May 13, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



773 



Vienna Academy of Sciences to Macedonia to 

 study the earthquake of April 4. 



Mr. Percy Longmuir, of University College, 

 Sheifield, has been appointed junior assistant 

 in the metallurgical department of the British 

 National Physical Laboratory. 



As we have already noted, General Bassot 

 has been appointed director of the observatory 

 at Nice in the room of the late M. Perrotin. 

 M. Simonin has been appointed sub-director 

 of the observatory. 



Professor H. C. Parker, of Columbia Uni- 

 versity, lectured before the Geographical So- 

 ciety of Philadelphia on May 4, his subject 

 being ' Mountaineei'ing in the American Alps.' 

 The Elisha Kent Kane medal of the society, 

 awarded to Captain Robert P. Scott, E.IST., 

 commander of the Antarctic in its recent ex- 

 pedition to the polar regions, was accepted on 

 his behalf by Wilfred Powell, Esq., British 

 consul at Philadelphia. 



Professor W. S. Franklin, of Lehigh Uni- 

 versity, lectured before the Electric Club of 

 Pittsburg on the ' Electron Theory ' on May 2. 



Professor Erancis E. Lloyd, of Teachers 

 College, Columbia University, lectured before 

 the American Philosophical Society, on May 

 6, on ' The Vegetation of the Island of Do- 

 minica.' Professor Lloyd spent the summer 

 of 1903 in a botanical exploration of the 

 island. 



Dr. J. A. Ewing, director of naval educa- 

 tion, formerly professor of mechanism and 

 applied mechanics in the University of Cam- 

 bridge, has been appointed Rede lecturer for 

 the present year. 



The certificate of incorporation has been 

 filed of the Walter Reed Memorial Association 

 for the purpose of securing funds to erect a 

 monument in Washington City to the memory 

 of the late Walter Reed, major and surgeon 

 U. S. Army. Dr. Daniel C. Gilman is presi- 

 dent, and General George M. Sternberg, vice- 

 president of the association. 



The trustees of the British National Por- 

 trait Gallery have received by bequest from 

 the late Mr. Herbert Spencer a portrait of 

 himself, painted by J. B. Burgess, R.A., and 



a marble bust of himself by Sir J. E. Boehm, 

 R.A. The trustees have purchased a portrait 

 of Sir Isaac Newton, painted as a young man 

 and attributed to Robert Walker. 



A COMMITTEE has been formed with the ob- 

 ject of collecting subscriptions for the erection 

 of a memorial to James Watt in Greenock, 

 the place of his birth. The site of the house 

 in which Watt was born is the property of the 

 corporation of Greenock, and is placed at the 

 disposal of the committee. The form of 

 memorial will depend on the amount of money 

 collected. 



Professor Maxwell Somerville, who oc- 

 cupied the chair of glyptology at the Univer- 

 sity of Pennsylvania and was a well-known 

 authority on gems, has died at Paris, at the 

 age of seventy-five years. 



M. Emile Duclaux, professor of physics and 

 meteorology in the Agricultural Institute at 

 Paris and member of the Academy of Sci- 

 ences, has died at the age of sixty-four years. 



We regret also to record the death of Pro- 

 fessor Moritz Staub, of Buda Pesth, secretary 

 of the Hungarian Geological Society. 



The Civil Service Commission announces 

 an examination on June 4, to secure eligibles 

 to fill a vacancy in the position of chemist in 

 the Bureau of Chemistry of the Department 

 of Agriculture in connection with the inspec- 

 tion of foreign food products, at a salary of 

 $2,000 per annum, and vacancies in the posi- 

 tion of chemist of like character, in equal or 

 lower grades, as they may occur in that de- 

 partment. 



President Roosevelt has decided that the 

 new buildings of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture shall be built facing the park way that 

 the park commission has recommended to ex- 

 tend through the Mall. 



Mr. Charles H. Sternberg, of Lawrence, 

 Kans., is prepared to send on approval collec- 

 tions of the reptiles and fishes of the chalk of 

 Kansas. 



A Massachusetts Zoological Society was in- 

 corporated last week with a view to establish- 

 ing a Zoological Park in Boston. The park 

 will be situated in the Stony Brook Reserva- 

 tion, and it is hoped that from $100,000 to 



