June 4, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



873 



in the electrolytic reaction, it is possible 

 that bythium may be formed by the decom- 

 position of chlorin. An atomic weight de- 

 termination will be looked for with interest. 



J. L. H. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



The committee ou international mails of the 

 postal congress has decided that natural history 

 specimens and articles for scientific collections 

 be admitted to the mails as samples. This will 

 permit of their being sent at the rate of one 

 cent for every two ounces, whereas at present 

 it is necessary to pay Ave cents for each half 

 ounce or fraction thereof. It will be remem- 

 bered that this amendment to the regulations 

 of the Universal Postal Union was proposed at 

 the Leiden meeting of the International 

 Zoological Congress at the instance of Dr. 

 Charles Wardell Stiles, and its adoption has 

 been urged by many men of science and scien- 

 tific associations. 



In the House of Commons, on May 27th, the 

 President of the Board of Trade, Mr. C. P. 

 Ritchie, introduced a bill to legalize the metric 

 system of weights and measures. 



Two fine specimens, male and female, of the 

 rare West Indian seal {Monachus tropicalis, 

 Gray) have been received at the National 

 Zoological Park. They were captured on the 

 11th of May on Campeche Bank, southern part 

 of the Gulf of Mexico. 



On the occasion of a recent excursion of the 

 geology classes of the University of Alabama, 

 in charge of Professor Eugene A. Smith, the 

 public spirit and liberality which are character- 

 istic of the authorities of the Louisville and 

 Nashville Railroad, were exemplified in placing 

 at the disposal of the class a special train, by 

 means of which the boys were enabled to visit 

 all the mines, quarries and other places of in- 

 terest along the mineral branch of this great 

 system. 



The will of the late Judge John Lowell, of 

 Newton, Mass., gives S3, 000 to the American 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences. 



It is reported that some of the heirs at law 

 are contesting the will of the late Alfred Nobel, 



and that this will delay the distribution of the 

 great prizes established by him. 



By the will of the late Charles F. Lawrence 

 the town of Pepperell, Mass., receives $100,000 

 for the establishment of a library and art gal- 

 lery. 



The Council of the Royal Society has recom- 

 mended for election the following fifteen candi- 

 dates: Dr. Robert Bell, Assistant Director of the 

 Geological Survey of Canada; Sir William 

 Broadbent, a London physician and neurologist; 

 Dr. Charles Chree, Superintendent of the Kew 

 Observatory ; Mr. H. J. Elwes, known for his 

 contributions to ornithology and entomology ; 

 Dr. J. S. Haldane, lecturer in physiology at 

 Oxford ; Dr. W. A. Haswell, professor of zool- 

 ogy in the University of Sydney ; Mr. G. B. 

 Howes, professor of zoology in the Royal Col- 

 lege of Science, London ; Dr. F. S. Kipping, 

 known for his researches in chemistry ; Mr. G. 

 P. Mathews, professor of mathematics in the 

 University College of North Wales ; Mr. G. R. 

 M. Murray, the botanist ; Mr. F. H. Neville, 

 the physicist; Dr. H. A. Nicholson, professor of 

 natural history in the University of Aberdeen ; 

 Mr. J. M. Thomson, professor of chemistry in 

 King's College; Mr. F. T. Tranten,the physicist, 

 and Mr. H. H. Turner, professor of astronomy 

 at Oxford. 



The American Philosophical Society, of Phil- 

 adelphia, has elected the following foreign mem- 

 bers: Lord Lister; Professor H. C. Rontgen, 

 Wiirzburg; Dr. Fridtjof Nansen; Professor 

 Theodor Tschernyschew, of the Geological 

 Survey of Russia, and Professor A. Karpinski, 

 Director of the Geological Survey of Russia. 



Dr. a. Fischer von Waldheim, professor 

 of botany in the University of Warsaw, has 

 been appointed Director of the Botanical Gar- 

 dens of St. Petersburg. 



It is proposed to erect a monument to tha 

 late Professor Anatole Bogdanov, the eminent 

 Russian anthropologist and naturalist, and at 

 the same time to endow a prize for scientific 

 work in Moscow University to bear his name. 



At the annual meeting of the Brooklyn In- 

 stitute ou May 28th Professor Shaler, of Har- 

 vard University, made an address in memory of 

 Agassiz. 



