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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 688 



Mr. Willum Kent, of Chicago, EL, and 

 Kentfield, Cal., has presented a tract of 295 

 acres of magnificent sequoias in Eedwood 

 Canyon, near San Francisco, to the govern- 

 ment. 



Mrs. Bell Pettigeew, the widow of the 

 late professor of medicine and anatomy at St. 

 Andrews, has given £6,000 for the new mu- 

 seum of natural history of the university. 



The large and specially organized her- 

 barium of the Field Museum of Natural His- 

 tory, Chicago, has received through the Uni- 

 versity of Chicago the complete herbarium of 

 that institution ; a herbarium inaugurated and 

 augmented by Professor J. M. Coulter during 

 the past twenty-five or more years of his active 

 botanical researches. With the placing of this 

 herbarium in intimate association with the 

 museum herbarium the university trans'fers its 

 tasonomic researches to the laboratories of the 

 more fully equipped institution, where the 

 students may receive the associate benefit of 

 conducting their investigations under the 

 supervision of the botanical staff of the mu- 

 seum and of the university. The herbarium 

 thus transferred contains about 50,000 sheets, 

 among which are a large number of types, co- 

 types and specially studied species. 



At a meeting of scientific men held in the 

 Transvaal Museum, Pretoria, on January 13, 

 it was resolved to form an association to be 

 called " The Transvaal Biological Society " 

 with the object of promoting the discussion 

 of scientific problems by biological investiga- 

 tion, to arrange for regular meetings for this 

 purpose, and to publish the proceedings of the 

 meetings. To this society all persons are 

 eligible for membership who are actually en- 

 gaged in biological investigations, and have 

 published at least one scientific paper, or are 

 working on such. At least six meetings are 

 to be held each year, special meetings to be 

 called by the committee if necessary. Every 

 member is expected to furnish at least one 

 paper each year. The committee for the cur- 

 rent year consists of Dr. Theiler, C.M.G., 

 president; Mr. Burtt-Davy, vice-president, 

 and Dr. L. H. Gough, secretary and treasurer. 



The German Surgical Society will hold its 

 thirty-seventh annual congress at Berlin from 



April 21 to 24, under the presidency of Pro- 

 fessor Freiherr von Eiselsberg, of Vienna. 

 An exhibition of instruments and apparatus 

 will be held in connection with the congress. 



It is announced that an International Posi- 

 tivist Congress will be held at Naples on April 

 27. The program will consist of two parts, one 

 devoted to the elucidation of positivist prin- 

 ciples, the other to their applications to the 

 problems of psychology, ethics, pedagogy, com- 

 parative theology, etc. Among those who have 

 promised to read papers are Professor Haeckel, 

 Professor Lombroso, M. Yves Guyot, Professor 

 Villari and Lord Avebury. 



A dinner of the Physical Society was held, 

 on February 1, at the Hotel Cecil, London. 

 The chair was taken by the president. Pro- 

 fessor J. Perry, F.R.S., and a number of 

 guests and feUows of the society were present, 

 including Sir David Gill, Sir William Eam- 

 say. Sir WiUiam White, Sir J. Denison- 

 Pender, Rear Admiral Sir H. B. Jackson, Sir 

 Arthur W. Eiicker, Sir Joseph Swan, Colonel 

 R. E. Crompton, C.B., Professor W. G. Adams, 

 F.R.S., Mr. Shelford Bidwell, F.R.S., Dr. C. 

 Ckree, F.R.S., Mr. W. Duddell, F.R.S., Pro- 

 fessor Carey Foster, F.R.S., Dr. R. T. Glaze- 

 brook, F.E.S., Professor Reinold, F.R.S., Mr. 

 J. Svdnburne, F.R.S., Professor S. P. Thomp- 

 son, F.R.S., and Dr. W. Watson, F.R.S. 



A NEW medical society has been formed 

 under the title of Societe de Pathologic Ex- 

 otique, its object being the study of tropical 

 diseases in man and animals, colonial hygiene, 

 naval hygiene, and sanitary measures destined 

 to prevent the extension of epidemics and dis- 

 eases of animals of exotic origin. The society 

 will meet at the Pasteur Institute. The fol- 

 lowing officers have been elected: President, 

 M. Laveran; vice-presidents, MM. Chante- 

 messe and Eermorgant; General Secretaries, 

 MM. Marchoux and Mesnil. 



At the sitting of the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences on February lY particulars were 

 given, according to the correspondent of the 

 London Times, of investigations by M. Rou- 

 baud into the conditions of reproduction of 

 the Tsetse fly, which is the most active instru- 

 ment in the spread of the sleeping sickness. 

 According to M. Roubaud, this insect seeks 



