706 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 203. 



steam engines. The first two congresses are 

 already organized, having held previous meet- 

 ings. The two latter will hold their first meet- 

 ings at Paris. 



An International Exposition of Horticulture 

 will be held at St. Petersburg from the 17th to 

 the 27th of May, 1899. 



The Executive Committee of the National 

 Pure Food and Drug Congress have issued a 

 call for a meeting at Washington on January 

 18, 19, 20 and 21, 1899. 



The annual meeting of the Nebraska Acad- 

 emy of Science will be held on November 25th 

 and 26th, in the Botanical Lectvire Boom of the 

 University of Nebraska, in Lincoln. Dr. H. 

 B. Ward is the President, and Professor G. D. 

 Swezey, Secretary. 



A CONFERENCE of teachers of chemistry will 

 be held at the University of Michigan, Decem- 

 ber 27, 1898. This is the sixth of these annual 

 conferences of teachers of chemistry in high 

 schools and colleges. The meetings will con- 

 tinue for two days, the subjects being confined 

 to educational methods and matters. Several 

 reports of committees will be presented for 

 discussion. The program will be sent on 

 request by any member of the Committee of 

 Arrangements, namely : Professor Nef, of the 

 University of Chicago ; P. H. Seymour, late of 

 the Detroit high school, and Professor Prescott, 

 of the University of Michigan, Chairman. 



The first evening promenade was held at the 

 Eoyal Botanic Gardens, Regent's Park, Novem- 

 ber 2d. The string band of the First Life 

 Guards performed a selection of music in the 

 large conservatory, which was illuminated with 

 fairy lamps, and in which there was also a fine 

 show of chrysanthemums. The new club 

 rooms, which will be formally opened shortly, 

 were freely used by the Fellows and members 

 of the Society. 



Pr appears from the final report of the Con- 

 gress of the Sanitary Institute, held in Birming- 

 ham in September, that the number of tickets 

 issued exceeded that of any previous year, and 

 the attendances were in like proportion. The 

 total number of tickets issued was 1,979, as 

 compared with 1,531 at Leeds last year, 1,225 

 at Newcastle in 1896, and 1,214 in Liverpool in 



1895. The number of visitors to the Health 

 Exhibition this year was 85,212, and was 10,000 

 greater than had been previously attained. 



There seems to be a misunderstanding in the 

 medical journals in regard to the usual attitude 

 of men of science toward patents. Keferring to 

 the Behring patent of antitoxin in America, a 

 writer in the Berliner Tageblatt asked what 

 would have become of the ophthalmoscope if 

 Helmholtz had made a claim to patent his in- 

 vention. Behring replied that Helmholtz could 

 not do this, because there were at that time no 

 patent laws. The New York Medical Record 

 says that Behring traduces the memoi-y of 

 Helmholtz, probably not being aware that it 

 thereby traduces the names of many eminent 

 men of science, including Lord Kelvin and Pro- 

 fessor Rowland, who each hold dozens of pat- 

 ents. The question of patents by scientific men 

 is one that deserves consideration and discus- 

 sion. There is certainly no reason why men of 

 science should not profit from their inventions, 

 but there is a real danger if they undertake to 

 do so lest they may be diverted from scientific 

 to purely technical work. But it is nonsense 

 to speak as the Medical Record does of the ' mis- 

 deeds ' and ' depravity ' of Professor Behring. 

 Is not the Medical Record copyrighted? 



Mrs. Mills, the 'Christian scientist,' who 

 treated the late Harold Frederick in his inter- 

 est, has been held by a verdict of the Coroner's 

 jury on a charge of manslaughter. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



According to the twenty-fifth quarterly 

 statement of the President of the University of 

 Chicago, there were 1,421 students in attend- 

 ance during the summer quarter, of whom 591 

 were in the graduate schools. The assets of 

 the University are valued at about $9,000,000. 

 The income was $706,973 and the expenditures 

 $678,399. An annual report of the University 

 will be published hereafter in the autumn, and 

 the first report to be issued during the present 

 month will contain a resume of the work of the 

 University since its foundation. 



The College for Teachers recently established 

 under the University of Chicago, through a gift 

 of Mrs. Emmons Blaine of $5,000 a year for five 



