202 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. Xo. 815 



At the summer meeting of the Vermont 

 Botanical Club held at Woodstock, Vermont, 

 Dr. N. L. Britton, director of the New York 

 Botanical Garden, delivered a public lecture 

 in the Woodstock Opera House on the evening 

 of July 5, illustrated by colored lantern-slides 

 of wild flowers from the Van Brunt collection 

 of the garden. 



At the ineeting of the Berlin Academy of 

 Sciences on June 30, commemorative ad- 

 dresses were made on Friedrich Kohlrausch, 

 by Professor Rubens; on Hans Landolt, by 

 Professor van't Hoff, and on Robert Koch, 

 by Professor Rubner. 



The Rev. Robert Harley, F.R.S., a congre- 

 gational clergyman, well known for his impor- 

 tant contributions to mathematics and sym- 

 bolic logic, died on July 26, in his eighty-third 

 year. 



The death is announced of Mr. J. Ellard 

 Gore, well known for his numerous publica- 

 tions presenting the facts of astronomy in 

 popular form. 



The first International Congress of Ento- 

 mology met in Brussels from August 1 to 6, 

 under the presidency of M. Schollaert, the 

 Belgian minister of agriculture. Among the 

 lectures and addresses of general interest an- 

 nounced on the program are the following: 

 W. Bateson, " Mendelism " ; R. Blanchard, 

 " Medical Entomology " ; 0. Cruz. " Prophy- 

 laxis of Yellow Fever at Rio de Janeiro " ; 

 F. A. Disey, " Mimicry " ; A. Forel, " The 

 Distribution and Phylogeny of Ants " ; G. B. 

 Grassi, " The Transmission of Diseases by 

 Insects " ; A. Handlirsch, " Fossil Insects " ; 

 R. Heymons, " The Ontogeny of Insects " ; 

 W. J. Holland, " The Preservation of Types " ; 

 J. Kundel d'Herculais, " Locust-Plagues " ; 

 E. Wassman, " Ants." 



At the meeting of the Association of Ger- 

 man Scientific Men and Physicians, to be held 

 at Konigsberg beginning on September 18, 

 the addresses at the general sessions are as 

 follows : " Epistemology and Science," Pro- 

 fessor Kiilpe, of Bonn ; " Puberty and the 

 School," Professor Craemer, of Gottingen; 

 " The Localization of Brain Function," Pro- 



fessor von Monakow, of Ziirich; "The Atti- 

 tude of the Newer Physics to the Mechanical 

 View of Nature," Professor Planck, of Berlin. 

 In connection with the meeting there will be 

 an excursion, starting from Swinemiinde on 

 September 5, going on to Wisby, Stockholm, 

 Helsing-fors, Wyborg, St. Petersburg and 

 Riga, and ending at Pillau on September IS. 



A FiBE, which started in a shoe store in 

 Washington, on July 21, threatened to de- 

 stroy the valuable library of the U. S. Geo- 

 logical Survey, which occupies the upper part 

 of the building. The following statement has 

 been issued by Dr. G. O. Smith, director of 

 the Survey : " The fire originated in and was 

 largely confined to the first floor, occupied by 

 other tenants. It gives emphasis, however, 

 to the wisdom of congress in authorizing at 

 its last session the preparation of plans for a 

 government building that will not only be 

 better adapted to the peculiar needs of this 

 scientific and map-making bureau, but will 

 insure the safety of the public records, that 

 have been five times endangered by fire de- 

 struction since 1903. The fire originated in 

 one of the several stores over which the survey 

 watch force have no control, but in a few 

 moments the flames had burst through into 

 the survey laboratory situated directly above. 

 The loss of government property is thought to 

 be less than $1,000, but an incalculable loss 

 might easily have been incurred in this li- 

 brary, which is unique in its collection of 

 geologic literature, containing as it does more 

 than 65,000 volumes, as well as 85,000 pam- 

 phlets and 35,000 maps, and constituting the 

 most complete collection of geological works 

 and maps in this country, if not in the world. 

 The destruction of these by fire would have 

 deprived not only the geologists of the survey, 

 but the scientists of America, of a reference 

 collection that could not be duplicated. In- 

 deed, in spite of the quick response of the fire 

 department, if the watch force and some of 

 the members of the survey, who were in the 

 building, had not promptly used hand extin- 

 guishers, the damage to books and maps must 

 have been considerable." 



