670 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 202. 



Reuter's agency reports that the German 

 archseologist Professor Belck was attacked, 

 wounded and robbed by Kurdish marauders in 

 the Sipan Dagh while separated from his escort. 

 As the result of representations immediately 

 made by the German embassy, the Sultan gave 

 orders for the most rigorous pursuit and the 

 punishment of the guilty parties. The perpe- 

 trators of the outrage have now been discovered 

 and arrested. The property and a part of the 

 money stolen have been recovered. In accord- 

 ance with directions personally given by the 

 Sultan, Herr Belck will receive every attention 

 at the cost of the State. He is now at Van, 

 still under medical treatment, but out of danger. 



The Swedish scientific expedition to the Klon- 

 dike, under the conduct of Dr. Otto Nordensk- 

 jold, is now on its way home, and is expected 

 to arrive in London about the end of the month. 

 The expedition has been exploring since March 

 last, and the results are expected to be of con- 

 siderable interest. 



An expedition is about to leave England to in- 

 vestigate and make collections of the fauna of the 

 island of Sokotra, situated eastward from Cape 

 Guardafui. The party, consisting of Blr. W. R. 

 Ogilvie Grant, of the Department of Zoology of 

 the Natural History Museum; Dr. H. O. Forbes, 

 the Director, and Mr. Cutmore, Taxidermist of 

 the Liverpool Museums, will be conveyed from 

 Aden by a steamship furnished by the British 

 government. The Royal Society, the Royal 

 Geographical Society and the British Associa- 

 tion have made appropriations towards the 

 expenses of the expedition. 



It is still an open question whether the fauna 

 of the sea is confined to belts near the surface 

 and the bottom, or whether the intermediate 

 zones are inhabited. To investigate this prob- 

 lem a deep-sea expedition has been organized, 

 as we learn from the London Times, through 

 grants by the Royal Geographical Society, the 

 Draper's Company and the Fishmonger's Com- 

 pany, and has been placed under the direction 

 of Mr. George Murray, Keeper of the Botanical 

 Department of the Natural History Museum. 

 The trustees of the British Museum have helped 

 by granting Mr. Murray the necessary leave of 

 absence and lending him the services of two of 



the Museum naturalists, Mr. V. H. Blackman 

 and Dr. Gregory. Mr. J. E. S. Moore, Dr. 

 Sambon and Mr. Highly, of whom the last is 

 an artist, complete the staff of the expedition. 

 The steamship Oceana has been chartered and 

 is being fitted with its deep-sea gear by the 

 kindness of the Silvertown Telegraph Cable 

 Company. The steamer was expected to be 

 ready by November 5th, when it would pro- 

 ceed directly to the west coast of Ireland. 

 Work will begin at the edge of the 100-fathom 

 platform, about thirty miles west of Dingle 

 Bay. The vessel will steam slowly for 10° 

 westward. Continuous observations will be 

 made with a vertical chain of tow nets, the 

 length of which will be gradually increased 

 until, when the depth of 2,000 fathoms is 

 reached, the series will include thirty-eight tow- 

 nets. Soundings and observations of tempera- 

 tures will be made, and, if time permit, some 

 deep-sea trawling. Experiments with various 

 forms of self-closing nets, including the Tanner 

 net employed by Professor Agassiz, will be 

 made for the sake of comparison ; but the main 

 effort of the expedition is to determine the ver- 

 tical distribution of oceanic life by a series of 

 open nets. 



We learn from the Philadelphia Medical 

 Journal that the State Legislature of Vermont 

 has passed an Act providing for the equipment 

 and maintenance of a State laboratory which 

 shall include in its work ' the chemical and 

 bacteriological examination of water-supplies, 

 milk and all food-products, and the examina- 

 tion of cases, and suspected cases, of diphtheria, 

 typhoid fever, tuberculosis, malaria and other 

 infectious and contagious diseases.' The sum 

 of $5,000 has been appropriated for the estab- 

 lishment of the laboratory, and $8,000 per year 

 voted for running expenses. Dr. J. H. Linsley 

 Is director of the laboratory. It appears that 

 only three States have established similar lab- 

 oratories — Michigan, Massachusetts and New 

 York. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



The University of Cincinnati has again been 

 presented with a gift of $60,000, this time by 

 Mr. Asa van Wormer, a retired merchant of 



