April 20, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



637 



of sucli forest reserves, also the amount of lieu 

 scrip issued therefor ; also what extensions of 

 existing reserves are in contemplation, with the 

 amount of railroad grants in proposed reserves 

 or extensions, and the number of acres located 

 by forest reserve scrip. 



The Cartwright lectures of the Alumni As- 

 sociation of the College of Physicians and Sur- 

 geons, Columbia University, for 1900, will be 

 delivered at the New York Academy of Medi- 

 cine, No. 17 West 43d Street, on the evenings 

 of April 18, 24, and 26, 1900, at 8:30 o'clock, 

 by Professor John G. Curtis, M.D., of Colum- 

 bia University. His subject is ' The Discovery 

 of the Nerves and of their Function.' 



Arrangements have been completed for the 

 spring course of lectures, at the New York 

 Botanical Garden, which will be given in the 

 lecture hall of the Museum on Saturday after- 

 noons at 4:30 o'clock, as follows : 



April 14tb, 'A Glimpse at the Kingdom of Plants,' 

 by Dr. N. L. Britton. 



April 21st, 'Spring blowers,' by Mr. Cornelius 

 Van Brunt. 



April 28th, ' Ferns, ' by Professor L. M. Under- 

 wood. 



May 5th, 'Climbing Plants,' by Dr. D. T. Mao- 

 D ngal. 



May 12th, 'Seeds and Seedlings,' by^ Professor 

 Francis E. Lloyd. 



May 19th, 'Summer Flowers,' by Mr. Cornelius 

 Van Brunt. 



May 26tb, ' Some Tropical Relatives of the Potato,' 

 by Professor Henry H. Eusby. 



June 2d, ' The Fairy-lore of Flowers, ' by Pro- 

 fessor E. S. Burgess. 



June 9tb, ' Plants Concerned in the Formation of 

 Coal,' by Dr. Arthur Hollick. 



June 16th, ' Seaweeds, ' by Dr. Carlton C. Curtis. 



June 23d, ' The Flora of Alaska,' by Mr. Frede- 

 rick V. Coville. 



The lectures will be illustrated by charts, 

 living material and lantern slides and will be 

 non-technical. The museum building may be 

 reached by a walk of three minutes from the 

 Bedford Park Station of the Harlem division 

 of the New York Central Railroad, and by a 

 walk of five minutes from the Fordham trolley 

 line, connecting directly with the Second and 

 Third Avenue Elevated roads. 



The Department of Archaeology and Paleon- 



tology of the University of Pennsylvania an- 

 nounces a course of free public lectures to be 

 illustrated by objects in the museum, to be de- 

 livered in the Widener Lecture Hall of the Mus- 

 eum on Wednesday afternoons at 4 p. m. as 

 follows: 



April 4th, Profesaor Lightner Witmer, ' Present 

 Day Survivals of Primitive Modes of Thought and 

 Feeling.' 



April 11th, Mr. Stewart Culin, ' The Origin of 

 Ornament.' 



April 18th, Dr. A. T. Clay, ' Recent Excavations 

 in Babylonia.' 



April 25th, Dr. William N. Bates, ' Coinage of the 

 Ancient Greeks.' 



May 2d, Professor Hugh A. Clarke, ' The Genesis 

 of Musical Instruments- ' 



May 9th, Dr. Simon Flexner, ' Impressions of the 

 Philippine Islands.' 



May 16th, Professor John B. McMaster, ' House- 

 hold Life of Women in the Colonial Period.' 



With reference to M. Joseph Bertrand, 

 whose death we announced last week, a corre- 

 spondent of the London Times says : Born at 

 Paris in 1823, he was early initiated by his 

 father, who had been trained at the Polytech- 

 nic School, into mathematical studies. At 11 

 years of age he passed an examination for ad- 

 mission into that school, but this was merely an 

 exploit, and he did not enter the establishment 

 till the usual age of 17, when he headed the 

 list of candidates. On leaving the Polytechnic, 

 he became a mine inspector, next professor at 

 a Paris college, and afterwards professor suc- 

 cessively at the Polytechnic, the Normal School, 

 and the College de France. In 1856 he suc- 

 ceeded Sturm in the Academy of Sciences, and 

 in 1874 he took the place of Eli de Beaumont as 

 one of its secretaries. In 1884 he became the 

 successor of Jean Baptist Dumas in the French 

 Academy. As a writer and debater he was 

 singularly clear, sometimes with a vein of irony. 

 Of late years he contributed biographical and 

 critical articles on genuine or pseudo-mathe- 

 maticians to th^ Revue des Deux Mondes. His 

 more serious works include essays on Paschal, 

 Lavoisier, d'Alembert, and Comte, and lectures 

 on the calculation of chances, and on electricity. 

 His son, M. Marcel Bertrand, a mining engi- 

 neer, is likewise a member of the Academy of 

 Sciences. 



