JuLy 16, 1897. ] 
THE Canadian Pacific Railway Company will 
sell first-class return tickets to members of the 
British Association from Toronto to the Pacific 
Coast, at a rate varying between $61.80 and 
$70.30, according to the route selected. This 
is less than a single fare and the tickets are 
available from July 1st to October Ist. 
DARwIn’s family have presented to Cam- 
bridge University the geological specimens 
found during the voyage of the ‘ Beagle’ and 
a series of slides used in the preparation of his 
monograph on the Cirripedia. The former has 
been placed in the Museum of Geology, the 
latter in the Museum of Zoology. 
In celebration of the Cabot quatercenten- 
ary the foundation stone of a memorial tower 
to be erected on Brandon Hill, Bristol, was 
laid on June 25th. The tower will be 100 feet 
in height, squarely built with emblematic pan- 
els. Some of the bas-reliefs will be contributed 
by an American committee, the President of 
which is Mr. Bayard, lately Ambassador to 
Great Britain. Lord Dufferin made a speech 
describing what little is known of Cabot and 
the adventurous voyage of the ‘ Matthew ’ and 
its importance for the extension of Anglo-Saxon 
civilization. 
THE Geological Society of Portugal opened 
on July 8th the new Geographical Institute 
founded at Lisbon in commemoration of the 
400th anniversary of Vasco da Gama’s departure 
for the Indies. 
THE Academy of Medicine of Paris has re- 
ceived a legacy of 15,000 fr. from Mme. Clarens 
for the foundation of an annual prize. 
THE scientific library of the late Sir G. Hum- 
phrey, professor of surgery at Cambridge, has 
been presented by Mrs. Humphrey to the 
surgical department of the University. 
THE town of Middletown, N. Y., receives, by 
the will of the late Mrs. S. Maretta Thrall, 
$30,000 for a public library. She had already 
given the town a hospital and a park, the value 
of her gifts aggregating $80,000. 
THE Board of Education of the City of New 
York has adopted a resolution providing for 
the employment of oculists to report upon the 
best colors to be used in painting and decora- 
SCIENCE. 
97 
ting schoolrooms with reference to their effects 
on the eyesight of children. 
REPRESENTATIVE LACEY, of Iowa, has intro- 
duced a bill in the House of Representatives 
providing that the name of the Fish Commis- 
sion shall be changed to the Commission of 
Fish, Fisheries and Birds. It is proposed that 
the Commission shall extend its jurisdiction to 
provide for the propagation, distribution and 
restoration of game and other wild birds of the 
United States. It is not likely that this change 
will be made, as wild birds and mammals are 
already provided for under the Department of 
Agriculture, and any extension of the work 
should be developed under that Department. 
BEGINNING with the number for July, the 
Physical Review will be published by the Mac- 
millan Company in two volumes annually. 
These volumes will begin in January and July 
respectively, and will each contain about five 
numbers. 
Natural Science for July, now published by 
J. M. Dent & Co., and printed by Turnbull & 
Spears with improved typography and better 
paper, contains articles by Professor Bashford 
Dean on the Hopkins Seaside Laboratory of 
Stanford University, and by Dr. P. L. Sclater 
on ‘The Proposed Zoological Park in New 
York.’ Natural Science should have given credit 
to Nature for the queer note to the effect that 
Professor Putnam and Dr. Boas have started on 
a Six years’ expedition to study the relation of 
the American Races to those of Asia and Africa. 
“They will proceed up the northwest coast of 
North America, cross Behring Strait, and so 
pass down through eastern Siberia into China, 
and thence along the Indian Ocean to Egypt.” 
THE presidential address by Dr. G. W. Hill 
before the American Mathematical Society in 
1895, printed in the issue of this JouRNAL for 
March 6, 1896, is published in the current num- 
ber of the Revue Scientifique. It is credited as 
a presidential address before l’ Association sci- 
entifique americaine. 
PROFESSOR RONTGEN has contributed to the 
Berichte of the Berlin Academy an account of 
further observations on the properties of the 
X-rays. He has observed that the rays eman- 
ate from the irradiated air in all directions so 
