September 28, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



493 



ant in the Nautical Almanac office, with a salary 

 of $1000 a year. The examination will be on 

 the mathematical topics required for the com- 

 putations. On October 23rd there will be an 

 examination for the position of assistant phys- 

 ical geologist in the U. S. Geological Survey 

 at a salary of $600 a year. The examination is 

 chieily on physics, but French and German are 

 also included. On November 14th, there will 

 be examinations for preparator in vertebrate 

 paleontology and skilled laborer in the U. S. 

 National Museum, with salaries of $900 and 

 $720 respectively. The examinations will be 

 on experience and practical questions regarding 

 the mounting and care of vertebrate fossils. On 

 October 23rd, 24th, and 2.5th, there will be held 

 the examination we have already noted for the 

 position of chemical geologist in the U. S. Geo- 

 logical Survey with a salary of $1400. 



The Grand Prize of the Paris Exposition has 

 been awarded to the Division of Pomology of 

 the Department of Agriculture, and four gold 

 medals have been awarded to the United States 

 in the horticultural group. 



The Kothamsted Experimental Station estab- 

 lished by Sir John Bennet Lawes was some time 

 before his death made over to trustees who 

 hold it for the British nation. In addition to 

 the land and laboratory it has been provided 

 with an endowment of £100,000. 



An elaborate exhibition has recently been 

 held in the Botanical Museum and Conserva- 

 tories of the Botanical Gardens at Berlin of the 

 plants obtained in South and Central America 

 by Dr. P. Preuss. 



As has already been stated the Nobel prizes 

 will be awarded on the anniversary of the death 

 of the founder, and it is expected that the first 

 award will be made on December 10, 1901. 



Major A. St. Hill Gibbons has returned 

 from Africa after an absence of two years and 

 three months. We learn from the London 

 Times that the expedition covered over 13,- 

 000 miles, in addition to travel by railway or 

 steamship routes. The main object of Major 

 Gibbons'sjourney was to complete the survey of 

 the Barotse country and to determine the tribal 

 distribution there. In this he was successful, 

 and the whole country from the Kafukwe River 



on the east to the Kwito River on the west and 

 the Zambesi-Congo watershed to 18° south 

 latitude, or a total area of over 200,000 square 

 miles, has been hydrographically and ethno- 

 graphically surveyed. An interesting feature 

 of Major Gibbons's work in this region was the 

 discovery of the source of the Zambesi at a 

 point nearly 100 miles distant from its supposed 

 position. On the completion of his work in 

 Barotseland Major Gibbons, in order to extend 

 the scope of the expedition, separated from his 

 companions and adopted the northern route, 

 traveling by way of the chain of lakes to the 

 Upper Nile. According to his charts consider- 

 able amendments to existing maps will be nec- 

 essary, both with reference to the relative 

 position, shape and extent of most of the 

 Great Lakes, especially in the case of Lakes 

 Kivu and Albert Edward, the latter of which is 

 now found to be absolutely different in shape 

 and size from the description given in existing 

 maps. By the completion of this journey Major 

 Gibbons has personally travelled a greater dis- 

 tance than any other explorer in Africa, prob- 

 ably not excluding Livingstone. He has never 

 had occasion to use his rifle in anger, and he is 

 proud of the fact that he has never killed a 

 native nor lost one of his boys from death, 

 either by disease or misadventure. He has 

 brought home a large amount of valuable data 

 on the general and political situation of the 

 countries through which he has traveled and 

 over 300 photographs, and his sporting collec- 

 tion includes a white rhinoceros from the Upper 

 Nile. 



The report of the expeditions organized by 

 the British Astronomical Association to ob- 

 serve the total Solar Eclipse of May 28, 1900, 

 will be contained in a volume shortly to be is- 

 sued from the office of Knoioledge. The work 

 will be edited by Mr. E. Walter Maunder, 

 F.R.A.S., and will contain many fine photo- 

 graphs of the various stages of the Eclipse. 



The New York Medical Record states that a 

 firm of manufacturing chemists in England hav- 

 ing applied for a license to perform experiments 

 upon living animals for the purpose of stand- 

 ardizing antitoxins, the Royal College of Physi- 

 cians was requested to give an opinion as to the 



