480 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. Ko. 534. 



expedition, wliich is expected to last for two 

 and a half years. Mr. Pratt, accompanied by 

 his two sons, proceeds direct to Batavia, where 

 he will make final arrangements for his jour- 

 nej'. After conferring with the Dutch gov- 

 ernment officials he will cross to Dobo, the 

 chief town of the Aru Islands, a group un- 

 known to Europeans. After making collec- 

 tions there the expedition will cross to Dutch 

 New Guinea and will immediately strike into 

 the interior with the object of i-eaching the 

 highest possible point of the Charles Louis 

 Range, a snow region running east and west 

 of Dutch New Guinea never before explored. 

 Valuable "geographical results are expected, 

 and a map will be made, but the special work 

 of the expedition will be the collecting of 

 natural history specimens. 



The council of the Royal Meteorological 

 Society arranged to hold an exhibition of 

 meteorological instruments from March 14 

 to 17. The exhibition was chiefly devoted 

 to recording instruments; but it also included 

 new meteorological apparatus invented or first 

 constructed since the society's last exhibition, 

 as well as photographs, drawings and other 

 objects possessing meteorological interest. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 

 The will of Mrs. Jane Lathrop Stanford 

 gives about $3,000,000 to relatives, and about 

 $100,000 to charities. The residue of the es- 

 tate, which it is said will amount to about 

 $2,000,000, is bequeathed to Leland Stanford 

 Junior University. The university also comes 

 into possession of the house built by Senator 

 Stanford at San Francisco and its contents, 

 which are valued at more than $2,000,000. 



It is now said that Sir William MacDonald, 

 of Montreal, has decided to give $4,000,000 to 

 the cause of education and has unfolded his 

 scheme in detail. It consists of the erection 

 of a normal school at St. Anne de Bellevue, 

 a few miles distant from Montreal, and the 

 erection and endowment of an agricultural 

 college at the same place, to the plans for 

 which we have already called attention. 



The legislature of North Carolina, which 

 adjourned on March 7, appropriated $50,000 

 for the erection of a chemical laboratory at 

 the University of North Carolina. The plans 

 for this laboratory have been accepted and 

 work will begin at once. 



The Boys' Central High School of Phila- 

 delphia was injured by fu-e to the extent of 

 $100,000 on March 9. The equipment of the 

 astronomical department suffered especially, 

 the loss there being estimated at $.30,000, in 

 addition to books and manuscripts belonging 

 to Professor Monroe B. Snyder. 



Mr. Shyamaji Krishnavarma has oft"ei-ed 

 to establish six traveling fellowships at Ox- 

 ford, five of them to be called the Herbert 

 Spencer Indian fellowships. The fellowships 

 are intended for natives of India. 



Mr. Edward Whitley, B.A. Trinity Col- 

 lege, has given £1,000 towards the permanent 

 endowment of the chair of physiology in the 

 University of Oxford. 



At St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kieff, Kiarkoff, 

 Kazan and other large towns having universi- 

 ties or technical colleges, these institutions 

 have been closed by order of the authorities. 



Meetings are being held between the med- 

 ical faculties of McGill University and the 

 Bishop's College University, Montreal, looking 

 toward the amalgamation of Bishop's medical 

 faculty with that of McGill Univei*sity. 



The Thaw fellowship in astronomy at 

 Princeton University is open for the coming 

 academic year to college graduates of not more 

 than five years' standing. The income of the 

 fellowship is five hundred dollars a year; the 

 holder is expected to devote his entire time 

 to graduate work and research, and will be 

 eligible to reelection. Applications with cre- 

 dentials should be received by the dean of the 

 graduate school before the first of May. 



Dr. R. S. Woodworth, instructor in psy- 

 chology in Columbia University, has been pro- 

 moted to an adjunct professorship. 



Mr. James C. Irvine, Ph.D., D.Sc, has been 

 appointed to the new lectureship in organic 

 chemistry in St. Andrews University. 



Dr. Paul Drude, of Giessen, has accepted 

 a call to a professorship of physics at Berlin. 



