January 1, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



23 



Paris, the Cross of the Commander of the Order 

 of St. Anne; the Cross of St. Stanislas on Dr. 

 Bordas, sub-director of the laboratory, and on 

 Dr. Bertillon, director of the anthropometric 

 service. 



Peof. E. Abbe, of Jena; Prof. R. Fittig, of 

 Strasburg, and Prof J. Wislicenus, of Leipzig, 

 have been elected corresponding members of 

 the Berlin Academy of Sciences. 



Mr. Richard Rathbun has been appointed 

 assistant in charge of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion to succeed the late Mr. W. C. Winlock. 



M. Perrotin has resigned from the direc- 

 torship of the Observatory in Nice to accept a 

 position in the Astro-physical Observatory at 

 Meuden. 



Nine works are placed in competition for the 

 Lobach6vski Prize at Kazan, Russia, of which 

 three are from America. It is probable that the 

 prize will be awarded to the Third Volume of 

 the ' Theorie der Transformationsgruppen,' by 

 Sophus Lie. 



It is stated in Natural Science that the Geo- 

 logical Society of Stockholm has completed 

 twenty-five years of active life, and the fact is 

 commemorated in a special number of its For- 

 handlingar. 



Mr. F. W. Stokes, an artist who accompanied 

 the Peary expedition of 1892 and the North 

 Greenland expedition of 1893-4, is now exhibit- 

 ing at the Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, New 

 York, paintings of Arctic scenery. 



Lady Prestwich has given to the British 

 Museum the collection of fossils of the late Sir 

 Joseph Prestwich. 



The Arctic Club held its annual dinner in 

 New York on December 26th, Prof. W. H. 

 Brewer presiding. Dr. Frederick A. Cook stated 

 that he was beginning the work of organizing 

 an expedition to the Antarctic regions. 



We are asked to state that the time for the 

 sending in of essays for the Welby prize is ex- 

 tended to January, 1898. Prof. Emil Boviac 

 has been added to the committee of award. 



The Biological Society of Washington has 

 elected officers for the ensuing year as follows : 

 President, L. O. Howard; Vice-Presidents, 

 Richard Rathbun, C. D. Walcott, B. E. Fernow, 



F. V. Coville ; Recording Secretary, Charles L. 

 Pollard; Corresponding Secretary, F. A. Lucas ; 

 Treasurer F. H. Knowlton. 



Prof. Charles R. Cross, of the Massachu- 

 setts' Institute of Technology, began on Decem- 

 ber 29th a course of eight lectures at the Lowell 

 Institute, on the X-rays of Rontgen and related 

 Phenomena of Electric Discharge. 



The Texas Academy of Sciences have sent 

 out a preliminary program for the formal meet- 

 ing in San Antonio on December 31st. Papers 

 were promised by Mr. Thomas Fitz-Hugh, Dr. 

 C. F. Francis and Mr. W. W. Norman, and ad- 

 dresses by Maj. C. E. Dutton and Dr. G. B. 

 Halsted, the President of the Academy. 



An international exhibition for hygiene, 

 alimentation and industrial art will be held at 

 Lille during the months of March and April, 

 1897. 



Following the explosion of acetylene in M. 

 Pictet's laboratory at Paris, another serious ex- 

 plosion has occurred in Berlin, kiling Mr. G. 

 Isaac and three assistants, who were experi- 

 menting with acetylene. 



The anthropometric system for the identifica- 

 tion of habitual criminals has been extended to 

 Ireland, so that it is now in operation through- 

 out the United Kingdom. 



Dr. S. C. Chandler states in the last num- 

 ber of the Astronomical Journal that, feeling the 

 desirability of counsel and collaboration in the 

 conduct of the Journal, he has invited Prof. 

 Asaph Hall and Prof. Lewis Boss to share in 

 its editorship, and they have accepted. 



Harper's Magazine for January contains an 

 illustrated series of articles on the progress of 

 science during the century, by Dr. Henry Smith 

 Williams. 



With its issue of last week the New York 

 Medical Record completed its fiftieth volume. 

 Since its foundation it has been edited by Dr. 

 George F. Schrady and published by William 

 Wood & Co. The Journal has grown with the 

 advance of medical science, to which it has in 

 no small share itself contributed. 



The New York Board of Education has ap- 

 pointed 150 physicians to act as medical in- 

 spectors, one for each school district in the city. 



