September 20, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



463 



In view of the resignation of Dr. Thomas L. 

 Watson, assistant geologist of the Survey of 

 Georgia, to accept a chair at Denison Univer- 

 sity, the State Geologist, Dr. W. S. Yeates, 

 Atlanta, will be glad to enter into correspond- 

 ence with geologists seeking such a position. 



Dr. Eijiaoyagi, of the University of Kioto, 

 is at present in the United States investigating 

 methods for the application of electricity. 



Professor A. C. Habdon, of Cambridge 

 University, is to visit the United States, reach- 

 ing New York on the steamship Campania of 

 the Cunard Line about September 28 and re- 

 maining in this city until about October 7. 

 While in this country he will deliver lectures, 

 illustrated by excellent stereopticon views, at 

 various educational institutions upon some of 

 the following subjects : 



The House and Family Life of the Natives of 

 Sarawak. 

 Ceremonial and Secular Dances of the Papuans. 

 A Trip into the Interior of Borneo. 

 The Papuans. 

 Evolution in Art. 



The Descriptive Art of Primitive Peoples. 

 The Life of a Torres Straits Islander. 



As is well known, Professor Haddon is an 

 authority on ' The Evolution of Art ' and kin- 

 dred subjects. He has worked for many years 

 among the tribes of New Guinea, Borneo, Tor- 

 res Straits and the adjacent territory, conduct- 

 ing the recent Cambridge expedition to that 

 region, 



Mr. Waldron Shapleigh, a well-known 

 industrial chemist of Philadelphia, died in 

 Maine on August 80. He was born in Phila- 

 delphia in 1848, and was assistant professor of 

 chemistry at Lehigh University from 1868 to 

 1872. He then studied abroad, and was con- 

 nected first with the King's County Sugar Re- 

 finery and later with the Welsbach Company. 

 He was an authority on the rare earths. 



Dr. Charles Meldrum, F.R.S., formerly 

 director of the observatory in Mauritius, died 

 on August 28, at the age of eighty years. 



The Rev. Moses Harvey died at St. Johns, 

 Newfoundland, on September 3, at the age of 

 eighty-two years. He retired from active work 



in the Presbyterian church in 1878, and has 

 since been engaged in literary and scientific 

 work. 



The death is also announced of Professor 

 Alwin von Color, surgeon-general of the Prus- 

 sian medical service, at the age of seventy 

 years. 



The German Geological Society will hold its 

 forty-sixth meeting at Halle during the first 

 week in October. 



The astronomical instruments ' conveyed ' 

 by the German soldiers from the Pekin Observa- 

 tory have reached Germany, and it is said will 

 be placed in the park of Sans Souci. Many of 

 the German newspapers protest against the de- 

 tention of these instruments. 



The director of the Paris Jardin des Plantes, 

 M. Perrier, has asked the French government 

 for the sum of $2,000,000, which he claims is 

 required for the buildings and collections. 



A MAGNETIC observatory is being constructed 

 by the government at Sitka, Alaska, under the 

 direction of Dr. H. W. M. Edmonds, of the 

 U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. 



An interesting and useful pamphlet, says Na- 

 ture, has recently been issued by Mr. A. Hilger, 

 containing full description and details of man- 

 ipulation of the Michelson Echelon grating. 

 Many of the principal universities of Europe 

 have been provided with this very powerful 

 means of spectroscopic determination, and the 

 experience gained has been sufficient to permit 

 the designing of a standard type of instrument. 

 In this the thickness of each plate is 10 mm., 

 and the width of each step 1 mm. The pro- 

 gressive precision in the working of the plates 

 has enabled Mr. Hilger to avoid the consider- 

 able loss of light which- was caused in the orig- 

 inal instruments by the plates not being me- 

 chanically clamped together. They are now 

 held in position by a screwed frame, which can 

 be so adjusted that no distortion is perceptible, 

 while the increase in brilliancy of the spectra is 

 very noticeable. 



Major Ronald Ross, Royal Army Medical 

 Corps, landed at Plymouth on September 2 on 

 his return from West Africa. He gave a press 



