686 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 672 



CogHan, representing the United States 

 Navy; Captain George A. White, representing 

 the Hudson River steamboat interests; Mr. 

 Samuel Verplanck Hoffman, president of the 

 New York Historical Society ; and Mrs. Robert 

 Abbe, president of the City History Club; 

 concluding with an exhibition of stereopticon 

 views illustrating Fulton's work and the prog- 

 ress of steam navigation during the century. 



The Rhode Island College of Agriculture 

 and Mechanic Arts, at Kingston, R. I., an- 

 nounces the following course of popular scien- 

 tific lectures, which are open to the public: 



October 25 — "Recent Studies in Heredity and 

 their bearing upon the Problems of Breeding," 

 by Professor W. E. Castle, Department of Zool- 

 ogy, Harvard University. 



November 2 — " Central America : Its People and 

 its Monuments," by Dr. Alfred M. Tozzer, in- 

 structor in anthropology, Harvard University. 



November 8 — " Sea Farming," by Professor 

 Frederic P. Gorham, Department of Biology, 

 Brown University. 



November 16 — " The Theories of Bird Migra- 

 tion," by Professor H. E. Walter, Department of 

 Comparative Anatomy, Brown University. 



November 23 — "The Evolution of the Earth," 

 by Charles W. Brown, head of Department of 

 Geology, Brown University. 



December 6 — " Some Principles of Organic Evo- 

 lution," by Professor A. D. Mead, Department of 

 Comparative Anatomy, Bro\yn University. ■ 



January 1 1 — " The Question of the Origin and 

 Artificial Production of Life," by Dr. I^eon J. 

 Cole, instructor in zoology, Yale University 



The British Medical Journal states that the 

 recent election of Dr. Pierart brings up the 

 total number of representatives of the medical 

 profession in the Belgian parliament to ten. 

 Of these four belong to the liberal left; four, 

 including the new member, to the right; and 

 two to the socialist left. 



Arrangements have been completed for the 

 running of a horticultural and soil improve- 

 ment special train over the Baltimore, Ohio 

 and Southwestern Railroad, in Indiana, about 

 November 19-22, 1907. This movement is the 

 result of cooperation of the railways, Purdue 

 Experiment Station and the Indiana State 

 Horticultural Society. The train is to be 

 equipped and operated by the railway, while 



the lecturers will be furnished by the Experi- 

 ment Station and the State Horticultural So- 

 ciety. Stops of one hour will be made at all 

 the important stations, and talks given on the 

 various lines of work. That part of southern 

 Indiana through which the train will pass is 

 especially adapted to fruit growing, and an 

 effort will be made to point out ways by which 

 the average farmer can profitably engage in 

 the business. Along soil improvement lines 

 information will be given on the value and use 

 of commercial fertilizers. In this connection 

 the results of experiments conducted in south- 

 ern Indiana will be presented. The horticul- 

 tural work will be in charge of C. G. Wood- 

 bury, of the Horticultural Department, while 

 the soil work will be under the direction of 

 Professor Arthur Goss. 



We learn from the London Times that Sir 

 W. H. White presided on October 17 at the 

 sixth annual meeting of the Northern Scien- 

 tific Club in Newcastle. After the formal busi- 

 ness the president gave an address upon the ap- 

 plication of the gyroscope for steadying ships. 

 He showed a working model of Dr. Schlick's 

 apparatus which, he said, when applied to 

 cross-channel boats and coasting passenger 

 steamers, would so prevent the rolling of these 

 vessels as to allow persons troubled with sea 

 sickness to travel on the sea in comfort. The 

 gyroscope had reached beyond the toy stage, 

 which was proved by the fact that the firm 

 who had built the Mauretania were to develop 

 Dr. Schlick's apparatus. 



The Forest Club of the University of Ne- 

 braska announces addresses for the first half 

 of the present year as follows : 



October 8 — " Forest Conditions in Michigan," 

 Professor F. J. Phillips. 



October 22 — "Forest Insects" (illustrated). 

 Professor L. Bruner. 



November 5 — " Growth of Mistletoe," Mr. R. J. 

 Pool. 



November 19 — " The Forest Ranger," Mr. J. 

 Higgins. 



December 3 — " Forest Trees of the World," Dr. 

 Chas. E. Bessey. 



December 17 — " Utilization of Colorado National 

 Forests," Theodore R. Cooper. "Lumbering in 

 Colorado," Claude R. Tillotson. 



