Atlanta University undertakes the work of “head-making” so far as this means the development of a clear and sensible intellect, controlled by a good heart. It was, however, “_bread_-making,” and not “head-making,” which the types in our August number should have mentioned to the credit of the Atlanta girls, whose loaves, rolls and Yankee doughnuts so delighted the gentlemen of the examining committee at the recent anniversary. Plain cooking is a part of the regular instruction in Atlanta University. * * * * * BENEFACTIONS. —Beloit College, Wis., has received $10,000 from Mrs. J. S. Herrick, to be applied for a new observatory. —The bequest of Col. Wm. E. Putnam to Marietta College, Ohio, will probably amount to $35,000. —Mr. Reuben J. Flick, a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Wilkesbarre, has recently given $20,000 to Lincoln University. —Mr. Geo. I. Seney has recently added $100,000 to his gift to Wesleyan University, the interest of which is to be given in prizes to students. —Mr. A. L. Williston and wife have given $10,000 for a new observatory at Mt. Holyoke Seminary, in memory of their deceased son. —The late Ebenezer Alden, M.D., of Randolph, left a legacy of $5,000 to Phillips Academy, Andover, for helping students, or paying for instruction, at the discretion of the tutors. —A friend of Yale Divinity School has given $10,500 for a new library building, which is now being erected between Marquand Chapel and West Divinity Hall. —Mr. Leander McCormick, of Chicago, has donated his splendid telescope, costing $50,000, to the University of Virginia, and offers to build the observatory to receive it. —Mr. Wm. H. Vanderbilt, of New York, has given $25,000 to the University of Virginia, and Mr. Lewis Brooks, of Rochester, N.Y., has given a splendid museum, costing about $60,000, to the same institution. —_Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn., has Jubilee Hall completed and overflowing with students, and is now erecting Livingstone Missionary Hall, by the gift of Mrs. Stone; but endowments are the great necessity. Twenty-five thousand dollars will provide for a professorship, and there are seven such needing endowment._ * * * * * GENERAL NOTES. AFRICA. —M. Matheis has been sent out by the French Government to explore the region extending from the bend of the Niger to Lake Tchad. —The question of the establishment of a small railroad on the Decanville plan, between Ogooué and Alima, is being considered. —M. J. Thomson left London the 6th of May to go to Zanzibar, from whence he will proceed to make the geological exploration of the Rovouma for the Sultan of Zanzibar. —Messrs. Demietri and Michieli, agents of the Italian Society of Commerce in Africa, have set out from Khartoum for the Red Sea at the head of a caravan of 700 camels, laden with various kinds of merchandise.