496 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 92 



Society of South Africa, which was founded 

 last year for the purpose of preserving the 

 records of the earlier geologists who have writ- 

 ten on South Africa, as well as of promoting 

 discussion and investigations on the more re- 

 cently discovered portions of the colony, has 

 lately come into possession of a most valuable 

 collection of manuscripts and papers, written 

 principally by the late Mr, Andrew Geddes 

 Bain and Mr. G. W. Stow. Among these are 

 the original drawings on a large scale, colored, 

 of all the sections taken across the country by 

 the late Mr. Stow, and also the numerous 

 papers, including lectures, read before various 

 scientific societies by the father of South Afri- 

 can geology, Mr. Andrew Geddes Bain. The 

 Society is at present discussing the advisability 

 of erecting a permanent building, to be used as 

 a museum and meeting room; upon its walls 

 the drawings of Mr. Stow would be exhibited. 

 Mr. David Draper, the secretary of the Society, 

 is at present on a short visit to England. 



We have already noticed among the numer- 

 ous international congresses meeting this year, 

 the Congress of Hydrology, (Climatology and 

 Geology, held at Clermont-Ferrand, Puy de 

 Dome, from September 28th to October 4th. 

 Among the subjects proposed for discussion in 

 the Section of Hydrology are : The therapeutic 

 action of various mineral waters ; what is ther- 

 mal treatment ? carbonic acid and alkaline bicar- 

 bonates in mineral waters, and their therapeutic 

 action ; legislation relative to mineral waters, 

 and sanitary police of thermal stations ; collec- 

 tion, sterilization and bottling of mineral waters. 

 In the Climatological Section the subjects for 

 discussion include such questions as the influ- 

 ence of altitude, of light, of dust in the atmos- 

 phere, etc. The list of excursions includes visits 

 to Royat, Chatet Guy on, Vichy, Neris, Bour- 

 boule, Mont Dore and Saint Nectaire, and ascent 

 of the Puy de Dome, and other expeditions. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



The first volume of the Report of the Com- 

 missioner of Education for 1893 -94, presented 

 on June 20, 1895, has but just been issued by 

 the government printing otfice. The volume 

 contains, in addition to the usual statistics of 

 American schools and universities, extended 



reports of the condition of education abroad, 

 and a number of papers on special subjects. It 

 appears that there are now 476 colleges and 

 universities in the United States in addition to 

 156 colleges for women only and 63 colleges of 

 agriculture and the mechanic arts. In the 476 

 colleges and universities there were 10,897 

 professors and instructors, 60,415 colle- 

 giate students, 3,026 resident graduates and 

 21,265 professional students. A much larger 

 percentage of the population attend college in 

 the New England States than in New York, 

 New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and some of the 

 Western States have a large representation. 

 Thus while for each 100,000 of the population 

 there are in New York 117 students in college 

 and in Pennsylvania 94, there are in Oregon 

 184 and in Nevada 197, 



The main building of Mt. Holyoke College, 

 at South Hadley, Mass., was destroyed by fire 

 on September 27th. The loss will probably 

 amount to $200,000, but there was that amount 

 of insurance on the buildings. The building of 

 the Northern Illinois College, at Fulton, was 

 destroyed by fire on September 26th. The loss 

 is estimated at $100,000. 



The State Veterinary College, located at 

 Cornell University, for which the State has 

 provided $250,000 for buildings and $80,000 

 annually, will open with more than two hun- 

 dred students. 



The Polytechnic school, the establishment of 

 w^hich, at Peoria, 111,, by Mrs Julia Bradley, 

 we announced sometime ago, will be affiliated 

 with the University of Chicago, two of the 

 seven trustees being members of the University. 

 Mrs. Bradley will support the school during 

 her life and at her death the entire estate, esti- 

 mated at over $2,000,000, will be bequeathed 

 to it. 



Several universities report a large increase 

 in the freshman class this autumn, 350 fresh- 

 men have been admitted to the University of 

 Pennsylvania, which is an increase of 134 over 

 the class of last year. The Sheffield Scientific 

 School has this year a class of 180, as compared 

 with 150 last year. 



At the Teachers' College, New York, Dr. 

 James Newcombe has been appointed lecturer 



