Notes

Abstract

THE ninety-sixth annual meeting of the Societe Helvetique des Sciences Naturelles is to take place this year at Frauenfeld from September 7 to 10. The programme is an interesting one. Among the lectures announced which is likely to attract considerable attention we notice that by Dr. de Quervain, of Zurich, on the Swiss Expedition to Greenland and its results, and that by Prof. Keller, of Zurich, on the geography of the fauna of the Caucasus, both of which are to be illustrated by lantern slides. Prof. Maillefer, of Lausanne, who will speak of his researches on the laws of geotropism, and Prof. Dutoit, of the same city, who will discourse on recent conquests in the realm of analytical chemistry, are equally certain of an attentive audience. Besides these, Prof. Grubemann's, of Zurich, account of the development of the modern theory of rocks, and Prof. Rikli's geographical studies in the flora of the Caucasus, as well as Prof. Fuhrmann's, of Neuchatel, sketch of his scientific researches during his journey through the Cordilleras of Columbia, will be awaited with interest. Among the men of science who have announced their intention of making communications to the separate sections are Prof. Edouard Fischer, of Bern, and Prof. Ernst, of Zurich, in the botanical section; Dr. Paul Arbenz and Dr. H. Schardt, of Zurich, in the geological section; Prof. C. E. Guye, of Geneva, and Prof. Perrier, of Lausanne, in the physical section, as well as Prof. Einstein and his colleague at Zurich, Prof. M. Grossmann, in a discussion of the physical and mathematical basis of the theory of gravitation, to take place at a common sitting of the physical with the mathematical section. In the latter section, though only added of late years, there is a relatively large number of communications inscribed, of which several are concerned with the more recent theories. In the section for geophysics Prof. P. Mercanton, of Lausanne, and in the section for chemistry, Prof. A. Pictet and Dr. G. Baume, of Geneva, are reading papers.