Februaey 9, 1900.] 



SCmNCR 



237 



The Board has given permission to the Phila- 

 delphia Natural History Society to hold its 

 meeting in the Institute. This Society is in a 

 most flourishing condition and there is an aver- 

 age attendance at the meetings of from 35 to 

 40 persons. 



The number of accessions to the Museum 

 during the year was 386, making a total of 

 14,880 exhibits, not including the insects of 

 which there are about 5000 species. The col- 

 lection of Florida Pliocene Fossils is one of the 

 best and most complete in the country. Among 

 the most important contributions are 100 species 

 of fossils collected by Dr. H. G. GrifiBth on the 

 Caloosahatchie River, Florida ; 50 species of 

 minerals presented by Mr. Joseph Wilcox, a 

 number of zoological Crustacea and mollusks col- 

 lected by the Zoological Expedition to Florida 

 in June, 27 local species from the Academy of 

 Natural Science Exchange, 22 species of birds 

 and nests from J. Harris Eeed, and a collection 

 of coal plants from the Rock Hill Coal and Iron 

 Company. The local collection of insects is 

 now the most complete in the City. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



Major J. W. Powell, director of the bureau 

 of American ethnology, and Professor W. H. 

 Holmes, head curator of anthropology in the 

 United States National Museum, are in Cuba 

 engaged in carrying out a plan for archseologic 

 researches which are expected to throw light on 

 pre-historic migrations of several native tribes, 

 as well as on aboriginal commerce and inter- 

 change of arts. Their operations will extend 

 to Puerto Rico and several other Antillean 

 Islands. 



The Rev. Father 3os± Algue, director of 

 the Manila Observatory, and his associate. 

 Father Jose Clos, have arrived at San Francisco 

 on their way to Washington. They wish to ar- 

 range for the continuation of the work of the 

 Observatory and the publication of the results 

 by the government. 



Professor A. J. Henry, who has been for 

 twenty years connected with the Weather 

 Bureau and who is at present chief of the 

 Division of Meteorology, has been appointed to 



fill the vacancy caused by the death of the late 

 H. A. Hazen. 



Mr. a. a. Heller has returned to Puerto 

 Rico to extend his collections made in 1899 for 

 the New York Botanical Garden. He will 

 keep the field during January and February, 

 with headquarters at Mayaguez in the western 

 part of the island. 



We are glad to learn that Professor R. H. 

 Chittenden of Yale University who has been 

 seriously ill with typhoid fever is now better. 



We learn from Nature that the Council of 

 the Manchester Literary and Philosophical 

 Society have awarded the Wilde Medal for 1900 

 to Lord Rayleigh, for his contributions to mathe- 

 matical and experimental physics and to chem- 

 istry ; a Dalton Medal (struck in 1864) to Sir 

 H. E. Roscoe, for his remarkable original re- 

 searches in chemistry, and for his distinguished 

 services to scientific education ; and the Wilde 

 Premium for 1900 to Professor A. W. Flux, for 

 his papers on economic questions read before 

 the Society. The presentation of the medals 

 and the premium took place at a special 

 meeting, when Lord Rayleigh delivered the 

 Wilde Lecture for 1900. 



M. Poincae:^ has been awarded the gold 

 medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. 



It is understood that Sir John Lubbock, on 

 his elevation to the peerage, has decided to 

 take the name of Lord Avebury, after a prop- 

 erty of his in Wiltshire. According to Sir John 

 Lubbock's description in ' Prehistoric Times,' 

 the temple of Avebury, Wiltshire, was the 

 greatest of all so-called Druidical monuments. 



M. M. Daeboux and Moissan have been ap- 

 pointed delegates of Paris Academy of Sciences 

 to the celebration of the second centenary of 

 the Berlin Academy of Sciences. 



At the annual meeting of the Royal Meteor- 

 ological Society, London, on January 17th, Mr. 

 G. J. Symons, F.R.S., was elected president 

 for the ensuing year. 



At the first meeting of the Academic de 

 Medecine for 1900 the retiring president, Pro- 

 fessor Panas, gave his valedictory address, 

 reviewing the important work and communica- 



