416 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



man a change more significant than 

 any other in history has taken place 

 within the last fifty years. Thanks to 

 the applications of science, the food 

 supply is ever increasing; but the sup- 

 ply of children decreases in an ominous 

 manner. The population of a country 

 is no longer limited by the food supply, 

 but by a conflict between instinct and 

 rationalism, and by physiological fer- 

 tility under the conditions of modern 

 civilization. It is not likely that the 

 population of any country will ever 

 again be so large as its food supply 

 would support. 



SCIENTIFIC ITEMS 

 We record with regret the deaths of 

 Professor Emil Hansen, the eminent 

 physiological botanist of Copenhagen, 

 and Dr. Otto von Bollinger, professor 

 of pathology at Munich. 



Dr. C. M. Gabiel, professor of med- 

 ical physics at Paris, has been elected 

 president of the French Association for 

 the Advancement of Science for the 

 meeting to be held next year at Tou- 

 louse. — At the celebration of the fifth 

 centenary of the University of Leipzig 

 some ninety honorary degrees were con- 

 ferred, including a doctorate of medi- 

 cine on Professor E. B. Wilson, of 

 Columbia University, and doctorates of 

 philosophy on Professor Jacques Loeb, 

 of the University of California, and 

 Professor A. A. Michelson, of the Uni- 

 versity of Chicago. — At its recent cele- 

 bration the University of Geneva con- 

 ferred one hundred and fifty honorary 

 doctorates. Among the men of science 

 included were Lord Lister, Professor 

 Haeckel, Professor Ostwald and Pro- 

 fessor Engler. 



Professor R. C. Allen, of the Uni- 

 versity of Michigan, has been elected 

 state geologist to succeed Mr. A. C. 

 Lane, who resigned to accept a chair 

 in Tufts College. — Dr. Juan Guitaras 

 has consented to remain director of 

 sanitation and chairman of the Na- 

 tional Board of Health for Cuba, in 



view of the fact that the government 

 has now appropriated sufficient funds 

 for the work of the department of 

 sanitation.— Dr. E. D. Durand, the 

 director of the census, has announced 

 the appointment of experts in statistics, 

 economics, agriculture and manufac- 

 tures to cooperate with him in the 

 formulation of the census schedules on 

 which the enumerators will enter the 

 information they obtain next April. 

 The conferees on the agricultural 

 schedule are: Dr. J. L. Coulter, in- 

 structor in agricultural economics in 

 the University of Minnesota; Dr. H. 

 C. Taylor, professor of agricultural 

 economics in the University of Wis- 

 consin; Dr. C. F. Warren, Jr., pro- 

 fessor of farm management in Cornell 

 University, and Dr. T. M. Carver, pro- 

 fessor of economics in Harvard Uni- 

 versity. The conferees for manufac- 

 tures and on population are leading 

 experts, being in most cases university 

 professors. 



While the British are reorganizing 

 the College of Medicine and the Tech- 

 nical Institute at Hong Kong into a 

 university, the Germans have estab- 

 lished a school of university grade at 

 Kiao-chau. It is said that the German 

 government has appropriated $160,000 

 for its establishment and will con- 

 tribute $50,000 annually for the sup- 

 port of the institution. — The assembly 

 of Iceland has decided to establish a 

 university at Reykjavik, with four 

 faculties and sixteen professors and 

 lecturers. 



By the will of Cornelius C. Cuyler, 

 the New York banker and a trustee of 

 Princeton University, $100,000 is be- 

 queathed to Princeton University. The 

 residue of the estate, which is said to 

 be very large, will go to the university 

 after the death of Mrs. Cuyler. — The 

 council of the city of Cincinnati has 

 appropriated the sum of $576,000 to> 

 erect three new buildings for the Uni- 

 versity of Cincinnati. 



