September 6, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



325 



the expenses of this expedition being largely 

 defrayed by Duke AdoK of Mecklenburg. 

 Dr. Ankermann, assistant director of the 

 museum, is preparing for a visit to the north- 

 western part of the Cameroons. The museimi 

 possesses large collections from this district, 

 which were obtained on one of the military 

 expeditions against the natives of the interior; 

 consequently little is known regarding the 

 material. Scientific studies on the material 

 and on related anthropological questions will 

 be carried on by Dr. Ankermann. A third 

 expedition, organized with the support of the 

 secretary of the navy, is under the leadership 

 of Dr. Stephan, who will be accompanied by 

 Mr. Edgar Walden and Dr. Otto Schlagin- 

 haufen, whose field of work will be German 

 New Guinea, New Britain and New Ireland. 

 This expedition will be accompanied by a pho- 

 tographer, Mr. Richard Schilling. Still an- 

 other expedition is directed towards the in- 

 vestigation of Central America. This work 

 will be in charge of Dr. Walter Lehmann, who 

 expects to spend two years among the natives 

 of Costa Rica and other Central American 

 states. Two other expeditions of the museum 

 have just come to a close — the one conducted 

 by Dr. Theodor Preuss, who has spent two 

 years among the Cora and Huichol Indians 

 in northwestern Mexico; the other, by Pro- 

 fessor Seler, who has just returned from a 

 year's investigations in various parts of 

 Mexico. 



TBE SAN DIEGO MARINE BIOLOGICAL 

 LABORATORY 



The city authorities and citizens of San 

 Diego, California, have recently shown their 

 interest in the San Diego Marine Biological 

 Station in a very substantial way. It became 

 obvious some months ago that the La Jolla 

 Park, already given by the city for the use of 

 the station, containing, as it does, less than 

 four acres, was too small to permit the carry- 

 ing out of the larger plans of the benefactors 

 of the station. Miss E. B. Scripps and Mr. E. 

 W. Scripps. Through a peculiar circum- 

 stance in its history the city is a large land 

 owner. A pueblo lot of about 160 acres, hav- 

 ing a full half mile of ocean front, was found 



to afford the most favorable site for the sta- 

 tion. Under its organic law the city can not 

 give away any of its public lands; it can only 

 sell them at public auction to the highest 

 bidder. An ordinance was consequently 

 passed by the common council providing for 

 the sale of this piece of land, it being under- 

 stood both by the city officials and the citizens 

 that the sale was for the purpose of giving 

 the Biological Association a chance to buy the 

 land at a minimum price. No other bidder 

 appeared at the auction, and the association 

 thus secured for $1,000 an unconditioned title 

 to a tract of land with a present market value 

 many times what was paid for it. 



The Alexander Agassiz, the new boat of the 

 San Diego Marine Biological Association, was 

 recently launched from the Jensen yards in 

 San Diego. The craft was designed expressly 

 for the work of the station. She is an auxil- 

 iary, " ketch-rigged," center-board boat, with 

 twin propellers driven by gasoline engines of 

 25 horse power each. Her length is 75 feet 

 over all. She is broad, 20-foot beam, and low. 

 Without centerboard her draft is four feet. 

 She is expected to dredge and trawl to a depth 

 of 1,000 fathoma, at least. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

 By the act of the last legislature, the pro- 

 fessor of geology at the State University of 

 Colorado became also, by virtue of his office, 

 the state geologist. $5,000 is appropriated 

 annually for this service. Professor Russell 

 D. George, the new state geologist, is making 

 his survey this summer, accompanied by 

 Ralph D. Crawford, the instructor of the de- 

 partment, in the Poudre Valley region and in 

 Routt County. 



Edwin G. Dexter, A.M. (Brown, '92), Ph.D. 

 (Columbia, '99), since 1900 professor of educa- 

 tion in the University of Illinois, and since 

 1905 director of the School of Education, has 

 been appointed commissioner of education in. 

 Porto Rico, to fill the vacancy caused by the 

 resignation of Dr. Roland P. Falkener. 



Professor Wilhelm Stumpf, the psycholo- 

 gist, has been elected rector of the University 

 of Berlin. 



