48 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 80. 



The New York Evening Post states tliat some 

 changes in the competitive system of appoint- 

 ment as related to the scientific bureaus of 

 the Department of Agriculture are now under 

 consideration, and may be announced in a 

 few days. The system of special examina- 

 tions for scientific positions has not proved satis- 

 factory. It is said that besides being trouble- 

 some and expensive these examinations put a 

 premium upon the narrowly educated specialist 

 and do not suflQ.ciently recognize experience and 

 intellectual breadth. The reforms proposed 

 are a permanent list of eligibles, based on lines of 

 broader scientific training and a longer period of 

 apprenticeship for those who are taken into the 

 scientific bureaus, so that the higher positions 

 need never be filled directly from the special ex- 

 amination, but by promotion on basis of exami- 

 nation of tried assistants. 



D. Van Nostrand & Co. announce for pub- 

 lication in August a work on Bontgen Bays and 

 Phenomena of the Anode and Cathode, by Edward 

 P. Thompson, assisted by Louis M. Pignolet, 

 N. D. C. Hodges and Ludwig Gutmann, 

 with a chapter on Generalizations, Arguments, 

 Theories, Kindred Eadiations and Phenomena, 

 by Prof. Wm. A. Anthony. 



The next meeting of the American Micro- 

 scopical Society will be held at Pittsburg, Pa. , 

 August 18, 19, 20, 1896, under the presidency of 

 Prof. A. Clifford Mercer, of Syracuse, N. Y. 

 The meeting, which promises to be of special 

 interest, will be held in the Carnegie Library 

 Building. It is hoped that there will be a full 

 attendance of members, as the question of hav- 

 ing a permanent home in which the accumu- 

 lated property of the Society is to be considered. 

 Membership blanks and general information re- 

 garding the Society may be obtained from the 

 Secretary, Prof. W. C. Krauss, 382 Virginia 

 street, Buffalo, N. Y. 



The United States Civil Service Commission 

 will hold an examination in Washington and 

 other cities where there are applicants, on July 

 30th, to fill a vacancy in the position of assis- 

 tant in the division of chemistry, Department 

 of Agriculture, at a salary of $1,200 per annum ; 

 also an examination on August 13th and 14th 

 to fill a vacancy in the position of botanical 



artist. Department of Agriculture, at a salary 

 of $1,000 per annum. 



Mr. Flinders Petrie has been appointed 

 executor-in-chief of the Egypt Exploration 

 Fund, and the work will doubtless be prose- 

 cuted with vigor under his administration. 



William T. Brigham, of Honolulu, left for 

 Washington June 26th, to visit the Smithsonian 

 Institution . He is director of the Bernice Pauahi 

 Bishop Museum of Polynesian Ethnology and 

 Natural History at Honolulu, left the latter 

 place last Janurry, and has been making a tour 

 around the world for the purpose of studying 

 the chief ethnological exhibits in various coun- 

 tries. He has been especially interested in 

 studying the marine zoological stations at 

 Naples, Berlin, Amsterdam and Portsmouth, 

 as he expects to organize a marine zoological 

 station near Honolulu for the Hon. Charles R. 

 Bishop, Vice-President of the Bank of California. 

 The proposed new station, he says, will cost 

 three-quarters of a million dollars. 



We learn from the Bevista de la Instrucion 

 Piiblica Mexicana that a law is being considered 

 by the Mexican Chamber of Deputies making 

 all the archaeological monuments and remains 

 in the country the property of the nation and 

 forbidding their exploration, restoration and 

 removal without express authorization of the 

 executive. The archaeological map of the re- 

 public is to be revised, the monuments are to 

 be examined, and as much of the material as 

 possible is to be preserved in the National 

 Museum. It is to be a penal offence to injure 

 the remains or to export them from the country 

 without legal authorization. 



Sir John Evans has presented to the London 

 Geological Society an oil portrait of Huxley. 



The steam yacht Ohio sailed for Norway on 

 June 27th, with two hundred passengers, in- 

 cluding a number of men of science, to observe 

 the total eclipse of the sun at Bado. 



In order to encourage kite-designing and kite- 

 flying, the Boston Aeronautical Society offers 

 for the best kites, cash prizes amounting to one 

 hundred and fifty dollars. The competition is 

 to take place between September 15 and Octo- 

 ber 15, 1896. Octave Chanute, Esq., off"ers, 

 through this Society, a special prize of one hun- 



