March 5, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



397 



the Society greater autonomy in the adminis- 

 tration of the proposed Zoological Park. The 

 Commissioner and other members of the Sink- 

 ing Fund Commission, as well as members of the 

 Park Board, have all declared themselves indi- 

 vidually in favor of the proposals of the Society, 

 and it is expected that a satisfactory settlement 

 will be reached in the course of a short time. 



Officers of the New York Academy of Sci- 

 ences for 1897-1898, in most cases the same as 

 for the past year, have been elected, as follows : 

 President, John J. Stevenson, professor of geol- 

 ogy. New York University ; First Vice-Presi- 

 dent, Henry F. Osborn, professor of zoology, 

 Columbia University ; Second Vice-President, 

 Nathaniel L. Britton, director New York Bo- 

 tanical Garden ; Corresponding Secretary, Wil- 

 liam Hallock, department of physics, Columbia 

 University ; Recording Secretary, James F. 

 Kemp, professor of geology, Columbia Univer- 

 sity ; Treasurer, Charles F. Cox ; Librarian, 

 Arthur Hollick, department of geologj', Colum- 

 bia University. 



Professor C. S. Sherrington will deliver 

 the Croonian lecture before the Royal Society on 

 April 1st, having selected as his subject, The 

 Spinal Cord and Reflex Actions. 



Surgeon H. D. Giddings, United States 

 Navy, the American scientific delegate to the 

 conference on the plague, has arrived at Venice. 



Professor Ebermann has been elected Presi- 

 dent of the St. Petersburg Medical Society. 



Nature quotes from the Rendiconti del Reale 

 Istituto Lomhardo the award of the following 

 prizes : One of the five Cagnola prizes of 2, -500 

 lire and a gold medal of the value of 500 lire to 

 Dr. Andrea Giulio Rossi, of Padua, for his 

 essay on methods of registering the phases of 

 two alternating currents. The Brambilla prize 

 of 1,500 lire and a gold medal are awarded to 

 Prof. Carlo Figini, for his improvements in the 

 weaving industry ; and rewards of 500 lire 

 each to Signor Sala Salvatore and Signor 

 Scartazzi Antonio. The Fossati prize of 2,000 

 lire is awarded to Prof. Angelo Mosso, of Turin, 

 for his essay on the temperature of the brain. 

 For the coming year the Istituto offers the 

 prize of the institution of 1,200 lire, for experi- 

 ments confirming Maxwell's theory of dielec- 



tric stresses ; six Cagnola prizes of 2,500 lire, 

 each accompanied by a gold medal of 500 lire, 

 for essays on various selected subjects, mostly 

 medical ; one Brambilla prize, for improve- 

 ments in some industry in Lombardy, and one 

 Secco-Comneno prize of 864 lire, for an essajr 

 on ursemia. These prizes are open to foreigners, 

 but the essays must be in Italian, French or 

 Latin. 



A neav laboratory for hygiene has been 

 erected and recently opened at the University 

 of Freiburg. It is under the directorship of 

 Professor M. Sohottelius. 



The Royal Meteorological Society, London, 

 will hold from March 16th to 19th, in commem- 

 oration of the Diamond Jubilee of the Queen, 

 an exhibition of the meteorological instruments 

 in use in 1837 and in 1897, together with dia- 

 grams, drawings and photographs illustrating 

 these. 



Lord Playfair has written to the London 

 Times suggesting that in addition to the various 

 philanthropic and local plans proposed for the 

 celebration of the Queen's jubilee the event be 

 celebrated by a permanent national memorial 

 out of public funds. He calls attention to 

 the fact that in 1837, the first year of Queen 

 Victoria's reign, a vote was taken and a mu- 

 seum and school of design were opened at 

 Somerset House. This initial effort to promote 

 technical education has developed into the 

 magnificent art collections and art instruction 

 of South Kensington. For the purpose of 

 technical instruction in art these collections are 

 superior to any in Europe. Berlin and Vienna 

 have avowedly founded new museums on the 

 English type, while Paris has rearranged her 

 museums to some extent in a like way. The 

 museum at South Kensington was opened in 

 1857, but while the collections have continually 

 grown the building has never been completed. 

 Lord Playfair proposes that Parliament com- 

 plete the building and that the name be changed 

 from the South Kensington Museum to the 

 Victorian Museum. 



Lord Salisbury, the English Premier, re- 

 ceived, at the Foreign OflSce, on February 16th, 

 a deputation of representatives of science, who 

 asked the government to establish a national 



