NOVEMBER 19, 1897.] 
ciety appointed in 1893 issued a circular letter 
addressed to foreign chemical societies, with a 
view to organizing a series of international 
chemical congresses, similar to the International 
Congress of Chemists held in connection with 
the World’s Columbian Exposition. This com- 
mittee has been compelled to report through 
its chairman, Professor F. W. Clarke, that a 
few favorable replies were received from minor 
organizations, but not from any of the great 
chemical societies, and the committee asks to 
be discharged, leaving the initiative to other 
organizations. , 
Dr. B. ENGELHART has given up his ob- 
servatory at Dresden and presented the instru-. 
ments and library to the University Observatory 
at Kasan. 
Dr. MARK OLIVET, professor of psychiatry 
in the University of Geneva, and the author of 
numerous publications on medicine and hygiene, 
died at Geneva on October 24th, in his seventy- 
sixth year. 
A MONUMENT to Duchenne has been erected 
in the Saltpétriére. Duchenne began at Bo- 
logne by treating nervous diseases with elec- 
tricity, and after he went to Paris never held 
any university or hospital position, but to him 
we owe the first description of locomotor ataxy 
and many forms of muscular wasting, as well 
as important advances in the physiology of 
movement. 
PROFESSOR VON KOLLICKER, Wiirzburg, has 
been given the Anders Retzius medal by the 
Association of Swedish Physicians. 
PROFESSOR VON RONTGEN, Wurzburg, has 
been elected an honorary member of the Swiss 
Scientific Society, Berne. 
Tr is stated in Nature that Professor F. Omori, 
of the Seismological Institute, Tokio, is now in 
India, for the purpose of investigating the recent 
Calcutta earthquake and reporting on the same 
to the Japanese government. 
Dr. LEHMAN NIETSCHE has been appointed 
keeper of the anthropological department of the 
La Plata Museum, succeeding Dr. Ten Kate. 
THE Appalachian Mountain Club of Boston 
gave a reception on Monday of this week, at 
which were exhibited Harvard Geographical 
SCIENCE. 
765 
Relief Models, new Sella Photographs and pho- 
tographs of the mountains along the Great 
Northern Railway. On November 10th Profes- 
sor William M. Davis addressed the Club on 
the Harvard Geographical Models. 
Dr. KAKICHI MiITSUKURI, the eminent zoolo- 
gist, professor in the University of Tokio and 
delegate from Japan to the recent conference on 
seal fisheries, lectured this week at Johns Hop- 
kins University, of which he isa former student. 
THE following courses of lectures on natural 
science are being given at the Philadelphia Acad- 
emy of Natural Sciences under the Ludwick 
foundation. They are given at 4:30 in the after- 
noon and admission is free. The subjects are: 
‘Malacology,’ Professor Henry A. Pilsbry, No- 
vember Ist, 8th, 15th, 22d, 29th, December 6th; 
‘Geology,’ Professor Angelo Heilprin, Novem- 
ber 2d, 9th, 16th, 238d, 30th, December 7th; 
‘Invertebrate Zoology,’ Dr. Benjamin Sharp, 
November 8d, 10th, 17th, 24th, December Ist, 
8th; ‘Vertebrate Zoology,’ Witmer Stone, M.A., 
November 5th, 12th, 19th, 26th, December 3d, 
10th; ‘Hygiene and Sanitation,’ Dr. Seneca 
Egbert, January 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th, February 
4th, 11th; ‘Botany,’ Mr. Stewardson Brawn, 
January 10th, 17th, 24th, 31st, February 7th, 
14th; ‘Entomology,’ Professor Henry Skinner, 
January 12th, 19th, 26th, February 2d, 9th, 16th. 
AT the meeting of the Botanical Club of the 
University of Chicago, on November 9th, the 
hour was devoted to a brief review of the life 
of the late Professor Julius von Sachs. Profes- 
sor Coulter read a translation of a short history 
of Sachs’ life prepared by his pupil, Dr. Fritz 
Noll, which will appear in the Botanical Gazette. 
Professor Loeb then gave some personal remin- 
iscences of von Sachs. 
CoMPLETE plans for the Zoological Gardens 
in Bronx Park have been prepared by Heins & 
La Farge, the architects, and were laid before 
the Park Commissioners on Monday. There 
has not been much change from the present 
topography of the Park, which the architects 
and experts found admirably adapted for the — 
purposes of the Zoological Gardens. 
AT the last meeting of the Trustees of the New 
York Public Library, Mr. Andrew A. Green of- 
fered a resolution for the appointment of a com- 
