124 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 499. 



Mendeleef's most distinguished disciples. Dr. 

 Mond had almost realized the dream, of the 

 alchemist of transmuting common things into 

 gold. Dr. Perkin had extracted from coal tar 

 a whole spectrum of colors, and was, since 

 Faraday's time, the man who had followed 

 most deeply the vibrations of light as they 

 penetrate molecules. 



M. A. Chauveau, professor at the Paris 

 Museum of Natural History, has been elected 

 director of the Marey Institute for Physiology 

 in the room of the late M. Marey. 



The Scottish Geographical Society has 

 awarded its Livingstone gold medal to Com- 

 mander Eobert Scott, leader of the British 

 Antarctic Expedition, and the society's gold 

 medal to Mr. W. S. Bruce, leader of the Scot- 

 tish Antarctic Expedition. 



Proeessor Ernest F. Nichols, of the de- 

 partment of physics in Columbia University, 

 has sailed for Europe and will spend next 

 year in work at Cambridge, Berlin and Paris. 



Miss W. J. Robinson, instructor in biology 

 in Vassar College, and Miss M. M. Brackett 

 have gone to the Cinchona Laboratory of the 

 New York Botanical Garden to carry out some 

 embryological investigations. Mr. G. W. 

 Collins, of the U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture, Mr. Wm. R. Maxon, of the U. S. 

 National Museum, and Mr. Louis Agassiz 

 Fuertes, of Ithaca, New York, have also re- 

 cently carried out certain studies at Cinchona. 



Professor Clara E. Cummings, of Wellesley 

 College, has been granted a sabbatical year, 

 which will be spent in resting and studying 

 the tropical flora. Associate Professor Furgu- 

 son will have charge of the department for 

 the year. 



Professor James Geikie has been elected 

 president of the Scottish Geographical Society 

 in succession to Sir John Murray. 



An Association for the Relief, Control and 

 Prevention of Tuberculosis has been estab- 

 lished at Newport, R. L, with Mr. Robert 

 Frame as president. 



Dr. W. Schottler, of Maintz, has been ap- 

 pointed geologist in the Geological Institute 

 at Darmstadt. 



Lord Avebury was reelected president of the 

 Ray Society at the annual meeting on June 9. 

 The other ofiicers are: Vice-Presidents, Dr. 

 R. Braithwaite, Mr. A. D. Michael and Lord 

 Walsingham, F.E.S. ; Treasurer, Dr. DuCane 

 Godman, F.R.S. ; and Secretary, Mr. John 

 Hopkinson. 



Mr. Francis Edward Macmahon, inventor 

 of the telegraph tape machine known as the 

 ' ticker,' died in England on July 5. He 

 served in the United States navy during the 

 civil war, and was in Admiral Farragut's flag- 

 ship at the taking of New Orleans. Subse- 

 quently he settled in England, and of late 

 years patented many inventions, ranging from 

 a tap to a chainless bicycle. 



The United States Civil Service Commis- 

 sion announces an examination on July 2Y, 

 1904, to secure eligibles from which to make 

 certification to fill a vacancy in the position 

 of mechanician in the Bureau of Standards, 

 at $900 per annum, and other similar vacan- 

 cies as they may occur in that bureau. No 

 educational test will be given, and it will not 

 be necessary for applicants to appear at any 

 place for examination. The appointee must 

 have had five years' shop experience, two of 

 which must have been spent in a shop in which 

 scientific instruments were constructed. 



Professor M. Ascoli, president of the Asso- 

 ciazione Elettrotecnica Italiana, writes to the 

 Electrical World that no fewer than 41 mem- 

 bers have already formally engaged themselves 

 for the trip to America, arriving in two 

 parties about August 24-25. The official rep- 

 resentatives will be Professor Ascoli and the 

 two vice-presidents, Professor G. Brasi, of 

 Turin, and Professor L. Lombardi, of Naples. 

 The delegates of the Italian Government to 

 the Electrical Congress will be Professor 

 Ascoli on behalf of the Ministry of Posts and 

 Telegraphs, and Professor Lombardi, for the 

 Ministry of Public Instruction. 



The Journal of the American Medical Asso- 

 ciation states that the date set for the next 

 session of the American Medical Association 

 is July 11-14, 1905. This date has been de- 

 cided on after considerable correspondence. 

 The holiday season for the majority of medical 



