Fkbkuaey 14, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



277 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 The American Philosopkical Society has 

 elected Dr. Samuel P. Langley, secretary of 

 the Smithsonian Institution, to be vice-presi- 

 dent of the Society, and Dr. Ira Eemsen, 

 president of the Johns Hopkins University, to 

 be one of the councilors. 



'The Races of Europe,' by Professor W. Z. 

 Ripley, of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 

 nology, and professor-elect of economics at 

 Harvard University, has been 'crowned' by 

 the award of the prix Bertillon of the Societe 

 d' Anthropologie of Paris. 



Professor J. W. Gregory has been appointed 

 acting head of the Geological Survey of Vic- 

 toria, with a view to its reorganization. 



M. Michel Levy, inspector of the French 

 mines, has been appointed a member of the 

 council of the Conservatory of Arts and Meas- 

 ures. 



The foreign papers report that Professor 

 Virchow, who has been confined to the house 

 as the result of a fall, is making good prog- 

 ress towards recovery. 



The Medical Advisory Board of the Health 

 Department of New York City has organized 

 by electing Dr. Edward G. Janeway chair- 

 man and Dr. T. Mitchell Prudden secretary. 



Dr. p. W. Pavy, r.R.S., has been chosen 

 president of the National Committee for Great 

 Britain and Ireland at the Fourteenth Inter- 

 national Congress of Medicine to be held at 

 Madrid in April, 1903. 



Dr. John D. Jones, formerly assistant chief 

 of the bureau of forestry, and more recently 

 a representative of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture for the purpose of investigating the con- 

 dition of agriculture in Asia, Hawaii and the 

 West Indies, was appointed in June, 1899, as 

 technical adviser to the Japanese department 

 of agriculture and commerce. In recognition 

 of his services the Emperor has recently con- 

 ferred on him a high order. 



Dr. Samuel G. Dixon, president of the 

 Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, 

 has been formally notified of election to honor- 

 ary membership in the National Society of 

 Natural Science and Mathematics, Cherfcourg. 



Dr. J. W. Lowber, of Austin, Tex., has been 

 elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society of London. 



Dr. T. H. Macbride, professor of botany in 

 the State University of Iowa, has been invited 

 to deliver the address at the opening of the 

 new library building at Muscatine. The ad- 

 dress is to be given under the auspices of the 

 Fortnightly Club of that city. 



In a course of lectures at Trinity College, 

 Professor H. S. Graves, of Tale Forest School, 

 will give 'Problems of American Forestry' 

 March 11, and Rev. Henry C. McCook, D.D., 

 'The Homes and Habits of American Ants.' 

 In addition Dr. McCook wiU address the stu- 

 dents of the department of natural history 

 upon spiders. 



The Navy Department has extended for six 

 months the leave of absence granted to civil 

 engineer Robert E. Peary, now in the Arctic 

 regions. 



Dr. Edward Palmer, the veteran explorer 

 of Mexico, left Washington on January 15 

 for a collecting expedition in the province of 

 Santiago, Cuba. He will obtain the usual 

 number of sets, which will be offered for sale 

 upon his return. Dr. Palmer will be accom- 

 panied by Mr. Charles Louis Pollard and Mr. 

 William Palmer, both of the United States 

 National Museum, who will collect plants, 

 ma mm als, birds and reptiles for that institu- 

 tion. As the party will pay especial attention 

 to the imexplored mountains in the southern 

 portion of the province, it is expected that the 

 scientific results will be valuable. 



Professor Ralph S. Tarr, of Cornell Uni- 

 versity, is spending the winter in geological 

 study in Italy and will spend the spring and 

 summer in the study of the glacial deposits of 

 Germany and the British Isles. 



Nature states that an expedition to Lake 

 Eyre, the great depression in Central Aus- 

 tralia sinking below sea-level, has recently left 

 Melbourne. The party consists of Professor 

 J. W. Gregory, his assistant, Mr. H. J. Gray- 

 son, and five students of the geological depart- 

 ment of the Melbourne University. The main 

 objects of the expedition are the study of the 



