December 28, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



1015 



We learn from the London Times that very 

 striking evidence of the shrinking up of Lake 

 Tanganyika was furnished in the paper read re- 

 cently in Brussels by Captain Hecq, who stated 

 that the post of Karema, founded 20 years ago 

 on the shores of the lake, was now fourteen miles 

 distant from the lake. Captain Hecq also recent- 

 ly visited Lake Kivu, the waters of which are so 

 salt that neither crocodiles nor hippopotami are 

 to be found in it. This lake is given the ap- 

 pearance of being divided into two by a large 

 island, and this may explain some generally ac- 

 cepted errors which are now being definitely 

 solved by a German-Congolese boundary com- 

 mission. 



A RESOLUTION has been adopted unanimously 

 by the French Chamber of Deputies calling 

 upon the government to prohibit the manufac- 

 ture and sale of all alcoholic liquors pro- 

 nounced ' dangerous ' by the Academy of Med- 

 icine. The resolution is especially concerned 

 with the consumption of absinthe, which con- 

 tinues to increase in France. 



The Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences 

 expects to cooperate with the New York State 

 Museum in making an exhibit at the Pan- 

 American Exposition, at Buffalo, in 1901. 

 This exhibit will be held in the New York 

 State building. An especially fine collection 

 from the water-line rocks near Buffalo, con- 

 sisting of the fossil crustaceans — Pterygotus, 

 Eurypterus, and Ceratiocani will be shown. 

 This collection is being mounted for exhibition 

 at the State Museum. 



The London Times states that in view of the 

 fact that the Royal Institution of Civil Engi- 

 neers has, by a decision of the House of Lords, 

 been exempted from payment of the Corpora- 

 tion Tax (1894), it is submitted that the Royal 

 Colleges of Physicians in London and Edin- 

 burgh may reasonably claim similar treatment; 

 and an attempt is being made by Sir John Take 

 to induce the Chancellor of the Exchequer to 

 concur in this view. The especial hardship in 

 this case is that, notwithstanding the important 

 part played by the two colleges in administer- 

 ing and regulating medical education and ex- 

 amination, and in maintaining laboratories for 

 original research, and the obligation upon each 



fellow to pay a stamp duty of £25 on elec- 

 tion, there will be five years of arrears to make 

 up if the authorities persist in their intention to 

 levy the tax. 



Wb learn from the Electrical World that the 

 International Conference sitting in Brussels 

 for the Protection of Industrial Property, at 

 which United States Assistant Patent Commis- 

 sioner, Walter H. Chamberlin, and Lawrence 

 Townsend, United States Minister to Belgium, 

 were the American representatives, adopted 

 the following resolutions : First — The period of 

 exclusive rights, previously fixed at six months 

 for [applications for] patents and three months 

 for industrial designs, models and trade 

 marks, is extended to a year for the first named 

 and four months for the second named. Second 

 — Countries signing the convention enjoy re- 

 ciprocally the protection accorded by each 

 country to its own citizens against unfair com- 

 petition. Third — Patents cannot lapse because 

 they are not put in circulation, except after a 

 minimum delay of three years, dating from the 

 first application in countries where the patent 

 is allowed and in cases in which the conditions 

 of the patent do not justify causes of inaction. 



At a meeting of the Zoological Society of 

 London, on December 4th, Mr. J. S. Budgett 

 read a paper on ' The Breeding-habits of 

 Protopterus, Gymnarchus, and some other West- 

 African Pishes,' in which an account was given 

 of a collecting-trip made during last summer to 

 the swamps of the Gambia river in search of 

 the eggs of Polypterus. The eggs of Polypterus 

 were not discovered, though a very young 

 specimen measuring only one inch and a 

 quarter in length was found. In this small 

 specimen the dermal bones were not developed, 

 and the external gills were of very great size, 

 the base of the shaft being situated immediately 

 behind the spiracle. The dorsal finlets formed 

 a continuous dorsal fin. The secretary read an 

 extract from a letter which had been addressed 

 to the Colonial Office by the West India Com- 

 mittee, concerning the proposed introduction of 

 the English Starling or the Indian Mynah into 

 St. Kitts, West Indies, to check the increase of 

 grasshoppers, which were causing great damage 

 to the growing crops of that island. 



