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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 307. 



ent integrity and organization." A laboratory 

 for the physical and chemical study of road ma- 

 terials has been established in the Division of 

 Chemistry. " The object of the establishment 

 of this laboratory is to secure the widest pos- 

 sible knowledge of the nature of road materials, 

 their resistance to stress, their hardness, their 

 power of absorbing water, their deportment in 

 freezing temperatures, their cementing proper- 

 ties when reduced to powder, either alone or 

 when mixed with other substances, their chem- 

 ical composition and their geological origin 

 and distribution." 



It is reported that M. Daniel Osiris, a Greek 

 millionaire, residing in Paris, has instituted a 

 prize on the lines laid down by Mr. Nobel, 

 though his offer is for Frenchmen only, except 

 in a Paris Exposition year, when it becomes 

 universal. He has set aside a sum to be awarded 

 every three years in perpetuity to the discov- 

 erer, inventor or producer of the most note- 

 worthy idea or object for the benefit of hu- 

 manity. The prize is to be never less than 

 100,000 francs, and may be double that sum. 



Edgar J. Townsend, professor of mathe- 

 matics, and Cyril G. Hopkins, professor of 

 agronomy, have returned to the University of 

 Illinois after a leave of absence. Both have 

 been studying during their absence abroad at 

 the University of Gottingen, from which insti- 

 tution each has received the degree of Ph.D. 

 Professor Townsend studied pure mathematics 

 under Professors Hilbert and Klein and the 

 mathematics of physics under Professor Voigt. 

 Professor Hopkins has been studying under 

 Professor Tollans. 



Peofessoe B. B. Ross, of the Alabama Agri- 

 cultural and Mechanical College and Experi- 

 ment Station, has been granted a year's leave 

 of absence, which he is spending in chemical 

 investigation in Germany. 



Professoe F. W. Woll, chemist of the "Wis- 

 consin Experiment Station, is spending a year 

 in special study abroad. 



Peesident Henrys. Pritchett, of the Mas- 

 sachusetts Institute of Technology, made an 

 address on November 8 th before the Boston 

 Society of Arts on 'America's Contribution to 



the Knowledge of the Size and Figure of the 

 Earth. ' 



Mr. L. B. Stillwell, formerly electrical 

 director of the Niagara Falls Power Company, 

 and now in charge of the electrical installation 

 work of the Manhattan Railway Company, has 

 been appointed electrical director of the New 

 York Rapid Transit Subway Construction Com- 

 pany. 



Lsr memory of the late Dr. R. T. Manson, 

 F.G.S. , the naturalist and geologist, a large 

 granite boulder, has, as we learn from Nature, 

 been taken from the bed of the River Tees and 

 placed on a pedestal in the Public Park, 

 Darlington. The stone weighs about twelve 

 tons, and it is admitted to have come originally 

 from Shap, in Westmoreland, in the Great Ice 

 Age. 



The well known collection of mammals of E. 

 A. and O. Bangs, comprising more than ten 

 thousand specimens (in most cases skins accom- 

 panied by skulls) and over one hundred type 

 specimens, has been presented to the Museum 

 of Comparative Zoology of Harvard University 

 through friends of the Museum. 



There has been recently received at the Na- 

 tional Zoological Park, Washington, D. C, a 

 specimen of Steller's sea-lion (Eumetopias stel- 

 leri), from the Pribilof Islands. 



It is stated that the German Government has 

 purchased Count Zeppelin's airship and that it 

 will be taken to Berlin. 



The Indian Government will give an annual 

 subsidy of £650 for three years to the Pasteur 

 Institute at Kasouli, of which Major Semple is 

 director. 



The daily papers report that Dr. Leopold 

 Kann has arrived at Dundee on the Whaler 

 Eclipse, bringing news, not only of Dr. Robert 

 Stein and Mr. Samuel Warmbath, but also of 

 Lieutenant Peary and Captain Sverdrup. Lieu- 

 tenant Peary is said to be now wintering at 

 Fort Conger and has apparentlj' put off his at- 

 tempt to reach the far north until next year. 

 Captain Sverdrup, on the Fram, is said to be 

 wintering in Jones Sound. 



St. Peteesbueg scholars are planning a sci- 

 entific expedition to examine the manuscripts at 



