Decbmbeb 23, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



915 



the next course of Bross lectures at Lake 

 Forest, Illinois, in November, 1911. 



Dr. a. a. Michklson, of the University of 

 Chicago, delivered the seventh lecture upon 

 the J. C. Campbell Foundation of the Sigma 

 Xi Society of the Ohio State University on 

 the evening of December 2. His subject was 

 " Metallic Colors in Birds and Insects." The 

 lecture was amply illustrated by lantern and 

 reflectoscope and was concluded by an ex- 

 planation of the most probable cause as found 

 by the lecturer as a result of his researches. 

 Professor L. H. Bailey, director of the New 

 York State School of Agriculture of Cornell 

 University, will lecture on " The Country Life 

 Movement " upon the Campbell Foundation 

 on February 8. 



We regret to record the following deaths: 

 Dr. Rudolf Fittig, emeritus professor of chem- 

 istry at Strasburg, at the age of seventy-five 

 years; Dr. Stanislaus von Kostanecki, pro- 

 fessor of organic chemistry at Berne, at the 

 age of fifty years; Dr. Felix B. Ahrens, asso- 

 ciate professor of agricultural chemistry at 

 Breslau, at the age of forty-seven years, and 

 Dr. Alexander Schenk, docent for anthropol- 

 ogy at Lausanne, at the age of thirty-six years. 



Reduced rates on the " certificate plan " of 

 one and three fifths fare for the round trip 

 have been granted by the Trunk Line Passen- 

 ger Association and the New England Pass- 

 enger Association for the meetings of the 

 Geological Society of America, the Paleon- 

 tological Society and the Association of 

 American Geographers in Pittsburgh, Decem- 

 ber 26-31. 



The annual meeting of the council of the 

 American Federation of Teachers of the 

 Mathematical and the Natural Sciences will 

 be held at the University of Minnesota, Min- 

 neapolis, on Wednesday and Thursday morn- 

 ings, December 28-29 at 10 a.m. At the 

 meeting on Wednesday, reports will be pre- 

 sented from the executive committee, the 

 various local associations and the committees 

 on bibliography, on logarithmic tables, on the 

 chemistry unit, on a syllabus in geometry and 

 on a mathematical journal. xVny business 



that should come before the council will be- 

 presented, and an opportunity will be given 

 for the introduction of new business. The- 

 meeting on Thursday morning will be a joint 

 session with Section L of the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science. At 

 this meeting the report of the committee on 

 the relations between the college and the sec- 

 ondary school will be presented and discussed, 

 and Professor E. L. Thorndike, of Columbia 

 University, will present a paper on methods of 

 testing the efiiciency of science and mathe- 

 matics teaching. 



Mr. Andrew Caknegie has agreed to give 

 to the Maria Mitchell Memorial Association 

 a sum of $10,000 toward the establishment of 

 a research fellowship in astronomy, on condi- 

 tion that the sum of $5,000 required to com- 

 plete the fund of $25,000 be subscribed. 



The Naples Table Association for promo- 

 ting Laboratory Research by Women calls 

 attention to the fact that the year of the- 

 association begins in April and all applica- 

 tions for the year 1911-12 should be sent to 

 the secretary on or before March 1, 1911. A 

 prize of $1,000 hag been offered periodically 

 by the association for the best thesis -written 

 by a woman, on a scientific subject, embody- 

 ing new observations and new conclusions 

 based on an independent laboratory research 

 in biological, chemical or physical science. 

 The fourth prize will be awarded in April, 

 1911. Application blanks, information in 

 regard to the advantages at Naples for re- 

 search and collection of material and circulars 

 giving the conditions of the award of the 

 prize will be furnished by the secretary, Ada 

 Wing Mead (Mrs. A. D.), 283 Wayland Ave., 

 Providence, R. I. 



Mr. Alton, of the English Radium Insti- 

 tute, has bought from the Austrian ministry 

 of works, on behalf of Sir Ernest Cassel, one 

 gram of radium for the sum of $75,000. The 

 radium is a gift by Sir Ernest Cassel to the 

 institute and is intended for use in cancer 

 research. 



The United States steamer Fish Hawk, of 

 the Bureau of Fisheries, is at present engaged 



