486 Scientific Intelligence. 



and prosperous properties. His work at the mines was done in 

 the early years, under very discouraging conditions and with 

 many hardships. 



The account of the strenuous life of Mr. Agassiz, in the first 

 years of the development of the mines, reads like a real romance 

 of pioneer life under adverse conditions of many kinds, and is of 

 great interest. To many, the accounts of his home life, and that 

 of his distinguished father, Louis Agassiz, will be among the 

 most interesting parts of the book, for they are presented in an 

 attractive way, that could be done only by a sympathetic mem- 

 ber of his own family. Excellent, though brief, accounts are 

 given of the numerous scientific expeditions carried out by Mr. 

 Agassiz, to various parts of the world, but especially for deep- 

 sea dredging and for the study of the' principal groups of coral 

 islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and the West Indies. 

 These, as is well known to all scientific men, resulted in vast 

 additions to our positive scientific knowledge of the formation 

 and growth of such islands, as well as to their zoology. Fortu- 

 nately Mr. Agassiz had promptly published splendid reports on 

 most of his explorations, though doubtless much remained to be 

 done at the time of his death. This book also fittingly gives 

 some adequate idea of the vast contributions made by Mr. 

 Agassiz to the now great Museum of Comparative Zoology, not 

 only in money, but also in time and labor, during the many j'ears 

 while he was Director and principal donor. In fact, it was 

 mainly through him that the museum grew, in a few years, from 

 comparatively small beginnings to one of the lai'gest museums of 

 the world. Many interesting letters to scientific friends, and to 

 members of his family, are also reproduced. The book is a 

 worthy tribute to a truly great man. a. e. v. 



Obituary. 



Dr. George William Hill, the eminent astronomer, died on 

 April 16 at the age of seventy-six years. He was graduated 

 from Rutgers College in 1859 and two years later took up work 

 in the office of the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac. 

 From 1898-1901 he was lecturer on celestial mechanics at 

 Columbia University. His publications in astronomy and mathe- 

 matics were numerous, and in 1905 a volume of collected mathe- 

 matical works was issued ; his Theory of Jupiter and Saturn was 

 published in 1890. He was a member of many scientific societies 

 and received several honorary degrees including that of Sc.D. 

 from Cambridge, England, in 1892. 



Professor George M. Minchin, since 1875 of the chair of 

 mathematics in the Royal Indian Engineering College, Coopers 

 Hill, died on March 16 at the age of sixty-eight years. 



Dr. John Henry Poynting, professor of physics at the Uni- 

 versity of Birmingham, died on March 31 in his sixty-second 

 year. 



Dr. Antonino Salinas, professor of archaeology at the Univer- 

 sity of Palermo, died on March 7 at the age of seventy-three years. 



