654 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 96. 



Dr. E. E. L. Gould, professor of statistics in 

 the University of Chicago, has prepared, at the 

 request of Mayor Strong, a plan for a bureau of 

 statistics for Greater New York. The commis- 

 sion will be asked to include it in the new city 

 charter. 



Dr. Herbert S. Jennings has been ap- 

 pointed to the Smithsonian Table at the Naples 

 Zoological Station for three'months. Prof. Fran- 

 cis H. Herrick will occupy the table during the 

 month of November. 



At the recent meeting of the British Associ- 

 ation Mr. R. T. Glazebrook read the report of 

 the Committee on Electrical Standards, which 

 has had under consideration a thermal unit. 

 The Committee in question issued circulars to 

 authorities on the measurement of heat in other 

 countries, and received many written opinions 

 on the matter. Most of the writers wish to see 

 some multiple of the erg adopted as the theoret- 

 ical unit, but there are differences of opinion 

 as to the multiple to be chosen. There is a 

 fairly general agreement that as a practical 

 unit the heat required to raise one gramme of 

 water 1 deg. Centigrade must be taken, but 

 views differ as to the initial temperature of the 

 water. The weight of opinion is also in favor 

 of the hydrogen thermometer being used for 

 temperature measurements. The committee 

 learn that a committee of the French Physical 

 Society have the question at present under con- 

 sideration, and suggest an international dis- 

 cussion on the subject. 



The German Hygienic Association offers a 

 prize of $1,200 for a research essay on the efii- 

 ciency of electric heaters. 



The Bender Hygienic Laboratory, of the Al- 

 bany Medical College, was dedicated on Octo- 

 ber 27th. The building was formally presented 

 to the Board of Trustees by Mr. H. H. Bender 

 in the name of the doner, Mr. Matthew W. 

 Bender, and addresses were made by Dr. George 

 E. Gorham and Prof. A. Jacobi. 



The Baltimore Naturalists' Field Club, which 

 is composed of instructors and advanced stu- 

 dents of the biological department of Johns 

 Hopkins University, has elected Dr. C. P. Sig- 

 . erfoos as President. Dr. F. S. Conant is chair- 

 man of the zoological section, Dr. J. E. Hum- 



phrey of the botanical section, and Dr. E. M. 

 Bagg of the geological section. The Club holds 

 field excursions on Tuesday afternoons during 

 the autumn and spring. 



The proposed mathematical club at the Uni- 

 versity of Pennsylvania has now been organized. 

 Prof. Doolittle has been elected President; Prof. 

 Goodspeed, Vice-President, and Prof. Crawley, 

 Secretary. The club will meet once a month. 



The Yerkes Observatory is now nearing com- 

 pletion, and about half of the faculty of the 

 astronomical department of the University of 

 Chicago will hereafter be in residence there. 



The Dominion government is making a 

 thorough survey of the currents in the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence. During the present season the 

 steamship Lansdowne, of the marine depart- 

 ment, has been engaged in studying the eastern 

 arm of the gulf from Anticosti to Belle Isle, 

 and in the almanacs of the present year tide- 

 tables are given from the records obtained. 



Mr. Lucas reports the capture of a specimen 

 of the Eibbon Seal, Sistriophoca equestris, in 

 Bering sea. The individual, a young female, 

 was taken by one of the sealing schooners about 

 84 miles due west of St. Paul Island, a very 

 southern locality for this species, especially in 

 August, when the capture was made. 



Prof. L. H. Bailey has prepared a report 

 for the Commissioner of Agriculture regarding 

 the State appropriation, amounting to $32,- 

 000, for extending university instruction in 

 horticulture. The work consists of the issue of 

 bulletins for the benefit of farmers, of experi- 

 ments on model farms, intended for imitation 

 in the district, and the holding of district 

 schools. Prof. Bailey wishes to extend further 

 the work so that nature study may^be taught 

 in all normal schools and introduced in district 

 schools. He recommends the establishment of 

 a State bureau for correspondence and instruc- 

 tion, and wishes the teachers in the schools to 

 cooperate with the farmers in the study and 

 improvement of agricultural methods. 



Dr. Woodhead read a paper at the Liver- 

 pool meeting of the British Association on the 

 ' Organization of Bacteriological Eesearch in 

 Connection with Public Health,' which was re- 



