800 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 125. 



of the separate States and municipalities, sup- 

 plemented by such data as the Director of the 

 Census may think it advisable to secure. Sta- 

 tistics relating to the dependent, delinquent 

 and defective classes would be published an- 

 nually. It is hoped, further, to secure a quin- 

 quennial census of the population with the co- 

 operation of the States. 



ELIZABETH THOMPSON SCIENCE FUND. 



This fund, which was established by Mrs. 

 Elizabeth Thompson, of Stamford, Connecticut, 

 ' for the advancement and prosecution of scien- 

 tific research in its broadest sense,' now 

 amounts to $26,000. It is under the care of a 

 board of trustees consisting of Henry P. Bow- 

 ditch, President ; William Minot, Jr. , Trea- 

 surer ; James M. Crafts, Edward C. Pickering 

 and C. S. Minot, Secretary. As accumulated 

 income will be available in November next, the 

 trustees desire to receive application for appro- 

 priations in aid to scientific work. This endow- 

 ment is not for the benefit of any one depart- 

 ment of science, but it is the intention of the 

 trustees to give the preference to those investi- 

 gations which cannot otherwise be provided for, 

 which have for their object the advancement of 

 human knowledge or the benefit of mankind 

 in general, rather than to researches directed 

 to the solution of questions of merely local im- 

 portance. 



Application for assistance from this fund, in 

 order to receive consideration, must be accom- 

 panied by full information, especially in regard 

 to the following points : (1) Precise amount re- 

 quired. (2) Exact nature of the investigation 

 proposed. (3) Conditions under which the re- 

 search is to be prosecuted. (4) Manner in which 

 the appropriation asked for is to be expended. 

 The trustees are disinclined, for the present, to 

 make any grant to meet ordinary expenses of 

 living or to purchase instruments, such as 

 are found commonly in laboratories. Decided 

 preference will be given to applications for 

 small amounts, and grants exceeding $300 

 will be made only under very exceptional 

 circumstances. All applications should reach, 

 before November 1, 1897, the Secretary of 

 the Board of Trustees, Dr. C. S. Minot, Harvard 

 Medical School, Boston, Mass., U. S. A. 



GENERAL. 



The House of Representatives, on May 11th, 

 by a vote of 100 to 39, refused to concur in the 

 Senate Amendment to the Civil Service Sundry 

 Bill, revoking President Cleveland's order re- 

 garding the forest reservations. Both the 

 House and the Senate are evidently in favor of 

 the inauguration of an adequate forestry policy, 

 and we feel sure that suitable arrangements 

 will be made. 



Me. Gallinger has reported favorably, from 

 the Committee on the District of Colum- 

 bia, the bill ' For the further prevention of 

 cruelty to animals in the District of Colum- 

 bia.' It is to be hoped that this bill, which 

 proposes onerous and useless restrictions on the 

 advancement of the medical sciences, will not 

 be passed by Congress. All the representative 

 bodies most competent to form an opinion on 

 the matter regard the proposed law as useless 

 and harmful. These bodies include The Na- 

 tional Academy of Sciences, the American As- 

 sociation for the Advancement of Science, the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 

 and many other societies more competent than 

 the Senate to decide whether any cruelty to 

 animals has been practiced in the District of 

 Columbia. 



By the death of the Due d'Aumale, on May 

 7th, the Institute of France comes into posses- 

 sion of the Chateau of Chantilly with its great 

 collections, a bequest valued at $8,000,000. 



Professoe B. K. Emerson, Professor O. C. 

 Marsh, Professor S. F. Emmons, Mr. J. E. 

 Spurr, Mr. A. H. Brooks, Professor W. H. 

 Hobbs and Professor J. P. Iddings, all of the 

 United States Geological Survey, will attend 

 the coming International Geological Congress in 

 Russia. They will be ofiicially accredited to 

 the Congress as representatives of the United 

 States, the delegation to include also Professor 

 G. P. Merrill, of the National Museum. 



President David Starr Joed an, Mr. F. A. 

 Lucas and Mr. Leonhard Stegneger will again 

 this year act as commissioners to investigate 

 the condition of the seals, and will leave for the 

 Pribyloff Islands on or about the 1st of June. 



The Civil Service Commission announces a 

 competitive examination to fill a vacancy in the 



