972 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 312. 



and on 'How to Visit a Museum,' by Colonel 

 Plunkett, the director of the Museum. 



The Ohio State Academy of Science holds 

 its tenth annual meeting at the Ohio State 

 University Biological Hall, Columbus, Ohio, 

 on December 26th and 27th, 1900. 



The usual December meeting of the New 

 York Association of Biology Teachers was held, 

 by invitation, at the Teachers College, Colum- 

 bia University. The address of the evening 

 was made by Professor F. E. Lloyd, the sub- 

 ject being ' Biological Exploration in the Missis- 

 sippi Delta and Adjacent Islands. ' At the close of 

 the address an informal reception was held in 

 the Laboratory of the Department of Biology. 



At a meeting of the Botanical Section of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 

 held on December 10, 1900, the following oflScers 

 were elected : Director, Thomas Meehan ; Vice- 

 Director, Geo. M. Beringer ; Treasurer and Con- 

 servator, Stewardson Brown ; Recorder, John 

 W. Harshberger ; Executive Committee, Geo. 

 M. Beringer, Thomas Meehan, Stewardson 

 Brown, Jos. D. Crawford, Ida A. Keller. 



The next meeting of the Pan-American Med. 

 ical Congress, over which the late Dr. William 

 Pepper was to have presided, will be held at 

 Havana from February 5th to 9th, 1901. 



The British Medical Association will hold its 

 69th annual meeting at Cheltenham from July 

 30th to August 2d, 1901 : The ' Presidential Ad- 

 dress' will be delivered by George Bagot Fergu- 

 son, M.D. The 'Address in Medicine ' by James 

 F. Goodhart, M.D., LL.D., consulting physi- 

 cian, Guy's Hospital. The 'Address in Surgery' 

 by Sir William Thomson, M.D., LL.D., sur- 

 geon to the Richmond Surgical Hospital, Dub- 

 lin, and surgeon in ordinary to the Queen in 

 Ireland. The scientific business of the meeting 

 will be conducted in thirteen sections. The 

 names of the sections are as follows : A. — Med- 

 icine. B. — Surgery. C. — Obstetrics and Gyn- 

 aecology. D. — State Medicine. E. — Psycho- 

 logical Medicine. F. — Anatomy and Physiol- 

 ogy. G. — Pathology and Bacteriology. H. — 

 Ophthalmology. I. — Diseases of Children. 

 J. — Laryngology and Otology. K. — Tropical 

 Diseases. L. — Navy, Army and Ambulance. 

 M. — Dermatology. 



Pkofessoe F. E. Nipher, of St. Louis, writes 

 that after many months of failure, he has suc- 

 ceeded in developing a fine reversed picture 

 on the Cramer ' crown ' plate, with the develop- 

 ing bath fully exposed to direct sunlight. The 

 operation lasted a full half-hour, with no trace 

 of fog. The details showed through the plate 

 long before they came out sharply. The de- 

 veloper was a modification of the hydrochinone, 

 the formula for which is given in every box of 

 the Cramer plates. The bromide was left out, 

 and the sodium carbonate solution was made up 

 at half the strength used for negatives. The 

 mixed developer was diluted with water in the 

 proportion of one part to nine. This result is 

 certain greatly to reduce the camera time. 



A BEPOBT on the agricultural conditions of 

 Porto Rico, transmitted to the House of Repre- 

 sentatives by the President, on December 10th, 

 recommends that an experiment station be estab- 

 lished there. Secretary Wilson advises an ap" 

 propriation of $15,000 to establish it, with an 

 annual appropriation of $15,000 for mainte- 

 nance. 



A CURIOUS epidemic of neuritis has been af- 

 flicting many in the north of England, and (in 

 spite of the fact that some teetotalers have suf- 

 fered) has been traced to beer-drinking. The 

 best founded opinion seems to be that which 

 assigns it to the cheap sugar used in ' priming ' 

 the beer, since the sulphuric acid used in its 

 manufacture is made from iron pyrites and con- 

 tains traces of arsenic. Whatever may ulti- 

 mately be fixed on as the deleterious agent, 

 there will be an outcry for a return to malt 

 and hops. 



The London Times reports that in addition 

 to the British Antarctic expedition, there is also 

 one in preparation in Sweden under the leader- 

 ship of Dr. Otto Nordenskjold, the well-known 

 savant, who was a member of the Danish ex- 

 pedition to East Greenland last summer under 

 Lieutenant Amdrup. Dr. Nordenskjold has 

 also shared in several Swedish polar expedi- 

 tions. For the purpose of his Antarctic expedi- 

 tion he has acquired, for a nominal sum, the 

 steam-whaler the Antarctic — an appropriate 

 name — in which the Greenland voyage was 

 performed. This vessel has quite an historical 



