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THERE has been established in Switzerland a 
weather bureau. A dispatch is sent each even- 
ing from Zurich giving the weather probabilities 
for the next twenty-four hours. The predic- 
tions are based on data received from the prin- 
cipal meteorological stations of Europe com- 
bined with experience of local conditions. The 
dispatch is further distributed by telephone to 
those communes prepared to subscribe 10 frs. 
per month for the service. 
THE Royal ‘ Institut fir Pflanzen Physiologie 
and Pflanzen Schutz,’ in Berlin, offers to give, 
without charge, information and advice regard- 
ing diseases and injuries of cultivated plants. 
It is also prepared to send agents to examine 
the plants without charge beyond the railway 
ticket which, in certain cases, will also be paid 
by the Institute. 
AN International Conference of Legal Medi- 
cine convened at Brussels on August 2d. It 
was welcomed by the Belgian Minister of Jus- 
tice, and Dr. Veleminckx, the Honorary Presi- 
dent of Committee of Organization, gave an 
account of preceding conferences. A number 
of topics were discussed concerning the rela- 
tions of medicine and law—among them the 
treatment of insane criminals, regarding which 
a series of recommendations was passed by the 
Congress. 
THE Highth Annual Congress of French-speak- 
ing Neurologists met at Toulouse on August 2d. 
Addresses were made by Dr. Ritti and Dr. 
Labéda, on Esquirol, who was born at Toulouse, 
and Pinel, who was born near by, as the in- 
auguration of memorials to be erected in their 
memory. Pinel and Esquirol, as is well known, 
were leaders in the reforms in the treatment of 
theinsane. Before their time it was usual to treat 
the insane as intermediate between criminals and 
wild animals. They first showed that insanity 
is a disease, and in many cases a curable 
disease. 
WE noted last week the loss, in the shipwreck 
of the City of Mexico, of the collections and ap- 
paratus of the zoological expedition sent by 
Columbia University to Alaska. Word has just 
been received by mail that the party lost all 
the results of their season’s work. They left 
Sitka in the City of Mexico, of the Alaska S. S. 
SCIENCE. 
[N. 8. Von. VI. No. 139. 
Co., on August 4th, taking the outside pas- 
sage. At 4:20 a. m. on the 5th, in a heavy fog, 
the vessel attempted to enter Queen Charlotte 
Sound, through Dixon’s Channel, and ran upon 
areef known as Devil’s Rock, sinking in two 
hours. The crew and passengers were trans- 
ferred to life boats and after seventeen hours of 
exposure reached the Indian village at 11 p. m., 
where they were hospitably cared for until the 
arrival of the City of Topeka, three days later. 
The Columbia party lost all their collections, 
drawings, notes and apparatus, excepting three 
microscopes. They will reéstablish the old sta- 
tion at Port Townsend, Puget Sound, for the re- 
mainder of the season. 
M. Rospert Wurtz, professor at the Paris 
School of Medicine, one of the leading French 
bacteriologists, has been chosen for a mission 
in Abyssinia. He will go to Adis Abeba, 
where, after having organized a department of 
vaccination, he will study the rinderpest and 
similar infectious maladies. 
THE steamer Belgica, with the Gerlache 
Antarctic expedition on board, sailed from 
Brussels on August 16th. The Belgian Chamber 
of Representatives has made an additional ap- 
propriation of 60,000 frs. for the expedition. 
A MESSAGE has been received from Turnayick, 
on the coast of Labrador, dated July 28th, stating 
that the steamer Hope, with Lieutenant R. EH. 
Peary’s expedition abroad, had touched there 
that day and sailed again on its way to Green- 
land. All on board were well. 
A SERIOUS epidemic of small-pox is feared at 
Montreal. The city has been divided into 
twenty-four districts, and there will be a house- 
to-house vaccination. 
Dr. MARTEN, chief of Dr. Roux’s laboratory 
of the Pasteur Institute, has been awarded an 
honorary gold medal by the French government 
for his work in epidemiology. 
SENoR CANovAS, by his will, has left to the 
National Library, at Madrid, a collection of 
30,000 books, many of which are very rare. 
A BUILDING for a free library and historical 
society, to cost $20,000, has been given by Mr. 
Spalding, of Chicago, to Athens, Pa., his native 
town. 
