118 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 394. 



wliicli contains a full account of all that is 

 known of 'the new African mammal' up to 

 the present date, is expected to be ready very 

 shortly. 



Among those who will be carrying on bio- 

 logical work this summer at the U. S. Fish 

 Commission Laboratory at Wood's Hole are 

 Dr. Robert P. Bigelow, Massachusetts Insti- 

 tute of Technology; Professor W. K. Brooks, 

 Johns Hopkins University; Professor Hubert 

 L. Clark, Olivet College; Professor Wesley R. 

 Coe, Tale University; Dr. Ulric Dahlgren, 

 Princeton University; Professor Bashford 

 Dean, Columbia University; Professor P. P. 

 Gorham, Brown University; Professor C. W. 

 Hargitt, Syracuse University; Professor C. 

 Judson Herrick, Denison University; Dr. 

 George T. Moore, U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture; Professor George H. Parker, Har- 

 vard University; Miss Harriet Richardson, 

 Columbian University; Professor W. M. 

 Small wood, Syracuse University; Dr. P. B. 

 Sumner, College of the City of New York; 

 Professor R. W. Tower, Brown University; 

 Dr. Rodney True, U. S. Department of Agi-i- 

 culture, and Dr. Charles B. Wilson, Massa- 

 chusetts State Normal School. 



Dr. John Daniel Runkle, professor of 

 mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute 

 of Technology since its foundation and presi- 

 dent from 1870 to 1878, died at Southwest 

 Harbor on July 8. He was born in New York 

 State in 1823 and graduated from the Law- 

 rence Scientific School in 1851. He was then 

 engaged on the staff of the ' Nautical Alman- 

 ac ' until the establishment of "the Massachu- 

 setts Institute in the plans for which he took 

 an active part. In addition to his important 

 work for the institute Dr. Rimkle did much 

 to introduce manual training in the schools. 



The death is announced of M. Herve Faye, 

 the eminent astronomer, at the age of eighty- 

 eight years. He was the oldest member of the 

 Paris Academy of Sciences, having been elect- 

 ed in 1847. M. Paye has been since 1873 pro- 

 fessor of astronomy in the Ecole polyteoh- 

 nique. 



The first volume of the International Cata- 

 logue of Scientific Literature is reported by 



the English papers to have been published. It 

 contains part of the botanical literature for 

 the year 1901. 



Nature states that the annual general meet- 

 ing of the Marine Biological Association of 

 the United Kingdom was held in the rooms of 

 the Royal Society on June 25, The officers 

 and council elected for the year 1902-3 were 

 as follows: President, Professor E. Ray Lan- 

 kester, E.R.S.; hon. treasurer, Mr. J. A. Tra- 

 vers; hon. secretary. Dr. E. J. Allen; council, 

 Mr. G. P. Bidder, Mr. G. C. Bourne, Mr. 

 Francis Darwin, Professor J. B. Farmer, Dr.' 

 G. H. Fowler, Dr. S. F. Harmer, Professor W. 

 A. Herdman, Professor G. B. Howes, Mr. J. 

 J. Lister, Professor E. A. Minchin, Professor 

 C. Stewart, Professor D'Arey W. Thompson 

 and Dr. R. N. Wolfenden. The following 

 governors are also members of council: Mr. J. 

 P. Thomasson (the prime warden of the Fish- 

 mongers' Company), Mr. E. L. Beckwith 

 (Fishmongers' Company), Sir J. Burdon San- 

 derson, Bart. (University of Oxford), Mr. A. 

 E. Shipley (University of Cambridge), Pro- 

 fessor W. F. R. Weldon (British Association 

 for the Advancement of Science). 



The Electrical World states that the Im- 

 perial German Post Office has just appointed 

 a commission to go to the United States and 

 study American postal, telegraphic and tele- 

 phone systems. Special attention will be giv- 

 en to the tubular mail service. Germany at 

 present is using only small tubes for individ- 

 ual letters, and contemplates introducing the 

 American system of transmission in buUv by 

 mail to and from the branches of the central 

 post office. The commissioners are Post 

 Councillors Wernecke, of Leipzig, and Braun, 

 of Hamburg. They will be accompanied by 

 a telegi'aphic engineer and another engineer 

 of Berlin. 



The Committee appointed by the Institution 

 of Electrical Engineers to hold an inquiry on 

 electrical legislation, consisting of Professor 

 J. Perry, F.R.S., president, and Professor W. 

 E. Ayrton, F.R.S., Major P. Cardew, R.E., 

 Lieutenant-Colonel R. E. Crompton, C.E., Mr. 

 S. Z. de Ferranti, Mr. Robert Hammond, Mr. 

 H. Hirst, Mr. J. E. Kingsbury, Mr. W. L. 



