NOVEMBKE 27, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



793 



Prof. Max von Pettenkofer has consented 

 to fill the chair at the Academy of Science of 

 Bavaria and to act as Keeper of the State Scien- 

 tific Collection for a further term of three years. 



Nature, quoting the Kew Bulletin, announces 

 that the government of Zanzibar have decided 

 to appoint a Director, and have selected 

 Mr. Robert N. Lyne for the post. The object 

 of the government in creating the post is to 

 improve, where possible, the methods under 

 which the agriculture of the country is now car- 

 ried on, and to endeavor by experiment to dis- 

 cover some new product that may to a certain 

 extent take the place of cloves. The govern- 

 ment desire that the work so admirably begun 

 by Sir John Kii-k when he was Consul-General 

 there, and since interrupted, may be continued. 



Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, M.D., 

 F.R.S., died on November 21st, aged sixty- 

 eight years. He had made important investi- 

 gations on the effects of anaesthetics, having 

 discovered the use of ether spray for the aboli- 

 tion of pain in local surgical operations. He 

 was the author of many articles and books 

 treating especially of the subjects of public 

 health and social reform. 



The death is announced of Admiral Sir 

 George Henry Richards. He had conducted 

 important nautical surveys and was in com- 

 mand of one of the vessels of the Franklin re- 

 search expedition. He was a member of a 

 number of learned societies, including the Paris 

 Academy of Science. 



We regret to announce the deaths of Dr. 

 Moller, professor of astronomy at Lund, on 

 October 26th, at the age of 66 years ; of Dr. 

 Ernst Wenzel, associate professor of anatomy 

 at Leipzig, on October 25th, at the age of 56 

 years ; and of Dr. Eugen Bauman, professor 

 of physiological chemistry, in the University at 

 Freiburg in Breisgau, on November 3d, at the 

 age of 50 years. 



At midnight on November 15th the electric 

 power generated at Niagara Falls was trans- 

 mitted to Buffalo where it will be used to oper- 

 ate the trolley cars of the street railway. 



Prof. E. Mach has prepared an important 

 work entitled Die Principien der Wdrmelehre, 

 treated from a historical and critical point of 



view. It is published by J. E. Barth, of Leipzig, 

 and includes 105 figures and six portraits. The 

 same publishers announce the second issue of 

 the Jahrbuch der organische Chemie for the year 

 1894, edited by Dr. Gaetano Minunni. 



A MONTHLY Hypnotic Magazine has begun 

 publication in Chicago, under the editorship of 

 Mr. Sidney Flower. The journal will, we fear, 

 find it somewhat diflicult to maintain a satisfac- 

 tory scientific standard. 



The mine, the weekly paper published at the 

 University of Illinois, contains in the issue of 

 November 6th an account of the fresh water 

 biological station of the University, by Mr. C. 

 A. Kofoid. The biological station at Havana 

 is said to be unique in having for its basis of 

 work the fauna and flora of a river, while there 

 are numerous lakes and marshes in the neigh- 

 borhood. The station was opened in the spring 

 of 1894, and this year a floating laboratory was 

 launched. This is 60x20 feet and contains three 

 rooms, a small office and library, a general 

 laboratory provided with aquaria, etc. , and a 

 cabin for the attendant. The boat is said to 

 be free from tremor. In addition to the direc- 

 tor, Professor Forbes, and other teachers, there 

 were seventeen students in attendance during 

 the past summer. 



It was provided by an Act of Congress passed 

 early last year that the Superintendent of Docu- 

 ments should, at the close of each regular 

 session of Congress, prepare and publish a com- 

 prehensive index of public documents. Mr. F. 

 A. Crandall has, in spite of the short time and 

 other difficulties, prepared the catalogue of the 

 public documents of the fifty-third Congress and 

 of all departments of the government for the 

 period from March 4, 1893, to June 30, 1895, it 

 being thus continuous with The Ames Compre- 

 hensive Index. The catalogue, which contains 

 638 large pages, will be of value to men of sci- 

 ence, as perhaps one-half of the entries are on 

 scientific subjects. Indeed, it is of much interest 

 to note how largely the publications of the 

 government are taken up with scientific sub- 

 jects and the great importance of a majority of 

 these. An alphabetical catalogue such as this 

 will add much to the usefulness of the publica- 

 tions and to convenience in finding them. 



