November 8, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



743 



cannon, Sir Henry Irving and Mr. Winston 

 Churchill, M.P. Mr. Ernest Schenk, chairman 

 of the Crystal Palace Company, has been for 

 some time in America in connection with the ar- 

 rangements, and has everywhere met with most 

 cordial approval of the project. The American 

 exhibition will extend from May to September. 



The Department of Agriculture is in receipt 

 of a communication from Mr. R. J. Alfonso, 

 agronomical engineer in Cuba, and secretary of 

 the provincial ' Junta ' of agriculture, com- 

 merce and industries of the Province of Puerto- 

 Principe, in which he expresses his desire to be 

 brought in contact with some of the leading 

 manufacturers of agricultural implements in 

 the United States in the hope that some of them 

 may be induced to contribute to the agricultural 

 museum his association is in process of organ- 

 izing some of their implements, or models of 

 the same. He expresses the hope that their 

 enterprise and liberality in this respect would 

 not go unrewarded, as such exhibits would 

 serve a very useful purpose in the way of ad- 

 vertising their manufactures. 



We learn from the London Times that the 

 committee appointed by the Board of Trade to 

 inquire and report as to the best means by 

 which the state or local authorities can assist 

 scientific research as applied to problems affect- 

 ing the fisheries of Great Britain and Ireland 

 has met for the purpose of taking evidence. 

 Sir Herbert Maxwell, M.P., presided. Dr. T. 

 Wemyss Fulton, scientific superintendent to the 

 Scottish Fishery Board, and Mr. E. W. L. Holt, 

 scientific adviser to the fisheries branch of the 

 Department of Agriculture, etc., Ireland, were 

 examined, and Mr. G. C. Bompas and Professor 

 G. B. Howes gave evidence with regard to the 

 Buckland fish collection at South Kensington. 

 ■Professor E. Ray Lankester, the president, and 

 Mr. E. L. Allen, the director of the Marine 

 Biological Association, and Mr. R. A. Dawson, 

 superintendent under the Lancashire and West- 

 ern Sea Fisheries Committee, also attended. 

 Professor Herdman, F.R.S., a member of the 

 committee, submitted a scheme for fishery in- 

 vestigations in the Irish Sea. 



A British foreign office report gives some 

 information regarding the bill on the subject of 



the draining of the Zuyder Zee recently intro- 

 duced in the Second Chamber of the States- 

 General by Mr. Lely, the Minister for the 

 Waterstaat, who likewise furnished the Cham- 

 ber with a memorandum in explanation of the 

 measure, giving a historical retrospect of all 

 former proposals of this nature, as also the 

 most complete details concerning his own pro- 

 posal. It appears from the London Times that 

 the plan consists of first enclosing and after- 

 wards gradually partially reclaiming the Zuyder 

 Zee, the pumping out of the water to be ef- 

 fected by steam pumps. The first work will 

 be the construction of a dam from Wieriugen, 

 in North Holland, to Piaam, in Friesland. 

 This dam will have sluices into the North Sea. 

 The next works will be the creation of two 

 polders, or areas of dry land reclaimed from 

 the Zuyder Zee ; the first, between Wieringen 

 and Medemblik, to be called the ' North- West,' 

 or ' Wieringen Polder,' and the second, be- 

 tween Hoorn and Marken, to be called the 

 'South- West,' or ' Hoorn-Polder.' The rest 

 will remain a fresh-water lake, at all events in 

 so far as Mr. Lely's plan is concerned, but 

 should the latter prove successful, his minis- 

 terial successors may in days to come create 

 two more polders on the northeast and south- 

 east of the lake. The two polders will be of 

 the following area, viz., the Wieringen Polder, 

 21,700 hectares, containing 18,700 hectares of 

 fertile land ; and the Hoorn Polder, 31,520 

 hectares, containing 27,820 hectares of fertile 

 land. The entire work is to be completed in 18 

 years. The enclosing dyke from Wieringen to 

 Piaam will be finished in the ninth year. In 

 the eighth year will be commenced the works 

 for dyking the Wieringen Polder, which in the 

 14th year will be dry and ready for sale. In 

 the 11th year the similar works on the Hoorn 

 Polder will be begun, and will be completed in 

 the 18th year, when an area of upwards of 

 46,500 hectares of fertile soil will have been 

 reclaimed. The cost of this gigantic work is 

 estimated in round numbers at 95,000,000fl. 

 (£7,916,667), which amount is to be raised by 

 loans, and it is proposed to pay off the princi- 

 pal and interest by an annual increase of the 

 Budget of 2,000,000fl. (£166,667) during a maxi- 

 mum period of 60 years. 



