Maech 28, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



517 



Thomas's Hospital and Medical School, Lon- 

 don, it was decided that steps should be taken 

 to institute a permanent memorial of the 

 connection of the late Sir William MacCor- 

 mac with the institution. A bust of the emi- 

 nent surgeon will be placed in the central hall 

 of the hospital, and if the amount of money 

 collected should be in excess of the sum req- 

 uisite for the bust, some further memorial will 

 be established. 



Dr. Thomas Condon, professor of geology 

 in the University of Oregon, celebrated his 

 eightieth birthday on March 3. 



Mrs. Mary L. Pulsifer Ames, a writer on 

 botany, has died at San Jose, Cal., aged fifty- 

 seven years. 



Mr. Henry Hitchcock, a prominent lawyer 

 of St. Louis and one of the trustees of the 

 Carnegie Institution, died on March 15, aged 

 seventy-three years. 



Professor Maxwell Simpson, P.E.S., died 

 on February 26, at the age of eighty-seven 

 years. He had carried forward important re- 

 searches on organic chemistry, and was for 

 twenty years professor of chemistry in 

 Queen's College, Cork. 



Professor Ivan Muschketoff, known for 

 his contributions to physical geography, has 

 died at the age of fifty-two years. 



The death is announced of Major-General 

 PewzofE, known for his explorations in Cen- 

 tral Asia, Mongolia and Tibet. 



The accounts of the executors of the late 

 Judge Chas. P. Daly have been filed. It ap- 

 pears that the New York Botanical Garden 

 will receive about $50,000 from his estate. 



The Civil Service Commission calls atten- 

 tion to an examination on April 22 for the 

 position of assistant anthropologist in the 

 Philippines at a salary of $2,400 per annum. 

 At the same time there will be an examination 

 for the position of aid in the Division of 

 Physical and Chemical Geology, U. S. Na- 

 tional Musemn, at a salary of $1,200 per 

 annum, and for the position of preparateur in 

 the Division of Statigraphic Paleontology at 

 a salary of $720 a year. 



At the Columbia meeting of the Society for 

 Plant Morphology and Physiology, a large 



group photograph, including all the members 

 then present, was taken and will soon be ready 

 for distribution. It is a platinum print by 

 FaUt, on a card 15x14 inches, appropriately 

 lettered, and will cost about $3.50. Members 

 and others wishing copies should send their 

 orders immediately to Dr. Erwin F. Smith, 

 Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. 

 C. 



The newly-organized American Philosoph- 

 ical Association will hold its first meeting at 

 Columbia University, New York City, on 

 March 31 and April 1. Professor J. E. 

 Creighton is president of the Association. 



Dr. John S. Billings has presented to the 

 New York Botanical Garden his large collec- 

 tion of fungi. It contains much valuable and 

 interesting material; besides numerous speci- 

 mens collected by Dr. Billings in the vicinity 

 of Washington, D. C, there is a nearly com- 

 plete series of Eavenel's Texan collections; it 

 is particularly rich in representatives of the 

 Sphaeriales, and includes many specimens of 

 types or of authenticated specimens from the 

 herbaria of Ravenel, Curtis, Schweinitz, Fries, 

 Berkeley, Broome and other older mycologists. 

 The series of herbarium specimens of Mexican 

 plants collected in the States of Jalisco, Mex- 

 ico, Zacatecas and Lower California by Mr. 

 Leon Diquet and presented to the Garden by 

 the Duke de Loubat, has been mounted for 

 the herbarium. Other noteworthy series of 

 Mexican plants recently added are the J. G. 

 Schaffner collection, secured through the pur- 

 chase, of the Vigener Herbarium, and especial- 

 ly rich in the flora of middle Mexico, particu- 

 larly the state of San Luis Potosi, and the 

 C. L. Smith collection, consisting of speci- 

 mens from the region of the Isthmus of 

 Tehuantepec and contiguous states in south- 

 ern Mexico. 



In experiments on the diffusion of nuclei. 

 Professor C. Barus has recently found that the 

 nucleus from the same source diffuses into 

 water vapor more than 100 times more rapidly 

 than into benzol or other organic vapors, under 

 otherwise like conditions. The rate in the 

 latter case is .OlY cm./sec. The important 

 result follows that the nucleus depends for its 

 size on the medium in which it is suspended. 



