October 21, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



543 



dulge in the hope that we have only to do with 

 a temporary interruption. As, similarly, the 

 station oji Sonnblick, in Austria, is rendered 

 possible only through the cooperation of the 

 Sonnblick Society, which places private means 

 at the disposal of the observatory, so also may 

 the observatory on Ben Nevis be kept in 

 operation. The German Seewarte has the 

 honor to express its best thanks for the very 

 regular receipt of weather telegrams, and, in 

 view of the outstanding results, to express the 

 hope that these telegrams, whose loss will be 

 found so heavy, will again appear at no dis- 

 tant date. — Herz." 



On January 1 the Abbasia Observatory was 

 transferred to its new site at Helwan, about 

 fourteen miles south of Cairo. The site is on 

 the desert plateau above the town, and the 

 buildings have an open view across the desert 

 to the north, east and south, while on the 

 west is the Nile valley. A complete meteor- 

 ological equipment and time-signal arrange- 

 ment has been installed, and there is a transit 

 house and an equatorial house, while a house 

 for magnetic self-registering instruments is 

 being constructed. The transit pillar is in 

 lat. 39° 51' 33".5 N., long. 31° 20' 30".2 E., 

 the latter value depending on that of the 

 Venus station in the Mokattam hills (31° 16' 

 33".6 E.). The altitude of the cistern of the 

 barometer above mean sea-level at Alexandria 

 is 377.4 feet. 



The Bureau of Animal Industry of the 

 U. 8. Department of Agriculture has assigned 

 one thousand dollars of the recent congres- 

 sional appropriation for experiments in ani- 

 mal breeding and feeding to the cooperative 

 investigations with the respiration calorimeter 

 now in progress at the Pennsylvania Station. 

 Plans have been made for an investigation 

 upon the influence of age and individuality 

 Vpon the metabolism of cattle and two full- 

 blood yearling steers, one an Aberdeen Angus 

 aaid one a Jersey, have been purchased for 

 use in the investigation. Careful records will 

 be kept of the food consumed and the rate 

 of growth of these animals. In addition, oc- 

 casional digestion experiments will be made 

 with them to determine the assimilability 

 of the food and the actual production of 



lean meat; while each winter there will be 

 made, with the aid of the respiration calori- 

 meter, scientifically accurate determinations 

 of the actual gains of lean meat and fat re- 

 spectively. It is expected to continue the 

 experiment until the animals are mature. In 

 this way it is hoped to secure more exact 

 knowledge as to the actual points of difference 

 in the feeding qualities of the dairy and beef 

 types of cattle, while at the same time valu- 

 able data will be obtained as to the nature and 

 economy of the growth made at different ages. 

 We learn from the London Times that a 

 new society has been formed, called the 

 Ethological Society. The object of the so- 

 ciety is the study of human nature, not 

 through one department of science, but taking 

 from all the different branches the most prac- 

 tical and useful to arrive at a knowledge of 

 the intellect and character of man and the 

 laws which govern their manifestation, and 

 collecting all material that is available and 

 applying it to the preservation of the mental 

 health of the individual, to education, moral 

 reform, and the solution of various sociological 

 problems. The society will hold a series of 

 conversazioni J at which authorities will be in- 

 vited to deliver lectures on the relation of 

 their branch of art, science or philosophy to 

 human nature. The president is Dr. Bernard 

 Hollander, and the preliminary list of vice- 

 presidents includes the names of Mr. Oscar 

 Browning, Dr. Stanton Coit, Mr. John Chur- 

 ton Collins, Mr. W. L. Courtney, Mr. Jerome 

 K. Jerome, Mr. Henry Arthur Jones, Mr. 

 George E. Sims, Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, 

 F.R.S., Mrs. St. Leger Harrison, Miss L. M. 

 Eaithfull and Mr. George Meredith. The in- 

 augural meeting and first conversazione will 

 be held at the Galleries of the Eoyal Society 

 of British Artists, Suffolk Street, Pall-mall, 

 S. W., on Wednesday, November 16, at 8:30 

 P.M., when the president will deliver an ad- 

 dress. 



The University of London has issued its 

 . list of university extension courses, some 

 seventy in all at various centers, for the com- 

 ing session. ' The Evolution of Mankind as 

 seen in the Child and the Race ' will be given 

 at University College on Monday evenings. 



