Mat 3, 1907] 



'SCIENCE, 



in 



in connection with the affairs of the academy." 

 The secretary of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science similarly was 

 offered storage, office rooms and post-office 

 facilities in the institution. 



Erom Mr. Arnold Hague, home secretary of 

 the National Academy of Sciences, the fol- 

 lowing communication has heen received at 

 the institution: 



" At a meeting of the National Academy of 

 Sciences held April 17, the secretary of the 

 academy was requested to express to the 

 secretary of the Smithsonian Institution the 

 sincere thanks for the facilities afforded the 

 academy during its sessions in Washington. 



" The secretary was also requested to ex- 

 press the thanks of the academy for the room 

 assigned to the academy for the use of its 

 secretary and the keeping of the necessary 

 files and papers, and also for the use of the 

 members of the academy during their visits 

 to Washington." 



Dr. L. O. Howard, permanent secretary of 

 the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science, has sent a letter of accept- 

 ance in the following form: 



" The council of this association, at its 

 spring meeting held in Washington on April 

 17, passed a formal and hearty vote of thanks 

 to you for your great courtesy to the associa- 

 tion in setting aside for its use storage and 

 office rooms and a post-office box in the Smith- 

 sonian Institution." 



By the location of the offices of these 

 national scientific societies in the Smithsonian 

 Institution, the institution becomes a clearing- 

 house of national scientific learning. In this 

 manner are forwarded the objects named in 

 the Vfdll of James Smithson, the document by 

 the terms of which the institution was 

 founded, ' the increase and diffusion of knowl- 

 edge among men.' 



SCIENTIFIC NOTUS AND NEWS 

 The city council of Jena has given a plot 

 of land, on which a philogenetic museum will 

 be established in honor of Professor Ernst 

 Heinrich Haeckel. 



In honor of Lord Lister's eightieth birth- 

 day the Munchener medizinische Wochen- 



schrift has printed a German translation of 

 his articles, containing the rudiments of the 

 antiseptic theory as applied to the treatment 

 of wounds, which began to appear in the 

 Lancet of March 16, 1867. 



Professor Adam Politzer will this year re- 

 tire from the active duties of the chair of 

 otology at the University of Vienna, and it is 

 proposed to present to him a gold medal. 

 Those who wish to take part in this testi- 

 monial and to secure copies of the medal 

 should address Dr. G. Kaufmann, Vienna, VI., 

 Mariahilferstrasse, 37. 



M. Deslandres, of the Astrophysical Ob- 

 servatory at Meudon, has been elected presi- 

 dent of the Astronomical Society of Prance. 



Ambassador Bryce formally presented to 

 Professor Ernest W. Brown, of Haverford 

 College, the Eoyal Astronomical Society gold 

 medal for 1907 (awarded last February), be- 

 fore the opening of the afternoon session of 

 the American Philosophical Society, on Fri- 

 day, April 19. Ambassador Charlemagne 

 Tower and a large number of other members 

 of the society and their friends were present. 



Professor George L. Meylan, of Colimibia 

 University, has been elected president of the 

 American Physical Education Association. 



President Ira Eemsen, of the Johns Hop- 

 kins University, will make the principal ad- 

 dress at the commencement exercises of the 

 Michigan School of Mines. 



Mr. J. D. Bowman, secretary of the Car- 

 negie Foundation for the Advancement of 

 Teaching, has announced that, although the 

 foundation has declined to admit state univer- 

 sities to the accepted list of beneficiaries of 

 the fund, it occasionally grants retiring allow- 

 ances to men in state institutions who have 

 rendered distinguished academic service. In 

 accordance with that plan the executive com- 

 mittee of the foundation has given retiring 

 allowances to the following: E. Benjamin An- 

 drews, chancellor of the University of Ne- 

 braska, who has been a prominent teacher and 

 educator for thirty years. Francis H. Smith, 

 for more than fifty years professor of natural 

 philosophy at the University of Virginia. 

 William V. Folwell, for fifteen years president 



