598 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. Xo. 537. 



pletG atlas of the British Empire. All this 

 has been achieved at his own expense, and has 

 entailed the expenditure of thousands of 

 pounds, which he can never hope to recover. 



Of the society's minor awards, the Murchi- 

 son Grant goes to Mr. William Wallace, 

 C.M.G., Deputy High Commissioner of the 

 Northern Nigeria Protectorate. During the 

 manj' years he has served as an official in 

 Northern Nigeria, Mr. Wallace has rendered 

 great service to exploration and geography, 

 both directly and indirectly. Colonel F. R. 

 Maunsell, R.A., is awarded the Gill Memorial 

 for his explorations during many years' resi- 

 dence in Asia Minor, and in particular for the 

 large map which he has compiled, largely from 

 his own materials, and placed at the disposal 

 of the society. The recipient of the Cuthbert 

 Peek Grant is Mr. Francis J. Lewis, who has 

 made valuable contributions to the knowledge 

 of botanical distribution by his researches into 

 the geographical distribution of vegetation 

 in the North of England. Finally, Captain 

 Philip Maud, E.E., is designated to receive 

 the Back Grant for valuable survey work in 

 1903 along the southern border of Abyssinia. 



PROFESSOR WILHELM 08TWALD AT 

 HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 



Harvard University has invited Professor 

 Wilhelm Ostwald, of the University of Leip- 

 zig, to serve as lecturer in the first half of 

 the coming academic year, under the arrange- 

 ment for an exchange of professors which has 

 recently been agreed upon by Harvard Uni- 

 versity and the German Government. Pro- 

 fessor Ostwald is regarded as one of the 

 founders of the modern science of physical 

 chemistry; and he has achieved a position of 

 the highest rank in the scientific world, not 

 only as an investigator and thinker, but also 

 as a reformer, organizer and teacher in the 

 field of natural science. With J. II. van't 

 Iloff, Ostwald founded in 1887 the Zeitschrift 

 fur pliysikalische Chemie, and in 1901 the 

 Annalen der Naturphilosophie. In 1904 he 

 gave the Faraday lecture before the Royal 

 Society. He has been a prolific and inde- 

 fatigable investigator and writer, and a list of 

 his publications would occupy several closely 



printed pages. Although he achieved emi- 

 nence first in the field of physical chemistiy, 

 Professor Ostwald has during the last four or 

 five years diverted, or perhaps rather extended, 

 his studies to the broad field of the philosophy 

 of science, a subject to which one of his best- 

 known works, as well as the Annalen above 

 mentioned, is devoted. 



Professor Ostwald has not yet definitely an- 

 nounced the subjects of the courses which he 

 will give during his residence at Harvard. 

 It is hoped, however, that he will give one 

 course counting for a degree on the history 

 of science, a course which would be of interest 

 to students in all branches of science as well 

 as to students of philosophy. It is also hoped 

 that he will announce one or two courses in 

 his special field of physical chemistry, thus 

 affording a rare opportunty to graduate stu- 

 dents in chemistry who may be in residence 

 next year. 



Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald was born in the 

 city of Riga in Russia September 2, 1853. 

 He attended the Kronsknabenschule and the 

 Realgymnasium of Riga, showing as a school- 

 boy a remarkable talent for ^vriting and draw- 

 ing, which he put into use as editor of a school- 

 boy magazine. In 1872, against the wish of 

 iiis father, who thought to make an engineer 

 of him, he entered the University of Dorpat 

 in Russia to pursue the study of chemistry. 

 In 1875 he became an assistant in physics to 

 von Oettingen. He took the master's exam- 

 ination at Dorpat in 1877 and the doctorate in 

 1878. In 1879 he began his teaching cai'eer 

 as a privatdocent, and in the same year ex- 

 changed his assistantship in physics for one 

 in chemistry under Carl Schmidt. In ISSl 

 he was called to a professorship of chemistry 

 at the Polytechnikum in his native city, and 

 held this place until 1887, when he accepted 

 an appointment as professor of physical chem- 

 istry at Leipzig — the position which he still 

 holds. Professor Ostwald was one of the dele- 

 gates to the International Congi-ess of Arts 

 and Science at St. Louis last year. 



A CONFERENCE OF ANATOMISTS. 

 Invitations have been issued by the Wistar 

 Institute of Anatomjs, Philadelphia, to ten of 



