AUGUST 14, 1896,] 



SCIENCE. 



195 



to the general government, and this library is 

 uovr a portion of the Congressional Library. 



Dr. T. M. Drown has resigned from the com- 

 m.ittee of the American Chemical Society which 

 is undertaking to unify the methods of color 

 comparison and report on a standard for meas- 

 urement of color in potable waters, and Mr. Al- 

 len Hazen, of Boston, has been appointed in his 

 place. 



The International Electrical Congress met 

 at Geneva under the presidency of M. Lurret- 

 tini from August 4th to 9th. Among the sub- 

 jects proposed for discussion were magnetic 

 units, photometric units, transmission of power 

 to great distances, and the protection of high- 

 pressure overhead conductors against atmos- 

 pheric discharges. 



A REPORT has been circulated in the daily 

 papers during the past week stating that the 

 steamer Hope was detained by an ice floe off 

 the Greenland coast. This is now denied, 

 though it is said that under the conditions of 

 the present season it is not unlikely that the 

 Hope will have any trouble with ice. 



According to the N. Y. Evening Post, a de- 

 spatch from Tromsoe, Norway, says that the 

 expedition organized in England by Sir W. 

 Martin Conway for the exploration of the in- 

 terior of Spitzbergen crossed the island from 

 west to east, and back from east to west, in the 

 middle of July. The crossing was extremely 

 difficult, owing to the prevalence of storms, 

 fogs and floods. This is the first crossing of 

 Spitzbergen on record. 



The scientific societies of Mexico will hold a 

 second national congress in the city of Mexico, 

 beginning July 4, 1897. 



In order to give a wider circulation to the 

 Bevieiv of American Chemical Research, edited by 

 Arthur A. Noyes, which during the preceding 

 year has been published in the Technology 

 Quarterly, arrangements have been made to 

 issue the Review also in the form of separate 

 reprints from that journal. The reprints will, 

 like the journal, be issued quarterly, and will 

 be paged separately and provided at the close 

 of the year with title page and index, thus 

 making the Review a volume complete in itself. 

 The purpose of the Review is to present in con- 



cise form, in a single publication, a complete 

 summary of the results of current American 

 chemical research. 



The first number of an ' Annuaire geologique 

 et mineralogique de la Russie,' edited by N. 

 Krichtafovitch, has been published by Weg in 

 Warsaw. The contents will be written in Rus- 

 sian, French and German. 



The Marquis of Tweeddale, chairman of the 

 Anglo-American and Eastern Telegraph Com- 

 panies, has addressed the following to the 

 American press: "A financial committee is 

 about to be formed to inaugurate an interna- 

 tional memorial to commemorate the inception 

 and extension of submarine telegraphy con- 

 nected with the names of Cyrus W. Field, Sir 

 James Anderson and Sir John Pender. In view 

 of its great international importance, the 

 American press may think the desirability of 

 establishing such a memorial a subject suitable 

 to be dealt with in its editorial columns." 



Prop. Holden, of Lick Observatory, has re- 

 ceived a letter from Miss Caroline W. Bruce, of 

 New York, enclosing a check for $1,000 to be 

 expended in purchasing needed apparatus for 

 use at the observatory. This gift, together 

 with that of W. W. Loav, of New York, lately 

 received, makes it possible to carry on impor- 

 tant work, which would otherwise have to be 

 laid aside. 



Mme. Bazanova, of Moscow, has given about 

 $275,000 to the University of Moscow to found 

 a clinic with twenty-five free beds for diseases 

 of the ear, throat and nose. 



The Institution of Engineers of Japan now 

 contains, according to the Indian Engineer, a to- 

 tal of 1,564 members. Of these 399 are full 

 members, 1,121 associates, 11 honorary mem- 

 bers, and 33 corresponding members. They 

 include representatives of the difierent depart- 

 ments of engineering, and, as a rule, they have 

 been well trained not only in the theory, but 

 also in the practice of their work, and the ma- 

 jority of them have shown that they are thor- 

 oughly trustworthy. These facts easily explain 

 why so few foreign engineers are employed in 

 Japan. 



It appears from advices received in Washing- 

 ton that cholera in Egypt is now beyond the 



