November 25, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



745 



as is well known, secured great notoriety and 

 a considerable amount of money by a mysteri- 

 ous motor, a description of which has never 

 been given in intelligible terms. 



The Royal Geographical Society, London, 

 has subscribed £5,000 towards the British Ant- 

 arctic Expedition. 



A NUMBER of British and American residents 

 in western China have, as we learn from the Lon- 

 don Times, addressed a memorial to Lord Salis- 

 bury on the obstacles to and delays in commu- 

 nication between the upper and lower waters of 

 the Yang-tsze. These are, the memorialists 

 say, not only a hindrance to trade, but also a 

 danger to the lives and properties of mission- 

 aries and others resident in the interior, on 

 account of the difficulty of affording proper pro- 

 tection against rioters. Mr. Little's expei-iences 

 have proved that the rapids ai'e navigable, but 

 they also show the necessity of a careful survey 

 of the river from Ichang upwards before steam 

 communication can become regular and pi-ofit- 

 able, and hence the memorialists ask Lord Salis- 

 bury to consider the propriety, in the interests 

 of British residents and British trade in western 

 China, of instituting such a survey by naval 

 experts at an early date. 



De. Charles F. Millspaugh, curator of the 

 botanical department of the Field Columbian 

 Museum and lecturer in the University of Chi- 

 cago, is about to leave New York in the yacht 

 Vtowana for the coast of Yucatan with a view 

 to studing the flora of the interior of the coun- 

 try. This is Dr. Millspaugh's fourth expedi- 

 tion to Yucatan. 



A NEW steamship. Pathfinder, for the U. S. 

 Coast Survey will be launched on December 

 7th. It was designed especially for work in 

 Alaskan waters and is said to be the finest 

 vessel ever built for work of this character. 



On recommendation of the Franklin Insti- 

 tute the Board of Directors of Philadelphia 

 City Trusts have awarded medals purchased 

 by the John Scott fund to John W. Hyatt, of 

 Newark, N. J., for his elastic spiral anti-friction 

 roller ; to Melvin L. Severy, of Arlington 

 Heights, Mass., for his impression process, and 

 to Henry Lyman Say en, of Philadelphia, for his 

 improvement in Rontgen-ray tubes. The in- 



come of the medal fund, which was created in 

 1816, is willed by the testator "to be laid out 

 in premiums to be distributed among ingenious 

 men and women who make useful inventions, 

 along with which shall be given a copper medal." 

 The Paris Temps states that Professor Grassi 

 has discovered in the laboratory of the hospital 

 of Saint Esprit, at Rome, the bacillus of ma- 

 laria." Its host is said to be an insect of the 

 mosquito family. 



Surgeons Wasdin and Geddings, who have 

 spent about a year studying yellow fever in the 

 South, have been sent to Havana to continue 

 their studies there. Their previous work has, 

 it appears, to a certain extent, confirmed the 

 researches of Sanarelli. 



The commission to be sent by the British 

 government to India to investigate the plague, 

 to which we recently called attention, has now 

 been appointed and consists of Dr. Thomas R. 

 Eraser, F. R. S., professor of materia medica 

 and clinical medicine at Edinburgh University 

 who has accepted the duty of President, and with 

 him will be associated two other scientific ex- 

 perts. Dr. Wright, professor of pathology at the 

 Army Medical School, Netley, and Dr. Riifier 

 who has been for some time head of the Egyp- 

 tian Sanitary Department at Cairo. Two offi- 

 cers of the Indian Civil Service, Mr. J. P. 

 Hewett, C. I. E., and Mr. A. Cumine, both of 

 whom have have had much to do with recent 

 plague affairs in India, have also been ap- 

 pointed to the commission by the government 

 of India. The scope of the commissioners' in- 

 quiries will include : (1) the origin of the diflfer- 

 ent outbreaks of plague ; (2) the manner in 

 which the disease is communicated ; (3) the ef- 

 fects of certain prophylactic and curative se- 

 rums that have been tried or recommended for 

 the disease. The members of the commission 

 will reach Bombay towards the end of the pres- 

 ent month. 



The plague in Bombay is showing some 

 abatement, the deaths during the last week in 

 October having decreased to 96. In the Presi- 

 dency of Bombay no less than 5,000 deaths 

 occurred during the week, and an increase has 

 occurred in the Mysore state, 400 deaths being 

 recorded in Bangalore alone. It is supposed 



