918 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 414. 



Peofessoe William Libbey has returned to 

 Princeton from a year's trip devoted to ex- 

 ploration in Egypt and Palestine. 



Dr. Frederic E. Clements, of the botanical 

 department of the University of Nebraska, 

 has been granted a month's leave of absence 

 in order that he may study at the New York 

 Botanical Garden. He will return to Ne- 

 braska after the Washington meetings. 



P. J. O'Gaea, assistant in botany in the 

 University of Nebraska, has been appointed 

 student aid in pathology, in the Division of 

 Plant Physiology and Pathology in the De- 

 partment of Agriculture. 



Dr. F. a. Wilder has recently been ap- 

 pointed state geologist of North Dakota and 

 professor of geology in the State University. 

 Dr. Wilder comes to North Dakota with a 

 varied experience in geological work and with 

 an excellent record in connection with other 

 surveys, notably that of Iowa. There is a 

 growing demand for geological work, especially 

 in our northwestern states, and North Dakota 

 is fortunate in securing a man so well qualified 

 for the work of the State Geological Survey. 

 The work of the survey is an adjunct to the 

 department of geology in the State University, 

 located at Grand Forks. 



Captain Egbert E. Peaey gave an address 

 before the National Geographic Society at 

 Washington on November 29. 



The American Institute of Electrical En- 

 gineers has appointed a committee consisting 

 of Ralph D. Mershon, chairman, and Messrs. 

 F. O. Blackwell, 0. C. Chesney, P. M. Lincoln 

 and R. S. Masson, for the purpose of collect- 

 ing data respecting present practice in electric 

 transmission at high voltage and of presenting 

 a report which will indicate the successful 

 methods which are now in operation in such 

 form as to be of immediate value to electrical 

 engineers. 



As we have already stated, a committee 

 with Professor Waldeyer as chairman is col- 

 lecting funds for erecting a monument to 

 Rudolf Virchow in Berlin. American sub- 

 scriptions may be sent to Drs. Frank Billings, 

 president of the American Medical Associa- 

 tion, 100 State St., Chicago, 111.; Thomas D. 



Coleman, 505 Green St., Augusta, Ga. ; A. 

 Jacobi, 19 East Forty-seventh St., New York 

 City; W. W. Keen, president of the Congress 

 of American Physicians and Surgeons, 1729 

 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pa.; or Wm'. H. 

 Welch, 935 St. Paul St., Baltimore, Md. 



Joseph Millee Wilson, a well-known civil 

 engineer of Philadelphia, died on November 

 24 at the age of sixty-four years. He had 

 been engineer of the Pennsylvania railroad, 

 and had carried out numerous works of im- 

 portance. He was a member of the prin- 

 cipal engineering societies and a fellow of the 

 American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science. 



SiE William Chandler Roberts-Austen, 

 professor of metallurgy in the Royal School 

 of Mines, London, since 1880, and honorary 

 general secretary of the British Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, died on No- 

 vember 23, at the age of fifty-nine years. 



The Morning, which has been fitted out as 

 a relief ship to the Discovery, arrived at 

 Lyttelton, N. Z., on November 16. 



Last winter the legislature of New York 

 State appointed a commission consisting of 

 C. P. Steinmetz, H. W. Buck and State En- 

 gineer Edward A. Bond, to investigate and 

 report upon the advisability of the state es- 

 tablishing an electrical laboratory. We learn 

 from the Electrical World that the commis- 

 sion has held several meetings, and on Novem- 

 ber 13, it held a meeting at Niagara Falls, the 

 three commissioners being in attendance. It 

 is intimated that the conunission will report 

 in favor of establishing the institution re- 

 ferred to, which will also serve as a standard- 

 ization bureau. Among other things it is re- 

 ported that the commission has learned that 

 the amount of capital in New York State 

 directly interested in the development and use 

 of electricity is $1,680,590,290, made up of 

 $217,974,695 representing the capitalization of 

 the companies engaged in the manufacture 

 of electrical apparatus, and $1,462,615,595, the 

 capitalization of the companies involving the 

 use of electricity. 



At a meeting of the Michigan Section of 

 the American Chemical Society, held in the 



