9) demography. It is to be 

 wished that there had also been a section for 



the discussions of poisons used in personal deC' 

 oration and not only of those used for hair dyes, 

 etc., but of the poisons used in hoot polish, es- 

 pecially that for brown boots, by means of 

 which feet have been seriously injured. In view 

 of our recent and present experience of armies 

 in the field, the section dealing with military 

 hygiene should offer a good opportunity for the 

 elucidation of various vexed questions in field 

 organization and equipment. The late Sir 

 Douglas Galton would have seized such an occa- 

 sion for the deduction of practical results. His 

 position on the Army Sanitary Committee of the 

 War Office enabled him to effect many reforms, 

 but he would have availed himself to the utmost 

 of the opportunity which the Paris congress 

 now offers to call attention to the many points 

 in our South African experience which seem to 

 demand further improvement. The Prince of 

 Wales, in his admirable address at the opening 

 of the congress in 1891, dwelt in forcible terms 

 upon the lessons which might be learned in 

 every life, private as well as public, from the 

 study of the causes of the insidious progress of 

 enteric fever, and it is especially interesting at 

 the present moment to recur to those facts and 

 to note with what acute perception His Koyal 

 Highness foresaw the perils of that illness which 

 has assumed such formidable proportions, and 

 which has caused such loss of life in our 

 forces. It is a matter of great satisfaction that 

 the president of the Hygiene Congress at Paris 

 this year is M. Brouardel. No one will com- 

 mand greater confidence from his wide and 

 scientific knowledge of hygiene. M. Brouardel 

 was present at the congress of 1891 and he also 

 attended the meeting of the British Association 

 at Dover in 1899. He is therefore well known 

 to the British public. Under the auspices of 

 so able a president the Congress of Hygiene at 

 Paris should maintain the high position in which 

 it was placed by Sir Douglas Galton at the 

 Congress of 1891. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 

 Colorado College has secured $100,000 for 

 a new science building. 



Lord Bute has oflTered to give $20,000 to the 



