Mat 15, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



799 



receives a number of books and a sum of 

 £500, and the Geological Society, of London, 

 £1,000. 



The Worcester Art Museum has received 

 under the terms of the will of the late Stephen 

 Salisbury, property valued at $2,738,000. 

 This sum, added to the amount already 

 possessed by the museum, makes its endow- 

 ment $3,332,000. 



K BILL has been introduced in the senate 

 for preventing the manufacture, sale or 

 transportation of adulterated or misbranded 

 fungicides, Paris greens, lead arsenates, and 

 other insecticides, and for regulating traffic 

 therein. This bill has been drafted at the 

 instance of the Committee on Proprietary 

 Insecticides of the Association of Economic 

 Entomologists which includes all the official 

 entomologists of the United States. 



The two hundred and fiftieth anniversary 

 of the founding of the government of Phila- 

 delphia will be celebrated from October 4 to 

 10. The University of Pennsylvania and the 

 other educational institutions of the city will 

 take part. There has been appointed a com- 

 mittee on Medical Day which will arrange 

 special exercises. In this connection there 

 will be prepared a volume of 1,000 pages, in- 

 cluding 750 pages of text and 250 pages of 

 illustrations. It will contain an account of 

 all the historical institutions, colleges and hos- 

 pitals that have existed in the city since its 

 founding. The volume will also contain an 

 account of all the medical and scientific socie- 

 ties and medical journals that have been in 

 existence in Philadelphia from the earliest 

 days. 



"A Catalogue of the Library of Charles 

 Darwin now in the Botany School, Cam- 

 bridge," has been compiled by Mr. H. W. 

 Eutherford and published by the Cambridge 

 University Press. Nature says of it: "Mr. 

 Francis Darwin has contributed an introduc- 

 tion, in which he gives interesting informa- 

 tion, supplementary to the account contained 

 in the ' Life and Letters,' concerning his 

 father's methods of work and treatment of 

 books. The collection of books now be- 



queathed to the university is not identical 

 vsdth that at Down; thus, the books Darwin 

 wrote and some few others from Down remain 

 in the possession of Mr. Francis Darwin. 

 Darwin's pamphlets are not included in the 

 catalogue, though part of them are on the 

 shelves alongside his books. The introduction 

 points out that Darwin hardly ever had a book 

 bound, and the collection retains to a great 

 degree its original ragged appearance. The 

 general characteristic of the library is incom- 

 pleteness, hardly any set of periodicals being 

 perfect. The chief interest of the Darwin 

 books lies in the pencil notes scribbled on their 

 pages, or written on scraps of paper and 

 pinned to the last page. Books are also to be 

 found marked with a cypher, as described in 

 ' Life and Letters.' Mr. Francis Darwin pro- 

 vides many facts of interest in connection with 

 some of the more important books included in 

 the library. In a preface. Professor Seward 

 expresses to Mr. Darwin the high appreciation 

 of the botany school and university for render- 

 ing the library available to all students." 



Consul John S. Twells, of Carlsbad, fur- 

 nishes to the Consular 'Reports the following 

 information concerning the discovery that the 

 water in the Austrian uranium mines contains 

 radium of medical value: About eighteen 

 miles from Carlsbad is the small town of St. 

 Joachimstal, where the Austrian government 

 has one of its tobacco factories, and about 

 three miles from that town, up in the hills, 

 at a place which is difficult to reach, are the 

 imperial uranium works, which have become 

 famous during the last few years on account 

 of the radium found in the uranium stone, 

 There is also a government factory at St. 

 Joachimstal where chemical colors are made 

 from the uranium and shipped to all parts of 

 the country. About two years ago the im- 

 perial managers of the uranium mines made 

 a report to the government authorities that 

 the water of the mine was found to contain 

 radium, and medical experts have since de- 

 clared that these watei-s are of high medical 

 value in certain diseases. During the last 

 fortnight most of the Austrian newspapers 

 have published items according to which the 



