December 26, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



923 



dence that has thus far been found in the 

 "world of a glacial period at that time in the 

 history of the earth. 



" The Strength and Weakness of Social- 

 ism " was the subject of an address by Pro- 

 fessor Albion W. Small, head of the depart- 

 ment of sociology and anthropology in the 

 University of Chicago, delivered on December 

 23 in the Fine Arts Theater, Chicago, under 

 the auspices of the University Lecture Asso- 

 ciation. On January 6, Professor James R. 

 Angell, head of the department of psychology, 

 "will speak in the same place on the subject 

 " Practical Applications of Psychology." 



The family of the late Dr. Alfred Eussel 

 Wallace having invited Mr. James Marchant, 

 of Lochnagar, Edenbridge, Kent, to arrange 

 and edit a volume of letters and reminiscences, 

 those vi'ho have letters or reminiscences are re- 

 quested to send them to him. The letters 

 vpould be safely and promptly returned. 



The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Institut 

 Pasteur was celebrated November 13. Speeches 

 were made by the president of the republic 

 and Dr. Roux, director of the institute. 



The descendants of Priestly, the discoverer 

 of oxygen, have presented to the University of 

 Pennsylvania the chemical balance which was 

 used by him in his experiments. 



At the fifth International Congress of 

 Mathematicians, held at Cambridge, it was 

 decided that the sixth congress should meet at 

 Stockholm in 1916. The king of Sweden, who 

 has bestowed his patronage upon the congress, 

 has decided to honor, by means of a gold medal 

 with the likeness of Karl Weierstrass and by a 

 sum of 3,000 crowns (about $825) some im- 

 portant discovery in the domain of the theory 

 •of analytical functions. Those who wish to 

 compete must send their manuscripts to the 

 chief editor of the Acta Mathematica before 

 October 31, 1915, the centenary of the birth of 

 Karl Weierstrass. 



The council of the British Association, act- 

 ing under authority of the general committee, 

 has made the following grants out of the gift 

 •of £10,000 made to the association for scientific 

 purposes by Sir J. K. Caird at the Dundee 



meeting of the association last year. (1) £500 

 to the committee on radiotelegraphic investi- 

 gations. (2) An annual grant of £100 to the 

 committee on seismological investigations, 

 which is carrying on the work of the late Pro- 

 fessor John Milne. (3) An annual grant of 

 £100 to the committee appointed to select and 

 assist investigators to carry on work at the 

 zoological station at Naples. (4) £250 towards 

 the cost of the magnetic re-survey of the Brit- 

 ish Isles, which has been undertaken by the 

 Royal Society and the British Association in 

 collaboration. 



Under the auspices of the international 

 commission a congress on the teaching of 

 mathematics will be held at Paris, April 1-5, 

 1914, in the halls of the Sorbonne. The chief 

 subjects of discussion will be the introduction 

 of the first notions of the calculus and of prim- 

 itive functions in the secondary schools, and 

 the teaching of mathematics to engineering 

 students. 



An international conference met in Paris on 

 December 10 to discuss the question of a map 

 of the world on a millionth scale. General 

 Lafl^on de Ladebat, who is director of the geo- 

 graphical service of the French army, wel- 

 comed the delegates of the thirty-two countries 

 represented on behalf of the government, and 

 Colonel Close, the chief English delegate, re- 

 plied. The first conference was held in 1909 

 in London, and since then specimen sections 

 of the map have been prepared. These were 

 produced for inspection. The scale proposed 

 is equal to 15 miles to the inch. 



The International Electrical Congress is to 

 be held at San Francisco from September 13 to 

 18, 1915, under the auspices of the American 

 Institute of Electrical Engineers by authority 

 of the International Electrochemical Commis- 

 sion, and during the Panama-Pacific Interna- 

 tional Exposition. Dr. C. P. Steinmetz has 

 accepted the honorary presidency of the con- 

 gress. The deliberations of the congress will 

 be divided among twelve sections which will 

 deal exclusively with electricity and electrical 

 practise. There will probably be about 250 

 papers. The first membership invitations will 



