952 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 129. 



for special discussion include science teaching, 

 in -which Professor W. M. Davis and Professor 

 Geo. F. Atkinson will take part, and the Amer- 

 ican University with special reference to a Na- 

 tional University at Washington. 



Governor Black has signed the bill appro- 

 priating $126,600 for the enlargement of the 

 buildings of the Craig colony for epileptics. 



The new tunnel under the Thames at the 

 East End of London, constructed under the 

 auspices of the County Council, was opened on 

 May 22d. 



The American Naturalist states that Drs. 

 Maxwell and Swan, of Monmouth College, Illi- 

 nois, propose to organize a summer school of 

 biology, which will be probably located on the 

 Mississippi River, not far from Monmouth. 



It is said that a bill has been introduced in the 

 Minnesota Legislature providing for the appoint- 

 ment of expert witnesses, and that the homeo- 

 pathic physicians have, with legal advice, pre- 

 pared a bill to be presented to the New York 

 Legislature. The object of the bill is to provide 

 a list of experts from whom witnesses are to be 

 selected by the Court and paid by the State. 

 The employment of expert witnesses by the 

 counsel for the prosecution or defence has been 

 unfortunate both for the Courts and for science. 

 It would certainly be desirable to devise a plan 

 by which the expert witness should be in the 

 position of a judge rather than that of a paid 

 attorney. 



The unfortunate relations of politics to sci- 

 ence are illustrated by the following note from 

 the New York Tribune : ' ' Senator Elkins and 

 Eepresentative Dovener, of West Virginia, had 

 a talk with the President about West Vir- 

 ginians. They introduced George Bowers, a 

 candidate for Fish Commissioner, and Alexander 

 Campbell, who wants a Deputy Auditorship. It 

 is stated that there are numerous applicants for 

 Fish Commissioner, but at the same time it is 

 stated that Commissioner Brice stands well at 

 the White House. Many prominent Republi- 

 cans have requested that he be retained, and 

 have pointed to his services as having been de- 

 cidedly satisfactory. It is hinted that the 

 President will make no change, if at all, with- 



out giving thorough consideration to the idea- 

 of retaining Mr. Brice." 



The United States Civil Service Commission 

 announces that it will hold a special examina- 

 tion on July 28th for establishing a register 

 from which appointment may be made to the 

 position of Assistant Chief in the Division of 

 Soils in the Agricultural Department. The 

 salary of this position is $1,800 per annum and 

 men only are eligible. All applicants are re- 

 quired to submit to the Commission, not later 

 than July 15th, an original essay, either printed 

 or in manuscript form, consisting of not less 

 than 5,000 words and containing a thorough 

 treatment of the subject ' Environment as affect- 

 ing the yield, quality and time of ripening of 

 crops.' This paper should fully cover the rela- 

 tion of climate, soil and other conditions to the 

 functions of plants, with special reference to the 

 commercial aspect of the subject. Only those 

 applicants who submit satisfactory essays will 

 be admitted to the remainder of the examina- 

 tion, which will be held on July 28th. The sub- 

 jects and relative weights of the examination 

 will be as follows : 



Plant physiology 3 



Climatology 2 



Soils 2 



Crops (including production and marketing).. 2 

 Languages, German and French, 



(Translated into English) 1 



Essay 10 



Total 20 



All persons desiring to compete in this exami- 

 nation should write at once to the United States 

 Civil Service Commission at Washington, D. C, 

 for blanks and further instructions. 



Dr. H. Careington Bolton recently called 

 the attention of our readers to a patent allowed 

 by the British office for making gold. An ap- 

 plication for a patent to convert baser metals 

 into gold has been made to our patent office, 

 but it appears that the Treasury Department 

 undertook to test the process and that the patent 

 has so far been withheld. 



We learn from the London Times that the 

 Select Committee of the House of Commons ap- 

 pointed to inquire into the administration of 

 the museums of the Science and Art Depart- 



