June 1, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



863 



The trustees of the College of Charleston 

 Mxiseum have elected the following as hon- 

 orary curators : Professor Daniel S. Martin, 

 of Brooklyn, N. Y., honorary curator of min- 

 erals, rocks and invertebrate fossils; Mr. Wm. 

 G. Mazyckm, of Charleston, S. C, honorary 

 curator of recent shells; Mr. Arthur T. Wayne, 

 of Mt. Pleasant, S. C, honorary curator of 

 birds. 



Dr. Th. Mortensen, of the Zoological Mu- 

 seum at Copenhagen, is at present in the 

 United States. During a year's leave of ab- 

 sence he has been studying the fisheries in 

 the West Indies, and for several weeks has 

 been working in the National Museum in 

 Washington. 



The Journal of the New York Botanical 

 Garden contains a notice of the recent expedi- 

 tion of the director-in-chief. Dr. Britton, to 

 Porto Rico. Dr. Britton and Dr. Howe, ac- 

 companied by Professor W. M. Wheeler, of 

 the American Museum of Natural History, 

 spent ten days in the early part of March on 

 the island of Culebra, where the facilities of 

 the U. S. Naval Station were courteously 

 placed at the disposition of the party. In the 

 collections made at this point the Cactaceae 

 and marine algae were especially well repre- 

 sented. Mrs. Britton, Miss Delia W. Marble 

 and Mr. John F. Cowell, in the meantime, 

 explored the mountains and foothills in the 

 neighborhood of Mayagiiez in the western part 

 of Porto Eico, afterward joining the rest of 

 the party at Arecibo for a trip across the 

 island over the Adjuntas road. A stop of a 

 week was made at Utuado, where two of the 

 higher mountains of the island were climbed. 

 From Ponce, on the south shore, the return 

 to San Juan was made over the military road. 

 The dried specimens of plants secured by the 

 expedition are represented by about 1,700 num- 

 bers and in addition a large amount of living 

 material was brought back. 



Professor Angelo Heilprin, who recently 

 returned from the island of Martinique and 

 from an extended journey into the forest re- 

 gion of British Guiana, made the descent into 

 the crater and partial ascent of the still-steam- 

 ing dome of Mount Pelee, on February 2Y, 



last. The dome is covered by a wilderness of 

 boulders, some of them of giant size, coming 

 from the fallen obelisk, and the fragments, 

 where examined, were in all cases found to be 

 a compact and non-vesicular andesite. Pro- 

 fessor Heilprin does not believe that the evi- 

 dence justifies Professor Lacroix's views as to 

 the method of formation of the volcano's 

 unique excresence. A scattered vegetation of 

 diminutive tree-ferns has already appeared on 

 the dome itself, in most cases bordering the 

 steam-vents (so-called fumaroles) of the east- 

 ern face. 



In its account of the exhibition of the Royal 

 Academy the London Times says : " In the 

 place in Room IV. where we last year saw the 

 Blenheim family group, we have now a mar- 

 velously fine composition with full-length 

 portraits of four professors in the Johns Hop- 

 kins University, Baltimore. Messrs. Welch, 

 Halstead, Osier and Kelly are all well-known 

 figures in the world of learning and science, 

 but each and all may adopt with truth the 

 phrase that Gladstone used about Millais's 

 portrait, and say that Mr. Sargent has im- 

 measurably increased their chances of immor- 

 tality. The necessary vates sacer has appeared 

 in the form of a master of the brush, and has 

 preserved for posterity their form and linea- 

 ments; while on us of to-day, even if the men 

 themselves are little more than names, the 

 painter has conferred the pleasure that a first- 

 rate work of art must always give. It is a 

 little sombre in color, but that is perhaps in 

 keeping with academical dignity, while the 

 dexterous way in which the artist has used the 

 hoods, the books and the globe to relieve the 

 gloom of gowns and backgrounds is beyond 

 praise." 



A FACULTY committee has been appointed to 

 look into the possibility of securing a portrait 

 of the late Professor Shaler to be hung in the 

 faculty room of Harvard University. The 

 committee is endeavoring to secure recent pho- 

 tographs and has sent a request that any 

 graduate who may have such a photograph, 

 mail it to Professor John E. Wolff, University 

 Museum, Cambridge, who will acknowledge its 



