836 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 386. 



stay, not only in scientific work, but in com- 

 merce and manufacturing. It is now used 

 by about two thirds of the people of the world. 

 Eussia, Great Britain and the United States 

 are the only nonmetric countries. Eussia has 

 gone so far in the direction of its adoption 

 that it may well be excluded from the list, 

 leaving Great Britain and the United States. 

 In both of these it has been legal for some 

 time. Indications are that Great Britain will 

 soon join the list of metric countries. Over 

 300 members of Parliament have already sig- 

 nified their willing-ness to vote to make the 

 use of the metric system compulsory. 



Your committee believe the time has come 

 for the gradual retirement of our confusing, 

 illogical, irrational system and the substitu- 

 tion of something better. The first step in 

 this direction should be the introduction of 

 the metric weights and measures into the de- 

 partments of the Government. The use of 

 these weights and measures will simplify 

 their work. It will familiarize the people 

 with them and encourage their application 

 to the common affairs of life. Yoiir com- 

 mittee have no doubt that the benefits to be 

 derived will far more than compensate for 

 such inconvenience and expense as may be 

 involved in the change. 



Your committee have amended said House 

 bill 123 in line 4 by striking out the word 

 'three' and inserting in lieu thereof the word 

 'four'; also in line 9 by striking out the word 

 'four' and inserting the word 'seven.' 



As thus amended your committee earnestly 

 recommend the passage of the bill. 



NATIONAL GEOGBAPBW SOCIETY NOTES. 

 President A. Graham Bell has appointed 

 General A. W. Greely Chairman of the Commit- 

 tee on the eighth International Geographical 

 Congress which will meet in Washington in 

 1904 under the auspices of the Ifational Geo- 

 graphic Society. General Greely was the 

 delegate of the Society and also of the United 

 States Government to the Geographical Con- 

 gress which met in Berlin in 1899 and also to 

 the Congress that met in London in 1895. 



Dr. Israel C. Eussell, Professor of Geog- 

 raphy in the University of Michigan, has been 



elected a member of the Board of Managers 

 of the National Geographic Society. Pro- 

 fessor Eussell is one of the three members of 

 the expedition sent by the National Geo- 

 graphic Society to Martinique and St. Vin- 

 cent. 



The corner stone of the Hubbard Memorial 

 Building which will be the home of the Na- 

 tional Geographic Society in Washington 

 was laid on April 26 by Melville Bell Gros- 

 venor, the great-grandson of the late Hon. 

 Gardiner Greene Hubbard, the first president 

 of the Society. It is hoped that the build- 

 ing which is being erected at a cost of $60,000 

 will be ready for the Society by January 1, 

 1903. 



The National Geographic Society has de- 

 cided to act as trustee for Mr. Borchgrevink 

 for his proposed American expedition to the 

 South Pole. Mr. Borchgrevink proposes to 

 start in the summer of 1903 and will leave the 

 scientific direction to the National Geographic 

 Society. 



At a I'ecent meeting the National Geo- 

 graphic Society has instituted a change in 

 its By-Laws and created a body to be known 

 as 'fellows.' 'Fellows' of the Society will be 

 limited to those persons who are actively en- 

 gaged in geographic work. 



EXPEDITION TO MARTINIQUE. 



The National Geographic Society has sent 

 on the Dixie three geographers to make a 

 special study of the recent volcanic eruptions. 

 The Society has chosen three of its members. 

 Professor Eobert T. Hill, of the U. S. Geo- 

 logical Survey, Professor Israel C. Eussell, of 

 Ann Arbor, Michigan, and C. E. Borchgrevink, 

 the noted Antartic explorer, to proceed to the 

 scene of the disturbance to make a careful ex- 

 aniination of conditions there. 



Professor Robert T. Hill is acknowledged as 

 the foremost authority on the West Indies in 

 this country. He has written many scientific 

 reports and books on Cuba and Porto Eico ; has 

 visited Martinique and St. Vincent, and for a 

 long time has predicted the present eruption. 

 Professor Israel C. Eussell, head of the depart- 

 ment of geography in the University of Michi- 



