SEPTEMBER 8, 1897. ] 
should be made to procure a formal declaration 
by the Courts whether this is not a virtual embez- 
zlement, and, if so, to secure the award of the 
proper punishment. If there is now no way of 
compelling a Governor to respect the laws ofa 
State and the purposes of its statutes, a way 
should be provided.”’ 
GENERAL, 
THE International Mathematical Congress, 
which closed its meetings at Zurich on August 
11th, decided that its next meeting be held in 
Paris in 1900. A committee of five members 
was appointed to report on mathematical prog- 
ress in different countries and to promote the 
establishment of mathematical departments in 
academic and other libraries. A resolution 
was passed favoring the institution of a cen- 
tral correspondence bureau in order to main- 
tain closer relations between teachers and stu- 
dents of the higher mathematics in different 
countries. 
THE attendance at the recent meeting of the 
French Association for the Advancement of 
Science at Saint-Etienne was smaller this year 
than usual, amounting to scarcely 400. 
Prince Luter, of Savoy, and his party suc- 
ceeded in reaching the summit of Mt. St. Elias 
at noon on July 31st. The altitude was deter- 
mined to be 18,120 feet; no indications of 
volcanic action were found. It is said that the 
expedition under Mr. Bryant reached an alti- 
tude of 14,500 feet—the height reached by 
Professor Russell in 1891—and was compelled 
to return owing to illness. 
It will be remembered that Congress appro- 
priated $5,000 for a continuation of the survey 
of the gold resources of Alaska, but the bill 
containing this item was passed too late to make 
it available this year. The expedition under 
Mr. J. E. Spurr will go next year, and itis pro- 
posed to ask for an increase of the appropriation 
to $25,000 im order that a complete survey may 
be made and a geological map of the region pre- 
pared. 
’ PROFESSOR CORFIELD has been elected an hon- 
orary member of the Royal Society of Public 
Health of Belgium, of which he has been a cor- 
responding member for some years. 
SCIENCE. 363 
PROFESSOR BELAJEFF has been appointed di- 
rector of the Botanical Gardens in Warsaw. 
In addition to the degrees conferred on Lord 
Kelvin, Lord Lister and Sir John Evans by the 
two universities located at ‘Toronto, McGill 
University will this week confer on them the 
doctorate of laws. The convocation of McGill 
University will be held in recognition of the 
meeting of the British Medical Association and 
will confer the degree on Dr. L. L. Barnes, 
President of the Association, and probably’ on 
others in attendance. 
A SPECIAL number of the Rendiconti della R. 
Accademia det Lincei announces, says Nature, the 
award of the following prizes, besides others for 
essays of a literary character: The royal prize 
for physics to Professor Adolfo Bartoli, of 
Padua, for his two monographs on the specific 
heat of water between the temperatures of 0° 
and 35°, and on the heat of the sun and for 
other investigations. For the ministerial prize 
for physical and chemical science eight compet- 
itors entered, and the judges have awarded a 
prize of 1,000 lire to Professor Carlo Bonacini, 
of Modena, for his essays on orthochromatic 
and color photography, and on the reflection 
and other properties of Réntgen rays; also 
awards of 250 lire each to Professor Carlo Cat- 
taneo, of Turin, for his notes on the conductiy- 
ity of electrolytes and on the velocity of ions, 
and to Professor Pietro Bartolotti for chemical 
investigations relating to the compound Rottler- 
ine and other derivatives. 
WE learn, with much regret, of the death of 
Professor J. E. Humphrey, which occurred 
about the middle of August at Jamaica, where 
he had charge of a biological expedition from 
the Johns Hopkins University. Professor 
Humphrey was a graduate of Harvard Univer- 
sity and was a young man, having been pro- 
moted only last year to an associate professor- 
ship of botany at Johns Hopkins University. 
He had made important contributions to our 
knowledge of the algze and in other directions, 
and was building up a strong department of 
botany in the Johns Hopkins University. 
WE regret also to announce the death, at the 
early age of 23 years, of Mr. Joseph G. C. Cot- 
