626 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 827 



The October number of the Irish Natural- 

 ist, as quoted in Nature, contains obituary- 

 notices of Samuel Alexander Stewart, who was 

 born in Philadelphia on February 5, 1826, 

 whence he went in 1837 with his father to 

 BeKast, where he eventually worked as a 

 miller. Details of his life and work are 

 recorded in two separate articles in the serial 

 quoted, the former being described by the 

 Kev. C. H. Waddell and the latter by Mr. E. 

 L. Praeger. Most of his papers were devoted 

 to botanical subjects, although local zoology 

 lil^iewise claimed a share of his attention. Mr. 

 Stewart died on June 15 last as the result of a 

 street accident. 



It is proposed to erect in the new chemical 

 building of the University of Michigan a 

 bronze tablet in memory of Dr. Albert B. 

 Prescott, for many years director of the chem- 

 ical laboratory. 



A DRINKING fountain, designed by Professor 

 R. Tait MacKenzie, of the University of 

 Pennsylvania, has been erected at the Central 

 Experiment Farm, Canada, in memory of Dr. 

 James Fletcher, former Dominion entomolo- 

 gist and botanist. 



David Pearce Penhallow, professor of bot- 

 any in McGill University and eminent for his 

 contributions to paleobotany, died on October 

 26, at the age of fifty-six years. 



Egbert W. McFarland, emeritus professor 

 of civil engineering in the Ohio State Uni- 

 versity, died on October 24, at the age of 

 eighty-five years. 



Professor Gael Svante Halberg, professor 

 of pharmacy in the medical school of the Uni- 

 versity of Illinois, died on October 22, at the 

 age of fifty-four years. 



Professor Melohior Treub, for twenty-nine 

 years director of the Buitenzorg Botanical 

 Garden in Java, has died at the age of fifty- 

 nine years. 



Dr. Sydney Ringer, F.R.S., sometime 

 Holme professor of clinical medicine at Uni- 

 versity College, London, has died at the age 

 of seventy-six years. 



Trelawney William Saunders, for many 

 years assistant geographer to the Indian Office 



under the British government and known for 

 his contributions to geography, has died in 

 his ninetieth year. 



Dr. Thorvald Nicolai Thiele, professor 

 emeritus in the University of Copenhagen and 

 formerly director of the Copenhagen Observa- 

 tory, known for his contributions to actuarial 

 science as well as to astronomy, died on Sep- 

 tember 26, at the age of seventy-two years. 



Dr. R. Geigel, professor of physics and 

 geodesy at the Aschaffenberg Forest School, 

 has died at the age of fifty-four years. 



Dr. B. Raymann, professor of chemistry in 

 the Bohemian University at Prague, has died 

 at the age of fifty-eight years. 



The deaths are announced in Nature of 

 Mr. John Roche Dakyns, formerly of the 

 British Survey; of Dr. F. W. D. Fraser, form- 

 erly professor of anatomy and physiology at 

 the Imperial University of Osaka, Japan; of 

 Mr. A. H. Stokes, until recently chief inspec- 

 tor of mines in the Midland district, of Eng- 

 land, and of Mr. Cecil H. Leaf, known for his 

 studies of cancer. 



Section F of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science will join with the 

 Central Branch of the American Society of 

 Zoologists for the reading of technical papers 

 at Minneapolis, Tuesday, December 27, and 

 Wednesday, December 28. 



The twenty-eighth stated meeting of the 

 American Ornithologists' Union will be held 

 in Washington, D. C, beginning November 

 14, 1910. The business meeting will be on the 

 evening of that date, for the election of offi- 

 cers and members and the transaction of 

 routine business. The public sessions, de- 

 voted to the presentation and discussion of 

 scientific papers, wiU be held in the auditorium 

 of the new U. S. National Museum, Novem- 

 ber 15 to 17 inclusive, from 10 o'clock a.m. 

 until 4 P.M. each day. Information regarding 

 the meeting can be had by addressing the sec- 

 retary, Mr. John H. Sage, Portland, Conn. 



" The Volatile Matter of Coal " is the title 

 of the first bulletin to be issued by the new 

 federal Bureau of Mines. The authors, Hor- 



