368 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 194. 



The Venice Academy of Science, Letters and 

 Arts offers a prize of $600 from the Querini- 

 Stampalia Foundation, for an investigation of 

 the water power of the Venetian province, with 

 a view to its increased application. Essays, 

 which may be written in English, must be pre- 

 sented before the end of next year. 



The Dutch Academy of Sciences of Harlem 

 proposes eighteen subjects for essays, offering 

 for each a gold medal or a prize of 500 florins. 

 The details may be obtained from the Secretary 

 of the Academy, Professor J. Bosscha, Harlem. 



Mme. Bragayract has bequeathed 50,000 fr. 

 to the Paris Academy of Medicine. 



Plans are being made at Turin for the estab- 

 lishment of a fresh-water aquarium intended to 

 advance the interests of pisiculture. 



The Indian government lias decided to send 

 exhibits from the Forest and Geological Depart- 

 ment to the Paris Exhibition at a cost of about 

 £3,000. 



There are now about 350 public libraries in 

 Great Britain. These libraries contain over 

 5,000,000 volumes, and issue about 27,000,000 

 books each year. The annual attendance of read- 

 ers is about 60,000,000. In comparison with these 

 figures the following, recently published, will 

 be interesting : There are 844 public libraries in 

 Australia, with 1,400,000 volumes ; 298, with 

 330,000 volumes, in New Zealand ; 100, with 

 300,000 volumes, in South Africa. In Canada 

 the public libraries contain over 1,500,000 vol- 

 umes. In 1896 the United States, according 

 to government statistics, possessed 4,026 pub- 

 lic and school libraries, containing 33,051,872 

 volumes. 



Nature states that a committee, having upon 

 it many distinguished men of science in Aus- 

 tralia, has been formed to secure the establish- 

 ment of some permanent memorial to com- 

 memorate the services rendered by the late 

 Baron von Mueller. This movement is entirely 

 distinct from that which the executors of the 

 late Baron have initiated with the object of ob- 

 taining funds for the erection of a tombstone. 

 The object of the Committee of the National 

 Memorial Fund is to secure sufficient funds to 

 allow of the establishment of some permanent 

 memorial which shall worthily perpetuate Baron 



von Mueller's name ; and whilst it is not pos- 

 sible as yet to state definitely the form which 

 the memorial will take, it is hoped that suffi- 

 cient funds will be forthcoming to provide for 

 (1) the erection of some form of statue, and (2) 

 the endowment of a medal, prize or scholarship, 

 to be associated with Baron von Mueller's name, 

 and to be awarded from time to time in recog- 

 nition of distinguished work In the special 

 branches in which he was most deeply inter- 

 ested, and which shall be open to workers 

 throughout the Australasian colonies. Sub- 

 scriptions to the fund may be sent to the Hon. 

 Treasurer, addressed to the College of Phar- 

 macy, Swanston Street, Melbourne, or to the 

 Hon. Secretaries (Mr. W. Wiesbaden and Pro- 

 fessor Baldwin Spencer), addressed to the Uni- 

 versity of Melbourne, and will be duly acknowl- 

 edged. 



Chancellor Hohenlodk has sent a commu- 

 nication to the German Colonial Society in reply 

 to a request for information as to the official 

 attitude towards Professor Koch's theories on 

 the subject of malaria. He says, as re- 

 ported in the New York Evening Post, that as 

 soon as the Colonial Department of the Foreign 

 Office " had knowledge of the highly important 

 results of the investigations of Dr. Koch, and of 

 the proposals based on them by him, it dis- 

 tributed the information in several directions. 

 Dr. Koch appealed, for instance, to the Prussian 

 Ministry of Medical Affairs, to which he is 

 officially subordinate, that means should be 

 obtained for two great scientific expeditions 

 under his leadership, with a view to completing 

 his investigation of malaria. According to his 

 plan, the first of these expeditions should inves- 

 tigate malaria in Italy and Greece, and the 

 second in the most intense fever foci of East 

 Africa, India and New Guinea. The first is to 

 last three mouths and the second two years. 

 The Prussian Ministry and the Foreign Office 

 are most keenly interested in this enterprise, 

 and I do not doubt its practicability. * * * In 

 order to render the present results of Dr. Koch's 

 researches concerning the diagnosis treatment 

 and prophylaxis of malaria useful to medical 

 men in the colonial service, suitable training 

 will be given them in the Institute for Infectious 

 Diseases, of which he is the head. This train- 



