254 
early in the autumn. The Russian Geograph- 
ical Society will confer its gold medal upon him. 
Iv is stated in Natural Science that under the 
directorship of Dr. T. Kochibe, the Geological 
Survey of Japan has been making good progress, 
and the staff has been increased. There has 
for some time been accumulating a collection 
chiefly illustrative of practical geology, and it 
is now proposed to build a proper geological 
museum in Tokyo. A short time ago some 
valuable phosphatic beds of Tertiary age were 
discovered along the northeast shore of the 
province of Kyushu, and Dr. Tsuneto, of the 
Agronomic division of the Survey, has been ex- 
perimenting with the material so as to make it 
available for the small Japanese peasant farmers 
to use as manure. The organic remains in the 
deposit are those of marine invertebrates. 
Dr. W. L. Asgor, of Philadelphia, who has 
made valuable donations to the Smithsonian 
Institution, has now given a collection of birds 
from the Malayan peninsula containing 1,100 
birds representing over 200 species. 
STANFORD UNIVERSITY has been given by 
the brother of the late Senator Stanford, now 
residing in Australia, a collection of books re- 
lating to Australia, including especially works 
on the geography, geology and anthropology. 
It consists of 2,500 bound volumes and 3,000 
pamphlets. 
Mr. FortesqueE FLANNERY, M. P., has an- 
nounced his intention to move in the House of 
Commons: ‘‘ That in the opinion of the House 
it is desirable that a department of public 
health be constituted and that the same be un- 
der the charge of a responsible Minister having 
a seat in Parliament.’’ 
A COMMITTEE, consisting of Lord Crawford, 
Sir Edward Thompson, Sir Benjamin Stone, 
Professor Meldola, Captain Abney and others, 
has been appointed for the purpose of forming 
a National Photographic Record Association, 
the object of which is to be the collecting and 
making photographic historical records of the 
British Isles. 
AN International Congress is being arranged 
at Paris for the discussion of the means of pre- 
venting fires in theatres and other places of 
public resort. 
SCIENCE. 
[N. 8. Vou. VI. No. 137. 
Tur New York Hvening Post states that an 
extensive robbery of art works and other articles 
of great value has taken place at the museum of 
the Canton of Vaud. The museum is located 
in the College near the Cathedral of Lausanne, 
and contains natural-history collections from 
Aventicum and Vidy, the ancient Lausanne, 
and interesting antiquities from lake-dwellings, 
coins, medals, ete. It also contains the 
Cantonal Library of 60,000 volumes. 
A curious robbery has occurred in Paris, a 
number of rabbits inoculated with the germs 
of diphtheria, cholera, typhus, etc., having 
been stolen from the Aubervilliers Hospital. 
These are thought to have been sold to dealers, 
and there was a general panic in Paris among 
those who had eaten rabbit ! 
THE British Home Office will only allow five 
pounds of carbide of calcium to be kept without 
a license. It must then be kept in separate, 
substantial, hermetrically closed metal vessels 
containing not more than one pound each. 
THE New York State Commission on Voting 
Machines, consisting of Philip T. Dodge, Pro- 
fessor R. H. Thurston and Mr. H. de B. Parsons, 
held their first meeting at Albeny on July 10th, 
for the examination of machines to be adopted 
by the State. 
ARRANGEMENTS have been made in Boston 
to give members of the fire department in- 
struction in the nature of electricity and the 
uses of electrical appliances. 
A NEw fire-proof building will be erected for 
the collections of the Pathological Institute at 
the University at Berlin. 
AT its meeting in Washington in May, 1897, 
the American Physiological Society appointed 
a committee to consider whether the time had 
come for the publication of an American Jour- 
nal of Physiology. The committee have re- 
ported in favor of the plan and it will undoubt- 
edly be adopted at the next meeting of the So- 
ciety. The journal, which will be devoted to 
investigations in physiology and allied sciences, 
will probably begin publication in January 
next and will be edited by a committee of the 
Society, with Dr. W. T. Porter, Harvard Med- 
ical School, as Secretary. 
THE American Naturalist has been purchased 
