476 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No, 377. 



cases the saving is much greater. If any 

 zoologist familiar with the best bibliographical 

 resources considers how he should go to work 

 to ascertain what has been published in the 

 past five years in tegard to some comparatively 

 minute question, such as the fauna of 

 Sumatra, a minute's reflection will suffice to 

 show that it would be a task of many weeks to 

 obtain a complete answer to such a question. 

 Yet a subscriber to the faunistic part of the 

 bibliography of the Concilium would require 

 only a few seconds to find the 85 publications 

 dealing with the subject. Some of the latter, 

 indeed, bear titles which would appear to pre- 

 clude any reference to Sumatra and thus be 

 likely to be missed by the student altogether. 

 These 85 references would have cost the siib- 

 scriber sixteen cents. Surely no argument is 

 necessary to prove the value of the work nor 

 the extreme cheapness of the service. 



The general statement contains a key by 

 which subscribers can verify their subscrip- 

 tions and rest assured that they have received 

 all that has been last published on any subject. 

 The zoological and anatomical subjects in- 

 clude 760, 8,371 and 2,007 cards respectively 

 during 1901. There are 263 cards on micro- 

 scopic technique and 155 on general biology. 



American subscribers will find it convenient 

 to remit to Mr. Edwin S. Field, 427 Broadway, 

 New York City, and also copies of the general 

 statement for 1901 can be secured. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



Lord Kelvin is expected to arrive in New 

 York on April 19. A reception will be given in 

 his honor on the evening of April 21 by 

 Columbia University, the American Institute 

 of Electrical Engineers, the New York 

 Academy of Sciences and other scientific 

 societies. 



Lord Lister and Professor Virchow are 

 among those who have been elected honorary 

 members of the Ghent Medical Society. 



Dr. N. L. Britton, director of the New 

 York Botanical Garden, expects to visit Cuba 

 at the end of the present month, with a view 

 to securing collections for the Garden. Dr. D. 

 T. MacDougal, assistant director, is at present 



in Arizona and New Mexico, making collec- 

 tions, particularly of giant cacti. 



Mr. William T. Palmer, of the U. S. Na- 

 tional Museum, has been engaged in investiga- 

 tions of the natural history of Cuba. 



Dr. Brandes has been appointed scientific 

 director of the Zoological Gardens in Halle 

 and has resigned his position as assistant in 

 the zoological laboratory of the University. 



Professor Hermann Kobold, astronomer in 

 the Observatory at Strassburg, has removed to 

 the Observatory at Kiel. 



Professor H. Becquerel lectured in French 

 before the Royal Institution on March 7. 

 His subeet was 'Radio-active Bodies.' 



Dr. Simon Flexner, professor of pathology 

 in the University of Pennsylvania, gave a 

 lecture on March 18 before the Yale Medical 

 Alumni Association on the subject 'Bubonic 

 Plague.' 



An address on 'Immunity' was delivered on 

 March 7 before the students of Jefferson 

 Medical College, Philadelphia, by Dr. W. H. 

 Welch, of the Johns Hopkins University. 



At the meeting of the Michigan Academy 

 of Science to be held at the University of 

 Michigan on March 27, 28 and 29, a public 

 lecture will be given by Major Walter Reed, 

 of the Army Medical Museum, at Washington, 

 chairman of the U. S. Yellow Fever Commis- 

 sion. His subject will be 'Yellow Fever.' 



C. N. Brown, professor of civil engineering 

 in the Ohio State University and dean of the 

 College of Engineering, died on March 6 

 from nervous prostration. He was forty-four 

 years of age and had been connected with the 

 Ohio State University as instructor and head 

 of the department of civil engineering for the 

 past twenty years. 



Dr. Emil Selenka, honorary professor of 

 zoology and comparative anatomy at the Uni- 

 versity of Munich, died oii January 21. 



The House Committee on Coinage has 

 directed a favorable report to be iliade on the 

 bill providing for the adoption by the United 

 States of the metric system. It provides that 

 after January 1, 1904, all the departments of 

 the government, in the transaction of all busi- 



