April 3, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



659 



subject being ' American University Tend- 

 encies.' 



Dk. r. A. Wolff, of the ISTational Bureau of 

 Standards, Washington, will discuss ' Modern 

 Methods of Electrical Standardizing' before 

 the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia on 

 March 26. 



The winter term public meeting of the Ohio 

 State University Chapter of the Society of 

 the Sigma Xi was addressed this year by Pro- 

 fessor C. B. Morrey, his subject being the 

 ' Uses of Bacteria.' Of especial interest was 

 the elaboration of the author's theory of the 

 bacterial formation of coal and natural gas. 



Me. Charles A. Davis, instructor in for- 

 estry, in the University of Michigan, has been 

 engaged to prepare a map showing the distri- 

 bution of forest trees and soil relations for 

 the Ann Arbor sheet of the topographic atlas 

 soon to be published by the United States 

 Geological Survey. 



Cablegrams to the daily papers from New 

 Zealand report the return of the Morning 

 which joined the Discovery on January 23. 

 The latter ship wintered further south than 

 any previous expedition and Captain Scott 

 with a sledging party penetrated one hundred 

 miles further south than any previous ex- 

 plorer. An extensive mountainous region 

 was discovered, which it is supposed may ex- 

 tend to the South Pole. Two other exploring 

 parties are also said to have made important 

 geographical discoveries. Large collections 

 and numerous observations have also been 

 made. The Discovery is expected to return 

 in August. 



It is stated in the London Times that M. 

 Bialynitsky-Biroulin, the zoologist, who was 

 a member of Baron Toll's Arctic expedition, 

 has given the Irkutsk branch of the Eussian 

 Imperial Geographical Society the following 

 information regarding Baron Toll, who left 

 for Siberia in June last to explore Bennett 

 Land and has not been heard of since. M. 

 Biroulin says that he left Baron Toll at Neu- 

 poloch Bay on May 11 and proceeded to New 

 Siberia, where he arrived a fortnight later. 

 He left the island on December 4. Before 

 his departure he erected a hut as a depository 



for the flesh of thirty reindeer and other pre- 

 served food. Baron Toll, M. Biroulin states, 

 left the yacht Sarja on June 9 on the islands 

 of the north coast and proceeded to Cape 

 Wyssoki, where he arrived on July 10. Here 

 he deposited a statement to the effect that all 

 was well with him and his followers and that 

 the dogs were in good condition, having had 

 sufficient reindeer meat. Baron Toll started 

 for Bennett Land on July 13 with three 

 sleighs and 45 dogs. If a passage through 

 the ice to the Sarja should not be open, M. 

 Biroulin said that Baron Toll intended win- 

 tering in Bennett Land. 



The Eev. Dr. John Peate, of GreenviUe, 

 Pa., known for the reflecting telescopic lenses 

 that he has made while engaged in other work, 

 died on March 24, at the age of eighty-two 



The death is annoxmced of M. Gustav 

 Eadde, director of the Museum at Tiflis, 

 knovim for his studies of the natural history 

 of the southwestern Caucasian region. 



M. VoRONiNE, professor of botany in the 

 University of St. Petersburg, has died at the 

 age of seventy-five years. 



A TELEGRAM has been received at the Har- 

 vard College Observatory from Professor 

 Kreutz, at Kiel, stating that a new star, 

 which is possibly a variable, has been found 

 by Professor Turner, at Oxford. The magni- 

 tude was 8.0 on March 16. This object is 

 confirmed on a Harvard photograph taken on 

 March 6, 1903. Invisible on plate and cer- 

 tainly fainter than tenth magnitude on March 

 1, 1903. A telegram from Professor Geo. E. 

 Hale, at Terkes Observatory, states that 

 Turner's new star is in the following position. 

 March 2Y.75 G. M. T., E. A. 6i» 37™ 49^.0 

 Dec. + 30° 02' 38". Its color is red and its 

 spectrum shows bright lines or bands. 



The American Social Science Association 

 will meet at Boston on May 14, 15 and 16. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



The late Ario Wentworth, of Salem, Mass., 

 has made numerous public bequests, including 

 $100,000 to the Massachusetts Institute of 

 Technology, $100,000 to the Massachusetts 



