934 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. No. 546. 



of the approaching academic year are : ' The 

 Philosophy of Natural Science,' three lectures 

 a week, and * The Fundamental Conceptions 

 of Chemistry ' and ' Catalysis,' each one hour 

 a week. 



Sir Francis Younghusband gave the Eede 

 lecture at Cambridge University on June 10, 

 his subject being ' Our True Relationship with 

 India.' 



For the purpose of scientifically exploring 

 the atmosphere, Comte de Castillon de Saint- 

 Victor made an ascent on June 7, in his bal- 

 loon Centaure, taking with him M. Joseph 

 Jaubert, director of the municipal observa- 

 tories of Paris, and Dr. Jolly. Other aeros- 

 tatic ascents were made on the same day from 

 Berlin, Strasburg, Barman, Munich, Vienna, 

 Zurich, Rome and Trappes. 



The statue of Sir Thomas Browne, which is 

 being executed by Mr. Henry Pegram, A.E.A., 

 is now well advanced, and it is intended that 

 it shall be erected and unveiled in its position 

 in the Haymarket, Norwich, on October 19, 

 the tercentenary of Sir Thomas Browne's 

 birth. 



The class of 1904 of the University of Penn- 

 sylvania is collecting funds to erect a statue 

 of Benjamin Franklin, the founder of the 

 university. The class of 1905 has voted to 

 erect a statue of William Smith, the first pro- 

 vost of the university. 



Part of the old Speedwell iron works, near 

 Morristown, N. J., in which Professor S. F. B. 

 Morse and Stephen Vail perfected their first 

 telegraph instrument, was destroyed by fire 

 on May 22. 



Dr. Ernst Kuster, professor of surgery at 

 the University of Marburg, will deliver the 

 principal address at the unveiling of the 

 memorial to von Esmarch, at Tonning, his 

 birthplace, which will take place on August 6. 



Dr. Albert Hilger, professor of applied 

 chemistry at the University of Munich, died 

 on May 18, at the age of sixty-six years. 



There will be a civil service examination 

 on July 5 for the position of aid in the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, Department of 

 Agriculture, at a salary of $G00 a year. 



A COLLECTION of birds' eggs, consisting of 

 complete sets, representing more than five 

 hundred different species of birds, made by 

 Mr. Gordon Plummer, has been presented to 

 the biological department of Dartmouth Col- 

 lege by his son. 



Mr. J. PiERPONT Morgan has presented tq 

 the Americaii Museum of Natural History 

 the George F. Kunz collection of meteorites, 

 which has been on exhibition for some years 

 as a loan. The collection comprises some rare 

 specimens, including two which are unique 

 and have never been described, and the largest 

 mass (1,038 pounds) of Canon Diablo which 

 has been found. The department of con- 

 chology has received from Mr. F. A. Constable 

 a gift of the last instalment of the celebrated 

 Hirase collection of the land shells of Japan, 

 and the series is now on its way to the mu- 

 seum. This instalment comprises about 1,000 

 specimens of shells belonging to 220 species, 

 bringing the total of the Hirase collection in 

 the possession of the museum up fo about 

 4,000 specimens of 800 species. The series is 

 fully representative of the land moUuscan 

 fauna of Japan, and while the specimens are 

 not strikingly beautiful, they are of high sci- 

 entific interest. 



The sittings of the delegates appointed to 

 consider the establishment of an International 

 Agricultural Institute began at Rome on May 

 30. The London Times states that the con- 

 ference has appointed three committees. The 

 first, which will consider the organization of 

 an international institute, has appointed as 

 its chairman the French ambassador and as 

 members the other ambassadors and some of 

 the delegates to the conference, including Sir 

 Thomas Elliott and Sir Edward Buck. The 

 aims which the institute is to attain will 

 form the subject of the second committee's 

 attention. This committee will be divided 

 into two sections, of one of which Lord Minto 

 has been appointed president, while Sir 

 Thomas Elliott is among the members. The 

 task of the third committee is to examine the 

 methods of defraying the expenses of the in- 

 stitute. Signor Rava, minister of agricul- 



