840 
cuted by Matthew Noble. A brass tablet on 
the adjacent wall bears the following inscrip- 
tion: ‘‘ Michael Faraday, natural philosopher, 
D.C.L., F.R.S., born at Newington, Surrey, 
September 22,1791. He wasa patient student, 
an eloquent expounder and a brilliant illustrator 
of the laws of nature. Fullerian Professor of 
Chemistry in the Royal Institution of Great 
Britain, 1833 to 1867. Faraday’s noblest monu- 
ment is his ‘ Hxperimental Researches in Elec- 
tricity and Magnetism’ from 1831 to 1851. He 
died at Hampton Court-green, August 25, 1867, 
and was interred in Highgate Cemetery.” 
LIEUTENANT PEARY sailed on the Lucania 
on November 27th and will lecture in EKdin- 
burgh, after which he will try to find in Scot- 
land a vessel of from 300 to 500 tons register 
for his next expedition to the north. 
THE steamship carrying the Belgian Ant- 
arctic Expedition has safely reached Rio 
Janeiro and left for Buenos Ayres on October 
28th. 
MM. RAovut and Mary have returned to 
Paris from a governmental mission to make 
researches into the indigenous plants of the 
Malay peninsula, with a view to determine 
whether any of them are of use for pharma- 
ceutical or commercial purposes. 
PROFESSOR JADERIN, of Stockholm, has, ac- 
cording to the New York Evening Post, pro- 
posed to the Academy of Science of that city 
that it arrange with the government for a pre- 
liminary expedition, with Russia’s cooperation, 
to go to Spitzbergen next summer, and there 
prepare for the final measurement of a degree 
of latitude in 1899 and 1900, with a view of 
obtaining more exact knowledge of the earth’s 
form. ! 
LIEUTENANT OLUFSEN, who returned last 
spring from Central Asia, will next year fit out 
a new expedition to the Pamir regions in order 
to make geographical and ethnographical ex- 
plorations in the northern part of the Wakhan 
valley. The expenses of the expedition, which 
will last two years and include two scientific 
students, will be paid from the Carlsberg fund 
of the Danish government. 
THE New York Park Board approved, on 
November 22d, the general plans of the 
SCIENCE. 
LN. S. Vou. VI. No. 153. 
zoological gardens in Bronx Park. There was. 
no opposition to the plans at the public hearing. 
THE Meteorological Institute of Berlin cele- 
brated the fiftieth anniversary of its foundation 
on October 14th. Dr. von Bezold, Director, 
made an address, in which, according to Die 
~Natur, he stated that the Institute had in 
North Germany 188 stations of the first class. 
and nearly 2,000 smaller stations. 
A SMALL marine laboratory, says Nature, was: 
opened at Cullercoats on the 21st ult. by Prin- 
cipal Gurney, of the Durham College of Sci- 
ence, Newcastle-on-Tyne. The laboratory is 
the result of the public-spirited generosity of 
John Dent, Esq., the Vice-Chairman of the 
Committee. The laboratory was formally 
handed over to the Sea Fisheries Committee, 
to be worked in conjunction with the Durham 
College of Science, Mr. Meek being placed in 
charge of the scientific operations. A large 
company assembled, representing the Sea Fish- 
eries Committee, the College of Science, the: 
Natural History Society and the County 
Council. 
THE Subtropical Laboratory of the United 
States Department of Agriculture, at Eustis, 
has been discontinued, but work will be done 
at Miami, Florida. Mr. Walter T. Swingle 
and Mr. H. J. Webber, who had charge of the 
laboratory at Eustis, are at present in Washing- 
ton. 
THE Smithsonian Institution has acquired the 
Hallett Phillips collection of Indian implements. 
and antiquities from the Potomac valley. 
Mr. P. A. B. WIDENER, of Philadelphia, has. 
given his residence on Broad street for a branch 
of the Free Library. The value of his gift is 
said to be one million dollars. 
Tue Annual Report of the British Board of 
Agriculture states that during the financial 
year 1896-7 the sum of £6,950 had been distrib- 
uted to fourteen different educational institu- 
tions. The grant to the Durham College of Sci- 
ence was increased to £1,000, and that to Oxford. 
University to £800. The Board recommends 
that a chair of agriculture and forestry be estab- 
lished at Cambridge University. 
As the result of the preliminary examination 
made by Colonel Sir Thomas Holdich, the well- 
