130 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 187. 



Professor Humphries is making measurements 

 of the rivers of southwestern Virginia. 



It is hoped that ground will be broten shortly 

 for the main or central portion of the Peabody 

 Museum, Yale University, in order that the 

 building may be completed at the time of the 

 bi-centennial celebration in 1901. The reserve 

 building fund left by Dr. Peabody now amounts 

 to $100,000, and efforts are being made to col- 

 lect the remaining $150,000 needed. 



The Dreadnought Seaman's Hospital at 

 Greenwich has organized a school for the study 

 of tropical diseases. The Colonial Office has 

 contributed £3,550 towards the buildings, which 

 it is estimated will cost about £13,000. Pro- 

 vision will be made for from 20 to 25 students, 

 and there will be a fully equipped laboratory, 

 pathological room and museum. 



The sum of £10,000 has been subscribed 

 towards the Jenner Memorial. Half of this 

 sum has been given by Lord Iveagh. 



At a meeting of the standing committee of the 

 Trustees of the British Museum on July 9th a 

 letter was sent to Sir William Flower express- 

 ing profound regret in accepting his resignation 

 of the directorship of the Natural History Mu- 

 seum and expressing high appreciation of his 

 services during the past 14 years. The letter 

 continues: "The rare combination of wide 

 scientific knowledge with marked administra- 

 tive ability and a sympathetic appreciation of 

 the requirements of the uninstructed public has 

 carried you through a most difficult task. Un- 

 der your hands the natural history collections 

 of the British Museum have fallen into the lines 

 of an orderly and instructive arrangement which 

 no one, whether man of science or ordinary 

 visitor, can examine without admiration. To 

 you, as a worthy successor of Sir Richard Owen, 

 will attach the honor of having organized a 

 museum of natural history which now occupies 

 a preeminent position among all the museums 

 of the civilized world." 



A MEMOBIAL has been addressed to the Trus- 

 tees of the British Museum by a number of lead- 

 ing British men of science, protesting against 

 the rumored abolition of the post of Director of 

 the Natural History Museum, resigned by Sir 



William Flower. Both Sir Edward Maunde 

 Thompson, the Director and principal librarian 

 of the British Museum, and Sir William Flower 

 have written stating that the memorial was- 

 founded on a misapprehension. The Natural 

 History Museum has always been a part of the 

 British Museum, of which Sir Edward Maunde 

 Thompson has been the chief executive officer, 

 and the Trustees have no intention of abolishing 

 the office of Director of the Department of 

 Natural History, or of imposing any new limi- 

 tations on the duties of that office. 



The Congress of the Royal Institute of Public 

 Health will meet in Dublin next month. The 

 meetings will be held in Trinity College, where 

 Sir Charles Cameron will deliver the presiden- 

 tial address on the opening day. 



It may be remembered that there was held 

 an International Congress of Experimental and 

 Therapeutic Hypnotism in Paris in 1889. A 

 second Congress has been arranged to follow 

 the close of the International Medical Congress 

 in the month of August, 1900. Four sections 

 are planned : (1) The clinical and therapeutic 

 relations of hypnotism and suggestion ; (2) 

 their medico-legal relations ; (3) their psycho- 

 physical relations, and (4) their applications in 

 pedagogy and sociology. Further information 

 may be obtained from the Secretary, Dr. Beril- 

 lon, 14 rue Taitbout, Paris. 



Before the Zoological Society of London, on 

 June 21st, Mr. Abbott H. Thayer, of New York, 

 explained his method of demonstrating, by 

 actual experiments, the underlying principle of 

 protective coloration in animals. An exhibition 

 of his demonstrations was given in the Society's 

 Gardens next day. 



The report of Professor Lawrence Bruner, of 

 the University of Nebraska, special agent for 

 the investigation of the locusts of the Argentine 

 Republic in 1897-98, has just appeared. It in- 

 cludes figures and descriptions of the species- 

 which have been found to be most harmful, to- 

 gether with discussions of preventive and reme- 

 dial measures. 



Sir Archibald Geikie is preparing for the 

 press a portion of the third unpublished volume 

 of Button's 'Theory of the Earth,' consisting; 



