636 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 590. 



behind in the organization of professional 

 science. As Sir William Huggins pointed 

 out in his annual address, we are also far 

 behind in the general diffusion of elementary 

 scientific ideas. 



The catholicity of the Royal Society is dis- 

 played by the fact mentioned by Lord Ray- 

 leigh, that all the medals which can be given 

 to foreigners have this year been awarded to 

 men of science in other countries. Assuming, 

 as we must, that this has not happened 

 through any desire to favor foreigners unduly, 

 the pleasure derived from contemplating the 

 impartiality of the Royal Society must be 

 tempered by the inevitable reflection that we 

 can hardly be keeping pace at home with what 

 is done abroad. Peculiar interest attaches 

 in the circumstances of the moment to the 

 presence among us of Professor Mendeleeff, 

 whose brief leave of absence from official 

 duties covers, we believe, no more than the 

 time required to receive in person the Copley 

 Medal awarded to him by the Royal Society. 

 Though his own distinction as a chemist and 

 as a man besides of wide and varied practical 

 ability is a sufficient reason for the award, he 

 modestly and rightly treated it as being also 

 a testimony of sympathy with his country in 

 her present trials. Official good-will is prop- 

 erly expressed through the Russian ambas- 

 sador, who sat at the side of the president, 

 but the sympathy of intellectual England with 

 intellectual Russia finds welcome expression 

 in the honor decreed to Professor Mendeleeff. 

 The dichotomy is sincerely regretted by the 

 people of this country, who have no other 

 desire with regard to Russia than that she 

 may speedily find a way to reconcile the best 

 thought of her educated people with the spirit 

 of her administration and the form of her 

 institutions. — The London Times. 



THE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA. 

 In response to the invitation extended 

 through the columns of Science and by circu- 

 lar to those who might be supposed to be 

 interested in the formation of a Museum Asso- 

 ciation, analogous to that which exists in 

 Great Britain and Ireland, numerous replies 



have been received, not only from all parts of 

 the United States and Canada, but also from 

 various South American countries, and the 

 West Indian Islands. While it is not possible 

 for some who reside at great distances from 

 the city of New York to be present on May 

 15, all who have written to the undersigned 

 have expressed their sympathy with the move- 

 ment, and their desire to be recorded as 

 participating in the organization of the asso- 

 ciation. How many delegates from the vari- 

 ous museums of science and art will be present 

 at the gathering in New York on May 15, it 

 is impossible at this writing to state exactly, 

 but that a large number of the museums of 

 the country, both small and great, will be 

 represented is certain. Many of those who 

 intend to be present at the meeting have sig- 

 nified their intention to present papers upon 

 different phases of the activity of museums. 

 It appears that the coming gathering will 

 be one of interest, and the invitation to all 

 those who are concerned in the work of mu- 

 seums to participate in it is renewed. 



W. J. Holland, 

 Director Carnegie Museum. 



PiTTSBTJBO, Pa., 

 April U, 1906. 



THE COLD SPRING BIOLOGICAL 

 LABORATORY. 



The seventeenth session of the Biological 

 Laboratory of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts 

 and Sciences, located at Cold Spring Harbor, 

 Long Island, will be held, beginning July 5 

 and will continue for six weeks. Investi- 

 gators may, 4iowever, be accommodated for a 

 much longer period. The courses offered will 

 include one in Pield Zoology by Dr. C. B. 

 Davenport, of the Station for Expei-imental 

 Evolution, Carnegie Institution, and Mr. H. 

 E. Walter, of Harvard Univei-sity; Bird 

 Study, by Mrs. Walter; Comparative Anat- 

 omy, by Dr. H. S. Pratt, of Haverford Col- 

 lege; Invertebrate and General Embryology, 

 by Professor H. E. Crampton, of Columbia 

 University, and Professor W. J. Moenkhaus, 

 of Indiana University; Animal Bionomics 

 and Evolution, by Dr. Davenport; Crypto- 

 gamic Botany, by Professor D. S. Johnson, 



