March 31, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



483 



dowment to keep the academy in toucli with 

 the progress of science abroad. 



M. Fauvel has offered 30,000 francs for the 

 construction of an addition to the laboratory 

 of the National Museum of Natural History 

 in Paris. 



The president of the Eoyal Society and the 

 members of the General Board of the National 

 Physical Laboratory visited the laboratory 

 on March 17. 



At midnight on March 10 the clocks at the 

 railway stations and all government offices 

 and municipal buildings of France and Al- 

 geria were set back nine minutes twenty-one 

 seconds, to bring them in accord with Green- 

 wich time, which is now used in all countries 

 of western Europe except Russia, Portugal 

 and Ireland. 



The ninth International Congress of Agri- 

 culture will be held at Madrid, beginning on 

 May 8, under the patronage of his Majesty 

 Alfonzo XIII. Americans wishing to attend 

 the congress may secure the printed account 

 of the arrangements from the American mem- 

 ber of the Commission Internationale d' Agri- 

 culture, Dr. L. 0. Howard, U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 



The next triennial prize of £.300, under the 

 will of the late Sir Astley P. Cooper, will be 

 awarded to the author of the best essay or 

 treatise on " The Means by which the Coagu- 

 lability of the Blood may be Altered." Es- 

 says, written in English, must be sent to 

 Guy's Hospital, before January 1, 1913. 



The U. S. Civil Service Commission an- 

 nounces an examination on April 15, to fill 

 at least three vacancies in the position of 

 magnetic observer in the Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey. The initial salaries will range from 

 $75 to $90 a month, according to the char- 

 acter of the work and the qualifications of the 

 applicant; and in exceptional cases where the 

 person employed has had repeated experience 

 in magnetic work, the initial salary may 

 reach $125 a month. Appointments to perm- 

 anent positions are also made from the ex- 

 amination for laboratory assistant in the 

 Bureau of Standards. 



The Harpswell Laboratory will be open this 

 summer for the fourteenth season, from June 

 19 to September 15. South Harpswell is 16 

 miles from Portland, Maine, with which it is 

 connected by several boats daily. The loca- 

 tion is admirably adapted for a biological 

 station. It has a very rich marine .flora and 

 fauna. Especially noteworthy are the abun- 

 dance of Elasmobraneh material, and the eggs 

 of Cerehratulus and Ecliinarachnius, so val- 

 uable for experimental studies. For several 

 years the laboratory has been open solely for 

 research, no instruction being given. It has 

 nine private rooms, several of which are al- 

 ready engaged for the coming summer, and 

 can accommodate a few more in the large lab- 

 oratory room. Thanks to the cooperation of 

 several colleges and universities, the labora- 

 tory is able to offer its facilities free to those 

 competent to carry on independent investiga- 

 tion. There will be a collector employed and 

 the laboratory has several boats, including a 

 motor boat, dredges, the usual instruments 

 and glass ware and a little physiological 

 apparatus. Alcohol for collections and ex- 

 pensive chemicals can not be furnished. 

 There is also a small library. The laboratory 

 will not issue a circular this year. Those 

 wishing to avail themselves of its facilities 

 should apply to Professor J. S. Kingsley, Tufts 

 College, Mass. It would be well to give some 

 idea of the line of work to be followed so that 

 advice may be given as to the prospects of 

 material. 



By cooperation between the American Mu- 

 seum of Natural History and the United 

 States Bureau of Fisheries, the government 

 steamer Albatross sailed from San Diego, on 

 February 25, on a two months' collecting ex- 

 pedition to Lower California. Dr. Charles H. 

 Townsend, acting director of the museum, is 

 in command of the expedition. He is ac- 

 companied by seven investigators and col- 

 lectors, representing the U. S. National Mu- 

 seum, the New York Zoological Society and 

 the New York Botanical Gardens, all of which 

 bear a share of the expense of the trip. Dr. 

 Townsend began the work with a line of deep- 

 sea dredgings to Guadalupe Island, some two 



