June 29, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



1039 



soldiers of the Indian army have accompanied 

 an expedition of this character. On reaching 

 the Nile, Smith sent his men with Mr. Fraser, 

 the naturalist, home by way of Uganda and 

 Mombasa, while he himself stayed at the fort 

 for six weeks, and returned with Major Peake's 

 expedition, by way of Khartum to Cairo. In 

 addition to important geographical observa- 

 tions Dr. Smith obtained a large and valuable 

 collection of specimens of the fauna of Central 

 Africa. 



The second meeting of the Latin-American 

 Scientific Congress will be held at Montevideo 

 from March 20th to March 31st, 1901. The 

 work of the Congress will be divided among 

 nine sections. 



The annual meeting of the Italian Botanical 

 Society will be held at Venice on September 

 9th-15th, under the presidency of Sig. Som- 

 mier. 



In view of the great importance of the scien- 

 tific publications of Messrs. D. Appleton & Co. 

 we are glad to learn that plans for the reorgan- 

 ization of the company and for the continuance 

 of the business have been announced by the 

 reorganization committee, of which James G. 

 Cameron, vice-president of the Fourth National 

 Bank, is chairman. The valuation of the as- 

 sets is placed at $3,224,787.18. The liabilities 

 are $1,346,696.78. The plan of reorganization 

 provides for the unifying of the title and owner- 

 ship of the three business establishments into 

 the new corporation of D. Appleton & Co. The 

 capitalization of the new company will be ne- 

 gotiable gold notes, six per cent, for $1,400,000, 

 syndicate notes for $250,000, and capital stock, 

 $3,000,000. General creditors are to be paid 

 25 per cent, in cash, and 75 per cent, in the six 

 per cent, negotiable mortgage gold notes. The 

 preferred obligations, such as taxes, wages, in- 

 terest on mortgage, royalties, etc., amounting 

 to $176,698.78, are to be paid in full. A cash 

 working capital of $250,000 is to be provided. 

 It is said that Mr. William H. Appleton will be 

 made president of the new company and Mr. 

 James G. Cameron chairman of the board of 

 directors. 



Me. p. Strickland, United States Consul, 

 writes from Goree Dakar, under date of May 



1st, that an exposition has just been held at 

 Dakar which was of interest, as it was prob- 

 ably the first of its kind in the colony, if not 

 in intertropical Africa. The exposition was 

 opened with ceremonies and speeches appropri- 

 ate for the occasion on the 15th of March, and 

 closed on the 14th of April. There were ex- 

 hibited, among other things, the animals of the 

 countrjr, including ostriches ; specimens of rub- 

 ber, gums, nuts, and most of the other prod- 

 ucts ; fish and native gear for catching it ; na- 

 tive jewelry, some of which is very fine ; 

 hides and skins, including bird skins for mount- 

 ing on hats ; furniture made in the countrjf ; 

 native woods, etc. All the objects were artisti- 

 cally displayed in the beautiful park at Dakar, 

 and, in order to encourage the natives to visit 

 it, no entrance fee was charged. The exposi- 

 tion was very successful. It may be noted 

 that the government is doing everj'thing to en- 

 courage agriculture in the colony, and has im- 

 ported seeds from the rubber trees of Brazil for 

 free distribution among those willing to plant 

 them. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



President Faunce announced at the com- 

 mencement of Brown University that the 

 amount needed to complete the million dollar 

 endowment fund had been subscribed. The 

 gifts received during the week immediately pre- 

 ceding commencement include one of $50,000 

 from Mr. Frank A. Sayles, of Pawtucket, as a 

 memorial to his mother and sister, and $25,000 

 from Marsden J. Perry, of Providence. Numer- 

 ous smaller sums were also received, bringing 

 the total amount up to the sum of $1,096,106. 



The reversionary interest of Harvard Uni- 

 versity, Williams College and the Public Li- 

 brary at Springfield, Mass., in the estate of 

 David A. Wells will amount to about $70,000 

 each. 



At the commencement of Mt. Holyoke Col- 

 lege, it was announced that the amount col- 

 lected for the second endowment fund had 

 already reached the sum of $75,000 of which 

 $50,000 is contributed by Dr. D. K. Pearson, of 

 Chicago. A letter was received from Mr. John 

 Dwight, of New York, offering to give $60,000 

 for a memorial building to be built on the site 



