918 



SGIENGE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 284. 



tensive paper on a disease of carnations wliich 

 hitherto has been known under the name ' bac- 

 teriosis.' Mr. Woods's studies, which have 

 been carried ou for several years, seem to prove 

 conclusively that the disease is due to the punc- 

 tures of insects, principally aphides, and thrips. 

 For this reason he suggests the name ' stig- 

 monose ' for the malady. The paper is illus- 

 trated by plates and text figures and will be 

 ready for distribution early in June. 



The work ou tobacco inaugurated last year 

 by the Division of Vegetable Physiology and 

 Pathology, U. S. Department of Agriculture, is 

 being continued. The work is in charge of Dr. 

 Oscar Loew, and has for its principal object the 

 study of fermentation of the tobacco leaf. Some 

 important results bearing on the changes which 

 take place in the fermentation of the leaf have 

 already been obtained. A paper giving the re- 

 sults of the work in detail will soon be pub- 

 lished by the Department. 



The second annual meeting of the Astro- 

 nomical and Astrophysical Society of America 

 (Fourth Conference of Astronomers and Astro- 

 physicists) will be held in conjunction with the 

 meeting of the American Association at Colum- 

 bia University beginning on June 26th. In ad- 

 dition to papers which may be presented to the 

 Society, arrangements are being made for a ser- 

 ies of open discussions upon the following topics: 

 The Eclipse of May 28, 1900; Observations of 

 Eros to be made at the next Opposition ; Spec- 

 troscopic Determinations of Motion in the Line 

 of Sight. 



Announcement is also made of the meeting 

 of the American Forestry Association at the 

 same time and place. It is expected that the 

 Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture 

 will preside at the sessions. 



The Millinery Merchants' Protective Asso- 

 ciation which, it is said, controls ninety per 

 cent, of the millinery trade of the country, has 

 proposed to the various Audubon Societies to 

 cease killing or buying any North American 

 birds, except such as are edible and killed in 

 their season, if the societies will undertake not 

 to interfere with the use of these birds or with 

 skins imported from countries not in North 

 America. 



The British Ornithologists' Union has passed 

 the following resolution: "That any member 

 of the union directly or indirectly responsible 

 for ^the destruction of nests, eggs, young or 

 parent birds of any species mentioned below 

 should be visited with the severest censure of 

 the Union and Club." The birds referred to are 

 the chough, golden oriole, hoopoe, osprey, kite, 

 white-tailed eagle, honey buzzard, common 

 buzzard, bittern, and ruff. 



A DISPATCH from Bombay, reports that an 

 unprecedentedly severe epidemic of cholera 

 has broken out in the northern districts of Bom- 

 bay Presidency, especially in the famine camps, 

 and that the deaths had increased 40 per cent, 

 within three days. In the Kaira District there 

 have been 330 deaths in seven days. The gov- 

 ernment has made a special grant of £1000 

 to cremate the dead immediately. In Plaupur 

 State on the first day there was one death, on 

 the second there were eighty-four, and on the 

 third there were upwards of four hundred. 



The Scientific American states that progress 

 is being made in regard to the introduction of 

 the metric system in Russia. The bill which 

 has been prepared by the Minister of Finance 

 has received the approbation of the State Coun- 

 cil, with the understanding that the University 

 and the various scientific societies will give 

 their assistance in the verification of the weights 

 and measures necessary for commercial use. 

 The details have been nearly all decided upon, 

 and will be submitted to the Council in the 

 near future. Since 1896 the metric system has 

 been used by the medical service of the army 

 in the compounding of formulas, this having 

 been made obligatory. 



The next meeting of the International Com- 

 mittee of Weights and Measures will be held at 

 Paris on September 10th of the present year. 



The committee of the Liverpool School of 

 Tropical Diseases have decided to dispatch at 

 an early date an expedition to the Amazon to 

 investigate yellow fever. This is the third ex- 

 pedition organized by the school within the 

 last nine months. It will probably in the first 

 instance proceed to Baltimore to confer with 

 the yellow fever experts at the Johns Hopkin 



