administration of policemen's discipline to so-called drunken cases in hot weather. Most frequently such cases are suffering far more from other causes than from liquor—from debility, heat-stroke, or some other cause peculiar to or resulting from the weather—added to a degree of intoxication which under ordinary circumstances might not attract an officer's attention—not unfrequently from the policeman's club or rough handling. The thing they need is medical attention, or at least medical examination, before being thrust into a hot, close cell.
The meeting of the British Association for this year is to be held at Newcastle-on-Tyne, under the presidency of Prof. W. H. Flower, F.R.S. The presidents of the various sections are as follows: A, Mathematical and Physical Science, Captain W. De W. Abney, R.E., C.B., F.R.S.—B, Chemical Science, Sir I. Lowthian Bell, F.R.S.—C. Geology, Prof. James Geikie, LL.D., F.R.S.—D, Biology, Prof. J. S. Burdon-Sanderson, M.A., M.D., LL.D., F.R.S.—E, Geography, Colonel Sir Francis de Winton, K.C.M.G., F.R.G.S.—F, Economic Science and Statistics, Prof. F. Y. Edgeworth, M.A., F.S.S.—G, Mechanical Science, William Anderson, M. Inst. C.E.—H, Anthropology, Prof. Sir W. Turner, LL.D., F.R.S.
A Botanical Congress has been called by the Botanical Society of France, to be held in Paris in August, for the presentation and discussion of treatises on botanical subjects, pure or applied. Particular attention will be given to considering the usefulness of establishing joint action looking to the preparation of maps showing the distribution of species and genera over the globe; and to the characters for classification furnished by anatomy.
The French Association for the Advancement of Science will meet in Paris, August 8th to 15th.
An affection similar to sunstroke is described by the "British Medical Journal" as produced by the electric light, and is called "electric-light stroke." It is very liable to attack the men working at the electric furnace of the Creuzot steel-works. As the heat emitted by this furnace is not felt to any great degree, the fact lends probability to the supposition that the "stroke" is an effect of light rather than of heat.
The French Academy of Sciences offers for 1889 the Prix Vaillant, of three thousand francs, for the best work on diseases of cereals in general; a grand prize of three thousand francs for the complete study of the embryology and development of any animal; the Prix Bréant, of one hundred thousand francs, for a specific against cholera; and a prize of five hundred francs for a theoretical and practical essay on the progress of aërial navigation since 1880.
M. Chevreul died at his home in Paris, from natural exhaustion of his vital force, April 9th, at the age of one hundred and two years, eleven months, and nine days. He had lived very quietly since the celebration of the completion of his one hundredth year, August 31, 1886. He was accustomed to drive daily to see the progress made in the erection of the Eiffel Tower. His son, M. Henri Chevreul, had recently died; and, although the fact had not been communicated to him, he seemed to have some suspicion of it, and to be anxious. On his return from his last drive, the Wednesday before his death, he was very weak, and had to be helped, with some difficulty, up to his apartments; and it was evident that the end was approaching. He sank gradually, without pain, till the morning of the 9th, when he expired.
Charles Martins, an eminent student in several branches of science, died in Paris, March 7th, in his eighty-third year. He was appointed a Fellow in Natural History in the Faculty of Medicine in 1839; lectured on geology at the Sorbonne; became Professor of Botany at Montpellier in 1851; was elected to the Academy of Sciences, Section of Rural Economy, in 1863. He was also a great traveler; in his long career, he devoted himself with equal success to the study of meteorology, physics, botany, paleontology, comparative anatomy, and physiology. Wherever he went, he studied alike the customs, fauna and flora, and the physical phenomena of the region, and he described them all in his book, "From Spitzenberg to the Sahara." With Bravais and Lepileur he ascended Mont Blanc in 1844, and verified the results which De Saussure had reached.
Prof. Donders, of the University of Utrecht, one of the first of contemporary physiologists, has recently died. He was the author of valuable studies on accommodation (of eye-sight), binocular vision, astigmatism, and phonation, which have become standards.
The Rev. Dr. Frederick A. P. Barnard, late President of Columbia College, died at his home in this city, April 27th, a few days less than eighty years of age. We gave a sketch of his earlier life in the "Monthly" for May, 1877, and purpose to publish in a future number a fitting memorial of the great services which he rendered to the cause of education.
M. G. Meninghini, Professor of Geology in the University of Pisa since 1849, died January 29th, seventy-eight years of age.
Signor Angelo Genocchi, President of the Academy of Sciences of Turin, died March 7th, aged seventy-one years.
