678 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. Wo. 278. 



typewritten copy without signature, but with 

 the name of the author enclosed with it in a 

 sealed envelope and addressed to the chairman 

 of the committee at Emporia, Kans. Three 

 copies of each essay shall be submitted. They 

 must be mailed not later than February 1, 1901. 



The Glasgow International Exhibition to be 

 opened in May, 1901, includes eight classes, em- 

 bracing agriculture, mining, industrial design 

 and manufactures, machinery and labor-saving 

 appliances in motion, locomotion and transport, 

 marine engineering and shipbuilding, lighting 

 and heating, science, education, music, sports 

 and sporting appliances. Applications for space 

 should be made to the General Manager, Mr. 

 H. A. Hedley, not later than June 1st. 



The news regarding the plague is not reas- 

 suring. It continues unabated in India, the 

 deaths numbering over 4000 a week. A total 

 of 185 deaths is reported from Manila and 38 

 from Sidney. Deaths still occur in Mauritius, 

 and cases are now reported at Aden on the Red 

 Sea. 



The Annales de I'Insiitut Pasteur states that 

 since the foundation of the Antirabic Institute 

 at Algiers 1836 persons have been under treat- 

 ment, of whom 645 belonged to the province of 

 Algiers, 632 to that of Oran, 557 to Constanti- 

 nople and two to Tunis. Out of this total, 1339 

 were French, Spaniards and Europeans of other 

 nationalities, while 497 were Algerians. The 

 number of deaths has been only nine, or rather 

 less than one-half per cent. 



The Passmore Edwards Museum, in the 

 Rumford-road, Stratford, is, according to Na- 

 ture, now approaching completion and arrange- 

 ments for the opening will shortly be made. 

 The museum has been built and furnished by 

 the Council of the County Borough of West 

 Ham, at a cost of about 90001., of which 4000Z. 

 was the gift of Mr. Passmore Edwards. The 

 main portion of the museum will be devoted to 

 the Essex Museum of Natural History, belong- 

 ing to the Essex Field Club, which is deposited 

 in the building under agreement between the 

 club and the Borough Council. The remainder 

 of the building will be used as an educational 

 museum in connection with the adjoining 



Municipal Technical Institute. The scientific 

 control of the Essex Field Club collection re- 

 mains with the club, and they contribute 501. a 

 year towards the curatorial expenses, the coun- 

 cil contributing 1001. a year. The club appoints 

 the curator. At their meeting on March 27th, 

 the council resolved to set aside annually out 

 of the Estate Duty Grant the sum of lOOOZ. for 

 museum purposes. It is expected that from 

 500 to 6001. of this will be needed for the up- 

 keep and maintenance charges, the balance 

 being placed to the credit of a museum purchase 

 fund, which will be treated as a capital fund, 

 from which payments may be made from time 

 to time for the purchase of objects and of the 

 necessary cases, etc., in which to exhibit them. 

 The Essex Field Club have appointed Mr. W. 

 Cole as curator of their Natural History collec- 

 tions. The building itself, and the educational 

 collections of the council, are under the charge 

 of the principal of the Technical Institute, Mr. 

 A. E. Briscoe. 



Me. H. W. Nevinson writes to the London 

 Daily Chronicle from Ladysmith under siege, as 

 follows : Again I was on Observation Hill two 

 or three times in the day. It is impossible to 

 keep away from it long. Whilst Puffing Billy 

 was firing I tried to get sight of a small mocking 

 bird, which has learned to imitate the warning 

 whistle of the sentries. In the Gordons the 

 Hindoo Purriboo-Singh, from Benares, stands on 

 a huge heap of sacks under an umbrella all 

 day and screams when he sees the big gun flash. 

 But in the other camps, as I have mentioned, a 

 sentry gives warning by blowing a whistle. 

 The mocking bird now sounds that whistle at 

 all times of the day, and what is even more 

 perplexing, he is learning to imitate the scream 

 and buzzle of the shell through the air. 

 Another interesting event in natural history 

 occurred a short time ago up the Port road. A 

 Bulwan shell, missing the top of Convent Hill, 

 lobbed over and burst at random with its usual 

 din and circumstance. People rushed up to 

 see what damage it had done, but they only 

 found two little dead birds — one with a tiny 

 hole in her breast, the other with an eye 

 knocked out. Ninety-six pounds of iron, brass, 

 and melinite, hurled four miles through the 

 air, at unknown cost, just to deal a true lovers' 



