278 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 633 



have been sunk, but all water for drinking 

 and cooking purposes, and for preparing mor- 

 tar, is carried in water cars. The expense of 

 construction is thus greatly increased. All 

 fuel lias to be imported, but owing to the high 

 .temperatures little is required except for the 

 locomotives and the repair shops. 



METEOROLOGY IN EGYPT 



Captain H. G. Lyons, Director General of 

 the Survey Department of Egypt, gives an 

 encouraging account of the present status of 

 meteorological work in Egypt in his ' Report 

 on the Work of the Survey Department in 

 1905 ' (Cairo, 1906). There are in Egypt ten 

 stations and in the Sudan sixteen stations. 

 The locations are shown on a map. There 

 are also a number of river gauge stations. 

 The central meteorological station at Helwan, 

 of which a picture is given, is an attractive 

 building, lighted by electricity, and equipped 

 with standard instruments. Captain Lyons 

 has already published several reports of un- 

 usual value on the meteorology of the Nile 

 Basin, especially in connection with the Nile 



RAINFALL AND ALTITUDE 



Hann calls attention (Met. Zeitschr., Nov., 

 1906) to the results of rainfall measurements 

 made in connection with the water supply of 

 the city of Edinburgh, in the district of the 

 upper tributaries of the Tweed. Under sim- 

 ilar conditions of exposure, but at different 

 altitudes, the rain-gauges show on the average 

 an increase of 2.5 inches of rainfall in each 

 100 feet of increase of elevation. 



THE ' SCOTIA ' RESULTS 



Mention has several times been made in 

 these notes of the meteorological results of 

 the Scotia Antarctic expedition, these notes 

 being based on short reports which have ap- 

 peared in scientific journals. There has lately 

 been published ' The Voyage of the Scotia,' 

 by three of the staff (Edinburgh, Blackwood, 

 1906), which gives a popular account of the 

 expedition, as well as a summary of the scien- 

 tific results obtained. 



R. DeC. Ward 



MR. ROCKEFELLER'S GIFT TO TEE GEN- 

 ERAL EDUCATION BOARD 

 Mr. John D. Rockefeller has announced 

 his intention to give, not later than April 1, 

 securities valued at about $32,000,000, to the 

 General Education Board, which he had pre- 

 viously endowed with $11,000,000. The letter 

 announcing this gift,_read at a meeting of the 

 board on February 7, is as follows : 



New York, Feb. 6, 1907. 

 General Education Board, 54 William Street, 

 New York City. 

 Gentlemen: My father authorizes me to say 

 that on or before April 1, 1907, he will give to 

 the General Education Board income-bearing se- 

 curities, the present market value of which is 

 about thirty-two million dollars ($32,000,000), 

 one third to be added to the permanent endow- 

 ment of the board, two thirds to be applied to 

 such specific objects within the corporate purposes 

 of the board as either he or I may, from time to 

 time, direct; any remainder not so designated at 

 the death of the survivor to be added also to the 

 permanent endowment of the board. 

 Very truly, 



John D. Rockefeller, Jb. 



The board has acknowledged this great gift 

 in the following terms: 



The General Education Board acknowledges the 

 receipt of the communication of February 6, 1907, 

 from Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., a member of 

 this body, announcing your decision to give to the 

 board for the purpose of its organization, securi- 

 ties of the current value of $32,000,000. The Gen- 

 eral Education Board accepts this gift with a deep 

 sense of gratitude to you and of responsibility to 

 society. This sum, added to the $11,000,000 which 

 you have formerly given to this board, makes the 

 General Education Board the guardian and admin- 

 istrator of a total trust fund of $43,000,000. 



This is the largest sum ever given by a man in 

 the history of the race for any social or philan- 

 thropic purpose. The board congratulates you 

 upon the high and wise impulse which has moved 

 you to this deed, and desires to thank you, in 

 behalf of all educational interests whose develop- 

 ments it will advance, in behalf of our country 

 whose civilization .for all time it should be made 

 to strengthen and elevate, and in behalf of man- 



