December 5, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



815 



weatlier being extremely bad, the party re- 

 mained for thirty-five hours without food 

 under the shelter of a rock. Too exhausted to 

 proceed, the explorers killed their dog and 

 were about to eat the flesh when they saw a 

 sailing boat on the fiord east of Proeven (near 

 Upernivik in latitiide 72° N.)- By means of 

 shots and signals they were able to attract the 

 attention of those on board, by whom they 

 were taken to Proeven. The expedition met 

 one misfortune after another, and that the 

 leaders under all discouragements pushed the 

 undertaking through along original lines sup- 

 plies a most remarkable record of courage, 

 persistence and endurance. Some of their 

 horses escaped. Dr. Wegener had the misfor- 

 tune to break a rib and Captain Koch a leg 

 which kept him in bed for three months. They 

 started out upon the crossing on April 20, but 

 their progress was much impeded by powerful 

 westerly winds and driven snow which eaiised 

 the pack horses much suffering. The last 

 nunatak (rock island within the ice) of the 

 group on the east coast was passed in longi- 

 tude 27° west. The greatest altitude of the 

 ice dome was met in longitude 42° west or on 

 the western side of the medial line of the conti- 

 nent whereas all crossings hithertofore have 

 shown the highest point of the ice dome to be 

 to the eastward of the medial line. The land 

 of the west coast was first sighted on July 2, 

 but the surface streams and morasses of thaw- 

 water offered such difficulties that two weeks 

 longer were required to make the coast, the 

 last horse and the last dog being killed for 

 food. The junior leader of the expedition. 

 Dr. Wegener, is a meteorologist of reputa- 

 tion and has published many monographs 

 and a general text upon the free atmo- 

 sphere. According to the Geographical 

 Journal, from which many of these data are 

 gleaned, the highest point along the route of 

 the expedition was about 9,000 feet above 

 sea level. 



legatee of the late Frederick W. Emory, of 

 Boston. 



A BEQUEST of approximately £250,000, is 

 made in the will of the late Mr. W. Gibson, 

 of London and Belfast, to institute a scheme 

 for providing sons of farmers of counties Down 

 and Antrim with educational advantages. 



Professor John Perry, of the Eoyal Col- 

 lege of Science, South Kensington, has been 

 appointed a member of the South African 

 University Commission which is to investigate 

 matters connected with higher education and 

 to consider the conditions under which the 

 Wernher and Beit donations and bequests for 

 the purposes of the proposed University of 

 South Africa may best be utilized. The other 

 members of the Commission are Sir Percival 

 Maitland Laurence, formerly judge president 

 of the Supreme Court of South Africa, who is 

 the chairman, ex-Justice Melius de Villiers 

 and the Rev. Mr. Bosman. 



Mr. Alan G. Harper, of Magdalen College, 

 Oxford, demonstrator to the Sibthorpian pro- 

 fessor of rural economy, has been appointed to 

 the Indian Education Service as professor of 

 botany at the Presidency College, Madras, dur- 

 ing the absence on leave of Professor Fyson. 



Mr. Alexander McKenzie, head of the chem- 

 istry department of Birkbeck College, London, 

 has been appointed professor of chemistry in 

 University College, Dundee, in succession to 

 the late Professor Hugh Marshall. 



VNIVEBSITT AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 



The Massachusetts Institute of Technology 



will receive about $100,000 as the residuary 



DISCUSSION AND COBBESPONDENCE 

 A proposed re-arrangement of sections for 



the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 

 ADVANCEMENT OP SCIENCE 



One feature of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science meetings which 

 causes some inconvenience, to say the least, 

 especially in recent years since the average 

 attendance has passed the thousand mark, is 

 the congested and heterogeneous character of 

 the sectional programs. In some of the sec- 

 tions, as at present constituted, the large num- 

 ber of papers offered makes it necessary to re- 

 strict or eliminate discussions, thus defeating 

 the main object of reading a scientific paper 



