February 16, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



279 



Board of Agriculture, for determining what 

 deficiency in the normal constituents of genuine 

 milk or cream, or what addition of extraneous 

 matter or proportion of water, in any sample 

 of milk (including condensed milk), or cream 

 shall raise a presumption that the milk or cream 

 is not genuine. The committee will consist of 

 the following gentlemen : Lord Wenlock. 

 (chairman), Mr. George Barham, Mr. George 

 Cowan, Major Patrick George Craigie (an as- 

 sistant secretary of the Board of Agriculture), 

 Mr. S. W. Farmer, Mr. Shirley F. Murphy, 

 M.D., Professor Thorpe, F.R S. (principal 

 chemist of the Government Laboratories), and 

 Mr. J. Agustus Voelcker, Ph.D. Mr. Robert 

 Henry Eew, of the Board of Agriculture, will 

 act as secretary to the committee. 



An eflfort is being made by the New York 

 Fish, Game and Forest League in New York 

 State to secure the establishment of a State Bio- 

 logical Station. Professor H. A. Surface, chair- 

 man of the biological committee, writes that its 

 purpose would be the making of investigations 

 and practical experiments (o) to determine the 

 nature, habits, food, and needs of the fish, game 

 and insectivorous and song birds ; (6) to deter- 

 mine the causes of their decrease ; (c) to de- 

 termine what measures can be taken to reduce 

 their enemies, increase their natural food supply 

 and shelter, and secure such natural or modi- 

 fied conditions as should lead to their abundance 

 throughout the State ; (d) to propagate not only 

 the desirable creatures named above, but also 

 their natural food supply ; (e) to study and ex- 

 periment with the best methods of introducing 

 beneficial species, to show what measures can be 

 taken to help them to become acclimated, and 

 to provide for their winter feeding and shelter ; 

 (/) to obtain material for publication ; {g) to ob- 

 tain facts upon which proper legislation can be 

 based to secure the effective protection and 

 maintenance of desirable species and the de- 

 struction of obnoxious kinds ; Qi) to obtain 

 facts that may be useful to teachers of 

 nature study, natural history, biology, botany, 

 zoology, ornithology, ichthyology or forestry in 

 the State. Another important feature will be 

 the preparation and labeling of collections of 

 specimens (especially fishes and other aquatic 

 and semi-aquatic animals) for schools of the 



State, which will stimulate scientific research 

 and facilitate better methods of science teaching. 



A MARINE laboratory and museum will be 

 opened at the University of Berlin on the first 

 of April. 



A SECOND edition of the Botanists Directory, 

 published by I. Dorfler, Vienna, is in prepara- 

 tion. The publisher will be glad to receive the 

 names and addresses of all botanists, especially 

 those whose names do not appear in the first 

 edition, as well as information concerning 

 botanical gardens and societies concerned with 

 botany. 



We learn from the London Times that the re- 

 port by Sir William Crookes, P.E.S., and Pro- 

 fessor Dewar, F.R.S., on the composition and 

 quality of daily samples of the water supplied 

 to London for the month ending December 31, 

 1899, states that of the 192 samples examined 

 by them during the month, all were found to be 

 clear, bright, and well filtered. The rainfall at 

 Oxford during the month was 1.30 in. The 

 average for the past 30 years is 2.10 in.; this 

 leaves a deficiency of 0.80 in., bringing the 

 total deficiency for the year up to 4.54 in., or 

 17.6 per cent. The general supply has been 

 admirable from a bacteriological point of view. 

 During the year they examined 4792 samples 

 of London water bacteriologically, as compared 

 with 3590 and 3249 respectively in the two 

 previous years. They also made 2456 chem- 

 ical analyses of London waters, making a total 

 of 7248 samples examined. During the first 

 six months the Thames-derived companies clear- 

 water wells contained on the average 32 bac- 

 teria per cc, while the New River and River 

 Lea supplies contained respectively 18 and 25. 

 During the second six months the number of 

 bacteria in the waters from the three were re- 

 spectively 22, 12, and 14. These results show 

 that during the year effective filtration of the 

 London waters has been properly maintained. 

 The report adds: "When we consider that a 

 water containing about 100 bacteria per cc. in 

 the clear- water wells would be regarded by the 

 highest authorities as properly filtered, we see 

 that the London supply must be considered ex- 

 ceptionally good." 



The British Medical Journal states that 



