February 5, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



223 



eight years had his laboratory as paleontolo- 

 gist of the Geological Survey in the Museum 

 building. The interests of the Museum and of 

 the Geological Survey are very closely con- 

 nected. Mr. Walcott's selection for this post 

 seems an eminently fitting one in view of the 

 unusual executive abilities which he has shown 

 himself to possess since he assumed the Director- 

 ship of the Geological Survey in 1894. Mr. 

 Walcott is a native of New York State and has 

 been connected with the Geological Survey 

 since 1879. 



It is reported in The British Medical Journal 

 that the sum received by the Huxley Memorial 

 Committee now amounts to nearly £3,000. 

 Mr. Onslow Ford, R. A. , has nearly completed 

 the full-size model of the statue which is to be 

 placed in the central hall of the Museum of 

 Natural History at South Kensington. The 

 dies for the Royal College of Science medal are 

 now being prepared by Mr. L. Bowcher. .^ 



The funeral ceremonies of du Bois-Reymond 

 took place on December 29th in the lecture hall 

 of the physiological laboratory, Berlin. Dr. 

 Bosse, the Prussian Minister of Education, repre- 

 sented the government, and there were dele- 

 gates from many scientific and learned socie- 

 ties. The Reverend Professor Scholz made the 

 chief address; and other speeches were made by 

 Professors Warburg, Munk, Rosenthal, Fritsch 

 and Pictet. 



We regi'et to notice the deaths of Dr. Aug. 

 Streng, professor of mineralogy at the Univer- 

 sity of Giessen ; of Professor Saccardo, of the 

 Analino School of Viticulture, Italy, and of 

 Frederic John Mouat, who had made contribu- 

 tions to medical and statistical science. 



The following further corresponding mem- 

 bers have been elected to the St. Petersburg 

 Academy : Sophus Lie, professor of mathemat- 

 ics in Leipzig; W. Ostwald, professor of 

 chemistry in Leipzig ; M. Landolt, professor of 

 chemistry in Berlin ; Karl Zittel, professor of 

 paleontology in Munich. 



Professor Paul Harzbr, director of the ob- 

 servatory near Gotha, Saxony, has been ap- 

 pointed director of the observatory at Kiel and 

 professor of astronomy in the University in the 

 place of the late Professor Kriiger. 



Professor Virchow has been reelected Pres- 

 ident of the Berlin Medical Society. 



Leopold Voss, of Hamburg, announces as in 

 preparation von Helmholtz's Vorlesungen iiber 

 theoretische Physik, edited by Arthur Konig, 

 Otto Krigar-Menzel and Carl Runge, to be pub- 

 lished in six volumes. 



Francis P. Harper will publish the journals 

 of Alexander Henry the younger and David 

 Thompson, the former a fur trader and the lat- 

 ter a geographer, edited by Dr. Elliott Cones. 



Secretary Morton, in his recent report, calls 

 attention to the inadequacy of the salaries paid 

 to higher oflScials in the Department of Agri- 

 culture. The salary of a chief is now $2,500, 

 and that of an assistant $1,800. The Secretary 

 has recommended, in the estimates for the next 

 fiscal year, that the salaries of chiefs of divi- 

 sions be increased to $3,000 and those of 

 assistant chiefs to $2,000. He calls attention 

 to the fact that on account of the low salaries 

 paid for scientific and skilled services, the De- 

 partment is constantly losing some of its ablest 

 and best workers. The universities, colleges, 

 and experiment stations, paying better salaries 

 and offering equal opportunities for useful 

 work and the acquirement of national reputa- 

 tion, are frequently taking the best men. 

 Thirty-two leading scientific experts have left 

 the Department during the last few years to 

 take positions in other institutions, at a rate of 

 remuneration averaging fully 50 per cent, more 

 than they received from the government of the 

 United States. 



The reports regarding the bequest of Alfred 

 Nobel have been meager and conflicting. The 

 London Times and other journals stated that the 

 fourth prize was for a compilation in physiology 

 or medicine, but the foreign journals now state 

 that this prize is for a work of literary art. The 

 prizes in physics and chemistry will be awarded 

 by the Academy of Sciences of Sweden ; the 

 one for work in physiology or medicine by the 

 Carolus Institute of Stockholm ; the literary 

 prize by the Swedish Academy, and the one for 

 the furtherance of peace by a committee of five 

 members chosen by the Norwegian Storthing. 



We have published an account of the 

 report of the Committee of the British Asso- 



