Febbuaey 12, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



279 



gress should be addressed to the president of 

 the sixth International Congress of Zoology, 

 Museum of Natural History, Waisenhaus- 

 strasse, Bern. The congress is open to all 

 zoologists and to all who are interested in 

 zoology. 



Columbia University, in cooperation with 

 the Academy of Political Science, has ar- 

 ranged for a series of nine free lectures on 

 ' The Problems of Municipal Administration,' 

 to be given in Earl Hall by the heads of de- 

 partments of the last city administration. 

 The lectures are to be as follows : 



February 26 — 'The Dock Department' (ilhts- 

 trated), McDougall Hawkes. 



March 4 — ' The Street Cleaning Department ' 

 (illustrated), John McG. Woodbury. 



March 11 — 'The Police Department,' Gen. 

 Francis V. Greene. 



March IS — ' The Fire Department,' Tliomas 

 Sturgis. 



March 25— ' The Board of Education,' G. C. 

 Burlingham. 



April 1 — ' The Department of Charities,' Homer 

 Folks. 



April 8 — ' The Tenement House Department,' 

 Eobert W. DeForest. 



April 15 — ^' The Health Department' (illus- 

 trated). Dr. Ernst Lederle. 



April 22 — ' Bellevue and Allied Hospitals,' John 

 W. Brannan. 



The British Medical Journal states that 

 new county buildings at Chelmsford con- 

 taining laboratories for Essex were formally 

 opened recently by the Earl of Onslow, presi- 

 dent of the Board of Agriculture. The new 

 buildings, which are conveniently situated 

 near the center of the town, have cost about 

 £12,000. They comprise chemical, physical 

 and biological laboratories and class rooms, 

 together with agricultural and horticultural 

 museums and libraries, and provide facilities 

 for systematic instruction in agriculture and 

 horticulture, as well as in pure science. They 

 are under the control of the Essex Education 

 Committee, and were built by the Essex County 

 Council. As the chairman of this committee, 

 Mr. E. N. Buxton pointed out at the inaugural 

 proceedings that Essex was an agricultural 

 county and the laboratories were intended to 

 be a center for agricultural or horticultural 



information for the whole county; they in- 

 cluded rooms for the analysis of soils, ma- 

 nures, foods, seeds, etc., and for other scien- 

 tific work carried on in the interests of these 

 industries. There is also a large dairy, in the 

 basement, for instruction in butter and cheese 

 making and the treatment of milk, and within 

 three quarters of a mile is the school garden, 

 three acres in extent, provided with potting- 

 shed and hothouses. In addition to the more 

 purely agricultural and horticultural courses 

 of lectures and practical work, classes are held 

 in chemistry, physics and biology, largely for 

 the training of teachers. Several scholarships 

 are offered by the county council, while sev- 

 eral of the classes are free to selected candi- 

 dates resident in Essex. The laboratories are 

 large, well arranged, and well fitted up, and 

 should prove, with the agricultural depart- 

 ments, of great service to the cause of agricul- 

 ture and technical education in Essex. In 

 the prospectus of the dairy school it is stated 

 that ' it is also proposed to give a one- week's 

 course of instruction in milking and the treat- 

 ment of milk for selling.' Such a course, if 

 properly given and attended, should be of 

 value in promoting a more satisfactory and 

 hygienic treatment of milk, and will be wel- 

 comed by all interested in a pure milk supply. 

 Professor Harry Fielding Eeid, of Johns 

 Hopkins University, who is in charge of earth- 

 quake records for the United States Geological 

 Survey, was designated by the State Depart- 

 ment as the delegate from the United States 

 to the International Seismological Conference 

 held in Strassburg last July. The object of 

 the conference, which was held at the invita- 

 tion of the German Government and was at- 

 tended by delegates from nineteen countries, 

 was to form an International Seismological 

 Association of the various countries for the 

 purpose of cooperative work in such earth- 

 quake investigations as could be carried out 

 only by cooperation. The conference adopted 

 a constitution, which is to be submitted to all 

 civilized countries, and they will be aslted to 

 join the association. The constitution pro- 

 vides for a general assembly, to meet at least 

 once in four years, and a permanent commis- 

 sion, composed of one delegate from each 



