June 23, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



959 



annual lecture before the ISTorthwestern Chap- 

 ter of Sigma Xi on the subject " Radio- 

 activity and the Nature of Matter." 



According to Nature a festival in memory 

 of Richard Jefferies was held at Swindon on 

 Saturday, June 10. Jeflferies was born at 

 Coate, near Swindon, and spent his early life 

 in the latter place. A visit to Coate Farm, the 

 naturalist's birthplace, and an open-air con- 

 cert, morris dancing, speeches and a short 

 service in Chiseldon Church were arranged. 



Dr. Emma Wilson Davidson Mooers, cus- 

 todian of the neuropathological collection of 

 the Harvard Medical School, whose death 

 we announced last week, died of strepto- 

 coccus septicemia and meningitis. The in- 

 fection was contracted by contact with a 

 brain from a subject dying in the recent 

 tonsilitis epidemic of Cambridge, Mass. Dr. 

 Southard, who removed the brain at autopsy, 

 escaped with merely a septic hand. 



Isaiah Fawkes Everhart, M.D., naturalist 

 and philanthropist, died at Scranton, Pa., on 

 May 26, 1911, aged 71 years. Dr. Everhart 

 was the founder and endower of the Everhart 

 Museum of Natural History, Science and 

 Art. A bronze statue of Dr. Everhart, pre- 

 sented by Dr. B. H. Warren, of West Chester, 

 has been erected in front of the museum at 

 Scranton, and preparations were being made 

 for its unveiling. 



Dr. Carl Beck, president and surgeon of 

 St. Mark's Hospital and professor of surgery 

 in the New York Post-graduate Medical 

 School, has died at the age of fifty-four years. 



Dr. Alexander Bruce, known for his con- 

 tributions to neurology and diseases of the 

 nervous system, has died at the age of fifty- 

 six years. 



Dr. Ludwig Kerschner, professor of histol- 

 ogy and embryology at Innsbruck, has died at 

 ihe age of fifty-two years. 



The U. S. Civil Service Commission an- 

 nounces the postponement to July 5, of the 

 examination announced to be held on May 24, 

 to fill the position of soil bibliographer, 



Bureau of Soils, Department of Agriculture, 

 at a salary of $1,400 per annum. 



Baron Albert von Rothschild, of Vienna, 

 has bequeathed $40,000 to establish a prize in 

 astronomy. 



Nature states that the sum of £1,000 has 

 been placed at the disposal of the British home 

 secretary by a colliery proprietor to form a 

 prize for the best and safest electric lamp for 

 use in mines, and Messrs. C. Rhodes and C. 

 H. Merz have consented to act as judges upon 

 the lamps submitted. The competing lamps 

 must be addressed: care of Mr. C. Rhodes at 

 the Home Office Testing Station, Rotherham, 

 and must be delivered by December 31 next. 



The Journal of the American Medical As- 

 sociation states that the scientific laboratories 

 on Monte Rosa, named after the late Pro- 

 fessor A. Mosso, of Turin, will be opened for 

 scientific research on and after July 15. 

 There are sections devoted to physiology, bot- 

 any, physics and microbacteriology, and there 

 are nineteen posts open to research workers 

 from the countries or institutions which con- 

 tribute to the support of the institution. Ap- 

 plications for reservation of a place must be 

 sent to the director. Dr. A. Aggazzotti, Corso 

 Raffaello 50, Turin, Italy, not later than July 

 1, with specifications as to the subject of re- 

 search and the credentials from the govern- 

 ment or institution. 



The old mounting of the 18J inch equa- 

 torial of the Dearborn Observatory, which has 

 done service for nearly half a century, has 

 just been replaced by an entirely new mount- 

 ing from the firm of Warner & Swasey. Ob- 

 servations with the new instrument were be- 

 gun on June 1. 



Nature states that the British Museum has 

 acquired, at an almost nominal price, the val- 

 uable collection of specimens illustrating the 

 religion of Polynesia, which was long in the 

 possession of the London Mission Society. 

 Many of the specimens are unique, and it 

 would now be quite impossible to form such 

 a collection. Among the most remarkable 

 objects are the great tapering idol of the 

 national god of Raratonga, kept swathed in 



