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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 592. 



the history of arithmetic, algebra, theory of 

 equations and theory of numbers from the 

 period 1759 to 1799, and the results will soon 

 be published in Volume IV. of Professor 

 Cantor's ' Vorlesungen iiber Gescliichte der 

 Mathematik.' 



In honor of Professor Trendelenburg, of 

 Leipzig, the German Medical Society ar- 

 ranged a special meeting at the Academy of 

 Medicine, New York City, on April 30. Pro- 

 fessor Trendelenburg delivered an address. 



Me. a. Lawrence Rotch, director of the 

 Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, has 

 commenced a fourth series of experiments 

 with hallons-sondes at St. Louis, from which 

 it is hoped to determine the seasonal change 

 of temperature at great heights in the free air. 

 This investigation is being conducted with a 

 grant from the Hodgkins fund, held by the 

 Smithsonian Institution. 



Dr. Frederick G. Novy, professor of bac- 

 teriology in the University of Michigan, and 

 Professor A. Laveran, of the Pasteur Insti- 

 tute, Paris, are the official speakers on the 

 subject ' Preventive Inoculations against Pro- 

 tozoal Diseases ' before the Section on Pathol- 

 ogy and Bacteriology of the Lisbon Interna- 

 tional Congress of Medicine. 



Me. D. Brainard Spooner, a graduate of 

 Stanford University, now in Leipzig, has been 

 appointed by the British government director 

 of archeological investigations in northwest 

 India. 



Dr. C. K. Edmunds, professor of physics 

 and electrical engineering. Christian College, 

 Macao, China, made magnetic observations 

 during the winter vacation under the auspices 

 of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism 

 of the Carnegie Institution of Washington at 

 ten stations in southeastern China and on the 

 Island of Hainan. 



Mr. Edgar E. Wajte, zoologist in the Aus- 

 tralian Museum at Sydney, has been appointed 

 curator of the Canterbury Museum at Christ- 

 church, New Zealand. 



A MESSAGE from Dr. Sven Hedin, the 

 Swedish explorer, dated April 10, announces 

 his arrival in Seistan after an extremely in- 



teresting journey via Jandak, Turoot, Kliur, 

 Tabbas, Naiband and Neh, in the course of 

 which he crossed the Dasht-i-Kavir, the Great 

 Salt Desert, three times. The explorer says 

 he is in splendid health, and has collected 

 material for a great work on eastern Persia. 

 He has made a map of 162 sheets, has taken 

 hundreds of photographs and sketches, and 

 has formed a collection of specimens of rocks. 



Professor Hugo de Vries delivered last 

 week the third Spencer Trask lecture at the 

 New York City College, his subject being 

 ' Association of Characters in Plant Breeding.' 



Professor Ernest Eutherford, of McGiU 

 University, is to deliver the following lec- 

 tures at the University of Illinois: April 30, 

 ' Cathode and Rontgen Rays ' ; May 1, ' Elec- 

 tronic Theory of Matter'; May 2, 'Radio- 

 active Substances and their Eadiatio'ns ' ; 

 May 3, 'Passage of Electricity through 

 Gases ' ; May 4, ' Radium and its Transforma- 

 tions ' ; May 5, ' Radioactive State of the 

 Earth and Atmosphere.' 



We regret to record the death, on April 13, 

 of Walter F. R. Weldon, E.R.S., Linacre pro- 

 fessor of comparative anatomy at Oxford 

 University, and well knovm for his zoological 

 researches, at the age of forty-five years. 



The United States Civil Service Commis- 

 sion announces examinations as follows : On 

 May 16, to fill such vacancies as may occur in 

 the positions of laboratory assistant, assistant 

 physicist, and assistant chemist in the Bureau 

 of Standards, at salaries varying from $900 to 

 $1,600 per annum, and vacancies as they may 

 occur in any branch of the service requiring 

 similar qualifications. On June 6, in the 

 position of assistant in the laboratory, $1,200 

 per annum. Bureau of the Mint, Treasury 

 Department, and similar vacancies as they 

 may occur. On June 6-7, six vacancies in 

 the position of aid in the Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey, at $720 per annum each, and similar 

 vacancies as they may occur in that survey. 

 As the commission has experienced consider- 

 able difficulty in securing suitable candidates 

 to meet the needs of the service, qualified 

 persons are urged to enter this examination. 



