SEPTEMBER 17, 1897. ] 
without their knowledge, repudiate any re- 
sponsibility for the complaint, and say that 
they experienced nothing but perfect courtesy 
while at the Toronto meeting. Indeed, the 
original report contains numerous errors, for 
which the original complainant himself does 
not wish to be held responsible. 
FRANZ Putszky, formerly director of the 
National Hungarian Museum and superintend- 
ent of the public museums and libraries of 
Hungary and a writer on archeological sub- 
jects, has died, aged 82 years. He took an im- 
portant part in the attempts to establish Hun- 
garian independence, and visited America with 
Kossuth, being long under sentence of death 
for treason against Austria. 
THE Hon. Charles D. Walcott, Director of 
the U. S. Geological Survey, left San Francisco 
on September 7th, for the Yosemite Valley, ac- 
companied by Assistant F. B. Weeks. Accord- 
ing to a dispatch to the New York Hvening Post 
he proposes to make topographical maps, on a 
two-mile scale, of all the forest reserves in Cali- 
fornia, which, including recent additions, com- 
prise no less than 6,647,000 acres. On these 
maps the distribution of forests will be pointed 
out, showing the commercial and the non-com- 
mercial timber, the agricultural lands included 
in the forest reserves, and all settlements, roads, 
houses and other improvements upon the na- 
tional forest domain. Since leaving Washing- 
ton on July 23d Mr. Walcott has inspected the 
forest reserves in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, 
Washington and Oregon. 
THE Jackson-Harmsworth expedition duly 
reached London on September 3d. The results 
of three winters spent in scientific work in 
Franz Josef Land will doubtless include valu- 
able contributions not only to Arctic geography 
and meteorology, but also to geology, zoology 
and botany. 
Mr. WALTER WELLMAN, the journalist and 
Arctic explorer, has returned to New York af- 
ter a visit to Norway for the purpose of mak- 
ing arrangements for his proposed Arctic expe- 
dition. According to statements in the daily 
papers, he proposes to sail from Bergen in a 
staunch steamship on June 13th of next year 
for Franz Josef Land. He expects to estab- 
SCIENCE. 
443 
lish a supply station at Cape Flora and to reach 
Cape Fligely before the winter setsin. Then, 
in 1899, he intends to try to traverse on sleds 
the 550 miles to the Pole. 
Mr. A. W. GRABAU, of Boston, is continuing 
the field excursions for the study of natural 
history begun last year and made possible by 
the generosity of an anonymous donor. He 
met applicants for membership at the Museum 
of Natural History on September 11th and 
gave an account of the course in marine zool- 
ogy which will take the class to the seashore 
near Boston. At two o’clock the party left for 
Beverly. Other excursions have been arranged 
as follows: September 15th, Revere Beach ; 
September 18th; Nahant; September 22d, Mar- 
blehead ; September 25th, Swampscott; Sep- 
tember 29th, Bass Point. 
THE New York Evening Post reports that the 
Chabot Observatory, of Oakland, Cal., has de- 
cided to send a special expedition to India to 
observe the total eclipse of the sun. It will be 
headed by astronomer Burckhalter, whose ex- 
penses will be paid by William Pearson, of San 
Francisco. Dr. George C. Pardee will provide 
a new lens for the use of the observers. The 
expedition is, of course, entirely distinct from 
that to be sent out by the Lick Observatory, 
the funds for which were provided by the late 
Mr. Crocker. 
THE Prince of Monaco, in his steam yacht, 
the Princess Alice, is said to have completed a 
season’s researches in the Azores. 
In view of the outbreak of yellow fever at 
Ocean Springs, the Surgeon-General has in- 
structed Dr. Wasdin to investigate the disease 
in accordance with Dr. Sanarelli’s methods and 
has forwarded him the necessary outfit. 
THE daily papers report Dr. H. B. Guppy, an 
English naturalist, returned to Napoopee, Ha- 
waii, on September Ist, after spending twenty- 
three days alone on the summit of Mauna Loa, 
at an elevation of 13,000 feet above sea level. 
He carefully explored the crater of the volcano 
and made collections of the fauna and flora. 
AN Engineers’ Club has been established in 
Chicago, the object of which is to be the ad- 
vancement of engineering in its several branches, 
the professional improvement of its members, 
