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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 649 



May 17; among the guests were Professor W. 

 H. Perkin and Professor Henry E. Armstrong. 



The Swiss Scientific Society will hold its 

 ninetieth annual meeting at Fribourg, he- 

 ginning on January 28. . The Swiss National 

 societies of geology, botany and chemistry will 

 meet at the same time as the sections of the 

 general society. 



Mh. W. T. Hornaday has presented to the 

 New York Zoological Society his collections of 

 heads, horns and tusks, comprising 131 speci- 

 mens, representing 108 species. These are to 

 form the nucleus of a collection to be ex- 

 hibited at the New York Zoological Park, and 

 it is hoped notable additions may promptly be 

 made. Mr. Charles T. Barney has recently 

 given the world's record tusks of African 

 elephant, one measuring 11 feet in length, the 

 other 11 feet 5J inches. The weight of the 

 pair is 293 pounds. The record pair as re- 

 gards weight is that shown by Tiffany & Co. 

 some years ago, whose combined weight was 

 463 pounds. 



Through the generosity of Messrs. Alfred 

 F., Charles C, and John S. Pillsbury, of Min- 

 neapolis, Dr. Thomas G. Lee has secured for 

 the department of histology and embryology, 

 University of Minnesota, the Handapparat, 

 or working library, of the late Professor 

 William His, of Leipzig. This collection com- 

 prises over 8,400 monographs and separates 

 contributed by over 2,500 different authors. 



The Journal of the American Medical As- 

 sociation states that the library of the Eoyal 

 College of Surgeons, which is the largest 

 medical library in Great Britain and the 

 largest in Europe, with the exception of the 

 library in Paris, has outgrown the space 

 allotted to it. It now contains 100,000 publi- 

 cations, made up of 60,000 volumes and 40,- 

 000 pamphlets. It increases at the rate of 

 1,000 volumes a year. A large room has been 

 added over the library, which in former years 

 consisted of a suite of apartments occupied 

 by a clerk who lived in the college, a custom 

 no longer followed. This room will be prin- 

 cipally devoted to work on public health and 

 official government reports. Thus space has 

 been obtained for another 10,000 volumes. 



Mr. Walter Wellman has now left for 

 Norway en route for Spitzbergen on his second 

 year's work in connection with his project for 

 reaching the North Pole by means of his air- 

 ship America, which is now on its way to 

 Norway. In a statement made to Router's 

 representative, he said all the members of the 

 expedition would meet at Tromso, from which 

 place they would sail on June 1 on board the 

 expedition steamer Frithjof for Spitzbergen, 

 where they will arrive on June 5 or 6. The 

 rest of that month will be occupied in install- 

 ing gas apparatus, enclosing the great balloon 

 house, and assembling the car, motor, etc. At 

 the end of June the balloon will be inflated. 

 In the first week of July there will be trials of 

 the airship until it is demonstrated that it is 

 ready for the voyage. The start for the Pole 

 will be made on the first favorable opportunity 

 afterwards, probably between July 20 and Au- 

 gust 10, but, if necessary, Mr. Welhnan is pre- 

 pared to start as late as August 20. The mem- 

 bers of the expedition are: Mr. Walter Well- 

 man; Major Hearsey, executive officer and sci- 

 entific observer, who has been lent by the 

 United States Government; Chief Engineer 

 Vannerman, who is already in Norway; Dr. 

 Fowler, surgeon; and M. Gaston Hervieu, the 

 aeronautical engineer. About thirty men, 

 sailors, mechanics, &c., will be embarked at 

 Tromso, making a total expeditionary force 

 of forty men, including Mr. Felix Eiesenberg, 

 the navigator of the expedition, who, together 

 with two Norwegian companions, has spent all 

 the winter at the base at Spitzbergen. 



The lecture arrangements at the Koyal In- 

 stitute of Public Health for the summer ses- 

 sion are as follows : The Harben Lectures will 

 be delivered by Professor Paul Ehrlich, direc- 

 tor of the Eoyal Institute of Experimental 

 Therapeutics at Frankfort, on June 5, 7 and 

 11, the subject being experimental researches 

 on specific therapeutics. Lectures will be de- 

 livered each Thursday from May 23 to June 

 20, both days inclusive, on the Veterinary 

 Aspects of the Tuberculosis Problem, by Pro- 

 fessor J. Penberthy; on the Problem of a 

 Pure Milk Supply, by Professor R. T. Hew- 

 lett; on Blood Immunity, by Professor G. 



