748 



SCIENCE. 



[X. S. Vol. VIII. No. 204. 



provide a consulting and reference room for his 

 fellow-countrymen, whether interested in sea 

 or river fisheries, your committee are of opin- 

 ion that such au educational center is urgently 

 needed, and that the collection in question, al- 

 though inadequate through neglect, is capable 

 of being brought up to date and of taking the 

 place contemplated for it by the doner. Sub- 

 ject to Mrs. Buckland's life interest, a sum of 

 £5,000 was bequeathed to the Director and As- 

 sistant-Director of the South Kensington Mu- 

 seum, in trust for the British nation, to provide 

 lectures on fish culture in connection with this 

 unique series of specimens. Your committee, 

 however, have failed to ascertain what has 

 been done with this money. All that they 

 know is that no such lectureship exists, de- 

 spite the statement of Mr. George Bompas in 

 his 'Life of Frank Buckland,' published in 

 1885, that after the death of Mrs. Buckland 

 ' £5,000 was given to found a lectureship.' 



The British Institute of Preventive Medicine, 

 says Nature, which was founded with the view of 

 establishing in this country a national home for 

 bacteriological work in all its branches, has 

 made considerable progress towards the achieve- 

 ment of this aim during the past few years. 

 The bacteriological laboratories are now fully- 

 organized, the serum therapeutics laboratory is 

 on a firm footing, whilst the application of bac- 

 teriology to hygiene are finding full recognition. 

 A further addition has just been made to the 

 departments of the Institute in response to the 

 growing demands of the times. A large labora- 

 tory at Chelsea has been assigned to investiga- 

 tion and instruction in technical bacteriology. 

 In this laboratory the agriculturist, the chemist, 

 the brewer and others will find the instruction 

 provided that they individually require for suc- 

 cessfully employing the living agents of fermen- 

 tation. Investigations will also be undertaken, 

 and it is hoped that the laboratory will become 

 a center of useful work, and promote the ad- 

 vancement of a line of research of the greatest 

 importance to the industries of the country. 

 We have had hitherto to rely upon the research 

 work of foreign laboratories in this direction. 

 The laboratory has been named the Hansen 

 laboratory, in recognition of the pioneer work of 



the distinguished investigator, and will be under 

 the superintendence of Dr. G. Harris Morris. 

 The formal opening of the British Institute will 

 take place early in the new year, when the 

 public will have an opportunity of inspecting 

 the provisions made for furthering the objects 

 of the Institute. The occasion will also be 

 marked by the issue of a fresh volume of Trans- 

 actions of the Institute. 



A Zurich correspondent writes to the Lon- 

 don Times that the attention of the Swiss 

 Federal authorities has lately been drawn to 

 the inadequate administration of the law for 

 the protection of birds of passage and song 

 birds in the Canton of Ticino. lu the migra- 

 tion seasons of the year the destruction of these 

 birds increases to such an extent that larks, 

 starlings, finches, the titmouse, etc., are being 

 offered in the jjublic markets of Lugano and 

 Ticino for If. the dozen, and are served as a 

 staple article of food even in the cheapest res- 

 taurants. The birds in their southward pas- 

 sage are caught by nets, decoys, snares and 

 traps of every kind, and the poverty of the rural 

 Italians in the district serves as an additional 

 inducement for making a hasty profit from the 

 wholesale destruction and capture of singing 

 birds. The evil is notorious and one of long 

 standing, but Swiss law forbids the use of snares, 

 traps, nets and decoy birds, and it is hoped the 

 Federal and Cantonal authorities will be awak- 

 ened to the necessity of dealing with this sys- 

 tematic neglect of the law. North of the Alps 

 bird life is well protected throughout the Can- 

 tons, and here the tameness and abundance of 

 the birds, which so many visitors to Switzerland 

 have noticed, are the best testimony of the 

 value of such protective laws when effectively 

 administered and backed up by public opinion. 



UNIVEESITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



President Dwight has presented his resig- 

 nation from the Presidency of Yale University 

 on the ground that he has reached his seventieth 

 year. The Corporation has passed a minute 

 urging him to retain the Presidency until the 

 bi-centenial celebration in 1901, but it is said 

 that President Dwight will retire at the end of 

 the present year. At the same meeting of the 



