712 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 829 



$100,000, will be opened in Vienna next week. 

 It is the creation and property of the Academy 

 of Sciences, but the cost of the building has 

 been defrayed by Dr. Carl Kupelwieser. The 

 new institute adjoins the physical laboratory 

 of the university and is equipped with the 

 most modem appliances and instruments. 



The Electrical World states that the Edison 

 Medal Association, formed by the friends and 

 admirers of Mr. T. A. Edison to found a gold 

 medal in the American Institute of Electrical 

 Engineers celebrating the invention of the in- 

 candescent lamp and twenty-five years of its 

 successful use, has closed up its accounts. The 

 association began its work five years ago and 

 raised a fund of somewhat over $7,600 for the 

 purpose. Of this account $5,000 was placed 

 in the hands of the institute for the medal 

 award fund. The contract for the design of 

 the medal was made with Mr. James Earle 

 Frazer, the well-known sculptor, who, owing 

 to the change in the deed of gift, was called 

 upon to make two separate designs. The 

 medal was at first to be awarded to the best 

 thesis submitted by students of electrical engi- 

 neering, but this plan proved a failure and 

 only one award was made to a student com- 

 peting, the amount being $150 without a 

 medal, but with a special certificate. A new 

 deed of gift was then drawn up by which the 

 medal is awarded for meritorious achievement 

 in electricity, and this year Professor Elihu 

 Thomson was the first recipient. 



De. Tempest Anderson delivered a lecture 

 in the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge Univer- 

 sity, on " Matavanu, a New Volcano in Savaii, 

 German Samoa," illustrated with lantern 

 photographs, on November 5. 



The Henry Sidgwick memorial lecture, at 

 Cambridge University, will be given by Sir 

 George Darwin, K.C.B., E.E.S., on " William 

 and Caroline Herschel," in the hall of Newn- 

 ham College, on December 3. 



Dr. E. C. Pickering, director of the Har- 

 vard College Observatory, writes that from an 

 examination of the photographs of the Har- 

 vard map of the sljy. Miss A. J. Cannon has 

 found that a new star appeared in the con- 



stellation Sagittarius on August 10, 1899. Its 

 approximate position for 1875 is E. A. = 18" 

 12.2"°, Dec. — 25° 14'. A photograph taken on 

 August 9, 1899, shows no trace of this object, 

 although adjacent stars of the magnitude 11.5 

 are seen. The outburst was very sudden, as 

 on a photograph taken the next evening, Aug- 

 ust 10, 1899, the Nova is a conspicuous object, 

 magnitude 8.5. The light faded rapidly, from 

 magnitude 8.6, on August 25, to 10.5 on Oc- 

 tober 13, 1899. After that the decrease was 

 more gradual. The last photograph on which 

 the new star is visible was taken in October, 

 1901, when the star was very faint, and about 

 the thirteenth magnitude. This is the third 

 new star discovered at this observatory in the 

 last six weeks. Nova Sagittarii No. 2, which 

 was found by Mrs. Fleming, preceded Nova 

 Sagittarii No. 3 about 20"° and was south 

 2°.3. 



There has recently been installed in the 

 museum of the University of Georgia a collec- 

 tion of land and water birds consisting of 172 

 species and 283 specimens. The collection 

 was made by Professor W. J. Hoxie, of Savan- 

 nah, and every bird in the collection was taken 

 in Chatham County, Georgia, in the years 

 1908-1909. Much interest is being manifested 

 in Georgia now in the protection of song and 

 game birds, and the study of their economic 

 value to the state is being impressed upon the 

 minds of the common school teachers. 



Nature states that an appeal is made for 

 funds to erect a new building for the Royal 

 Society of Medicine. Of the sum required, 

 the society has already provided £17,000, and 

 it asks that not less than £26,000 may be con- 

 tributed from without, so that it may not be 

 compelled to curtail its very valuable public 

 and scientific work. Towards the money in 

 hand £8,500 has been subscribed by members 

 of the medical profession. The Lord Mayor 

 has become chairman of a Mansion House 

 committee formed to promote the raising of 

 upwards of £30,000 for the new building. The 

 society now has 3,200 fellows and members, 

 and possesses a library of nearly 100,000 vol- 

 umes. It was originally founded in 1806, 



