July 12, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



11 



lines of Cosmic Philosophy,' published in 1874, 

 was followed by a long series of books, his con- 

 tributions to history being in large measure 

 influenced by his earlier work on evolution, 

 Fiske enjoyed the personal friendship of Dar- 

 win, Huxley, Spencer and other great leaders, 

 and the esteem of a large section of the general 

 public. 



Professor Peter Guthrie Tait, who has 

 held for the past forty years the chair of natural 

 philosophy in Edinburgh University, died at 

 Edinburgh on July 4. Born at Dalkeith in 1831, 

 he attended Edinburgh University, and after- 

 wards Cambridge University, where he was 

 senior wrangler, first Smith's prizeman and 

 fellow of Peterhouse. In 1854 he became pro- 

 fessor of mathematics at Queen's College, Bel- 

 fast, whence he removed to Edinburgh in 1860. 

 He was the author of a long series of publica- 

 tions, both technical and popular in character. 

 These include the 'Dynamics of a Particle,' 

 'Quaternions,' 'Thermodynamics,' and works 

 on 'Heat,' 'Light' and 'The Properties of 

 Matter.' His scientific papers were collected 

 and published in 1898. In conjunction with 

 Professor Balfour Stewart, he was the author of 

 'The Unseen Universe,' and, in cooperation 

 with Loi'd Kelvin, prepared the well-known 

 ' Natural Philosophy ' of Thomson and Tait. 



Dr. Theodore Greely White died in New 

 York city on July 7, aged twenty-nine years. 

 After having graduated from the School of 

 Applied Sciences of Columbia University, he 

 received the Ph.D. degree two years ago for 

 work in geology. He was also assistant in the 

 department of physics. Dr. White had made 

 valuable contributions to geology and botany, 

 and leaves a considerable amount of unpublished 

 material. He was always active in good work, 

 being last year one of the secretaries of the 

 New York Academy of Sciences and acting 

 editor of the publications of the academy. 



The small band of New Mexico naturalists 

 has suffered a severe loss by the death of Mr. 

 Fi'ancis J. Birtwell, of Albuquerque, who had 

 spent two years investigating the ornithology 

 of the territory, and who had in preparation an 

 elaborate paper on the birds of New Mexico. 

 Mr. Birtwell was married on May 24, and went 



with his wife to study the birds of the Upper 

 Pecos. On June 28, at Windsor's Eanch, 31 

 miles from Glorieta, he climbed a tall fir tree 

 to obtain a bird's nest. Becoming dizzy, he 

 signalled for help, and was being let down on 

 a rope when by some means he jerked one arm 

 out of the noose, and the rope tightened around 

 his neck and strangled him before anyone could 

 come to his assistance. Thus perished a man 

 who was expected by those who knew his work 

 to take a prominent place among American 

 ornithologists. It is understood that his manu- 

 script on the birds of New Mexico is in good 

 order, and it is much to be hoped that the 

 means will be found for its publication. 



Dr. John Curwen, a specialist in mental 

 diseases, who for fifty years has been superin- 

 tendent of hospitals for the insane at Harris- 

 burg and Warren, Pa., died on July 2, aged 

 eighty years. 



Mr. John H. Tegmeyer, a well-known civil 

 engineer, died at Baltimore on July 4, aged 

 eighty years. 



Professor Langenbuch, the eminent sur- 

 geon, director of the Lazarus Hospital, Berlin, 

 died on June 9. 



The late Jacob S. Rogers, of Paterson, N. J., 

 a locomotive builder, has bequeathed nearly 

 his entire estate to the Metropolitan Museum of 

 Art, New York City. The value of the bequest 

 is estimated at from $6,000,000 to $8,000,000. 



Mr. Andrew Carnegie has offered to give 

 to the cities of San Francisco and Detroit 

 $750,000 for the establishment of public libra- 

 ries. 



The Newberry Library, of Chicago, has ac- 

 quired the philological library collected by the 

 late Louis Lucien Buonaparte. It contains 15,- 

 000 volumes and is said to be the best philo- 

 logical library in the world. 



In connection with the census of India, a 

 sum of at least £10,000 will be spent in collect- 

 ing statistics relating to ethnology and anthro- 

 pology. 



A magnificent specimen of the elephant 

 seal (Macrorhinus leoninus) from the Macquarie 

 Islands has lately been presented to the British 

 Museum by the Hon. Walter Rothschild, one 



