942 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 363. 



chemists will be welcomed by Dr. J. Merritt 

 Matthews, chairman of the Philadelphia Sec- 

 tion ; the provost of the University of Pennsyl- 

 vania, and a representative of the City 

 Government. President F. W. Clarke will ad- 

 dress a few words in response. The remainder 

 of the forenoon will be devoted to the reading 

 and discussion of papers and general business. 

 In the afternoon there will be visits to points of 

 special interest under the direction of the local 

 committee. In the evening the address of the 

 retiring president will be delivered at the Acorn 

 Club, 1618 Walnut Street, after which a recep- 

 tion will be given to the members of the So- 

 ciety and their ladies. On Tuesday, a session 

 of the Society will be held in the forenoon. 

 The afternoon will be devoted to visits and ex- 

 cursions, and in the evening there will be a 

 subscription banquet. A meeting of the coun- 

 cil will be held at such time and place as may 

 be appointed by the president. The local com- 

 mittee expects to arrange a 'smoker,' if there 

 is opportunity to do so. The committee has 

 not been able to secure special transportation 

 rates, but those who expect to attend may 

 avail themselves of the regular holiday rates 

 which prevail on some of the roads during this 

 season. 



DiRECTOE W. W. Campbell, of the Lick Ob- 

 servatory, made public the following report on 

 December 6 : " On account of unfavorable condi- 

 tions observations of the interesting nebula sur- 

 rounding the new star in Perseus were not ob- 

 tained for several weeks. The clear sky of last 

 night, just preceding to-day's storm, was taken 

 advantage of by Professor Perrine to secure a 

 photograph of it with the Crossley reflector, ex- 

 posure five and a half hours. The extraordinary 

 motion in the nebula, discovered by him on 

 November 10 and confirmed by Ritchie, of 

 Yerkes Observatory, on the day following, con- 

 tinues unchanged for the two principal con- 

 densations. They have moved outward cer- 

 tainly more than half a minute of an arc in the 

 last three weeks. The third condensation has 

 greatly changed its form, but nevertheless its 

 motion outward appears to continue. The 

 strong mass of nebula nearest the star seems to 

 remain unchanged, both in position and appear- 

 ance." 



A Pearson Club has been organized re- 

 cently by members of the faculty of the Uni- 

 versity of California for the discussion of fun- 

 damental problems of science suggested by Karl 

 Pearson's ' Grammar of Science.' The mem- 

 bership of sixteen includes representatives from 

 the departments of biology, geology, mathe- 

 matics, philosophy and physics. 



A DESPATCH to the London Times from Lit- 

 tleton, New Zealand, states that the National 

 Antarctic Exploration ship Discovery arrived 

 here November 29. All on board were well 

 and in good spirits. They state that they en- 

 tered the pack-ice in lat. 63.5 and long. 141 

 E., but pressure of time prevented a thorough 

 investigation of the ice. Interesting collec- 

 tions were, however, made during the voyage. 

 A party landed on Macquarie Island for a few 

 hours, obtaining some live penguins, some 

 eggs and some seals. The Discovery has been 

 dry-docked for caulking, having sprung a 

 leak, though not a serious one. When the 

 Discovery continues her voyage, which will 

 probable be in a fortnight, she will take with 

 her a supply of meat presented by the Canter- 

 bury stock farmers. 



The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine 

 has sent a special expedition under Dr. Charles 

 Balfour Stewart, to the Gold Coast and to the 

 gold-mining districts of that colony, to conduct 

 a series of operations there with a view to im- 

 proving the conditions of health and sanitation. 



The Russian Pharmaceutical Society, Mos- 

 cow, has celebrated with appropriate cere- 

 monies the two-hundredth anniversary of the 

 opening of the first free pharmacy in Russia, 



The courts have decided in favor of the 

 ruling of the Treasury Department, which ex- 

 cluded an Irish immigrant suffering from tuber- 

 culosis. 



The egg of the great auk continues to bring 

 a large price whenever chance brings one into 

 the market, and the last was sold at the noted 

 auction rooms of J. C. Stevens, London, for 

 240 guineas. This egg was the last of four 

 owned by the late Baron D'Hamonville, and 

 was peculiarly marked with inky lines and 

 blotches. It was purchased by Mr. Massey, 

 who some years ago paid the record price, 315 



