800 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 646 



tained. Tiie interior finishings of the mag- 

 netic observatory buildings, the erection of the 

 piers and the installation of the magnetic 

 instruments were completed during the year. 

 The instruments for absolute observations, 

 except the declinometer and some auxiliary 

 apparatus, v?ere received and set up before 

 January 1, 1906. The remaining absolute in- 

 struments were received and put in place by 

 the end of May, and routine observations were 

 established at the end of the fiscal year. The 

 Eschenhagen magnetographs were set up in 

 the basement of the absolute observatory in 

 December, 1905, and have given a satisfactory 

 record of the magnetic elements since that 

 time. The Wild magnetographs were received 

 and installed by the first of June, and were 

 being adjusted by the end of the fiscal year. 

 A gas plant for heating and illuminating the 

 magnetic observatories was put in during the 

 winter and has given satisfactory service since 

 then. Plans were prepared for an additional 

 office and dwelling for the director of upper- 

 air research, and work on this building was 

 begxm July 1, 1906." 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 



Announcement is made that Princeton 

 University has received from donors whose 

 names are for the present withheld a gift of 

 $1,200,000, for the erection and endowment of 

 two scientific buildings — one for physical sci- 

 ence and one for biology and geology. In 

 each case the building will be erected at a cost 

 of $400,000, and $200,000 is provided for 

 equipment and maintenance. 



Mr. Edward W. Currier, an alumnus of 

 Amherst College of the class of 1865, has be- 

 queathed to the institution a large sum, said 

 to be $500,000. As has been already noted 

 here, by Mr. Currier's death two legacies are 

 released— one of $180,000 to "Williams College 

 and one of $100,000 to Tale University. 



Barnard College, Columbia University, 

 has been made the residuary legatee of the 

 estate of Miss Emily 0. Gibbes. It is esti- 

 mated that the college may receive $750,000. 



The University of Minnesota received at 

 the recent session of the legislature a con- 



siderable increase to be used for salaries. 

 Previously the maximum salary was $2,700 

 for heads of departments. These have now 

 been increased to $3,500, and other appoint- 

 ments in proportion. In addition, provision 

 has been made for twenty-eight new appoint- 

 ments in the university. Several of these will 

 be in the department of medicine, including 

 three in anatomy, gross and microscopic, and 

 one each in physiology, pathology and phar- 

 macology. 



The Massachusetts Legislature has rejected 

 the bill taxing residences occupied by officers 

 of the colleges and universities of the state. 

 The bill was passed in the senate, but defeated 

 in the house by a vote of 142 to 14. 



The College of the City of New York cele- 

 brated the sixtieth anniversary of its founda- 

 tion on May 7 by taking possession of its 

 beautiful new buildings on Washington 

 Heights. The ceremonies were first held in 

 the chapel on the top floor of the old college 

 building at Lexington Avenue and 23d St. 

 Addresses were made by President Finley, 

 Professor Alfred Q. Compton, of the depart- 

 ment of physics; Mr. Patrick F. McGowan, 

 president of the Board of Aldermen; Mr. 

 Richard Watson Gilder, of New York City, 

 and Mr. Leslie M. Shaw. Further exercises 

 were held in the Townsend-Harris Hall in the 

 new buildings. 



The University of Geneva will celebrate 

 with appropriate ceremonies the three hundred 

 and fiftieth anniversary of its foundation, 

 which falls in 1909. A committee has been 

 appointed to arrange for the celebration to 

 which representatives of foreign universities 

 will be invited. 



Dr. William Jewett Tucker has, owing to 

 ill-health, resigned the presidency of Dart- 

 mouth College. 



At Harvard University, Dr. George Wash- 

 ington Pierce has been promoted to a pro- 

 fessorship of physics. 



Dr. Philipp Lenard, of Kiel, has accepted 

 the chair of physics at Heidelberg, where a 

 new physical laboratory will be built for him. 



