August 7, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



167 



to press forward the general sanitary measures 

 on wliicli he dwells in the article, in order that 

 " we may regard as no Utopian dream the fore- 

 cast that after only a few more years we may see 

 the total extinction of tuhercle in our land." 



A chart is appended showing the phthisis 

 rate per 10,000 of the population during the last 

 fifty-eight years. In the year 1838 it stood at 

 the enormous figure of over 38, and in 1894, little 

 more than half a century later, it was only 13.8 

 — little more than one-third of its former prev- 

 alence. A straight line drawn from its highest 

 to its lowest points shows also that its decline 

 has been remarkably steady and generally 

 regular. If phthisis were to continue to dimin- 

 ish in prevalence at the same increasing rate of 

 decline for another thirty years it would then 

 have entirely disappeared. 



GENERAL. 



In connection with the proposed railway to 

 the summit of the Jungfrau, it is proposed to 

 establish a series of meteorological stations at 

 which it will be possible to study at various 

 altitudes the relations of temperature, atmos- 

 pheric pressure, precipitation, etc. The obser- 

 vatory at the summit will cost $20,000. 



According to Nature Dr. N. Busch, of Dor- 

 pat, has undertaken, at the request of the Upi- 

 versity of Dorpat and the Russian Geographical 

 Society of Petersburg, a botanical investigation 

 of the Caucasus. He proposes to visit the 

 hitherto unexplored sources of the rivers Te- 

 berda and Maruch in northern Caucasus. 



An expedition under the direction of Lieu- 

 tenant Werther, accompanied by two geologists, 

 is about to leave Berlin to spend a year or more 

 in exploring Northeast Africa. 



Die Natur states that the Austrian deep-sea 

 expedition under the charge of the ichthyologist 

 Dr. Franz Steindachner, the Director of the 

 Royal Vienna Museum, has now returned. 

 The expedition has for seven months been en- 

 gaged in explorations of the Red Sea on the 

 warship Pola. 



The Societe Scientifique Antonio Alzate, of 

 Mexico, elected the following honorary members 

 at the recent general meeting : M. Cuenot, pro- 

 fessor in the Faculty of Nancy; MM. Fizeau and 



Lippmau, of the Institute of France; M. Ch. 

 Richet, of the Faculty of Medicine, Paris; Dr. 

 G. Brown Goode and Prof. F. H. Bigelow of 

 Washington; Prof. Rontgen, of Wurtzburg; 

 Lord Rayleigh and Prof. William Ramsay, of 

 London. 



There will be held, at Sables d' Olonne, from 

 the 3rd to the 7th of September of the present 

 year, an International Congress of Fisheries. 



Two new year books are announced from 

 Paris, one Annuaire des Musees scientifiques et 

 archeologiques des Departements, the other 

 V Annee biologique, edited under the direction of 

 M. Y. Delage. 



Sir William MacCormac, of St. Thomas' 

 Hospital, has been elected President of the 

 Royal College of Surgeons of England. 



The Macmillan Co. announce for early pub- 

 lication a translation of Dr. von Zittel's elabo- 

 rate Paleontology, by Dr. Charles R. Eastman, 

 of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Har- 

 vard University. 



At the sixty-fourth annual meeting of the 

 British Medical Association, which was held at 

 Carlisle on July 28, 29, 30 and 31, the address 

 in medicine was to be delivered by Sir Dj'ce 

 Duckworth, lecturer on medicine, St. Bartholo- 

 mew's Hospital, and that in surgery by Dr. 

 Roderick Maclaren, senior surgeon to the Cum- 

 berland Infirmary. The scientific business of 

 the meeting was conducted in nine sections. 



The Millennial Congress of Hygiene and 

 Medicine will be held at Buda-Pesth, Septem- 

 ber 13th to 16th, under the Presidency of Profs. 

 Koranyi and Ketli. Among the subjects pro- 

 posed for discussion are the organization of 

 medical aid for the poor, pension and sick funds 

 for medical men, medical councils, etc. 



The third Congres Fran^ais de Medecine meets 

 at Nancy on August 6th to 9th. The subjects 

 announced for discussion are The Application 

 of Blood Serums to the Treatment of Diseases, 

 Intravascular Coagulation of Blood and Prog- 

 nosis of Albuminuria. 



If certain conditions are fulfilled by the City 

 of Chicago the Field Columbian Museum is to 

 receive $2,000,000 as an endowment fund from 

 Marshall Field, the founder of the institute. 



