DlXEMBEE 16, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



855 



Dr. Sven Hedin, the Swedish explorer, is 

 now in St. Petersburg, and will shortly deliver 

 a lecture on the scientific results of his travels 

 in Central Asia. 



Me. Alexander Siemens gave his inaugural 

 address before the British Institution of Elec- 

 trical Engineers on December 10. 



The Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

 celebrated on December 7 the one hundredth 

 anniversary of the birth of its founder and 

 first president, William Barton Eogers. 



A SUBSCRIPTION, headed by M. Albert 

 Gaudry, has been started for a monument to 

 M. Bernard Eenault, well known for his valu- 

 able researches into the microorganisms of the 

 coal measures, and especially of the bogheads 

 and of the cannel coal of the United States, 

 who died from overwork and in limited cir- 

 cumstances on October 14 last. The monu- 

 ment will be erected at his native place, Autun, 

 where he is buried, and subscriptions should 

 be sent to M. Berthier, secretaire de la Societe 

 d'histoire naturelle, 2, rue de I'Arbalete, 

 Autun, France. 



Dr. George Vivian Poore, formerly pro- 

 fessor of medicine in University College, Lon- 

 don, died on November 23. 



A DONOR, who desires to remain anonymous, 

 has placed £1,000 in the hands of the treasurer 

 of the Royal Society, £500 to be placed to the 

 credit of the ' Catalogue of Scientific Papers 

 Account ' of the Royal Society, and the re- 

 mainder to the credit of the ' National Phys- 

 ical Laboratory Account.' 



The Physico-Chemical Club of Boston and 

 Cambridge has begun the third year of its 

 membership with over sixty members. At 

 the first meeting of the year, in November, 

 Professor T. W. Richards, of Harvard, was 

 elected president, in place of Professor A. A. 

 Noyes, of the Massachusetts Institute of 

 Technology, who has held the post for two 

 years. Professor Noyes was made vice-presi- 

 dent, and his colleague. Professor W. D. Cool- 

 idge, was made secretary and treasurer. Dr. 

 G. P. Baxter described his important work on 

 the atomic weights of iodine, and Mr. E. C. 

 Kraus spoke of his interesting work on the 



remarkable properties of solutions in liquid 

 ammonia. 



The trustees of the "Wagner Free Institute 

 of Science of Philadelphia announce that in 

 view of the largely increased facilities pro- 

 vided within the past few years by the pub- 

 lication departments of the various institu- 

 tions of learning, and more especially by the 

 Carnegie Institution, for the promotion of 

 original research with its incident publica- 

 tions, the Wagner Free Institute of Science 

 has thought it wise to discontinue for the 

 present its work in this department and to 

 devote its energies more exclusively to other 

 purposes indicated by its founder. 



The twenty-fifth annual report of the di- 

 rector of the United States Geological Survey 

 is now ready. It contains 388 pages and is 

 illustrated with 25 maps, which show the prog- 

 ress of topographic or geologic stirveys made 

 in different parts of the United States and 

 Alaska. The general results achieved by the 

 survey in the twenty-five years of its existence 

 are summarized, and a resume is given of the 

 work accomplished by each of the survey's 

 great divisions during the fiscal year from 

 July, 1903, to July, 1904. 



A PUBLIC museum has been incorporated at 

 St. Louis. It is proposed to secure some of 

 the objects exhibited at the St. Louis Exposi- 

 tion. 



Lady Flower writes to the London Times 

 that Mr. G. W. Duff-Assheton-Smith, whose 

 death was recently recorded in The Times, 

 stocked his park at Vaynol with many rare 

 and interesting animals, including the large 

 moose and small Japanese deer, old English 

 white cattle, American bison, zebras, kan- 

 garoos and emus. One of the otters was so 

 tame that when swimming in the lake it would 

 come back when whistled to. Mr. Assheton- 

 Smith was a courteous and kindly country 

 gentleman, and his knowledge of animals and 

 bird life was remarkable. 



The Bureau of Forestry has recently signed 

 an agreement to make extensive timber sea- 

 soning tests in two western states, in coopera- 

 tion with two telegraph and telephone com- 

 panies. Experimental stations will be located 



