168 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 84. 



The London Goldsmiths' Company have con- 

 tributed £1,000 for the extension and better 

 equipment of the scientific laboratories at the 

 Imperial Institute. A research fellowship of 

 the value of £150 annually has been established 

 by the Salters' Company, in connection with 

 the scientific department, for the investigation 

 of new or little known natural products. 



It is stated that Mr. T. Ruddiman Johnston, 

 a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 

 will erect in London a terrestrial globe, showing 

 the earth's surface on a scale of about eighty 

 miles to the inch. Every geographical feature 

 of importance will be shown and named, as well 

 as every city and town having 500 inhabitants 

 or more. The globe will take nearly two years 

 to construct, and Mr. Johnston hopes to have 

 the assistance of all those having a special 

 knowledge of any portion of the earth's surface. 

 The globe will revolve slowly, and will be ob- 

 served from the upper end of a spiral gallery 

 to be erected for this purpose. 



The Tokyo Botanical Society is doing excel- 

 lent work in making known studies of the 

 native flora carried on by its members. The 

 last number of the journal of the Society, The 

 Botanical Magazine^ contains the following ar- 

 ticles : Notes on the Plants collected in Suruga, 

 Totomi, Yamato and Kii, by M. Shirai ; On 

 the Smut of Japanese Cereals, by S. Hori ; Salix 

 of Hokkaido, by Y. Tokubuchi ; Plants em- 

 ployed in Medicine in the Japanese Pharmaco- 

 poeia, by K. Sawarda ; Contribution to Knowl- 

 edge of the Marine Algae of Japan, by K. 

 Okamura ; Phanerogams of Shonai, by T, Kawa- 

 kami. The first four articles are in Japanese. 



The first part of the 9th volume of the Pro- 

 ceedings and Transactions of the Nova Scotia 

 Institute of Science contains an account of the 

 work of the session of 1894-95. The papers are 

 of interest, as they contain chiefly observations 

 regarding the local geology, antiquities, flora, 

 etc., of the region. The address of the Presi- 

 dent, the late Prof. George Lawson, reviewed 

 the history of the Institute, which was founded 

 in 1862, with special reference to the work of 

 the preceding session. 



M. "William Vogt has prepared a biog- 

 raphy of his father, Carl Vogt, which has been 



published by Reinwald under the title La vie 

 d'un homme — Carl Vogt. 



It has been decided to erect a statue of 

 Jenner in Tokyo ; 1000 yen have been sub- 

 scribed by the private Sanitary Association, 

 and it is estimated that 2,500 yen will remain 

 after the expenses of the recent centennial 

 have been defrayed, which will be devoted to 

 the purpose. The statue is to be ordered 

 from London. 



We quote the following from iVa^Mre : ''Dr. 

 Brown Goode makes the following comparison 

 in a report of the U. S. National Museum, 

 lately issued : ' There is not a department of 

 the British government to which a citizen has 

 a right to apply for information upon a scien- 

 tific question. This seems hard to believe, for I 

 cannot think of any scientific subject regard- 

 ing which a letter, if addressed to the scientific 

 bureaus in Washington, would not receive a 

 full and practical reply. It is estimated that 

 not less than 20,000 such letters are received 

 each year. The Smithsonian Institution and 

 National Museum alone receive about 6,000, 

 and the proportion of these from the new States 

 and Territories, which have not yet developed 

 institutions of learning of their own, is the 

 largest. An intelligent question from a farmer 

 of the frontier receives as much attention as a 

 communication from a Royal Academy of Sci- 

 ences, and often takes more time for the prepa- 

 ration of the reply. ' It is little to the credit of 

 the British government that Dr. Goode' s com- 

 parison should be so much to our disadvantage. ' ' 



Last year Mr. George W. Breckenridge, of 

 San Antonio, presented to the University of 

 Texas ' The Singley Collection of Texas Mol- 

 lusca.' This unique gathering of shells was 

 the work of Mr. J. A. Singley, who devoted 

 much time and energy to its production. It is 

 unrivaled, we believe, in the world, embracing 

 309 species, represented by 6143 specimens 

 from 977 localities. This year the same gener- 

 ous donor has added to his previous gift the re- 

 mainder of the 'Singley Collection,' consisting 

 of shells from all parts of the world : Marine 

 shells, 750 species and varieties, represented by 

 2350 specimens ; land shells, 1101 species and 

 varieties, represented by 3839 specimens; fresh 



