well as the first scientist to be elevated to the House of Lords (b. 1810) Friday, December 28, 1900 Morning newspapers across United States ran the horrifying news that forty-nine school children had drowned the night before while ice skating near What Cheer, Iowa, though many emphasized that it was unconfirmed. By afternoon, the story was confirmed to have been a macabre practical joke. Mathematician Luther P. Eisenhart presented the first demonstration of the impossibility of a triply asymptotic system of surfaces, at a meeting of the American Mathematical Society. The first steel produced by electrometallurgy (from an electric furnace) was delivered, 9,000 kg of bars from the Heroult Company to Schneider & Co. Yu Hsien, former Governor of Shansi Province in China, was executed for atrocities committed during the Boxer Rebellion. Died: Alexandre de Serpa Pinto, 54, Portuguese explorer, died from heart failure at his home. The city of Serpa Pinto in Angola had been named in his honor until that nation became independent in 1975, and the name was changed to Menongue. (b. 1846); Saturday, December 29, 1900 In a milestone for medical ethics, a regulation from the Prussian Ministry for Religious, Educational, and Medical Affairs was the first known law requiring that medical experiments be done only with "informed consent" of a patient. Negotiations for purchase of the future United States Virgin Islands from Denmark were completed by the United States Department of State, which announced that all that remained to be done was an appropriation by the United States Congress to complete the agreed-upon price for the Danish West Indies, twelve million kroner, worth $3,216,000 in U.S. dollars at the time. However, Congress would not actually provide the required amount until 1918. The bankruptcy of the London and Globe Finance Corporation led to panic on the London Stock Exchange and led to the suspension of stock sales of thirteen smaller companies. A multi-professional sports club, Paulistano, was founded in Cerqueira César area, São Paulo, Brazil. Sunday, December 30, 1900 On the last Sunday of the century, the New York Herald published Mark Twain's "A Greeting from the 19th Century to the 20th Century", while the New York World published the article "New York as It Will Be in 1999". With Edmund Barton cleared to become the first Prime Minister of Australia, the first Barton cabinet was created. In addition to being premier, Barton was the Minister