again, while Newton modified the views of Descartes by substituting assumptions in regard to mutual attractions and repulsions for assumptions as to the shape of the atoms. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the application of thermodynamics to chemistry has led to the discovery of new laws, and these discoveries have been made without assuming anything in regard to atoms. The natural tendency is therefore to reject the atomic theory as a superfluous hypothesis. The only distinction that we can draw between chemical compounds, like sugar or salt, and solutions, such as a mixture of sugar and water, is that the composition of the solutions can vary continuously while the composition of the compounds can not. The natural inference is that solutions are to be looked upon as compounds or new substances with varying composition. The scientific world has thus come back to the view of Aristotle. The matter stands now as it stood centuries ago. One school still holds the views of Epicurus, another stands ready to break a cudgel for Aristotle. Even now we do not know what happens when we put sugar in our coffee though we know why we do so—except where it is merely a matter of habit.
SCIENTIFIC ITEMS.
We regret to record the death of Professor Henry Mitchell, the eminent engineer, and of Major Walter Reed, well known for his researches on the relation of the mosquito to yellow fever.
Dr. W J McGee, ethnologist in charge, Bureau of American Ethnology, has been appointed to represent the United States on the American International Archeological Commission.—Professor J. Willard Gibbs, of Yale University, has been elected a corresponding member of the Munich Academy of Science.
It is reported that the Nobel prizes for this year will be awarded as follows: In chemistry, to Professor Emil Fischer, of Berlin; in physics, to Professor S. A. Arrhenius, of Stockholm; in medicine, to Professor Niels E. Finsen, of Copenhagen, and to Major Ronald Ross, of Liverpool. The value of these prizes, it will be remembered, is about $40,000 each.
