Januaet 4, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



39 



Institution of Washington, left San Diego, 

 California, on December 22 on her third 

 cruise, which wiU extend to the end of the 

 year 1907 and will embrace about 25,000 to 

 30,000 miles. It was found necessary to defer 

 the proposed circumnavigation cruise and in- 

 stead to pursue a course indicated by the fol- 

 lowing ports of call: ISTakuhiva (Marquesas 

 Islands), Tahiti, Apia, Yap, Shanghai, Hong- 

 kong, Tokohoma, Honolulu, Dutch Harbor 

 (Aleutian Islands), Sitka and return to San 

 Diego, from which port it is possible that 

 another circuit situated between the Galapagos 

 Islands and Marquesas Islands may be under- 

 taken. The vessel, as during the past year, 

 is again commanded by Mr. W. J. Peters, who 

 is assisted by Messrs. J. 0. Pearson and D. C. 

 Bowers, magnetic observers, and Dr. George 

 Peterson, surgeon and recorder. The sailing 

 master, as during the past two cruises, is 

 ain J. T. Hayes. 



The Vienna Geographical Society has cele- 

 brated the fiftieth anniversary of its founda- 

 tion under the presidency of Archduke Eainer. 



The preliminary program of the second In- 

 ternational Congress on School Hygiene, of 

 which King Edward is patron, has been issued. 

 The session will be from August 5 to August 

 10, 1907, at the University of London, South 

 Kensington. The work of the congress will 

 be divided into eleven sections, each presided 

 over by an authority on the subject dealt with. 



We learn from The British Medical Journal 

 that news has come from the Sesse Islands, 

 Victoria ITyanza, of Professor Koch's expedi- 

 tion for the study of sleeping sickness. The 

 expedition is divided into two parts. One, 

 under the direction of Professor Koch himself, 

 is working at Kion, the other, under Professor 

 Beck, at Boumangi. Natives are said to be 

 coming to both stations from the remotest 

 provinces, the average nimiber attending be- 

 ing some three hundred a day. Professor 

 Koch, it is said, will publish nothing as to his 

 method until he has had more definite results 

 than have yet been obtained. The members 

 of the expedition live in rooms destitute of 

 the comforts of civilization, which serve as 

 bedroom, dining room and laboratory. 



We learn from The Athceneum that Messrs. 

 Heffer & Sons have purchased the mathemat- 

 ical library of the late Professor Joly, of 

 Dublin, and the botanical library of the late 

 Professor Marshall Ward, of Cambridge, cata- 

 logues of which are in preparation. 



The London Times states that the 52d an- 

 nual dinner of the Society of Engineers took 

 place on Wednesday night, December 12, at 

 the Hotel Cecil. The president, Mr. Maurice 

 Wilson, Assoc. M. Inst. C. E., was in the chair, 

 and among those present were Sir Alexander 

 Kennedy (president of the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers), Dr. Glazebrook (president of the 

 Institution of Electrical Engineers), Com- 

 mander Caborne, C. B., Colonel L. Blakeney 

 Booth, Mr. Maurice Eitzmaurice, Mr. R. St. 

 George Moore (the president elect), Mr. J. W. 

 Wilson (vice-president). Professor S. H. Cox, 

 Mr. D. D. Butler (honorary treasurer), and 

 Mr. Perry E. Nursey (secretary). Sir Alex- 

 ander Kennedy, in proposing ' The Society of 

 Engineers,' said that it was now the day of 

 the engineers, and they had better make the 

 best of it they could. Clearly the essential 

 thing was that they should be as good engi- 

 neers as they could, and one of the things 

 which had helped them to be good engineers 

 hitherto, and was helping them now, was their 

 extraordinary tendency to form themselves 

 into technical societies. One of the pioneers 

 was certainly the Society of Engineers, which 

 was third in age of the engineering societies, 

 and which he hoped might live and flourish 

 for many years to come. The president, in 

 responding, said that their membership had 

 increased during the past year, and their 

 financial position was exceedingly sound, 

 sounder, perhaps, than it had ever been. They 

 had unfortunately lost their oldest honorary 

 member. Sir Edward Eeed, who was elected 

 nearly thirty years ago and who was naval 

 constructor about the time of the transition 

 from wooden walls to armour-clad ships. 

 Their ordinary meetings had shown an in- 

 crease in their average attendance during the 

 past year, and they had had read to them 

 numerous interesting papers, not the least in- 

 teresting of them being one by their inde- 

 fatigable honorary secretary, who had con- 



