596 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 406, 



I therefore venture to lay before you the 

 following information : There are 290 members 

 of the present House of Commons so thor- 

 oughly in accord with our aims that they have 

 given me authority to publish their names as 

 supporters. If we add to this the number of 

 members of Parliament who would be influ- 

 enced by a debate in the House of Commons 

 to vote in our favor, we are convinced that we 

 are now strong enough to carry a bill. 



During the last four or five weeks, no less 

 than sixty city, town, and county councils 

 have passed resolutions to the effect that it is 

 desirable that the reform should be made in 

 the interest of commerce and education. 



One of the most definite results, in fact, I 

 thinli I may say, the most definite result, of 

 the conference of the colonial premiers was 

 the passing of a resolution in favor of the 

 adoption of the metric weights and measures 

 throughout the British Empire. This will 

 have a most important result, and will render 

 certain the early passing of a bill to give effect 

 to those views. 



All the chambers of commerce in this coun- 

 try, nearly all the school boards, the trades 

 unions, and a great number of societies of 

 various kinds have for a long time been active 

 supporters of my association. 



The attitude of our premier may be gath- 

 ered from some remarks he made to the depu- 

 tation which waited upon him in regard to 

 this question in 1895. He said: 



" If I may express my own opinion upon 

 the merits of the case, there can be no doubt 

 whatever that the judgment of the whole 

 civilized world, not excluding the countries 

 which still adhere to the antiquated systems 

 under which we suffer, has long decided that 

 the metric system is the only rational sys- 

 tem." 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



A COMMITTEE has been formed for the erec- 

 tion of a public memorial of the late Professor 

 Virchow in Berlin, with Professor Waldeyer 

 as chairman. 



A MONUMENT, consisting of a pedestal and 

 a bust by the sculptor, Marqueste, is to be 



erected in the Paris Museum of Natural His- 

 tory, in memory of Alphonse Milne-Edwards. 



Mr. William Bateson, fellow of St. John's 

 College, Cambridge, and author of important 

 contributions to zoology, is at present in the 

 United States. 



Dr. F. Y. Edgeworth, professor of political 

 economy at Oxford University, known for his 

 important contributions to statistics and 

 mathematics, will give a course of lectures at 

 Harvard University, beginning about the 

 middle of the present month. 



Col. H. a. Yorke, of the British Eoyal En- 

 gineer Army Corps, is at present in the United 

 States, for the purpose of inspecting the elec- 

 trical railway system. 



Mr. James Mooney, of the Bureau of Eth- 

 nology, recently returned from studies among 

 the Kiowa Indians and expects to leave shortly 

 to resume his work which will be continued 

 through the coming winter. He is now engaged 

 in the preparation of a set of models of 

 Kiowa shields and tipis. Each of the latter 

 is being made by the man who alone has a 

 right to use it. The former are all by native 

 artists working under direct instruction of the 

 owner of the shield. Mr. Mooney is having a 

 similar set of models of Cheyenne shields and 

 tipis prepared for the Pield Columbian Mu- 

 seum, Chicago. 



Professor Charles E. Bessey has been ap- 

 pointed by the University of Nebraska to be 

 its delegates to the inaugural exercises of 

 Chancellor Strong, of the University of Kan- 

 sas, October lY. 



Professor J. P. Iddings, professor of pet- 

 rology in the University of Chicago, has been 

 elected a Foreign Member of the Scientific 

 Society of Christiania, Norway. 



The King of Italy has conferred the cross 

 of a grand officer of the Italian Order of the 

 Crown on Mr. G. Marconi. 



Mr. Andrew Carnegie will be installed as 

 rector of the University of St. Andrews on 

 October 22. Dr. Andrew D. White will at the 

 same time receive the degree of LL.D. Dr. 

 White will also receive the degree of D.C.L. at 

 Oxford, where he will attend the three hun- 

 dredth anniversary of the Bodleian Library. 



