September 30, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



441 



color of the South American Indians. His 

 observations lead him to the following con- 

 clusions : 1. The darker coloration of por- 

 tions of the body is due to exposure to sun 

 and air, resembling in this the white race. 

 2. Judging from the color of the protected 

 portions of the skin, the South American 

 Indian approximates more closely to the 

 yellow race than to the white or to a red 

 race. 



In the discussion of the paper when read 

 in the Berlin Anthropological Society, Dr. 

 Staudinger observed that variations of color 

 under exposure is largely individual in all 

 races, some negroes burning darker, some 

 Europeans not ' tanning ' at all ; a fact well- 

 known among ourselves. 



D. G. Beinton. 



Univeesity of Pennsylvania. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



The grants made for scientific purposes at 

 the recent Bristol meeting of the British Asso- 

 ciation amount to £1,495. 



At the recent Congress of Physiologists a 

 committee was appointed, at the suggestion of 

 M. Marey, to consider methods of standard- 

 izing and making comparable physiological in- 

 struments. The committee consists of Profes- 

 sors Bowditch, Foster, von Frey, Hiirthle, 

 Kronecker, Marey, Mislawsky, Mosso and 

 Weiss. The members of the committee are ex- 

 pected to secure information in their respective 

 countries, and will meet in M. Marey's labora- 

 tory at Paris in September, 1900. 



The Library and Natural History Museum 

 of New Westminster, B. C, was totally de- 

 stroyed by the fire which consumed that city 

 on September 11th. 



A FULL-SIZED replica of the well-known por- 

 trait of Huxley painted by the Hon. John Collier 

 in 1883 has been presented by Mr. Collier to the 

 trustees of the National Portrait Gallery. 



Heebeet Lyon Jones, associate professor of 

 botany at Oberlin College, died at Granville, 

 O., on August 27th, at the age of 32 years. He 

 had held this position but a single year, coming 



from Cambridge, where he had been an in- 

 structor in Harvard and Kadcliflfe Colleges for a 

 number of years. 



There will be a general conference of the In- 

 ternational Geodetic Association at Stuttgart, 

 beginning October 3d. Besides the usual re- 

 ports from the different countries on progress 

 made toward the measurement of the Earth, a 

 number of important questions will come up 

 for discussion. It is expected that the pro- 

 gram for a systematic study of the variations 

 of latitude, involving the occupation of stations 

 for a term of years, will be definitely arranged. 

 Two of the points will be in the United States, 

 one in Japan and one in Italy. The latest ac- 

 quisition to the Association is England, which 

 will be represented this year for the first time. 

 Mr. Preston, of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, 

 goes as the delegate from the United States. 



The Italian Congress of Public Health will 

 meet in Turin from September 29th to October 

 1st under the presidency of Professor Pagliani. 



The Fifth International Congress of Hydrol- 

 ogy, Climatology and Geology will be held at 

 Liittick from September 25th to October 3d, 

 1898. 



There were only 322 members in attendance 

 at the Nantes meeting of the French Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, although 

 the membership of the Association numbers 

 some 4,000. Complaints are also made that the 

 leading French men of science do not attend the 

 meetings. There was, with the exception of 

 the President and Vice-President, only one 

 member of the French Academy of Sciences 

 present at the meeting, and he did not take 

 part in the proceedings. 



It is stated in Nature that 226 members were 

 in attendance at the recent International Con- 

 gress of Physiology. The different nationalities 

 represented were as follows : Austria-Hungary 

 and Germany, 33 members ; Belgium, 9 ; Den- 

 mark and Sweden, 3 ; Egypt, 2 ; France, 29 

 Holland, 3 ; India, 2 ; Italy, 9 ; Japan, 4 

 Koumania, 2 ; Russia, 7 ; Switzerland, 9 

 United States, 16 : Great Britain and Canada, 

 98. 



The Scientific Commission, appointed jointly 

 by the Colonial Of&ce and the Koyal Society to 



