NOVEMBEE 13, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



723 



A MUSEUM of natural history, geology, arch- 

 seology and technology is proposed (says Natural 

 Science) for Hertfordshire, and a site near St. 

 Albans has been offered by Lord Spencer, upon 

 certain conditions. A sum of at least £5,000 

 must be raised for building and endowment, 

 and the museum is to be in the hands of the 

 County Council. We are glad to see that a 

 curator is thought of as much importance as a 

 building. A provisional committee has been 

 appointed, including Lord Cowper, Sir John 

 Evans and the Hon. Walter Rothschild. 



According to Die Natur, a Congress for 

 astronomers of all nations, met at Bamberg on 

 September 17th. There were present thirty 

 foreign members, including Father Hagen, of 

 the Georgetown Observatory, who described his 

 Atlas of Variable Stars, which is now in press ; 

 papers were also read by Prof. Bauschinger, 

 the new director of the Astronomical Bureau of 

 Calculations at Berlin ; Prof. Schur, director of 

 the Gottingen Observatory, and others. The 

 next Congress will meet at Budapest, 1898. 



A NOTE in the N. Y. Evening Post (quoting 

 from an account in the London Times, of 

 a report of Mr. Gosselin, of the British 

 Embassy in Berlin) states that the authorities 

 in German East Africa have put into force a 

 series of regulations intended to check the in- 

 discriminate slaughter of elephants and other 

 big game. These rules, promulgated at Dar- 

 es-Salaam, provide that every hunter must take 

 out an annual license, for which the fee varies 

 from five to 500 rupees. The shooting is pro- 

 hibited of all young game — calves, foals, young 

 elephants, either tuskless or having tusks under 

 three kilos, and of all female game, if recogniz- 

 able. Further, in the Moschi district of Kilima- 

 Njaro, no one, whether possessing a license or 

 not, is allowed without the special permission 

 of the Governor to shoot antelopes, giraffes, 

 buffaloes, ostriches or cranes. Those who are 

 not natives have to pay 100 rupees for the first 

 elephant killed and 250 for each additional one, 

 and 50 rupees for the first rhinoceros and 150 

 for each succeeding one. Special game pre- 

 serves are also to be established. Major von 

 Wissmann suggests that the station authorities 

 should endeavor to domesticate zebras (espe- 



cially when crossed with muscat and other 

 asses and horses), ostriches, and hyena dogs 

 crossed with European breeds. It is thought 

 that the best means of preventing the extermin- 

 ation of elephants would be to fix by interna- 

 tional agreement among all the powers on the 

 East African coast a close time for the animals, 

 and to forbid the exportation or sale of tusks 

 under a certain size. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



By a decision of the University of the State 

 of New York the degrees B. A. or A. B. and 

 Ph. D. shall not, in the State, be conferred 

 causa honoris after January 1, 1897. 



There are 107 students in Wellesley College 

 taking a course in geology which extends 

 through the entire year. The course is given 

 by Prof. Wm. H. Niles and Miss Elizabeth F. 

 Fisher. 



It is proposed to build next year a laboratory 

 of hygiene for the veterinary school at Berlin. 

 Dr. Ostertag has been appointed to the chair of 

 hygiene. 



Women have not been able to study medicine 

 in Russia since 1882. Widely signed petitions, 

 asking for the admission of women to the uni- 

 versities, have not been granted, but the Czar 

 has sanctioned a decree creating a medical 

 school for women in St. Petersburg. 



Some months ago the Bellahouston Trustees 

 promised to the Glasgow University a donation 

 of £12,500 towards the foundation of an en- 

 gineering laboratory, provided that a similar 

 sum was obtained by private subscriptions or 

 otherwise. To fulfil this condition a committee 

 was formed, and the Glasgow correspondent of 

 The Lancet learns that nearly the whole of the 

 sum required has been raised, so that the erec- 

 tion of the new laboratory will be commenced 

 in the coming spring. 



Prof. Schenk has been promoted to a full 

 professorship of anatomy in the University at 

 Vienna, and Dr. London, of the University of 

 Breslau, to an associate professorship of mathe- 

 matics. Dr. Kippenberger, Privatdocent at 

 Jena, has been called to the professorship of 

 chemistry in the medical school at Kairo. 



