died at his home in Berkeley on February 12, 1917. A graduate of the University of California of 1899, Professor Stubenrauch was for ten years in the U. S. Department of Agriculture, resigning in 1914 his position as pomologist in charge of field investigations to return to service in the University of California. He was the first man to demonstrate that dates could be grown with commercial success in the Imperial Valley, on the desert in southern California; in association with G. Harold Powell he developed the pre-cooling method, which has greatly contributed to success in the shipping of fruit from California; he demonstrated that California grapes could be kept safely in cold storage for months if packed in redwood sawdust. He was of unusual power as a teacher and a stimulator of scientific activity.

DR. C. V. BURTON, known for his contributions to experimental and theoretical physics, died on February 3, owing to an accident at a British aircraft factory.

THE death in Paris is announced of Dr. Jules Dejerine, a member of the Paris Academy of Medicine and well known as a neurologist, at the age of sixty-eight years.

A. PAPPENHEIM, privat-docent at the University of Berlin, noted for his work on the morphology of the blood and the blood diseases, editor of the Folia hæmatologica, and the author of a work on the chemistry of dyestuffs, recently succumbed to typhus acquired in his professional work.

IT is stated in the Experiment Station Record that plans have been approved by the building committee for the new agricultural building at the Maryland College for which $175,000 was appropriated by the last legislature. A three-story and basement structure, with a front wing 200 by 68 feet, connected by an enclosed bridge with an auditorium seating about 1,000 people, and this in turn connected with a rear wing of the same dimensions as the front, is contemplated. The front wing is to be used for offices and classrooms and the rear wing for stock judging and exhibitions and experimental work. It is hoped that the structure will be ready for use next fall.

ACCORDING to the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Raymond Tripier, of the School of Medicine, Lyons, whose death was announced in December, bequeathed to the University of Lyons 200,000 francs for the encouragement of special work in operative medicine and pathologic anatomy. He also bequeathed to the city of Lyons the sum of 200,000 francs, the annual interest of which will permit the acquisition of a work of art every five years.

THE Liebig Scholarship Society of Germany has recently been formed, with a capital of upwards of a million marks from German industries, for the purpose of assisting young German chemistry students to proceed with their studies, after their examinations, by working as assistants in the technical high schools.

THERE has been organized at the University of North Carolina a mathematical club whose members are drawn from the instructors and graduate students of the mathematical and allied departments. The following officers have been elected: Wm. Cain, president; Archibald Henderson, vice-president; J. W. Larley, Jr., secretary.

THE third annual meeting of Entomological Workers of Ohio was held at Ohio State University on February 2, with thirty members in attendance. The program consisted of reviews of projects and reports on investigations of members of the Ohio Experiment Station, the State Division of Orchard and Nursery Inspection and the department of entomology of the university.

THE Council of the British Association of Chambers of Commerce is, as we learn from foreign exchanges, considering draft bills designed to carry out reforms in our systems of weights and measures and of coinage, and should the council approve of them they will be submitted to the Chambers of Commerce throughout the country. If there proves to be general agreement the association's bill will be introduced into Parliament. It is probable that a bill for establishing a decimal coinage will have first attention, the bill for introducing metric weights and measures not being pressed until the country has grown accus

tomed to a decimal coinage. It is suggested that the simplest means of making the change would be the adoption of the present florin, which is the tenth part of a sovereign, as the unit. The existing farthing would be replaced by a "cent," equal to the hundredth part of a florin, instead of a ninety-sixth part as now. Sir Edward Holden, at the meeting on January 26 of the London City and Midland Bank, of which he is chairman, expressed himself strongly in favor of the adoption by Great Britain of the metric system.

A PRESS bulletin of the Geological Survey calls attention to the fact that the press dispatches describing the latest eruptions of Lassen Peak show a continued tendency to refer to the volcano as Mount Lassen. Perhaps it is thought that the name should correspond with those of some other famous peaks of the Cascade Range, such as Mount Shasta or Mount Rainier. But Lassen Peak, as the most active and interesting volcano in the United States, is especially entitled to be called by its own name, and acts of Congress and Presidential proclamations in creating and recognizing the Lassen Peak National Forest and Lassen Peak National Monument have given the name Lassen Peak a status of high rank in the geologic annals of the Cascade Range. The area has recently been set apart as the Lassen Volcanic National Park. The name Lassen Peak, according to the United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, is the only authorized form on maps, reports and gazetteers from the Whitney Geological Survey of California, in 1865, to the geomorphic map of California and Nevada published by the Earthquake Investigation Commission, as well as on the latest map issued by the Forest Service. Peter Lassen, the sturdy pioneer who guided many an early settler to the sunny lands of the Sacramento, lies buried in a lonely grave in Lassen County. A small, crumbling monument thirty miles from the peak marks his final resting place, but his greater and more enduring monuments are the county and peak named in his honor by a grateful people. The snow-capped Lassen Peak has piloted many an immigrant to the mountain pass. In the

early days of the Pacific Railroad surveys some pious monk called the peak St. Joseph's Mountain, but the names Lassen's Peak and Lassen's Butte soon came into general use. Whitney has shown the inappropriateness of the French term butte, which, translated exactly, means knoll. As Lassen never owned the mountain, in later years the possessive form of the name was dropped, and to correct an illicit tendency to wander from well-established usage the United States Geographic Board, in its decision of October 9, 1915, officially recognized the fact that the name of the mountain was Lassen Peak, not Mount Lassen.

THE United States Civil Service Commission announces an examination for expert electrical and mechanical aid, to fill a vacancy in this position at $12.48 per diem, in the Bureau of Yards and Docks, Navy Department, Washington, D. C., and vacancies as they may occur in positions requiring similar qualifications. The duties of this position cover the expert maintenance and supervision of the operation of all navy-yard power plants, embracing the economical production, distribution and utilization of electric power for manufacturing, pumping dry docks, charging submarines, and tral heating, and production and distribution of for manufacturing; steam for power and central heating, and production and distribution of hydraulic power; also investigations of powerplant operating conditions, tests of plants and equipment, and efficiency engineering work in connection with improvement of operating conditions and instruction of plant operatives to obtain economical operating results. Competitors will not be assembled for examination, but will be rated on technical education, experience and fitness. Graduation with a degree of mechanical engineer or electrical engineer from a college or university of recognized standing, and at least ten years' subsequent experience in responsible charge of the design, installation and operation of central power plants and distribution systems for light, heat and power, with executive experience in handling successfully large numbers of power-plant employees, are prerequisites for consideration for this position.

A LETTER received at the Harvard College Observatory from Professor Henry Norris Russell, director of the Princeton University Observatory, contains the following preliminary values of the parallax of the star of large proper motion in Ophiuchus which have been determined by him from micrometric observations communicated by Professor Barnard. From the differences of the distances of stars a and k, a solution in which the proper motion is eliminated in the usual manner gives a parallax of 0".690".06. Measures of positives made from the plates of 1894 and 1904, when compared with the measures of 1916, give a proper motion of 10".38 toward 355°.8. Assuming this proper motion, the distance measures of the stars a, c and k give parallaxes of 0′′.85, 0′′.53 and 0".66, and the measures of position angle a mean parallax of 0".75. The mean of these determinations is 0".700".05. The absolute magnitude of this star on Kapteyn's scale is 13.6, and its real brightness is less than one three-thousandth that of the sun, making it the faintest star so far known.

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
NEWS

THE University of California has received through the death of Mrs. Elizabeth Josselyn Boalt an endowment of $200,000 for the maintenance of professorships in law.

Ar a meeting of the governors of the South Wales University College, called to consider proposals for providing better science teaching after the war, it was reported that Sir W. J. Tatem had promised to provide a chemical laboratory which would cost at least £25,000, and that other promises included 1,000 guineas from the late Mr. Beaumont Thomas, 1,000 guineas from Mr. Dan Radcliffe, 1,000 guineas from Mr. J. Herbert Cory, M.P., 1,000 guineas from Mr. W. Beyron, and 2,000 guineas each from Mr. Morgan Wakely and Mr. Percy

Miles.

HAVING decided to open its courses to women as soon as proper facilities can be provided, the college of physicians and surgeons, Columbia University, is now appealing for immediate contributions of $50,000, so that these

facilities may be secured and women admitted to the school next September. It is proposed to erect a small addition to the present college buildings, sufficient to provide for the women students, until such time as new quarters are provided for the entire college.

The

ON February 23 the regents of the University of Michigan adopted a resolution confirming the union with the University of Detroit college of medicine and surgery. terms of the merger are that the latter shall turn over its charter, real estate, equipment and hospital privileges to the university and that a fund of a million dollars will be raised for the development by the university of a graduate school of medicine in Detroit.

DR. THEODORE LYMAN and Dr. George W. Pierce have been promoted to professorships of physics at Harvard University.

DR. GEORGE B. PEGRAM, professor of physics at Columbia University, has been appointed to be dean of the school of applied science to succeed Frederick A. Goetze, who is now treasurer of the university.

PROFESSOR RAYMOND C. OSBURN, professor of biology at the Connecticut College, New London, Connecticut, has been elected head of the department of zoology and entomology of the Ohio State University, his appointment to take effect July 1. He will assume the duties carried for the last nineteen years by Professor Herbert Osborn, who was last year elected research professor and who will hereafter give his entire time to research work, including the direction of research by graduate students, and, for the present, the directorship of the Lake Laboratory and of the Ohio Biological Survey.

PROFESSOR DR. O. VAN DER STRICHT, professor of histology and embryology, University of Ghent, Belgium, has been reappointed research fellow in cytology, school of medicine, Western Reserve University.

DR. P. N. VAN KAMPEN, university lecturer at Amsterdam, has been appointed professor of zoology and comparative anatomy in the University of Leyden, in succession to the late Professor Vosmaer.

DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE

A CULTURE MEDIUM FOR EUGLENA

A MEDIUM discovered quite by accident has enabled the writer to carry on vigorous cultures of Euglena for a period of more than a year. Some five hundred cultures have proved conclusively that it is a success. The medium is quince-seed jelly, which is in common use as an agent for retarding the movements of Protozoa. It is prepared by boiling quince seed in distilled water, passing the thick, glutinous mass which is obtained through a sieve to remove particles of the seed and then diluting with distilled water to the desired consistency. Cultures have been carried in test tubes, jars, flasks and other receptacles. Some tubes remained corked throughout the entire year and were found to contain virile cultures at the end of that time.

The jelly seems to be specific for Euglena, some other chlorophyll-bearing Protozoans and for bacteria. Tubes were inoculated with cultures of mixed Protozoans and after a period of two months only the Euglena and a minute green flagellate survived, the other Protozoans living only as long as the supply of bacteria lasted.

Two hundred successful transplants have been made from a single culture.

The medium has several obvious advantages: 1. It enables the operator to carry on cultures for a long period of time without giving them constant attention.

2. The medium is viscid and evaporates rather slowly.

3. A constant as regards density and chemical content may be obtained for experimental work by evaporating the medium to dryness and making up a standard solution with distilled water.

The results of a year's experiments together with some notes on the behavior of Euglena are soon to be published.

CLARENCE L. TURNER DEPARTMENT OF ANATOMY AND BIOLOGY, MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

A RELIEF MAP OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: The article entitled "Expedite the Map," which appeared in

the October 13 issue of SCIENCE, brings to mind the desirability of having in the city of Washington, suitably housed, a large scale relief map or model of the United States.

This model might be about 300 feet square or 600 feet square, according to the structural difficulties which would be encountered and the amount of appropriation which could be obtained from Congress or other source.

As to the appropriation, I doubt that it would be easy to secure funds from Congress for an object of this kind, and I believe that it would be better to depend upon private philanthropy to secure the financial foundation needed.

The statement "Every industry, art and science which demands a knowledge of the lay of the land is benefited by good maps of the area in which it is carried on," and the remainder of the paragraph from which this sentence is quoted apply equally to a relief

map.

Such a map, if constructed, would be available for consultation by members of Congress, bureau officials and by the general public; and it would be one of the sights of the national capital. The main problem is to find the philanthropist. T. W. KINKAID

LEIDY ON THE CAUSE OF MALARIA: A

CORRECTION

IN a letter to Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn, published by him in his "Biographical Memoir of Joseph Leidy," I stated that in 1853 Leidy "discussed the cause of malaria and wrongly concluded that it is not of parasitic origin." Dr. Joseph Leidy, 2d, has kindly called my attention to my regrettable blunder. What Leidy really said2 was:

That malarial and epidemic fevers have their origin in cryptogamic vegetables or spores requires yet a single proof. If such were the case, these minute vegetables and spores, conveyed through the air, and introduced into the body in respiration, could be detected.

SCIENTIFIC BOOKS Water Supply. By WILLIAM P. MASON. Fourth Edition. New York, John Wiley and Sons. x+528 pages, 6/9. $3.75 net. The fourth edition of Professor Mason's well-known book on water supply testifies to the high esteem in which this book is held by the American engineering public. Published originally in 1896 it has passed through subsequent editions, each time being substantially enlarged and improved. For the present edition a large amount of the text has been entirely rewritten and suitable amount of new material added. The tables have been brought up to date and new photographs introduced. Some of the most noticeable changes are the following:

The chapter on Drinking Water and Disease has been strengthened by the addition of many pages devoted to typhoid fever. The work of recent years is drawn upon to set forth present-day conceptions in regard to the existence of the typhoid bacillus outside its human host and in "carriers." The distribution of the disease and factors operating in its transmission are also discussed. Considerable material has been withdrawn from this edition relative to the now discredited theory of water-borne malaria.

Newly developed methods of water purification, particularly processes aiming at disinfection, come in for consideration, as do certain newly found factors influencing natural purification in streams and stored waters. The use of chlorine ozone, ultra-violet light and copper sulphate receive attention. There is considerable discussion of various phases of the pollution of drinking water supplies and the care of watersheds.

Revisions and additions appear frequently throughout the chapters dealing with ground water and with the corrosive action of water. The appendices deal with entirely new subjects and are brief.

Professor Mason is always a pleasing writer and has the art of abstracting the important data from the writings of others and presenting them in an attractive form. Although this can not be called an exhaustive treatment

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

GEORGE C. WHIPPLE

Sarcophaga and Allies in North America. By J. M. ALDRICH. Published by the Entomological Society of America. Lafayette, Indi

ana, 1916.

In 1915 the Entomological Society of America, recognizing the difficulty of adequately publishing monographs on American insects, established the Thomas Say Foundation for this purpose. Subscriptions were solicited, and the accumulating funds were set aside to be used from time to time as suitable works might be offered for publication. The plan is not unlike that of the English Ray Society, which has been publishing important zoological works for many years. Very appropriately, the Foundation is named after Thomas Say, the founder of American entomology. The first monograph issued under these auspices is now before us, and is a revision of the Sarcophagid flies, commonly known as flesh-flies, by Dr. J. M. Aldrich. These flies, which are very abundant in America and Europe, and in some cases of considerable economic importance, have long been the despair of students. It was recognized that the species were numerous, and in fact over a hundred supposed species had been described, but one could satisfactorily identify them. About twenty years ago L. Pandellé published a work in France, in which he separated the European species known to him by the characters of the sexual organs. This method proved brilliantly successful, and after a time was confirmed and adopted by the other European workers. It is now applied to the American flies, with the result of making the whole subject over, and replacing chaos by order. Dr. Aldrich has been able to recognize 145 species and varieties in the American fauna, and figures the genitalia of 138. Every reasonable effort has been made to identify the earlier

no