Skptkmbkh 



SCIENCE. 



415 



nassay Valley, which faces full south, and 

 consequently is always free from snow early 

 in the year, at any rate as far as the Tete 

 Rousse. An open-air line by this route is, 

 therefore, feasible; and this is important, as 

 tourists naturally desire to see the perspec- 

 tives of the mountains, which would be impos- 

 sible if the line should be tunneled all the way. 



The annual report for 1902 on the ice- 

 conditions in the arctic seas has been issued 

 by the Danish Meteorological Institute. Ac- 

 cording to the abstract in the Geographical 

 Journal, information has come to hand in 

 somewhat fuller measure than in the previous 

 year. After a review of the state of the 

 ice in the diiferent seas around the polar 

 area, the following general conclusions are 

 arrived at. In 1902 the winter ice broke up 

 very late, and the polar ice lay considerably 

 nearer the northern coasts of Asia and Europe 

 than in a normal year. The East Greenland 

 current carried an abnormal quantity of pack- 

 ice, though on the other hand an unusually 

 small number of icebergs were carried from 

 Greenland to the temperate seas, while the ex- 

 tent of polar ice in the northern branches of 

 Baffin bay was smaller than in other recent 

 years. The summer was rough and unsettled 

 in all arctic and subarctic regions (with the 

 partial exception of West Greenland), north- 

 erly and easterly winds predominating in the 

 seas north of the Atlantic. These facts quite 

 bear out the conclusions drawn from a con- 

 sideration of the state of the ice in 1901, viz., 

 that the accumulation of ice north of Spitz- 

 bergen caused by the prevailing westerly winds 

 of that year would have an unfavorable influ- 

 ence on the state of the ice round Iceland 

 and Greenland in 1902. Alike in the Barents 

 sea, the region of Franz Josef Land, and 

 around Spitzbergen, East Greenland, and Ice- 

 land the conditions were very unfavorable. 

 The northeast, east, and southeast coasts of 

 Spitzbergen were quite inaccessible through 

 the summer; the pack-ice lay in a close broad 

 belt off the coast of East Greenland, rendering 

 access to the northern parts of the coast ex- 

 ceedingly difficult; while round Iceland the 

 state of the ice was more unfavorable than 

 ever since 1S92. 



LMVEKSITY AXD EDLCA'JIOXAL NEWS. 



A GIFT of another $300,000 dormitory to the 

 Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University 

 by Mr. F. W. Vanderbilt, Yale, '76, of New 

 York, is announced. About a year ago Mr. 

 Vanderbilt gave a dormitory to the Sheffield 

 Scientific School in memory of the late Cor- 

 nelius Vanderbilt. 



The California Methodist Episcopal Con- 

 ference has completed the work of raising an 

 endowment fund of $100,000 for the Uni- 

 versity of the Pacific. 



By the gift of a daughter of the late Charles 

 Pratt of Brooklyn, the Department of Physi- 

 cal Education of Amherst College is to re- 

 ceive an additional annual income of $1,500. 

 Under the conditions of the gift, a graduate 

 of the college may by a year or more of work 

 in the theory and practise of physical educa- 

 tion fit himself to become a teacher of that 

 science, while assisting in the work of the 

 department. 



After many delays the Pittsburg city coun- 

 cils have authorized the mayor to accept on 

 behalf of the city the Flynn-Magee site pur- 

 chased for the location of the Carnegie Tech- 

 nological School. The site includes thirty-two 

 acres on the eastern border of Schenley Park. 



Williams TIxll, the new building to be 

 devoted to the departments of geology and 

 mechanical engineering at Lehigh University, 

 will be formally opened on October 8, in con- 

 nection with the twenty-fourth annual cele- 

 bration of Founder's Day. Addresses will be 

 delivered by Professor Edward H. Williams, 

 Jr., of the department of geology and mining, 

 who is the principal donor of the building, 

 and by Dr. Rossiter W. Raymond, secretary 

 of the American Institute of Mining Engi- 

 neers. 



Briefs have been filed opposing the appli- 

 cation of the trustees of Rutgers College for 

 the payment of $80,000 allowed by the last 

 New Jersey legislature in settlement of the 

 claim of the college for back scholarships. 



There has been incorporated in Quebec a 

 school for the purpose of establishing and 

 carrying on an agricultural school, and ex- 

 perimental farms. This school is to maintain 



