218 



SCIENCE. 



FN. S. Vol. VIII. No. 190. 



the Bobemian Academy of Sciences, 1S98, 

 under the title ' Hethiter und Skythen.' 



From a thorough study of sources he 

 shows that the Scythians were an Aryan 

 and especially an Iranian folk. It is clear 

 that a portion of them lived in Cilicia and 

 Cappadocia, where other authorities locate 

 the Hittites ; and in Mitanni certainly some 

 Aryan blood must have entered, for the 

 Amarna tablets speak of the Mitanni prin- 

 cess as 'blue-eyed.' Also the Amorites 

 were blonde and blue-eyed. To these facts 

 of a physical character Hommel adds a 

 lengthy investigation into proper names, all 

 tending to illustrate a deep Iranian in- 

 fluence in eastern Anatolia. This does 

 not exclude, but much modifies, the ' Alaro- 

 dian ' hypothesis of Sayce and others. Of 

 course, that the Hittites were Aryan has 

 already been asserted by other writers, but 

 not in the form here presented. 



D. G. Beinton. 



Univeesity of Pennsylvastia. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



The death of Dr. James Hall, which occurred 

 at Echo Hill, Bethlehem, N. H., on August 7th, 

 at the age of eighty-seven years, will cause 

 universal regret among men of science. Since 

 Dr. Hall's return from the International Geo- 

 logical Congress, last year, his health has been 

 failing somewhat, but he fully intended to at- 

 tend the approaching fiftieth anniversary meet- 

 ing of the American Association, of which he 

 was one of the founders. It will be remem- 

 bered that at the meeting of the Association at 

 Buffalo, two years ago, a special session was 

 devoted to appreciations of Br. Hall's scientific 

 and official work as Geologist of the State of 

 New York for fifty years. Portraits of Dr. 

 Hall were included in the full report that ap- 

 peared in Science at the time. 



Professor Edwin Ray Lankester, Linacre 

 professor of comparative anatomy at Oxford, 

 has been appointed Director of the Natural His- 

 tory Museum, South Kensington, in succession 

 to Sir William Henry Flower. 



Professor Mosso, of Turin, has been elected 

 a correspondent of the Paris Academy of Sci- 

 ences in the section of medicine and surgery. 

 Twenty-sis votes were cast for Professor JIosso 

 and ten for Professor Zambaco, of Constanti- 

 nople. 



Dr. Carl I. Cori, of the German University 

 at Prague, has been elected Director of the 

 Zoological Station at Trieste. 



Dr. F. J. V. Skiff, Director of the Field 

 Columbian Museum, Chicago, has been ap- 

 pointed Director of Mining and Mineralogy at 

 the Paris Exposition of 1900. 



Lord Peel has been appointed a trustee of 

 the British Museum in the place of the late Mr. 

 Spencer Walpole. 



• It is proposed to erect a bust of Victor Meyer 

 in the chemical laboratory at Heidelberg, and 

 should sufficient money be collected a scholar- 

 ship for the advancement of chemistry will be 

 established. 



The monument to Charcot will be formally 

 unveiled in the Saltpetriere in Paris on October 

 23d. 



Professor Park Morrill, Chief of the 

 Forecast Division of the Weather Bureau, died 

 at Washington on August 8th of typhoid fever. 



The death is announced of Dr. E. B. Aveling, 

 in London, on August 4th, at the age of 47 

 years. He had been assistant in physiology at 

 Cambridge and professor of chemistry and 

 physiology at New College, and had written on 

 scientific topics, especially in the direction of 

 the popularization of the doctrine of evolution. 

 He was, however, best known as a lecturer and 

 writer on socialism. 



M. PaitlSevret, the mathematician, member 

 of the Paris Academy of Sciences, died in Parig 

 on June 24th, aged seventy years. 



We regret further to record the death of 

 Professor W. F. R. Suringar, professor of 

 botany in the University of Leyden and Direc- 

 tor of the Botanical Garden and Herbarium. 



A Fourth International Congress of Agricul- 

 ture will meet at Lausanne from the 12th to the 

 17th of September. 



Dr. Henry Bessemer has presented to the 



