478 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 586. 



(Harvard, '05) explored old Icelandic burial 

 places and made a collection of skeletons of 

 the earliest people of the island. Mr. Has- 

 tings also made anthropometric measurements 

 of many of the Icelanders. The caves of Ice- 

 land are of volcanic, origin and show no indi- 

 cation of having been occupied by man. No 

 stone implements have ever been found on the 

 island. These investigations led to the con- 

 clusion that the island was probably not in- 

 habited prior to its settlement by the Nor- 

 wegians in A.D. 874. Eesearches and collec- 

 tions were made by members of the party in 

 geology and ornithology. 



It is announced that the ' Keale Istituto 

 Veneto di Scienze Lettere ed Arti ' has de- 

 cided to undertake a systematic study of the 

 geophysical phenomena which, directly or in- 

 directly, concern the lagoon of Venice. A 

 special committee has been appointed for the 

 purpose, and preliminary investigations on 

 the subject of the tidal waves of the upper 

 Adriatic, and the rivers flovnng into it and the 

 lagoon of Venice have been set on foot. They 

 have been placed in charge of Dr. G. P. 

 Magrini, who will be assisted by Professors 

 L. de Marchi and T. Gnesotto, of the Univer- 

 sity of Padua. 



Dr. Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, professor of 

 mathematical physics in the University of 

 Leiden, will give a course of lectures at Co- 

 lumbia University on the theory of electrons 

 and its application to the phenomena of light 

 and radiant heat. The program is as follows : 



Friday, March 23, 4 to 6 p.m. ; Saturday, Marct 

 24, 10 to 12 A.M.; and Friday, March 30, 4 to 6 

 P.M. — General principles; theory of free electrons. 



Saturday, March 31, 10 to 12 a.m., and Friday, 

 April 6, 4 to 6 p.m. — Emission and absorption of 

 heat. 



Saturday, April 7, 10 to 12 a.m.; Wednesday, 

 April 11, 4 to 6 p.m.; and Thursday, April 12, 

 4 to 6 p.m. — The Zeeman effect. Propagation of 

 light in ponderable bodies. 



Thursday, April 26, 4 to 6 p.m., and Friday, 

 April 27, 4 to 6 p.m. — Optical phenomena in mov- 

 ing systems. 



Professor Alexander Mijller, known for 

 his work in agricultural chemistry, has died 

 in Eysby, Sweden, at the age of seventy-eight 

 years. 



One or two computers will be needed in the 

 near future at the Pasadena office of the Solar 

 Observatory of the Carnegie Institution. 

 Their work will consist in the measurement 

 and reduction of photographs of the sun and 

 of solar spectra. Applications may be sent 

 to Mr. W. S. Adams, superintendent of com- 

 puting division. Solar Observatory Office, 

 Pasadena, Cal. 



A BEGINNING has been made with the build- 

 ing of the new Magnetic Observatory at Esk- 

 dalemuir, which is to take the place of the 

 present observatory at Kew. The observations 

 at Kew have been affected by disturbances 

 caused by electric installations, etc. Eskdale- 

 muir is fifteen miles from a railway, in a 

 high-lying pastoral district. 



The daughters of the late Dr. Edward Sang 

 have given his collection of trigonometrical 

 and astronomical calculations in manuscript 

 to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. The gift 

 also includes a collection of scientific manu- 

 scripts by Dr. Sang. 



The twenty-third congress for ' Innere 

 Medizin ' will take place at Munich from 

 April 23 to 26, under the presidency of Pro- 

 fessor von Striimpell. An exhibition of med- 

 ical preparations, apparatus and instruments 

 will be held. 



The Medical Record states that in spite of 

 some opposition on the ground of interference 

 with state rights, the house committee on 

 interstate and foreign commerce has agreed 

 to make a favorable report on a committee 

 substitute for the Williams bill to extend 

 federal control of quarantines. According to 

 the plan proposed the secretary of the treas- 

 ury is placed in direct control of quarantine, 

 and is to administer it through the Public 

 Health and Marine Hospital Service. The 

 bill carries an appropriation of $500,000. 



A BILL has been introduced into both houses 

 of the New York legislature, which prohibits 

 the manufacture and sale of medicinal prepa- 

 rations containing alcohol or other narcotic 

 or poisonous drugs unless the formula, both 

 qualitative and quantitative, is printed on the 

 label in plain English. 



