678 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. Xo. 539. 



tural chemists, having made many contribu- 

 tions upon agricultural analysis, and the chem- 

 istry of sugars, milk, and the fermentation 

 industries. 



Dr. Georg Meissner, formerly professor of 

 physiology at Gottingen, died on March 30, 

 at the age of seventy-four years. 



At a meeting of the council of the American 

 Anthropological Association held in New York 

 on April 15 it was voted to hold a special 

 meeting of the association in Portland, Ore- 

 gon, during the Centennial Exposition. The 

 members of the council present were: Messrs. 

 Boas, Chamberlain, Culin, Farrand, Gordon, 

 Hodge, Hyde, MacCurdy, Pepper, Putnam, 

 Saville and Smith. 



The Experiment Station Record states that 

 it has been decided to locate the new buildings 

 for the Department of Agi'iculture 106 feet 

 farther west, and to sink the structures 10 feet 

 lower in the ground than was previously 

 planned. This decision is in accordance with 

 the plans of the park commission appointed 

 by the senate some years ago. The details 

 which have been worked out by this commis- 

 sion since the publication of their report make 

 the above changes necessary in order to con- 

 form to the general scheme in the matter of 

 the grade and the relative position of build- 

 ings. As the excavation for the two labora- 

 tory wings as originally located had been com- 

 pleted, these changes will involve some delay 

 in the work. 



The King Institute of Preventive Medicine 

 at Guindy was formally opened, on March 11, 

 by Lord Ampthill, governor of Madras. 



Mr. Alfred Beit has increased his donation 

 to the London Institute of Medical Sciences 

 from £5,000 to £25,000. 



We learn from The Athenwuin that at a 

 recent meeting of the Institut de France the 

 disposition of 30,000 francs forming the De- 

 brousse legacy was the chief subject of discus- 

 sion, and M. Poincare's report recommended 

 the following appropriations : Publication of 

 the 'Tables de la Lune,' 5,000 fr. ; Journal 

 des Savants, 5,000 f r. ; ' catalogue ' of the 

 works of Leibnitz, 3,000 fr. ; for the study of 

 the ' tuniciers ' at Naples, 3,000 fr.; for the 



work in connection with the installation of 

 the library at Chantilly, 7,000 fr. ; and for the 

 introduction of a seismographic apparatus at 

 the Paris Observatory, 3,000 fr. The remain- 

 ing sum of 4,000 fr. is carried over to next 

 year's account. 



The New York Botanical Garden announces 

 the following spring lectures, to be delivered 

 in the Lecture Hall of the Museum Building 

 of the Garden, Bronx Park, on Saturday after- 

 noons, at 4:30 o'clock: 



April 29. — ' The Indian and his Uses for 

 Plants,' by Mr. Frederick V. Coville. 



May 6. — 'The Pines and their Life History,' by 

 Professor Francis E. Lloyd. 



May 13. — ' Botanical Aspects of Deserts of Ari- 

 zona, California, Sonora and Baja California,' by 

 Dr. D. T. MacDougal. 



May 20.— 'The Coralline Seaweeds,' by Dr. Mar- 

 shall A. Howe. 



May 27.—' Cuba,' by Dr. W. A. Murrill. 



June 3. — ' Vegetable Poisons and their Strange 

 Uses,' by Dr. H. H. Rusby. 



We learn from Nature that at the annual 

 meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute, to be 

 held on May 11 and 12, the Bessemer gold 

 medal for 1905 will be presented to Professor 

 J. O. Arnold. The awards of the Andrew Car- 

 negie gold medal and research scholarships 

 will be announced; and the president, Mr. E. 

 A. Hadfield, will deliver his inaugural address. 

 The following is a list of papers that are ex- 

 pected to be submitted : ' Experiments on the 

 Fusibility of Blast Furnace Slags,' Dr. O 

 Boudouard ; ' Recent Developments of the 

 Bertrand-Thiel Process,' Mr. J. H. Darby and 

 Mr. G. Hatton ; ' The Application of Dry-air 

 Blast to the Manufacture of Iron,' Mr. James 

 Gayley; 'The Effect Produced by Liquid Air 

 Temperatures on the Mechanical and other 

 Properties of Iron,' Mr. R A. Hadfield; 'The 

 Cleaning of Blast Furnace Gas,' Mr. Axel 

 Sahlin ; ' The Failure of an Iron Plate 

 Tln-ough Fatigue,' Mr. S. A. Houghton ; ' The 

 Continuous Steel-making Process in Fixed 

 Open-hearth Furnaces,' Mr. S. Surzycki ; ' Ac- 

 cidents Due to the Asphyxiation of Blast Fur- 

 nace Workmen,' Mr. B. H. Thwaite; and ' The 

 Behavior of the Sulphur in Coke in the Blast 

 Furnace,' Professor F. Wiist and Mr. P. Wolff. 



