June 15, 1900.] 



SGIE'NCE. 



959 



plete his studies of the iish-fauna of that colony, 

 and especially to investigate the life-history and 

 development of the abnormal fishes Polypterus 

 and Frotopierus. On reaching Bathurst, Mr. 

 Budgett will proceed up the River Gambia to 

 his former quarters on M'Carthy's Island, in 

 the neighborhood of which he has already 

 ascertained that these fishes are found breeding 

 during the rainy season. A paper on points in 

 the anatomy of Polypterus, based on specimens 

 obtained by Mr. Budgett during his first expe- 

 dition, was read before the Zoological Society 

 on May 8th, an abstract of which we published 

 recently. 



Professor "W. M. Davis of Harvard Univer- 

 sity, Professor R. E. Dodge of Teachers Col- 

 lege, Columbia University, and several other 

 geologists are engaged in making an explora- 

 tory trip through the Grand Canyon of the 

 Colorado. 



The Royal College of Surgeons of England 

 will, as we have already announced, celebrate 

 its centenary at the end of July. The exercises 

 will begin with a conversazione at the College 

 on the evening of Wednesday, July 25th. On 

 Thursday morning Professor Stewart, F.R.S., 

 the conservator, will give a demonstration in 

 the Hunterian Museum. On the afternoon of 

 the same day a general meeting will be held in 

 the theatre of Burlington House, when the 

 President, Sir William MacCormac, will deliver 

 an address, and honorary fellowships will be 

 conferred. In the evening a festival dinner 

 will be held in the great hall of Lincoln's Inn. 

 On Friday morning Professor Stewart will again 

 give demonstrations, and on the evening of that 

 day a conversazione will be given by the Lord 

 Mayor at the Mansion House. 



A DESPATCH to the daily papers states that 

 an explosion occurred in the mechanical labora- 

 tory at the Agricultural College, at Lansing, 

 Mich., on June 5th, while Professor M. D. At- 

 kins was conducting an experiment in the pres- 

 ence of the students. Professor Atkins was 

 seriously burned, and the sight of his left eye 

 was destroyed by flying particles of glass. H. 

 D. Hornbeck, a student, who was assisting, was 

 also badly burned, and it is feared he will lose 

 his right eye. 



M. Ceevat-Durand, of Fontainbleau, has by 

 his will made generous public bequests, includ- 

 ing 150,000 frs. to the Paris Pasteur Institute. 

 The addition to the Institute, which comprises 

 a hospital and laboratories for biological chem- 

 istry, is now complete. 



The difference between the Senate and the 

 House of Representatives in regard to an appro- 

 priation for the Hydrographic Bureau of the 

 Navy Department, which created special in- 

 terest and prevented the adjournment of Con- 

 gress at the expected time was compromised by 

 giving $50,000 to the Bureau for Ocean Sur- 

 veys, but providing that the survey should not 

 be extended to the coasts or inland waters. 



M. Maspebo, the new directeur des aniiquiMs 

 et desfouilles en Egypte, in a paper before the Aca- 

 demie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres, explains 

 a long hieroglyphic inscription containing four- 

 teen engraved columns. This granite stele was 

 found at Kem-gayet on one of the estates of 

 Husseinpacha, uncle of the Khedive, and was 

 presented immediately to the Gizeh Museum. 

 It represents the king Nectanebo II., the last 

 pharao of the native dynasties and bears the 

 date of the reign. Nectanebo is making an 

 offering to the goddess Nel de Sais in gratitude 

 for benefits received at her hands. 



Dr. Theodore Beee, whose valuable studies 

 on the sensory organs of both vertebrates and 

 invertebrates are well known, is engaged in 

 writing a comprehensive work on the Compar- 

 ative Anatomy and Physiology of the Organs of 

 Vision, and to make this as complete as possible 

 he is anxious to acquire separates of all articles 

 — for which, if desired, he will send his own 

 writings in exchange — dealing in any way what- 

 ever with the anatomy, embryology, zoology, 

 pathology, or literature of the organ of sight in 

 animals or the eye of man, or with reactions to 

 light. Dr. Beer is particularly desirous that 

 none of the widely scattered writings of Amer- 

 icans should escape his attention, and there- 

 fore especially invites the co-operation of all 

 Americans who can aid him. Communications 

 should be addressed : Dr. Theodore Beer, 

 Privatdocent fur vergl., Physiologie a. d. Univer- 

 sitdt, Anastasius Griin-Gasse 62, Wien, XVIII, 

 Austria. 



