Makch 9, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



399 



value of which is $1,000, is awarded to an 

 American citizen for an essay not exceeding 

 150 octavo pages, containing original investiga- 

 tions on surgical pathology or surgical practice. 



The Senate Sub-Committee, responsible for 

 the bill interfering with vivisection in the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia, gave a hearing on February 

 21st. Among those who opposed the bill were 

 Professor H. P. Bowditch, Surgeon General 

 Sternberg, Professor W. W. Keen, Professor 

 W. H. Welch, Professor William Osier, Pro- 

 fessor Howard A. Kelly, Professor H. H. Hare, 

 Dr. Mary P. Jacobi, and Bishop Lawrence. 



We regret to record the death of M. Emile 

 Blanchard, member of the section of anatomy 

 and zoology of the Paris Academy of Sciences. 



We must also announce the death at the age 

 of 76 j'ears of Dr. Hermann SchaefFer, honorary 

 professor of mathematics at Jena. 



It is perhaps not generally known that the 

 late Professor D. E. Hughes, the physicist and 

 inventor, whose death we were recently com- 

 pelled to record spent about twenty years in 

 the United States. He was educated at Bards- 

 towu, Ky., where he afterwards taught ' natural 

 philosophy.' 



The first part of Romer uud Schaudinn's 

 Fauna Arciica has appeared. It is a beautiful 

 quarto, and contains papers by Schulze, Thiele, 

 von Linstow and Ludwig, on the Hexactinel- 

 lidse Proneomenia, the Nematodes and Holo- 

 thurians, respectively. 



During the present month lectures on metal- 

 lurgy are being given at the American Museum 

 of Natural History under the auspices of Colum- 

 bia University. The lectures, which are on 

 Saturday evenings, are as follows : 



March 3. ' The Constitution of Steel as revealed 

 by the Microscope, ' by Professor Henry M. Howe, of 

 Columbia University. 



March 10. ' The Constitution of Metallic Alloys 

 in the Light of Modern Research,' by Mr. Albert 

 Sauveur, Lecturer on Metallurgy, Harvard Univer- 

 sity. 



March 17. ' Toledo Blades : Rationale of the Pro- 

 cedure in Manufacturing them and other Steel Objects 

 explained by the Microscope,' by Henry Souther, 

 Consultiug Engineer, of Hartford, Conn. 



March 24. ' Lead Smelting in the United States,' 



by Professor H. O. Hofman, of the Massachusetts In- 

 stitute of Technology, Boston, Mass. 



March 31. ' Aluminium, ' by Professor J. W. Rich- 

 ards, of the Lehigh University, South Bethlehem, Pa. 



The thirteenth Lecture Course on science and 

 travel at the Field Columbian Museum will be 

 given during March and April on Saturday 

 afternoons at 3 o'clock. The subjects and dates 

 of lectures are as follows : 



March 3. 'The Age of Steel,' by Mr. H. W. 

 Nichols, Assistant Curator, Department of Geology, 

 Field Columbian Museum. 



March 10. 'Conditions of Life in Inland Lakes,' 

 by Dr. E. A. Birge, Professor of Zoology, University 

 of Wisconsin. 



March 17. 'Gigantic Fossil Reptiles from the Ju- 

 rassic of Wyoming,' by Mr. E. S. Riggs, Assistant 

 Curator of Paleontology, Field Columbian Museum. 



March 24. 'Primitive American Art with Illustra- 

 tions Drawn chiefly from Studies in Aboriginal 

 Games,' by Mr. Stewart Culin, Director of the Mu- 

 seum of Science and Art, University of Pennsylvania. 



March 31. ' Archseological Discoveries on the North 

 Pacific Coast of America, by Mr. Harlan I. Smith, 

 American Museum of Natural History, New York. 



April 7. ' Soyaluna, a Hopi Winter Solstice Cere- 

 mony, ' Stanley McCormick Expedition, by Rev. H. 

 R. Voth, Missionary to the Hopi Indians. 



April 14. ' The ' Struggle for Existence ' as a Factor 

 in Animal Development,' by Dr. D. J. Rettger, In- 

 diana State Normal School, Terre Haute, Indiana. 



April 21. 'The Yellowstone National Park,' by 

 Professor J. P. Iddings, University of Chicago. 



April 28. 'Indian Tribes of the Great Plains,' by 

 Mr. James Mooney, Bureau of Ethnology, Washing- 

 ton, D. C. 



A telegram has been received at the Har- 

 vard College Observatory from Professor J. E. 

 Keeler at Lick Observatory stating that the 

 following elements and ephemeris of Comet ' a ' 

 were computed by Pi'ofessor Perrine. 

 Time of passing perihelion = T= 1900 April 29.08 

 Perihelion minus node = w = 24*^ 37' 



Longitude of node = fi = 40=" 25' 



Inclination , = i ^ 146° 25' 



Perihelion distance = <Z ^ 1.3289 



Ephemeris. 



1900 Feb. 26 R.A. 2" 09" 52" Dec. + 1° 43' Lat. 0.85 

 Apr. 2 " 2 05 36 " 2 56 

 Mar. 6 " 2 01 52 " 4 07 

 Mar. 10 " 1 58 32 " +5 15 Lat. 0.82 



Computed from observations on February 3d and 8th. 



