64 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 497. 



assembled on June 19 at the house of the 

 Prince of Monaco to listen to a paper read by 

 M. Charles Eenard, a member of the perman- 

 ent committee of the International Naval 

 Association, on a new scheme for a polar ex- 

 pedition. M. Benard holds that only two 

 kinds of exploration in the polar basin are at 

 present rational — namely, annual explorations 

 along the perimeter of the Arctic Circle, like 

 that of the Prince of Monaco in Red Bay or 

 that of Greely in Port Conger Bay, or else 

 great expeditions well within the Polar Sea, 

 with special boats fitted up as observatories 

 and laboratories, solid enough to resist the 

 ice pack, and capable of carrying provisions 

 for the length of time required by the itiner- 

 ary. M. Benard explained at length why the 

 only feasible and rational route of penetration 

 of the Polar Sea is one a little north of that 

 followed by the Fram. The expedition ought 

 to start from a Norwegian port, cross the 

 southern portion of Barents Sea, take in dogs 

 at Karabora, coast along Yalmal, ship at Port 

 Dickson its coal, transported thither by special 

 steamer, pass at the end of the summer along 

 the Peninsula of Taimyr, arrive by the end of 

 the autumn at the islands of New Siberia, and 

 then, instead of going northward, as did the 

 Fram, manage at all costs, even if it be neces- 

 sary to winter in the LiakhofF or Bennett Is- 

 lands, to reach a point on the 150th degree of 

 east longitude. Thence the ship or ships need 

 only drift with the ice. M. Benard urged the 

 utility of having the expedition composed of 

 two vessels in touch with each other by means 

 of wireless telegraphy. The expedition should 

 take three years, but be provisioned for five. 

 It would not cost more than $300,000. The 

 company signed a memorandum declaring this 

 expedition to be of scientific utility. 



It is stated in the London Times that the 

 man-lifting kite, as invented by Mr. Cody, 

 has during the last few days been subjected 

 to further trials at Aldershot with the view 

 of testing its feasibility and usefulness for 

 observation purposes in war time. The main 

 features claimed for the kite are, first, its 

 extreme simplicity and the ease with which 

 the various component parts required to work 

 it can be transported from place to place ; and. 



secondly, that it can be flown in heavy wind 

 such as would render the use of the war bal- 

 loon almost impossible. A number of Royal 

 Engineers are now under instruction in the 

 working of the kite in order that it may be 

 thoroughly tested. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



Mrs. Henry Whitman, of Boston, has made 

 public bequests aggregating more than $200,- 

 000, including $110,000 to Radcliffe College 

 and $10,000 to Harvard University. 



Mr. George Ehret, of New York, has given 

 $10,000 to the permanent fund of Hamilton 

 College. 



The Secretary of the Interior has approved 

 the application of the board of trustees of the 

 Columbian University of Washington to 

 change the name of that institution to the 

 George Washington University. 



Dr. C. Alphonso Smith, professor of Eng- 

 lish literature at the University of North 

 Carolina, has been elected president of the 

 University of Tennessee, succeeding Dr. 

 Charles W. Dabney, who has become presi- 

 dent of the University of Cincinnati. 



Professor George S. Williams, of the Col- 

 lege of Civil Engineering, in Cornell Univer- 

 sity, has resigned to accept the chair of civil 

 engineering in the University of Michigan, 

 made vacant by the death of Professor Greene. 



Carl C. Thomas, instructor in marine engi- 

 neering at the University of California, has 

 accepted a call to Cornell University to the as- 

 sistant professorship in marine engineering at 

 Sibley College. He will succeed Professor 

 William F. Durand, principal of the graduate 

 school in marine engineering, who has been 

 called to Stanford University. 



Dr. T. E. Nichols has been appointed pro- 

 fessor of applied mathematics at Hamilton 

 College. 



Dr. C. C. Stewart, of the University of 

 Pennsylvania, has been appointed professor 

 of physiology at Dartmouth College. At the 

 same institution C. A. Holden, in mathe- 

 matics, and G. R. Lyman, in botany, have been 

 appointed to assistant professorships. 



