May 4, 1900.] 



SCIENCE, 



111 



of Gottingen has given the prize of the Wohl- 

 brecht's foundation for works on natural science 

 of the value of 12,000 Marlis to Professor Gegen- 

 baur the eminent Heidelberg zoologist. 



Professor J. K. Rees, of the Department of 

 Astronomy of Columbia University, has been 

 appointed an international juror in the depart- 

 ment of the Paris Exposition, which is in charge 

 of instruments of precision. 



The Government of India has decided to as- 

 sign Captain Robert M. Elliot to the special 

 duty of investigating on the nature and action 

 of snake venom. 



The University of Edinburgh on April 14th, 

 conferred its LL.D. on Dr. A. Stuart, professor 

 of physiology in the University of Sydney ; on 

 W. R. Sorley, professor of philosophy in Aber- 

 deen University, on Dr. C. D. F. Phillips, the 

 pharmacologist, and on Miss Eleanor Ormerod, 

 known for her contributions to entomology. On 

 conferring this degree. Professor Grant re- 

 marked that it was the first time that the de- 

 gree had been conferred by the University on a 

 ■woman. 



The University of Glasgow, on April 17th, 

 conferred the degree of LL.D. on Mr. A. Smith 

 Woodward, of the Geological Department of 

 the British Museum, and on Mr. Robert Caird, 

 president of the Scottish Institution of Engi- 

 • neers and Shipbuilders. 



In honor of the twenty-fifth anniversary of 

 Dr. Daniel Coit Oilman's election as President 

 of the Johns Hopkins University, his colleagues 

 in the faculty have presented to the University 

 a three-quarter life-size oil portrait. It has 

 been hung in McCoy Hall. 



A BUST of the late Professor Egleston and a 

 bronze tablet will be given to Columbia Uni- 

 versity by students of the School of Applied 

 Science. 



The death is announced of M. Planchon, 

 since 1886 director of the Paris School of Phar- 

 macy at the age of sixty-seven years. He was 

 a brother of the celebrated botanist Emile 

 Planchon. 



Sib William Priestley, a well-known Lon- 

 don physician and member of parliament, a 

 grand-nephew of the discoverer of oxygen, died 



in London on April 11th at the age of eighty- 

 one years. 



Rodney G. Kimball, since 1869 professor of 

 applied mathematics in the Brooklyn Polytech- 

 nic Institute, died on April 25th. 



The death is announced of Mrs. Lankester 

 known for her writings on botany and other 

 scientific subjects, her best known work being 

 the text of Sowerby's British botany. 



The death is also announced of M. Philippe 

 Salmon, assistant director of the School of An- 

 thropology, Paris, also president of the com- 

 mission of megalithic monuments and member 

 of the commission on historic monuments. 



The Senate has passed the agricultural ap- 

 propriation bill, which carries $4,120,000, re- 

 taining the item of $170,000 for the purchase of 

 seeds for distribution. 



The bill creating a National Department of 

 Commerce and Industry will probably not be 

 considered for lack of time during the present 

 session of Congress, but special efforts will be 

 made on its behalf next year. 



By the will of Charles E. Smith, formerly 

 president of the Philadelphia and Reading 

 Railway company, the Philadelphia Academy 

 of Natural Sciences receives one-sixth of an 

 estate valued at nearly $500,000, as also a col- 

 lection of botanical books and a herbarium. 

 His books on technical science are left to the 

 Franklin Institute. 



The preliminary arrangements have been 

 completed for taking the official observations 

 in Mexico of the total eclipse of the sun on 

 May 28th. These observations will be made 

 by the National Observatory, under direction 

 of the Federal Government. The places se- 

 lected are Montemorelos and Santa Helena, 

 both near Monterey. The astronomers ap- 

 pointed to perform the work are Francisco 

 Rodriguez Rey, Manuel Morenoy Landa, Man- 

 uel Pasirana, Fernandez de Lindro, Augustin 

 Aradon and Pedro Sanchez. Miss Rose D. 

 Fallorend, of California, secretary of the Astro- 

 nomical Association of the Pacific Coast, will 

 also take observations of the eclipse from Santa 

 Helena. 



Herr Mencee, of Hanover, is undertaking 

 in his yacht a scientific expedition to the Ger- 



