678 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 591. 



have been given to the Newberry Library, 

 Chicago, by Dr. Nicholas Senn. 



The American Academy of Arts and Sci- 

 ences is the custodian of two funds, one known 

 as the Rumford fund, the other, the Warren 

 fund. The Warren fund consists of ten 

 thousand dollars left to the academy by the 

 late C. M. Warren, the interest of which, 

 about four hundred dollars a year, is, accord- 

 ing to the will of the donor, used for the en- 

 couragement of chemical research. A com- 

 mittee appointed by the academy, known as 

 the C. M. Warren Committee, receives and 

 considers applications for grants from this 

 fund and reports its action to the academy at 

 the annual meeting in May, for approval. 

 Applications should be made to Professor 

 Leonard P. Kimiicutt, Worcester Polytechnic 

 Institute, Worcester, Mass., stating exactly 

 the scope of the research for which aid is 

 asked, and also a statement as to the way the 

 money is to be used in carrying out the re- 

 search. The recipients of aid from this fund 

 are expected to send to the chairman of the 

 committee. Professor Kinnicutt, at the end 

 of each year, a report of the work accom- 

 plished, and to mention in any publication of 

 the research that aid had been given for carry- 

 ing on the work from the C. M. Warren fund 

 of the American Academy of Arts and 

 Sciences. 



Consul Griffith, of Liverpool, transmits a 

 report on the establishment of an institute of 

 tropical research, the objects of which are the 

 collecting and tabulating of aU kinds of in- 

 formation regarding tropical countries, their 

 products, natural resources, industries and 

 economic conditions, which can be of service 

 either to commerce or science. The consul 

 says that no provision has heretofore been 

 made in Europe for dealing in a systematic 

 manner with the scientific study of the tropics 

 and of their economic aspects as a whole. The 

 Liverpool institute represents the first effort 

 to systematically collect and collate accurate 

 knowledge concerning the tropics and place 

 the result of this expert research work in an 

 accessible form. 



We learn from The British Medical Journal 

 that the governor general of the Soudan has 

 appointed a commission to investigate the pos- 

 sibility of the extension of ' sleeping sickness ' 

 into Soudan territory. The commission is to 

 consist of Lieutenant-Colonel G. D. Plunter, 

 D.S.O., P.M.O., Egyptian Army; Dr. Andrew 

 Balfour, director of the Wellcome Research 

 Laboratories, Khartoum; a British medical of- 

 ficer of the Egyptian Army, or a medical in- 

 spector of the Soudan Medical Department, or 

 such members as may be hereafter appointed. 

 The points to be investigated are: (1) To as- 

 certain the distribution of various species of 

 tsetse flies or other biting flies in the Soudan ; 

 (2) to ascertain if the disease at present exists 

 in Soudan territory — if so, to determine the 

 exact areas, and to what extent the distribu- 

 tion of the disease coincides with the presence 

 of the tsetse or other flies in these areas; (3) 

 a systematic investigation of the blood of a 

 population in an infected district; (4) a 

 thorough and complete research into the char- . 

 acter of the disease, especially as regards its 

 origin and spread. 



The following are the lecture arrangements 

 at the Royal Institution after Easter: Pro- 

 fessor G. Baldwin Brown, two lectures on 

 Greek classical dress in life and in art; Pro- 

 fessor William Stirling, three lectures on 

 glands and their products; Dr. P. Chalmers 

 Mitchell, two lectures on the digestive tract 

 in birds and mammals; the Rev. J. P. Ma- 

 haffy, two lectures on (1) the expansion of 

 old Greek literature by recent discoveries, (2) 

 the influence of ptolemaic Egypt on Grseco- 

 Roman civilization; Professor William J. 

 Sollas, three lectures on man and the glacial 

 period; Professor Charles Waldstein, three 

 lectures on English furniture in the eighteenth 

 century; Sir James Dewar, two lectures on 

 the old and the new chemistry; and Professor 

 W. Macneile Dixon, two lectures on (1) the 

 origins of poetry, (2) inspiration in poetry. 

 The Friday evening meetings will be resumed 

 on April 27, when Professor John W. Gregory 

 will deliver a discourse on ore deposits and 

 their distribution in depth. Succeeding dis- 

 courses will probably be given by the Hon. 



