894 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 310. 



the Northern Territory are more difficult to 

 deal with than the aborigines of the center, 

 who know Mr. Gillen and regard him with the 

 utmost confidence. The tribes of the Mac- 

 Donnell Ranges will be studied even more 

 minutely than before, and afterwards the ex- 

 plorers will go towards the Gulf of Carpentaria, 

 along the Roper River, and, time permitting, 

 proceed down the Daly and Victoria Rivers. 



According to a despatch from Berlin dated 

 December 1st, the Due de Loubat has presented 

 to the Berlin Museum of Ethnology a valuable 

 collection of Central American antiquities. 



Mr. Frederick Stearns, of Detroit, who 

 gave the Stearns collection of musical instru- 

 ments to the University of Michigan, has sent 

 word from Europe, where he now is, that he has 

 purchased two hundred more instruments to be 

 added to the collection. 



Mr. Richard James Wilkinson, of the 

 Straits Settlements Civil Service, has presented 

 to Cambridge University his entire collection of 

 books in the Malay language amounting to 

 63 MSS. and about 50 lithographed or printed 

 volumes. 



Ex-GovEBNOR PiLLSBURY, of Minnesota, has 

 given 1,000 acres to the State Forestry Board 

 for the purpose of encouraging State forestry 

 reserves in Minnesota and giving the State 

 Board a chance to experiment with cut-over 

 timber tracts, with a view to determining the 

 extent to which the growth of timber can be 

 renewed. Mr. Pillsbury specifies that two- 

 thirds of the revenues which may be derived 

 from his gift must go to the State University at 

 Minneapolis. 



At the monthly meeting of the London 

 Zoological Society on November 24th, it was 

 stated that during the months of August, Sep- 

 tember and October there had been 483 addi- 

 tions made to the Society's collection of living 

 animals, among which special attention was 

 called to two tenrecs {Centetes ecaudatus), de- 

 posited by the Hon. Walter Rothschild, M.P. ; 

 to a Ludwig's bustard (Eupodoiis Ludwigi ) from 

 Port Elizabeth, presented by Mr. J. E. Mat- 

 cham, and to a bouquet's Amazon ( Chrysotis 

 bouqueti ) from Dominica, West Indies, acquired 

 by purchase, all new to the collection. It was 



also stated that during the same period there 

 had been 270,578 visitors to the Society's gar- 

 dens, being an increase of 11,241 as compared 

 with the corresponding period in 1899. The 

 receipts under this head of income consequently 

 showed during this period a substantial increase. 

 The meeting adjourned until December 20th 

 next. 



The report of the Austrian Medical Commis- 

 sion of the Vienna Imperial Academy of 

 Science, sent to Bombay, in 1897, to study the 

 plague, states that some animals, including 

 man, may be readily infected when the viru- 

 lent matter is rubbed on the skin, even though 

 the latter be totally free from any lesions. 

 The report also gives evidence to show that 

 perfect immunity can be given to the most 

 susceptible animals. It will be remembered 

 that the work of the commission was cut short 

 because of the accident resulting in the death 

 of Dr. Miiller in 1898. 



The Pekin correspondent of the London 

 Kmes cables : "In pursuance of their regret- 

 table policy of appropriation, the French and 

 German generals, with Count von Waldersee's 

 approval, have removed from the wall of Pekin 

 the superb astronomical instruments, erected 

 two centuries ago by the Jesuit fathers. Half 

 of them will go to Berlin and the rest to Paris. 

 The explanation of this act of vandalism is 

 that, inasmuch as the return of the court is so 

 improbable, such beautiful instruments should 

 not be exposed to the possibilities of injury 

 when Pekin is no longer the capital." 



The experimental and chemical departments 

 of the research laboratories of the Royal Col- 

 leges of Physicians and of Surgeons on Victoria 

 Embankment have been completely reorgan- 

 ized and are now well equipped for the carry- 

 ing out of research work. During the year a 

 grant of £100 has been voted by the labora- 

 tories committee to Mr. W. P. Bloxam, B.Sc, 

 for his work upon the chemistry of antitoxic 

 bodies. A grant of £25 was voted to the direc- 

 tor for expenses incurred in his work upon the 

 same subject from the Goldsmiths' Company's 

 research grant. The research grant has also 

 been utilized in supplying antitoxic serum to 

 various general and children's hospitals. The 



