700 
logical and pathological chemistry and of phar- 
macology in the University of Berne, died on 
September 22d at Naples, where he was work- 
ing at the zoological station on the chemistry of 
invertebrates. Drechsel was born at Leipzig 
in 1848 and was assistant to Kolbe, then pro- 
fessor of chemistry, and to Ludwig, then pro- 
fessor of physiology in that University. He 
was made associate professor at Leipzig in 
1878 and was called to Berne in 1880. Physio- 
logical chemistry has recently suffered most 
serious losses in the deaths of Hoppe-Seyler, 
Baumann, Heidenhain and Drechsel. 
Dr. ALEXANDER Mitton Ross died at Mon- 
treal on October 27th. He had made extensive 
collections of the fauna and flora of Canada 
and was the author of ‘Birds of Canada’ 
(1872); ‘Butterflies and Moths of Canada’ 
(1873) ; ‘ Flora of Canada’ (1873) ; ‘Forest Trees 
of Canada’ (1874) ; ‘ Ferns and Wild Flowers 
of Canada’ (1877); and ‘Mammals, Reptiles 
and Fresh-water Fishes of Canada’ (1878). 
Sir PETER LE PAGE RENOUF, the eminent 
Eegyptologist, died in London about the middle 
of October at the age of seventy-four years. 
He was the keeper of the Egyptian and Assyrian 
antiquities of the British Museum from 1885 to 
1891, and was the author of several important 
publications, including the Hibbert lectures on 
‘The Religion of Ancient Egypt’ (1897), and 
an edition of the ‘Papyrus of Ani.’ 
Tue following deaths are also announced : 
Dr. Leopold Auerbach, assistant professor of 
physiology in the University of Berlin; Dr. 
Mietschke, the German naturalist and ento- 
mologist; Dr. Hjalmar Heiberz, professor of 
pathological anatomy in the University of 
Christiania, and Dr. R. Branchat, professor of 
hygiene in the Medical Faculty of Granada. 
Ir is said that the Norwegian government 
will not only allow Captain Sverdrup the use 
of the ‘Fram,’ but will give him $50,000 for an 
outfit. According to Petermann’s Mitteilungen 
Captain Sverdrup had given up the intention of 
making investigations between Spitzbergen and 
Greenland, and it had been decided that he 
should proceed up Baffin Bay and Smith Sound 
to the part of the Arctic ocean north of Green- 
SCIENCE. 
(N.S. Von. VI. No. 149. 
land, which is the region Lieutenant Peary had 
previously announced his intention to explore. 
A CABLEGRAM from Christiania states that the 
government has instructed the Governor of the 
Province of Tromsée, the most northern proy- 
ince of Norway, to charter a steamer at the 
expense of the state, to provision it for six 
months and to send out a relief expedition for 
Herr Andrée, the aéronaut, who ascended in 
his balloon, the ‘ Eagle,’ on July 11th. The 
relief steamer will start in three days’ time from 
Tromsoe, and will proceed to Spitzbergen. 
THE Imperial Russian Geographical Society 
will send at once an expedition, under the di- 
rection of M. Dmitrieff, to Abyssinia for an- 
thropological research. 
THE Austrian steamship ‘ Pola,’ Captain Paul 
von Pott, has again gone to the Red Sea for 
scientific explorations, and will this year cover 
the ground between Dschedda and Aden. Dr. 
Franz Steindachner, the eminent ichthyologist, 
has charge of the zoological work, and explora- 
tions will also be made in physical oceanography. 
PROFESSOR CHARLES BURCKHALTER, of Cha- 
bot Observatory, Oakland, Cal, has left for 
Hong Kong, and will proceed to India with his 
instruments for the purpose of observing and 
photographing the approaching total solar 
eclipse of the sun. 
PRINCE PETER ALEXEIEVITCH KRAPOTEIN, 
the eminent Russian man of science, President 
of the Imperial Geographic Society, lectured in 
Washington on October 22d, before the Na- 
tional Geographic Society, on Russia and Si- 
beria, dwelling at length on the geography of 
Siberia, which he compared with that of North 
America. 
PROFESSOR ELLIOTT has been nominated for 
the presidency of the London Mathematical 
Society. 
THE Astronomical Society of France held on 
October 6th its first meeting for the season. 
The President, M. Cornu, opened the session 
with an account of the astrophysical work of 
Fizeau. MM. Callandreau and Moye presented 
papers on the trajectories of comets and me- 
teors. 
THE Agnew Memorial Pavilion of the Hospital 
