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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 987 



veiled. Due consideration will be given to lo- 

 calities from which applications are received, 

 in order to lessen the traveling expenses of 

 applicants as much as possible. In order to 

 perfect all necessary arrangements for the ex- 

 aminations, applications must be completed 

 and in possession of the adjutant general at 

 least three weeks before the date of examina- 

 tion. Early attention is therefore enjoined 

 upon all intending applicants. There are at 

 present twenty-six vacancies in the medical 

 corps of the army. 



By invitation of the Comite des Forges de 

 France, the autumn meeting next year of the 

 British Iron and Steel Institute will be held 

 in Paris, the dates of Friday and Saturday, 

 September 18 and 19, having been provision- 

 ally fixed for the business sessions. The first 

 half of the following week wiU be devoted to 

 excursions to the chief iron-mining and manu- 

 facturing districts of France. 



On November 24 the Portland Society of 

 Natural History held a public meeting de- 

 voted to an informal observance of the seven- 

 tieth anniversary of the day of its founding. 

 The principal feature of the meeting was a 

 historical address by the recording secretary, 

 Major John M. Gould. Mr. Gould's term of 

 life accords almost exactly with that of the 

 existence of the society and its museum. He 

 was a constant and interested visitor at the 

 museum through his childhood and youth. In 

 early manhood he became officially connected 

 with the organization and has been actively 

 connected with it to the present time. The 

 society was founded during that period which 

 brought forth numerous organizations of a 

 similar nature, when Maine was a young 

 state, recovering from the disadvantages of 

 having long been a hostile frontier. In the 

 outskirts of population, the society has lived 

 through years of activity, and periods of ad- 

 versity, twice having had its museum and its 

 contents swept out of existence by fire. It 

 still stands, true to the objects of its found- 

 ers, "for the promotion of the study of nat- 

 ural history," with a substantial building for 

 "ts museum and library. 



Dr. J. M. G. Carter, of Los Angeles, Cal., 

 has given his medical library and part of his 

 scientific library to the University of Southern 

 California. 



Professor Julius Hann, the eminent clima- 

 tologist of Vienna, wishes to find a purchaser 

 for his meteorological library which has ac- 

 cumulated on his hands far beyond his power 

 to take care of it properly. Owing to the fact 

 that he has to live on a pension, since he was 

 retired from active government service and 

 is obliged to live in small quarters, the greater 

 part of his library is already packed away in 

 boxes. His great collection of books and 

 separates will be a fine addition to the library 

 of any institution that desires to complete its 

 collection of books bearing on meteorology 

 and climatology. 



Professor Ernst Haeckel has written from 

 Jena under the date of October 12, 1913, the 

 following letter: 

 To My Friends, Pupils and Disciples: 



I have from several sides been informed that a 

 number of my friends, pupils and disciples intend 

 to celebrate my eightieth birthday on the sixteenth 

 of February, 1914, by presenting me with gifts 

 about the form and nature of which different pro- 

 posals have been made. Having repeatedly been 

 honored on former occasions by such gifts, I beg 

 to abstain this time from all personal donations, 

 and to convey the amount of the means, destined 

 for this purpose, to a foundation, which I should 

 be glad to put to the disposal of the German Mon- 

 ists' Union. The wonderful development, which 

 this modern imion ef culture has attained since 

 its foundation seven years ago, the high impor- 

 tance which it has acquired for the promotion of 

 a free and rational conception of life as well as 

 for its practical application to a conduct of life 

 of superior morals render its financial support by 

 ampler means most desirable. The intended new 

 ' ' Ernst-Haeokel-Fund for Monism ' ' shall inces- 

 santly further this work of culture of the free 

 thought on the positive basis of natural science 

 and furnish the necessary means to carry practi- 

 cally on its numerous important tasks. I antici- 

 pate my heartiest thanks to all my friends and 

 comrades, who, by participation, will support the 

 work of my long life. 



On the first International Monists' Congress, 

 which took place in September, 1911, in Ham- 



