598 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 380. 



library, provided that the city would give land 

 for the building and guarantee $25,000 a year 

 for improvements and the maintenance of the 

 library. The letter will also say that the coun- 

 cil has decided to give a site for the proposed 

 library, and that it accepts the provisions 

 attached to the gift, but that the law does not 

 allow it to bind the action of future municipal 

 councils in matters of this kind. 



The Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory 

 is being enlarged, at a cost of five thousand 

 dollars, by the construction of a fire-proof 

 library, which will contain Mr. A. L. Rotch's 

 valuable and rapidly increasing collection of 

 books, pamphlets and periodicals relating to all 

 branches of meteorology. 



The Goldsmiths' Company will commemo- 

 rate the coronation of King Edward by con- 

 tributing £5,000 to the fund of £130,000 needed 

 for the plan being elaborated by the conjoint 

 board of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and 

 Surgeons for investigating the causes, preven- 

 tion, and treatment of cancer. Mr. H. L. 

 Bischoffsheim has offered to contribute £5,000 

 to the fund, and another donation of the same 

 amount, as well as other smaller sums, have 

 been promised. 



The Government of Queensland has offered 

 a reward of $25,000 for the invention of some 

 satisfactory means for destroying the 'prickly 

 pear.' 



At the (1900) Annual Meeting of the So- 

 ciety for the Promotion of Agricultural Sci- 

 ence it was decided to elect the officers by the 

 postal system. Each meraber should nomi- 

 nate persons to fill the ofiices, which are: 

 president, secretary-treasurer, one member 

 of the executive committe. Members are also 

 requested to nominate candidates for member- 

 ship, with full reference to valuable work 

 performed, and, if possible, secure testimo- 

 nials from other members. The next meeting 

 will be held at Pittsburg, Pa., in conjunction 

 with the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science; the first session will 

 be called at 3 o'clock p. m. on Monday, June 

 30, 1902. Replies should be addressed to the 

 President, Professor W. H. Jordan, Geneva, 

 N. Y. 



The New York University Chemical So- 

 ciety has recently been organized by the stu- 

 dents, with Edward T. Hendee, 1900, Presi- 

 dent; Arthur E. Hill, 1901, Vice-President; 

 and Franklin D. Byxbee, 1902, Secretary and 

 Treasurer. 



At the montlily general meeting of the 

 Zoological Society of London on March 20, 

 Dr. R. Broom, Dr. Carl Chun, M. Philippe 

 Dautzenberg, Colonel Brian Mahon, C.B., 

 D.S.O., and Dr. A. Donaldson Smith were 

 elected corresponding members. It was stated 

 that there had been 73 additions made to the 

 society's menagerie during the month of 

 February, amongst which special attention 

 was directed to a fine young male snow leopard 

 from Ladakh, presented by Captain H. I. 

 Nicholl, and to a pair of Prjevalsky's horses 

 from Western Mongolia, received on approval 

 and new to the Society's collection. 



It is reported from Washington that the 

 plan which started at the beginning of the 

 present session of Congress as a proposal that 

 the president should recommend, and con- 

 gress create, a department of industries, seems 

 to have been revived within a little while in 

 another form. The department of commerce is 

 in a fair way to become an accomplished fact; 

 and in the course of procuring the necessary 

 legislation for it, there has been shown a desire 

 on the part of many of the scientific experts in 

 the government's employ to have their bureaus 

 grouped, instead of being scattered through 

 several departments. There will be an effort 

 to attach to the department of commerce act 

 a clause giving the president authority to 

 transfer from other parts of the service to the 

 Department of Agriculture such scientific 

 bureaus as appear to his satisfaction to be cog- 

 nate to the work of this department. If this 

 is not done, it may be attempted to attach a 

 paragraph authorizing a commission, consist- 

 ing of one senator and one representative, and 

 possibly three scientific experts, to look into 

 the question of grouping the scientific bureaus 

 in the manner indicated; the report of the 

 commission to furnish a basis for further 

 legislation. 



The third annual report of the Liverpool 



