November 1, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



701 



William Curtis Harrison, Provost of the University 

 of Pennsylvania. 



Francis Landey Patton President of Princeton 

 University. 



Benjamin Ide Wheeler, President of the University 

 of California. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



The National Academy of Sciences will hold 

 a scientific session at the University of Penn- 

 sylvania, Philadelphia, beginning on Tuesday, 

 November 12, at 11 a. m, A special stated 

 session for the transaction of business will be 

 held on November 13. 



Professor George J. Brush, emeritus pro- 

 fessor of mineralogy and formerly director of the 

 Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, 

 received a loving cup from some of the former 

 graduates, on the occasion of the recent bicen- 

 tennial exercises. 



The first autumn meeting of the American 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences was held at the 

 house of Mr. Alexander Agassiz, president of 

 the. Academy, in Cambridge, Mass. After an 

 introduction by the president and a statement 

 for the Rumford Committee by Professor Cross, 

 the Eumford medals were presented to Pro- 

 fessors Barus and Thomson who responded with 

 brief remarks. Mr. Agassiz then gave an ac- 

 count of the Albatross expedition to the tropi- 

 cal Pacific. George Wharton Pepper, of Phila- 

 delphia, was elected an associate fellow of the 

 Academy. 



The Franklin Institute, of Philadelphia, has 

 awarded to Dr. Porter Shimer, of the depart- 

 ment of chemistry, Lafayette College, the John 

 Scott legacy medal and premium for his im- 

 proved jacketed crucible. 



The second annual Huxley lecture of the 

 Anthropological Institute was delivered by Dr. 

 Francis Galton, F.R.S., on October 29, his 

 subject being ' The Possible Improvement of 

 the Human Breed under the Existing Condi- 

 tions of Law and Sentiment.' 



The Council of the London Mathematical 

 Society for the ensuing year is as follows : 

 President, Dr. Hobson ; vice-presidents, Professor 

 W. BurnsideandMajorMacMahon, R.A.; treas- 

 urer, Dr. J. Larmor ; honorary secretaries, R. 

 Tucker and Professor Love ; other members, J. 



E. Campbell, Lieut. -Colonel Cunningham, R.E., 

 Professor Elliott, Dr. Glaisher, Professor M. J. 

 M. Hill, H. M. Macdonald, Professor L. J. 

 Rogers, A. E. Western, E. T. Whittaker and 

 A. Young. 



Dr. C. H. Gilbert, of the department of zo- 

 ology at Stanford University, has been ap- 

 pointed to take charge of the deep-sea investi- 

 gations of the United States Fish Commission 

 about the Hawaiian Islands. He will leave on 

 theGovernmentship^Zftairossabout Decemberl. 



The Navy Department has selected Lieut. - 

 Commander W. H. H. Southerland to succeed 

 Capt. C. C. Todd as chief hydrographer of the 

 navy, and orders have been issued detaching 

 him from the command of the Dolphin. 



We regret to learn that Mr. Thomas Meehan, 

 the well-known horticulturist, is seriously ill. 



Dr. Theodore Hough, of the Biological De- 

 partment of the Institute of Technology, is at 

 his Virginian home convalescing from a long 

 attack of typhoid fever. 



An intercollegiate geological excursion was 

 made to the Westfield valley in Central Massa- 

 chusetts on Saturday, October 19, for the pur- 

 pose of studying the formation of river terraces 

 and the influence of rock ledges on their de- 

 velopment. The excursion was under the 

 leadership of Professor W. M. Davis, and was 

 attended by forty-six teachers and students 

 from twelve institutions — Yale, Amherst, Wes- 

 leyan, Williams, Mass. Institute of Technology 

 and Harvard; Milton and Worcester Academies > 

 Springfield High School and Westfield, North 

 Adams and New Britain Normal Schools. 

 Professors B. K. Emerson, H. E. Gregory, W. 

 N. Rice, and R. T. Jackson were members of 

 the party. 



Mrs. Stanford has returned to San Fran- 

 cisco after a journey to Egypt, where she pur- 

 chased for the Stanford Museum a valuable col- 

 lection of Egyptian antiquities. 



Mr. H. Kato, of the Japanese Department 

 of Agriculture, is at present in the United 

 States, with the purpose of studying our fisheries. 



Dr. D. Morris, the British commissioner of 

 agriculture for the West Indies, has returned to 

 Barbadoes after a visit to London. 



