410 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 195. 



of the local Evening Mail contained two whole 

 columns of news dispatched entirely by wireless 

 telegraphy. The notable event is undoubtedly 

 the germ of an important development of wire- 

 less telegraphy in the near future. 



The Duke of Abruzzi is about to issue a book 

 describing his recent ascent of Mount St. Elias. 

 The author's and illustrators' profit upon it are 

 to be devoted to a fund for assisting needy Ital- 

 ian guides. 



VNIVEBSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



It was announced last spring that $500,000 

 had been given to the Medical College formed 

 by the professors resigning from the Medical 

 School of New York University and annexed 

 to Cornell University. The gift was at the 

 time made anonymously, but was supposed to 

 be from Colonel Oliver H. Payne, one of 

 those who resigned from the Council of the 

 University after the difficulties. It is now defi- 

 nitely announced that Colonel Payne is the 

 donor and that the gift to the Cornell Univer- 

 sity Medical College amounts to $1,500,000. 

 Plans for a building to cost $500,000 are being 

 made by McKim, Mead & White, the archi- 

 tects, and work on the structure is to be begun 

 within thirty dys. The plot of land which has 

 been purchased is the entire block on the west 

 side of First Avenue, between Twenty-seventh 

 and Twenty-eighth Streets. It is expected that 

 the new building will be ready for occupancy 

 by October, 1899. 



The late Eowlaud Hazard, of Peacedale, E. 

 I., has bequeathed $100,000 to Brown Univer- 

 sity. This sum is not to be paid for three 

 years, and if the estate should depreciate in 

 value the executors are empowered to reduce 

 the amount to not less than $50,000. 



Mk. George A. Gaednbe has given $20,000 

 to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 

 to be added to the general endowment fund. 



De. D. K. Pearsons, of Chicago, has offered 

 $50,000 to Fairmount College, Wichita, Kans., 

 on condition that $150,000 can be raised. 



Mr. H. J. PATTEESONhas been elected Direc- 

 tor of the Maryland Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, vice R. H. Miller, resigned. The State 



Legislature has appropriated $14,000 for the 

 erection of a Science Hall, to be used jointly 

 by the College and Station. It has also appro- 

 priated $10,000 for inaugurating State work in 

 entomology and vegetable pathology, and has 

 provided for an annual appropriation hereafter 

 of $8,000 for its maintenance. C. O. Townsend 

 has been elected Botanist and Pathologist in 

 the College and Station and State Pathologist. 



President Kellogg, of the University of 

 California, has resigned. 



Mr. J. M. Poor has been appointed instruc- 

 tor in astronomy in Dartmouth College, but 

 we understand that Pi'ofessor E. B. Frost, now 

 of the Yerkes Observatory, will have super- 

 vision of the department and will spend 

 part of the year at Hanover. Dr. G. H. 

 Ceroid, of the Dartmouth Zoological De- 

 partment, has been given a year's leave of 

 absence to be spent abroad, and Dr. H. S. 

 Jennings, last year instructor in the Uni- 

 versity of Montana, will temporarily take 

 Dr. Gerold's place. Other appointments at 

 Dartmouth are : Dr. C. H. Richardson, to be 

 assistant in chemistry and instructor in geology, 

 and Mr. J. B. Proctor, to be assistant in mathe- 

 matics. 



Dr. E. Emmet Reid, of Johns Hopkins 

 University, has been elected professor of chem- 

 istry and physics in the College of Charleston, 

 S. C. 



Dr. O. Brefeld, professor of botany at the 

 Miinster Academy, has been called to the 

 University of Breslau. 



DISCUSSION AND COBBESPONDENCE. 

 AN UNUSUAL AURORA. 

 Last evening (September 11th) I witnessed 

 at this place what I suppose to be an aurora, 

 and which, if such, showed features so unusual 

 as to seem worthy of record. The air was re- 

 markably clear for the climate of this region 

 and no perceptible wind was blowing. At 

 7''50°' E. S. T. I walked out to a good point of 

 view, free from artificial lights, to look for the 

 zodiacal light and the ' Gegenschein.' I soon 

 noticed in the south what I supposed at first to 

 be a white cloud, which, however, soon disap- 

 peared. Later the supposed cloud repeatedly 



