190 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 658 



Messrs. H. W. Monckton, O. A. Shrubsole and 

 H. J. Osborne White. 



The British Meteorological Office has sent 

 out a circular to the effect that the Interna- 

 tional Aeronautical Commission, which met at 

 Milan last autumn, decided to obtain from as 

 many stations as possible in the northern hem- 

 isphere simultaneous records of the conditions 

 of wind, temperature and humidity prevailing 

 in the upper air during the last week of this 

 month. Most of the continental governments 

 are taking part in this work, and some are 

 sending out special vessels for the purpose of 

 obtaining records from over the sea. England 

 is to be represented by four land stations, one 

 near Portsmouth, one near Manchester, one in 

 Herefordshire and one in Scotland. The plan 

 is to send up small balloons with very light 

 self-recording instruments hanging from them. 

 Often the balloons attain a height of ten or 

 more miles before falling to the ground. A 

 label is attached to the instruments offering a 

 reward and giving instructions to the finder. 

 It is hoped that any person finding one of these 

 instruments will communicate with the ad- 

 dress given, and so help to carry out the object 

 of the inquiry. Many meteorologists hope 

 that information may be obtained, which will 

 in time lead to more certainty in the forecast- 

 ing of the weather. 



The first meeting of the International As- 

 sociation of Medical Museums was held at the 

 Army Medical Museum, Washington, D. C, 

 on May 6. According to the Journal of the 

 American Medical Association^ the committee 

 on organization was empowered to frame a 

 constitution and by-laws and to submit it to 

 the active members. The following ofiicers 

 were elected: President, Major Carroll, Army 

 Medical Museum, Washington, D. C. ; vice- 

 presidents. Professor W. G. MacCallum, Johns 

 Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore ; Professor 

 J. Ritchie, Oxford University, England; and 

 Professor J. Ludwig Aschoff, University of 

 Freiburg, Germany; secretary-treasurer. Dr. 

 M. E. Abbott, McGill Medical Museum, 

 Montreal, Canada. A bulletin of museum in- 

 formation will be issued to facilitate exchange 



of specimens. The next meeting is to be held 

 in connection with the Congress of Tuber- 

 culosis in Washington, D. C, in October, 1908. 

 The first bulletin of the association contains 

 an introductory statement of the purposes of 

 the association, a full account of the meeting, 

 a list of the organizing members, and an ap- 

 peal for specimens for the medical museum 

 of McGill University which suffered very seri- 

 ous loss by fire. 



The International Council for the Investi- 

 gation of the Sea met in London for the first 

 time by invitation of the British Government 

 during the week beginning June 10. The 

 Geographical Journal states that on the even- 

 ing of that date they were entertained to 

 dinner by the Royal Geographical Society and 

 the Geographical Club, when about thirty 

 members of the council were present. After 

 dinner a meeting of the society was held, 

 when Dr. Otto Pettersson, acting president of 

 the council, gave a lecture on Oceanic Circu- 

 lation; after that several representative mem- 

 bers of the council gave some account of the 

 varied work which it has been carrying on 

 during the past five years. During the rest 

 of the week the council held its official meet- 

 ings, and were entertained by the minister of 

 agriculture, the secretary for Scotland, the 

 lord mayor, and the Fishmongers' Company; 

 they were also received at Buckingham 

 Palace by King Edward, and many of them 

 were present at the annual conversazione of 

 the society at the Natural History Museum, at 

 South Kensington. 



The British Medical Journal says : Dr. 

 Cabanes, editor of the Ohronique Medicals, 

 has recently founded a medico-historical so- 

 ciety in France. Its object is not the study 

 of the history of medicine, bvit the study of 

 medicine in relation to general history, litera- 

 ture and art. Dr. Cabanes himself, Galippe, 

 Brachet, Littre and others have shown what 

 light may be thrown on obscure problems of 

 history by a study of the physical constitu- 

 tion and illnesses of rulers. Similar studies 

 have been made of Maupassant, Zola, Flau- 

 bert, Alfred de Musset and other writers and 

 poets, and have done much to elucidate their 



