December 25, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



943 



The Medical Record states that Dr. Luys, of 

 the Salpetriere Hospital, Pai'is, has presented 

 the Faculty of Medicine with his collection of 

 twenty-two hundred brains, carefully prepared 

 and catalogued. The collection is the result of 

 thirty years' investigations, and includes the 

 brains of idiots, of blind persons, of persons who 

 had undergone amputation, and of those who 

 had suffered from various forms of mental dis- 

 orders. 



By a vote of 196 to 41 the congregation of 

 Cambridge University passed a grace, on De- 

 cember 10th, setting aside a portion of the 

 Downing College site, recently acquired by the 

 university, for the Sedgwick Memorial Museum. 



Prof. Angelo Heilprin will contribute to 

 the January number of Appleton'' s Popular Sci- 

 ence Monthly a summary of our present knowl- 

 edge of the Antarctic region, with a sketch map 

 giving the more important points that have been 

 named by navigators. 



A PRELIMINARY meeting, with the object of 

 founding a memorial to Edward Jenner, was 

 held at St. George's Hospital, London, on De- 

 cember 7th, under the presidency of Sir Joseph 

 Lister. According to the report in the London 

 Times the chairman said that it was hardly 

 creditable to England that, while other nations 

 were in different ways celebrating the centenary 

 of "Jenner' s great discovery, we in his own 

 country should not be doing so in any adequate 

 manner. It had been suggested that the statue 

 of Jenner in Kensington gardens might be 

 moved to the open space in front of the hos- 

 pital, to correspond with the Wellington statue. 

 The cost would be very slight in comparison 

 with the funds which they might fairly hope to 

 collect. The Bishop of Eochester, in moving 

 " That the present year, being the centenary of 

 the first successful vaccination, is a proper time 

 to inaugurate a work of national utility in 

 honor of Edward Jenner," said that it was a 

 matter of general human and national concern, 

 aild if there was any profession which was 

 bound to seize opportunities of going along with 

 the medical profession in a matter of that kind 

 it was the profession to which he belonged. 

 The resolution was carried after speeches from 

 Lord Reay, Sir R. Quain and Prof. M. Foster. 



Lord Glenesk moved ''That a subscription be 

 set on foot with the view of founding some in- 

 stitution, of a nature to be hereafter deter- 

 mined, in connection with the British Institute 

 of Preventive Medicine, to be distinguished 

 by Jenner' s name." The resolution was sup- 

 ported by a number of speakers and the nature 

 of the memorial was discussed. It was finally 

 decided that a public meeting be called early in 

 1897 to decide on the form of memorial. 



We quoted recently from an article by Prof. 

 D. T. MacDougal, recommending the establish- 

 ment of an American tropical laboratory for 

 botanical research. The last number of the 

 Botanical Gazette also urges in an editorial 

 article the establishment of such a labora- 

 tory. It is suggested that this might be accom- 

 plished most easily by the cooperation of sev- 

 eral universities. ' ' Perhaps the original cost 

 should be borne by private subscription, and 

 the running expenses met by the different 

 universities pledging themselves for so many 

 tables. At least the subject deserves to be 

 taken in hand by a committee of botanists and 

 investigated in all of its bearings. A study of 

 the map will show that the conditions to 

 be met favor either the east coast of Mexico 

 or the islands near the Caribbean Sea. It 

 is estimated that a trial station might be main- 

 tained on one of these islands for one year at 

 a cost of $5,000 ; and after the selection of a 

 permanent station the laboratory buildings might 

 be constructed and extended according to the 

 demand. The use of grounds necessary could be 

 obtained from the government, and the area 

 should embrace all levels so far as possible, a 

 feature at Buitenzorg which is nearly ideal. It 

 is to be hoped that a reconnoissance party of 

 American botanists will soon visit the region 

 proposed and report as to possible sites. Such 

 a visit should be made before the botanical 

 meetings of next summer, to which the report 

 would be most appropriately made," 



Among the lectures to be given during the 

 winter at the Royal Institution are the follow- 

 ing : Prof. Augustus D. Waller, twelve lectures 

 on 'Animal Electricity ;' Prof. Henry A. Miers, 

 three lectures on ' Some Secrets of Crystals ;' 

 Dr. J. W. Gregory, three lectures on ' The 



