756 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 410. 



and Provincial Boards of Health of North 

 America does hereby advise the various State 

 Boards of Health of the United States to con- 

 sider the propriety of calling upon the Sur- 

 geon General of the United States Public 

 Health and Marine Hospital Service to ar- 

 range at the earliest possible date a joint 

 conference for the purpose of eradicating the 

 plague from the United States. 



It is stated in Nature that the oflfice of 

 Meteorological Reporter to the Government of 

 India will become vacant in about a year by 

 the retirement of Mr. J. Eliot, F.R.S., who 

 has administered the office with great success 

 for a long series of years. The selection of 

 suitable names for consideration, with a view 

 to the filling of the prospective vacancy after 

 a preliminary period of training in Europe 

 and in India, is now occupying the attention of 

 an advisory committee of the Royal Society, 

 nominated at the request of the government 

 of India. The problem of the future admin- 

 istration and scientific development of the 

 department is also under consideration by the 

 committee, in conjunction with Mr. Eliot, 

 who is now in England for that purpose. 



The British Museum of Natural History 

 has recently acquired a valuable collection of 

 birds and animals secured by an expedition to 

 the north and northwest of Ethopia. 



The federated Malay states have opened a 

 pathological laboratory for the study of trop- 

 ical diseases at Kuala Lumpur. It is open to 

 students of all nations. 



De. Cyrus W. Thomas, of the Bureau of 

 Ethnology, announces the discovery that that 

 part of Lederer's account which deals with 

 explorations in Carolina in 1670 is an inven- 

 tion and that his map of the country between 

 ' Akenatzy ' and the head waters of the Neuse 

 is practically worthless. 



The copies of Part I. of the Nineteenth 

 Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology 

 have been received at the latter institution 

 from the Government Printing Office. 



The Scottish Antarctic expedition in the 

 Scotia under the leadership of Mr. W. B. 

 Bruce has sailed, its first destination being the 



Falkland Islands. Before sailing Mr. Bruce 

 and the principal members of the expedition 

 were entertained to dinner in Edinburgh by 

 the president of the Royal Scottish GeograjDh- 

 ical Society, Sir John Murray. According to 

 the account in the London Times the presi- 

 dent, in proposing success to the expedition, 

 said that when Mr. Bruce came to him with 

 his first proposal of an Antarctic expedition it 

 was one which was to consist of two ships, and 

 was to extend to two winters in the Antarctic, 

 and was to cost £35,000. Mr. Bruce had not 

 succeeded in raising £30,000, and he had found 

 it necessary to limit his expedition to one ship 

 and to about one year's cruise. The men in 

 a day or two would start through the fiery 

 zone of the tropics to the frigid zone of the 

 Far South, there to do battle with the fiercest 

 forces of nature and to fight with the most for- 

 bidding region that our planet afl^orded. He 

 hoped they would come out of that struggle 

 victorious. Mr. Bruce, replying, said that 

 there had been a good deal of misconception 

 about the purpose of the Scottish National Ex- 

 pedition. There had been an idea in some 

 quarters that they were, starting it as a rival 

 to the others in the field. The idea was not 

 that it should be a rival, but a supplementary 

 exi^edition. There were three expeditions 

 working in the Antarctic, one sent out largely 

 with the assistance of the British Government, 

 one German, and the other Swedish. They 

 were all more or less associated with the land. 

 The Scottish expedition was especially asso- 

 ciated with the sea. The Scottish expedition 

 concentrated on the oceanographical side. 

 Their region would be that part of the Antarc- 

 tic where Sir James Ross, 60 years ago, took 

 one sounding, attaining a depth of 4,000 

 fathoms, and reaching no bottom. Captain 

 Robertson, master of the Scotia, also replied. 

 Park Commissioner William R. Willcox, 

 on October 31, formally turned over to the New 

 York Zoological Society the Aquarium in Bat- 

 tery Park. The legal transfer was accomplished 

 several days ago. Professor H. F. Osborn, 

 chairman of the executive committee and vice- 

 president of the Zoological Society, received 

 the city's gift. Commissioner Willcox in mak- 



