820 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 360. 



ency to a line oflBcer of the navy should be 

 changed so as to provide that the official head 

 of the observatory— perhaps styled simply the 

 director — should be an eminent astronomer ap- 

 pointed by the President, by and with the ad- 

 vice and consent of the Senate, holding this 

 place by a tenure at least as permanent as that 

 of the superintendent of the coast survey, or 

 the head of the geological survey, and not 

 merely by a detail of two or three years' dura- 

 tion. Only in this way can there be a con- 

 tinuous and effective policy of administration 

 which will insure astronomical work of a high 

 order. In rank, salary, privileges and prestige 

 he should be superior to any other official on 

 the ground. 



" The limitation in the selection of assistants 

 should also be removed, and the assistant once 

 appointed should be secure against detachment 

 or removal except by the action, for cause, of 

 the director. The institution should be related 

 to the Navy Department, if continued under its 

 control, in some such way as the Eoyal Observ- 

 atory at Greenwich is related to the British 

 admiralty. It should be put under the control 

 of the secretary directly, and not through a 

 bureau as at present." 



In conclusion the Board finds objection to the 

 manner in which appropriations have been 

 made in support of the observatory, saying that 

 it is not easy to determine what portion of the 

 expenditures pertains properly to astronomical 

 work, what portion to the naval work, and 

 what portion to the improvement and care of 

 the grounds as a part. The cost of mainte- 

 nance for the last fiscal year was $108,428, of 

 which amount $21,258 was expended in sal- 

 aries. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 Dr. J. WiLLARD GiBBS, of Yale University, 

 has been awarded the Copley Medal of the 

 Royal Society for his contributions to mathe- 

 matical physics. 



Henry M. Howe, professor of metallurgy at 

 Columbia University, has been elected an hon- 

 orary member of the Russian Technical Society 

 at St. Petersburg. 



Dr. E. a. de Schweinitz, dean of the Co- 

 lumbian University Medical School and direct- 



or of the Biochemic Laboratory, U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, has recently been elected 

 a corresponding member of the Epidemiological 

 Society of London, and also of the ' Society for 

 Combating Tuberculosis,' of Berlin. 



Professor William F. Willoughby, re- 

 cently expert in the U. S. Department of Labor 

 and now of Harvard University, has been ap- 

 pointed treasurer of Porto Rico. 



Professor Luigi Palazzo has been ap- 

 pointed director of the Central Meteorological 

 and Geodetic Institute at Rome. 



Dr. von Wettstein, of the University of 

 Vienna, who was sent by the government to 

 study the flora of Brazil, has returned. 



It is stated by the Berlin correspondent of 

 the Times that Professor Paul Ehrlich, of 

 Frankfurt-on-the-Main, has been enabled to 

 devote himself to a special study of the disease 

 of cancer in consequence of a bequest of the 

 interest for three years of a sum of 500,000 

 Marks dedicated to this purpose by a Frankfurt 

 banker, the late Herr Theodor Stern. Other 

 sums contributed by private individuals will 

 bring up the amount to be devoted to this 

 special investigation of cancer by Dr. Ehrlich 

 to 40,000 Marks, or |10,000 a year. In Berlin 

 there exists a special committee for the investi- 

 gation of cancer, which studies pathological 

 accounts of cases and collects statistics and 

 medical literature on this subject. Professor 

 von Leyden is at the head of the committee, 

 and Professor von Kirchner, of the medical de- 

 partment of the Ministry of Public Instruction, 

 is one of its members. 



The Craig Colony Prize of $200 has been 

 awarded to Professor Carlo Ceni, of Pavia, Italy, 

 for an essay, entitled ' Serotherapy in Epilepsy. ' 



At the scientific meeting of the Zoological 

 Society of London, on November 19, papers 

 were read by Professor Ray Lankester, on 

 * Okapia, a New Genus of Giraffidse from Central 

 Africa,' and by Mr. Oldfield Thomas 'On the 

 Giraffe discovered by Sir Harry Johnston near 

 Mount Elgon, Central Africa.' 

 ; The work of putting in place at Wood's Holl 

 a boulder to serve as a memorial to the late 

 Professor Spencer F. Baird is now completed. 



