October 13, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



477 



to say how soon positive results would be ob- 

 tainable, but he felt as certain that these re- 

 sults would be attained as when he first an- 

 nounced his discovery of a new method for 

 treating diphtheria. 



The conference of the International Union 

 for Cooperation in Solar Research was con- 

 cluded on September 29, in New College, Ox- 

 ford. It was resolved to accept the invitation 

 of M. Janssen to meet at Meudon in Septem- 

 ber, 1907. Professors Schuster (chairman) 

 and Hale were elected members of the execu- 

 tive committee. It was decided that the 

 central bureau should be at the University of 

 Manchester, and that the computing bureau 

 should be at the University Observatory, Ox- 

 ford, under the direction of Professor Turner. 

 Committees were elected to deal with the fol- 

 lowing four subjects : (1) Standards of wave- 

 length; (2) solar radiation; (3) cooperation in 

 work with the spectro-heliograph ; (4) coopera- 

 tion in work on the spectra of sun-spots. 



There will be a New York state civil ser- 

 vice examination on October 28, to fill the 

 position of assistant in botany in the science 

 division of the Education Department with a 

 salary of $600, for assistant in microscopy in 

 the Buffalo Cancer Laboratory with a salary 

 of $720, and of Bertillon clerk in the state 

 prison with a salary of $900. 



The Vingtieme Siecle, according to a 

 Reuter telegram frora Brussels, announces 

 that, upon the initiative of the king of the 

 Belgians, the polar explorers MM. Lecointe 

 and Arktovski, of the Belgica expedition. Pro- 

 fessor Nordenskiold and Messrs. Bruce and 

 Shackleton had a meeting after the sitting of 

 the Mens Congress. The result of their delib- 

 erations was that a scheme for international 

 expeditions to the North and South Poles was 

 to be laid before the fifth section of the con- 

 gress. It is proposed that these expeditions 

 shall be organized through the good offices of 

 the various governments interested in the 

 scheme, and that monster subscriptions shall 

 be opened for the purpose. The government 

 of the king of the Belgians will play a great 

 part in the organization of the expeditions. 

 The polar explorers Sverdrup and Nansen 

 (Norway), the Duke of the Abruzzi (Italy), 



Von Drygalski (Germany), Charcot (France), 

 De Gerlache and Rakovitza (Belgium) and 

 Cook and Peary (United States), who had 

 been summoned to the meeting, were prevented 

 from attending, but they wrote offering their 

 support to the enterprise. Numerous subscrip- 

 tions have already been received. A Reuter 

 telegram from Mons states that the fifth sec- 

 tion of the Congress on Polar Exploration has 

 unanimously adopted a resolution in favor of 

 the scheme. 



The New York Medical Record states that 

 the department of agriculture of the Univer- 

 sity of California has been engaged for several 

 years in the study of the diseases of the insects 

 that destroy various crops in this and other 

 states, and in several instances have met with 

 great success. Since July, Professor Clarke, 

 assistant entomologist, had been studying a 

 bacterial disease that completely exterminated 

 the grasshoppers at Los Banos. The disease 

 was of unknown origin and in the course of 

 a month destroyed a countless army of the 

 insects, after they had entirely devoured the 

 alfalfa crop. 



The outlook for a profitable mining indus- 

 try in the Philippine Islands is more hopeful 

 to-day than it has been at any time since the 

 American occupation, according to a brief 

 report written by Mr. H. D. McCaskey, chief 

 of the Mining Bureau, Philippine Islands, 

 and published as an extract from the annual 

 volume of the Umted States Geological Sur- 

 vey entitled ' Mineral Resources of the United 

 States, 1904.' Mining development is now 

 carried on in the provinces of Lepanto-Bon- 

 toc, Benguet, Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, Bula- 

 can, Rizal, Batangas, Tayabas, Camarines, 

 Albay, Masbate, Cebu and Mindanao, and 

 prospecting is being done in almost every 

 island and province of the archipelago. 



The approaching session of the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society, under the auspices of the 

 new president, Sir George Goldie, promises, 

 says the London Times, to be a busy one. It 

 begins a week earlier than usual, and there 

 will be four ordinary meetings before Christ- 

 mas. The first meeting will be held on No- 

 vember 6, when the president will make a few 

 introductory remarks, to be followed by a 



