158 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 473. 



of geography and anthropology at the Tech- 

 nical Institute of Dresden, at the age of 

 seventy-two years, and of Dr. Sophie Pere- 

 jaszlawzena, formerly head of the Zoological 

 Station at Sebastopol. 



A CABLEGRAM to the New York Times states 

 that by the will of the late Herbert Spencer 

 all rights and property in his books and in- 

 vestments are given to the trustees, the Hon. 

 Auberon Herbert, Dr. Henry Charlton Bas- 

 tian and David Duncan, with instructions to 

 employ the yearly revenue " in resuming and 

 continuing during such period as may be 

 needed for fulfilling my express wishes, but 

 not exceeding the lifetime of all descendants 

 of Queen "Victoria who shall be living at my 

 decease and of the survivors and survivor of 

 them, and for twenty-one years after the death 

 of such survivor, the publication of the exist- 

 ing parts of my ' Descriptive Sociology,' and 

 the compilation and publication of the fresh 

 parts thereof upon the plan followed in the 

 parts already published." Afterward all copy- 

 rights, stereotype plates, etc., are to be auc- 

 tioned and the proceeds divided among a 

 number of scientific societies. The will orders 

 that Spencer's autobiography is to be pub- 

 lished simultaneously in Great Britain and 

 the United States, and requests David Duncan 

 to write a biography in one volume of mod- 

 erate size. 



The Linnean Society of New South Wales 

 has received E.bout $170,000 from the late Sir 

 William Macleay for the endowment of re- 

 search fellowships in science. 



We learn from Nature that a meeting was 

 held in the house of the Zoological Society 

 on January 5 to consider proposals for the 

 organization of zoologists. Forty-one zoolo- 

 gists from England, Scotland and Ireland at- 

 tended the meeting. The following resolu- 

 tion was carried by a large majority : " That 

 it is desirable that the zoologists of Great 

 Britain and Ireland be organized for the con- 

 sideration of all matters affecting the interests 

 of zoology and zoologists, and to take such 

 action as may seem desirable." A committee 

 consisting of Professor Cossar Ewart, Pro- 

 fessor Bridge, Professor Hickson, Dr. Scharff, 



Dr. G. C. Bourne, Dr. Eidewood and Mr. 

 Cunningham was appointed to draw up a 

 scheme. 



Baron Erland Noedenskjold's expedition to 

 Peru and Bolivia is expected to arrive about 

 February 15 at La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, 

 which will be the departing point for the ex- 

 pedition to Lake Titicaca. 



Owing to a fire in a printing house in New 

 York City the electrotype plates and matter 

 in type of several volumes of the Transactions 

 of the American Institute of Eletrical Engi- 

 neers have been destroyed. 



Nature states that the Brothers Kearton have 

 arranged to hold an exhibition of enlarged 

 photographs of birds, beasts, reptiles and in- 

 sects at the Modern Gallery, London, on Jan- 

 uary 2-12, 1904, inclusive. The gallery will 

 be open from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m., and Mr. E. 

 Kearton will deliver lime-light lectures to 

 children each afternoon, and to adults in the 

 evening. 



We learn from the London Times that Mr. 

 James G. Ferrier, secretary of the Scottish 

 Antarctic Expedition, has received from Mr. 

 W. S. Bruce, the leader of the expedition, nar- 

 ratives of the voyage of the Scotia, written by 

 Mr. Bruce and the individual members of the 

 staft', dealing with meteorology, zoology, biol- 

 ogy and other scientific departments of the 

 work of the expedition. Mr. Bruce, in his 

 letter, stated that the Scotia had made a very 

 satisfactory record, and he expressed the hope 

 that he and his staff might be allowed to com- 

 plete their researches. The appeal for funds 

 to enable the expedition to prolong its stay 

 in the Antarctic has now been so liberally re- 

 sponded to that the cruise will be continued 

 for at least six months, and as Mr. Ferrier is 

 still receiving donations an extension for a 

 year may be possible. Mr. Bruce's desire will 

 then be fulfilled. Meantime, the Scotia has 

 gone north to Biienos Ayres to refit. The 

 expedition left its winter quarters in Scotia 

 Bay, South Orkney Islands, on November 2-3 

 — sooner than was anticipated owing to the 

 unexpected breaking of the ice. Some mem- 

 bers of the expedition were left behind in 

 the winter quarters in charge of a meteorolog- 



