March 28, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



519 



new fields of knowledge since the time of His 

 Majesty King Charles II. 



And Whereas Your Petitioners are of opinion 

 that it is desirable that all the Intellectual forces 

 of the Realm should be so organised as to pro- 

 mote the greatest advancement of Scientific 

 Studies within the Empire 



And Whereas a ' large and influential group of 

 representatives of Studies connected with History, 

 Philosophy and Philology have lately presented a 

 petition to Your Majesty praying to be embodied 

 under Royal Charter as an Academy or like insti- 

 tution 



And Whereas Your Petitioners are of opinion 

 that such incorporation can be most efficiently pro- 

 vided for in some relationship to the Royal Society 



We Your Petitioners humbly pray that Your 

 Majesty may be graciously pleased to cause an 

 Inquiry to be made with a view of instituting a 

 general and formal organisation of all the Studies 

 depending upon Scientific Method now carried on 

 similar to that inaugurated for the Philosophical 

 Studies of the 17th century by the Charters of 

 His Majesty King Charles II. 



According to the New York Evening Post 

 Mr. Andrew Carnegie's recent gifts of li- 

 braries affect forty-two towns, as follows: 



Reno, Nev $15,000 Yankton, S. D. . 10,000 



Baraboo, Wis... 12,000 Berlin, Ont 15,000 



Greensburg, Md. 15,000 Benton Harbor, 



London, 10,000 Mich 15,000 



Blue Island, 111. 15,000 Victoria, B. C. 50,000 



Littleton, N. H. 15,000 Little Falls, 



Paris, 111 18,000 Minn 10,000 



Maquoketa,Iowa 10,000 Newton, Kans . . 10,000 



Redfield, S. D. 10,000 Atlantic, Iowa.. 12,500 



Denver, Col. ...200,000 St. Thomas,Ont. 15,000 



Las Vegas, N.M. 10,000 Iowa City, Iowa 25,000 



Goderch, Ont. . . 10,000 Beatrice, Nebr . 20,000 



Bozeman, Mont. 15,000 Cedar Falls, 



Saratoga, N. Y. 10,000 Iowa 15,000 



San Bernardino, Dennison, Iowa. 10,000 



Cal 15,000 Hampton, Iowa. 10,000 



Damdlle, Ind. .. 10,000 Athol, Mass.... 15,000 



Nakoma, Ind . . . 20,000 New Albany, 



Santa Rosa, Cal. 20,000 Ind 35,000 



Charlotte, Mich. 10,000 Tipton, Ind 10,000 



Brazil, Ind 20,000 Mount Clemens, 



Fulton, N. Y... 15,000 Mich 15,000 



New Brunswick, ChieagoHeights, 



N. J 50,000 111 10,000 



Oskaloosa, Iowa$20,000 Waukesha, Wis. 15,000 



A RECENT enumeration gives a total of 

 1,476 preparations of the brain in the neurol- 

 ogic division of the museum of Cornell Uni- 

 versity. Of these 402 are from human 

 adults; 207 from fetuses or embryos; 282 



from apes, monkeys and lemurs; 400 from 

 other mammals, and 185 from other verte- 

 brates. 



The Italian Government has accepted the 

 offer of a German syndicate to drain the 

 Pontine marshes, which stretch between the 

 mountains and the coast, with a breadth vary- 

 ing from six to eleven miles, at a cost of 

 $1,000,000. The reclaiming of the marshes 

 is expected to free Eome from malarias. The 

 sjmdicate has exacted a thirty-year lease of 

 the reclaimed land, which it intends to use 

 for farming and garden purposes. 



The map descriptive of Niagara Falls and 

 tlie river which formed a part of the United 

 States Geological Survey at the Pan-American 

 Exposition is of special interest. Like all the 

 sheets prepared by the Geological Survey, the 

 map shows in great detail the usual features 

 contained on ordinary map sheets and in addi- 

 tion reveals the relief of the country by the use 

 of contours, or lines passing through all points 

 of equal altitude. Of special interest, however, 

 is the short 'Physical History of the Niagara 

 Eiver,' printed on the reverse side of the inap, 

 which traces its life history and the work it has 

 done in excavating the deep gorge below the 

 falls in which are located the famous whirlpool 

 and the rapids just above it. It is interesting 

 to note that the stream is described as not one 

 of the old rivers of the earth, but one 

 of comparative youth. The text also discusses 

 the well-known recession of the falls by which 

 they are slowly eating their way, at the present 

 rate of four or five feet a year, back toward 

 Lake Erie, which they wilL eventually reach. 

 It touches upon the probable age of the river, 

 or the time which has been consumed in the 

 making of the gorge, on the effect which the 

 great -ice sheet of the Glacial Period had in 

 changing its course, and on other features in 

 connection with it which are of unusual inter- 

 est. The description is accompanied by a 

 bird's-eye view of Niagara River, showing the 

 features described in the text. The map is not 

 only an accurate one of the section, but, with 

 its descriptive features, forms an excellent 

 means of studying some of the most striking 

 problems in physical geography. It can be had 

 oil application to the Director of the Geolog- 



