78 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 341. 



of the trustees. The skin has been stuflfed by 

 Messrs. Gerard, who have imparted to the 

 animal with its enormous fleshy nose a most 

 lifelike, not to say human, appearance. 



Plans have been made to collect funds for a 

 research scholarship at Trinity College, Dublin, 

 in memory of the late Professor G. F. Fitzgerald. 



An anatomical museum- fund, in memory of 

 the late A. H. Hughes, who died in South 

 Africa, has been established in connection with 

 University College, Cardiff. Mrs. Hughes, the 

 widow of Professor Hughes, has contributed 

 £1,000 to this fund. 



The deaths from the plague in Cape Colony 

 to June 8 have numbered : Europeans, 58 ; 

 colored persons, 164 ; Malays, 36 ; Indians, 

 9 ; Chinese, ; natives, 59 ; total, 326. Only 

 one case has occurred under naval and military 

 control. 



The National Bureau of Standards was 

 opened on July 1, with headquarters in the 

 building of the Coast and Geodetic Survey. 

 Plans are being prepared for the new building, 

 for which Congress has made provision. 



It is expected that the new Horticultural 

 Building in Boston will be completed by the end 

 of August, when there will be a special exhibi- 

 tion, arranged by Professor Charles S. Sargent, 

 of the Arnold Arboretum. 



The observatory at Nice and its branch on 

 Mt. Mourier has recently been visited by 

 the board of control, consisting of MM. 

 Greard, Henri Poincare, Barrot, Cornu, Lipp- 

 mann, Loewy, Darboux, Mascart, Troost, Bis- 

 choflfsheim. 



The Philippine Commission has established a 

 government biological and chemical laboratory 

 at Manila, which will have branch stations else- 

 where. A superintendent will be appointed 

 with a salary of $4,000. A board of health has 

 been established witji a commissioner with a 

 salary of $6,000. 



The Navy Department has purchased a tract 

 of land surrounding the naval observatory, in 

 order to protect the instruments. It was 

 deemed advisable not to have any highways 

 within 1,000 feet of the clock room, where the 

 instruments are stationed, and a circle with a 



radius of 1,000 feet was therefore drawn round 

 the observatory. At the last session of Con- 

 gress $145,000 was appropriated to purchase 

 the inclosed land, and of this sum $122,000 has 

 been expended for the purchase of about six- 

 teen acres. 



Dr. C. W. Andrews, assistant in the De- 

 partment of Geology, British Museum, Natural 

 History, has been making collections in Egypt, 

 which he has this month brought back with 

 him to London. 



The expedition, planned by the South Dakota 

 Geological Survey, into the Grand River region 

 for this season has been postponed, because 

 of smallpox in the Indian reservations where 

 much of the work would have been done. It 

 is hoped that next year circumstances will be 

 more favorable. 



The Southeastern Union of Scientific Socie- 

 ties (England) held its sixth annual congress at 

 Haslemere and Hindhead last month, under the 

 presidency of Mr. G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S. 

 The congress next year will be held at Canter- 

 bury, under the presidency of Dr. Jonathan 

 Hutchinson, F.R.S. 



We learn from Nature that a committee has 

 recently been appointed by the Institution of 

 Civil Engineers, with the support of the Insti- 

 tutions of Mechanical Engineers and Naval 

 Architects and of the Iron and Steel Institute, 

 to consider the advisability of standardizing the 

 various kinds of iron and steel sections, and, if 

 found advisable, then to consider and report as 

 to the steps which should be taken to carry 

 such standardization into practice. 



The civil service commission reports that no 

 applications have been received for the examin- 

 ation which was to have been held on July 6 

 for the position of laboratory assistant in phys- 

 ics at the national bureau of standards, as 

 announced in this Journal several weeks ago. 

 There are two vacancies to be filled as a result 

 of this examination, one paying $1,200 and the 

 other $1,400 a year. These openings are ex- 

 tremely desirable, as the work is largely 

 research and the way is open for promotion. 



The civil service commission announces that 

 it is desired to establish an eligible register 



