654 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 304. 



Lister, P.R.S., will deliver an address after 

 which the laboratories will be open for inspec- 

 tion. We learn from the British Medical Jour- 

 nal that although a considerable sum has already 

 been subscribed toward defraying the cost of the 

 building, much has still to be raised, and it is 

 hoped that those interested in higher educa- 

 tion may see their way to assist the Council to 

 defray the debt. It is also hoped that funds 

 may be available from the reconstituted Univer- 

 sity of London for the same purpose. The 

 movement for the extension of the College 

 primarily arose from the difficulties experienced 

 by the professors of bacteriology and physiology 

 in dealing with the great increase in their 

 classes which has occurred during recent years, 

 and at the same time to afford space to those 

 who wish to prosecute original research. The 

 already spacious bacteriological laboratory 

 has been nearly doubled in size and a 

 complete bacteriological library added to it. 

 The physiological laboratory is entirely new, 

 the rooms are handsome, well lighted and 

 fitted in a most complete way. The old phys- 

 iological laboratory has been absorbed by the 

 extension into it of the anatomical department 

 which was previously much cramped for room. 

 The museum has been completely rearranged : 

 the old museum now becomes the architectural 

 department. Geology and botany are provided 

 with new laboratories and other departments 

 which have benefited by the change are physics, 

 materia medica and State medicine. 



The London Standard states that Di-. Sven 

 Hedin, according to the latest reports, reached 

 Abdal, on the Tarim River, in eastern Turke- 

 stan, on June 27th. He states that the Tarim 

 is the largest river in the interior of Asia. 

 He surveyed the river from Arghan to Ab- 

 dal in a ferryboat. From Jeggeli-ku, where 

 the river becomes a multitude of small lakes, 

 he continued his journey in a craft made up of 

 three canoes lashed together, with a deck sur- 

 mounted by a felt tent. In the beginning of 

 March he made an excursion from the Yangi- 

 kol, where he had his winter camp, to the 

 southern slope of the Karruk-tagh Mountains, 

 where he surveyed the Kumdarya bed of the 

 Tarim which is now dry. In the neighborhood 

 he found the marks of a large dried -up lake, 



probably the old Lob-Nor, which lies east of 

 the present Lob-Nor, or rather the four lakes 

 discovered by him in 1896. The dry soil was 

 covered with a thick layer of salt and millions 

 of mussel shells, while the banks held many 

 withered reeds, dead trees, consisting exclu- 

 sively of poplars and ruins of houses, fortifi- 

 cations, temples, etc., which were often adorned 

 with artistic wood carvings. Dr. Hedin in- 

 tended to return to this region in the autumn. 

 In the middle of the desert he found and in- 

 vestigated a larger lake of salt water and then 

 returned to his winter camp. During his stay 

 at Abdal he wrote down several songs sung for 

 many generations by the Lob-Nor men when 

 fishing. When he left this district the ther- 

 mometer registered forty-two degrees above 

 zero, Celsius ; whereas it falls to thirty-two 

 degrees below zero during the winter. 



We learn from the American Museum Journal 

 that the photographs collected by members of 

 the Jesup North Pacific Expedition will be re- 

 produced by the heliotype process in large 

 quarto form, and published under the title 

 ' Ethnographical Album of the North Pacific 

 Coasts of America and Asia.' It is intended 

 to issue the album to subscribers only, in parts 

 of at least 24 plates annually, the whole series 

 to embrace 120 plates. Part I., consisting of 

 28 plates, illustrating Indian types from the 

 interior of British Columbia, has already ap- 

 peared. 



The British Office of Woods and Forests has 

 purchased from the Duke of Beaufort the Tin- 

 tern Abbey estate which comprises the famous 

 abbey and 5,334 acres of land. This area in- 

 cludes nearly 3,000 acres of woodland, the 

 most picturesque portions of which are the 

 wooded hills and slopes with a frontage of 

 eight miles on the River Wye. The estate is 

 near the extensive woods of the Crown in the 

 Forest of Dean. At the same time the Crown 

 has also purchased the whole of the Duke's 

 farms surrounding Raglan Castle, 3,169 acres 

 in extent. 



During the past summer the division of soils 

 of the department of agronomy at the Univer- 

 sity of Illinois has undertaken a study of the 

 soils of Illinois. With this end in view, over 



