918 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 128. 



Benjamin Rush, to be erected at "Washington, 

 but the amount was much increased by sub- 

 scriptions at the meeting. The Association will 

 next meet at Denver, under the Presidency of 

 Surgeon-General George M. Sternberg. 



A CONFERENCE of the members of the Insti- 

 tution of Civil Engineers was held in London 

 this year under conditions convenient to many 

 who are precluded from attending the weekly 

 meetings during the session, and serviceable to 

 all by the discussion of a wider range of sub- 

 jects than can be dealt with on ordinary 

 occasions. The business of the conference 

 differed from the ordinary proceedings of the 

 institution, papers descriptive of works exe- 

 cuted giving place to brief statements concern- 

 ing important debatable matters in engineer- 

 ing science and practice, introduced with a view 

 to eliciting discussion on the questions raised. 

 The conference was held on May 25, 26 and 27, 

 the morning of each day (from 10:30 to 1:30) 

 being devoted to the consideration of the state- 

 ments referred to, and visits of inspection 

 to engineering works being made in the after- 

 noon. The work of the conference was car- 

 ried out under the direction of the Coun- 

 cil, with the assistance of seven sectional 

 committees. The sections were : Railways, 

 with Sir Benjamin Baker as chairman ; harbors, 

 docks and canals, Mr. Harrison Hayter, chair- 

 man ; machinery and transmission of power, 

 Sir Frederick Bramwell, chairman ; mining and 

 metallurgy, Mr. T. Forster Brown, chairman ; 

 shipbuilding. Sir William H. White, chairman ; 

 waterworks, sewerage and gasworks, Mr. Man- 

 sergh, chairman, and applications of electricity, 

 Mr. W. H. Preece, chairman. 



A Revue Philanthropique will hereafter be pub- 

 lished in Paris by Masson et Cie, edited by 

 M. Paul Strauss. The Revue will be published 

 monthly, each number containing 160 large 

 pages. The first number contains articles of 

 considerable scientific interest. 



Thbee has been established in Italy a 'Societa 

 Posi ti vista, ' whose object it is to demonstrate 

 the importance of science for modern life. The 

 society has established a bi-monthly journal 

 entitled II Pensiero Moderno, published by the 

 Society at Via Collegio Romano, 26, and edited 



by Professor G. Sergi. Professor Sergi con- 

 tributes an introduction and an article to the 

 first number. Professor Sergi is also one of the 

 editors of a new Revista Italiana di Sociologia, 

 which takes the place of the Revista di Socio- 

 logia, formerly edited by Professors Sergi and 

 Tangorra. 



The first number of a monthly American X-ray 

 Journal has been issued from St. Louis, being 

 edited and published by Dr. Heber Roberts. It 

 contains a portrait of Dr. Rontgen and a num- 

 ber of photographs especially intended for the 

 medical profession. 



The report of the Medical Superintendent to 

 the London Metropolitan Asylums Board on the 

 use of anti-toxin and the treatment of diptheria 

 during the year 1896 confirms the favorable re- 

 sults reached the previous year. The percent- 

 age of mortality being reduced from 29.6 in 

 1894 to 20.8 in 1896. 



It has been announced in the Legislative As- 

 sembly of Cape Colony that the shooting of 

 cattle had been stopped as being a useless at- 

 tempt to maintain a clean belt. It was added 

 that it was impossible to prevent the rinder- 

 pest from' reaching Cape Colony. 



The International Fisheries Exhibition at 

 Bergen, to which we have already referred, 

 will be opened on May 16, 1898. It will in- 

 clude the following groups : 1. Fish products. 

 2. Fishing apparatus. 3. Vessels employed in 

 the catch and their equipment. 4. Preserva- 

 tives. 5. Lodging ships, lodging houses and 

 station huts. 6. Tank and other transport ves- 

 sels. 7. Models and drawings of warehouses, 

 salting establishments, smoke houses, ice houses 

 and other cold rooms. 8. Machines, tools and 

 apparatus. 9. Fish culture. 10. Pleasure 

 fisheries. 11. Facts about the fisheries and 

 their development. 12. The life-saving service. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



McGiLL University, Montreal, receives 

 $100,000 by the will of the late J. H. R. Mol- 

 son, who was senior governor of the University. 



The Rev. Father Mackay has given $5,000 

 to the Catholic University of America for the 

 foundation of a scholarship. 



