102 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 



now claimed to have discovered a fourth center 

 in Equatorial Africa. It had been found that a 

 devastating disease prevailed at Kissiba, in the 

 extreme northwest corner of German East 

 Africa, close to the Victoria Nyanza. Suspect- 

 ing that it W'as the plague, Professor Koch pro- 

 ceeded from India to East Africa, in order to 

 make investigations. With the help of Dr. 

 Zupitza, who made a special expedition to 

 Kissiba, he had been enabled to identify the 

 disease as the bubonic plague. In the case of 

 five persons who had died from the disease ana- 

 tomical preparations were obtained and the 

 blood and lymphatic glands of plague-stricken 

 patients were bacteriologically examined. All 

 the ordinary features of the bubonic plague 

 were present. Nine out of ten of those who 

 were infected died. The disease was commu- 

 nicated to rats and to monkeys. It was found 

 that an outbreak of the plague among rats fre- 

 quently preceded a human epidemic, and, in 

 fact, the rat plague might always be regarded 

 as a warning. 



C4ENERAL. 



We learn with much regret that on the 

 ground of ill health Sir William Flower has re- 

 signed the directorship of the Natural History 

 Museum, London.. 



The Berlin Geographical Society has elected 

 as honorary members Professor W. M. Davis, 

 Mr. G. K. Gilbert, M. A. de Lapparent and 

 Professor H. Mohn. 



The University of Michigan has conferred 

 the degree of LL.D. on Dr. A. Jacobi, clin- 

 ical professor of the diseases of children in Co- 

 lumbia University. 



Hamilton College has conferred the degree 

 of Sc.D. on Mr. William R. Brooks, Director of 

 the Smith Observatory, at Geneva, N. Y. 



Dublin University has conferred honoris 

 causa the degree of Sc.D. on Mr. Robert Henry 

 Scott, Superintendent of the Meteorological 

 Department in London. 



We regret to record the death of Professor 

 Anton Kerner, Ritter von Marilaun, the emi- 

 nent botanist, professor in the University of 

 Vienna. 



Me. Alexander Whyte has been appointed, 



by the British government, scientific adviser 

 in Uganda, where he will establish a botanic 

 garden and experiment station. 



Mr. E. B. Dunn, Local Forecaster of the 

 Weather Bureau, in New York, has resigned the 

 position, which he has held for the past fifteen 

 years ; Mr. Eben H. Emery has been appointed 

 his successor. Mr. Emery is a graduate of 

 Bates College, and has been connected with the 

 weather service for fourteen years. During 

 the past four years he has been First Assistant 

 in New York, and his promotion is in accord- 

 ance with the principles of civil service reform. 



Dr. Oswald Lohse, of the Astrophysical 

 Observatory in Potsdam, has been promoted to 

 the rank of a professor. 



Professor D. G. Ritchie, of St. Andrews, 

 has been elected President of the Aristotelean 

 Society, London. 



The Epidemological Society of London has 

 made the first award of its Jenner Medal to Mr. 

 William Henry Power, F.R.S., Senior Assistant 

 Medical Officer of the Local Government Board. 



The Physico-agricultural Society, which in 

 1798 removed from Mohrungen to Konigsberg, 

 offers in commemoration of the centennial cele- 

 bration a prize, the cost of which is defrayed 

 by Dr. Walter Simon. The subject proposed is 

 a research on ' Animal or Plant Electricity' and 

 the value of the prize is 4000 Marks. The com- 

 petition closes on December 81, 1900, and is 

 open to citizens of any country. The essays 

 may be written in German, French, English or 

 Italian and may be published at any time after 

 September 30th, of the present year. 



At a meeting of members of the Royal Insti- 

 tution on July 6th special thanks were re- 

 turned for the following donations to the fund 

 for the promotion of experimental research at 

 low temperatures : Mrs. G. J. Romanes, £5 ; 

 Sir Frederick Bramwell, £100 ; Professor Dewar, 

 £100 ; Dr. Ludwig Mond, £200 ; Mr. Charles 

 Hawksley, £100 ; Sir David Salomons, £21 ; 

 and Dr. Rudolph Messel, £100. 



Sir Robert Rawlinson, formerly Chief En- 

 gineer Inspector of the London Local Govern- 

 ment Board, who died on May 28th, aged 88 

 years, bequeathed £1,000 to the London Insti- 



