The international character of the institute should also be fully recognized. Although located in America, its field of influence would extend equally to all other countries and it would develop a power for internationalism the value of which could hardly be exaggerated. It is a serious misfortune that, whereas there are thousands of organizations devoted to local history, or to such auxiliary branches as heraldry, genealogy and numismatics, there is nowhere a single one that is dedicated to the historical study of that which is the greatest common good to all mankind, the excellent institute in Leipzig being devoted exclusively to the history of medicine. It would place the New World in another light if there could be founded here, especially at this time, an institute which might in the near future become the cradle of new intellectual movement, of a new humanism. There is already a gratifying interest in the project. Two or three of the finest libraries on the history of science and of its special branches are likely to be given to the institute if it is founded on the lines above set forth. The following scholars have written to express their interest and sympathy and most of them have promised some kind of collaboration: Joseph Sweetman Ames, Wilder Dwight Bancroft, Fr. Barry, Alexander Graham Bell, George David Birkhoff, Franz Boas, Marston Taylor Bogert, James Henry Breasted, George Lincoln Burr, Florian Cajori, William Wallace Campbell, Paul Carus, William Ernest Castle, James McKeen Cattell, William Bullock Clark, Frank Wigglesworth Clarke, Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin, Russell Henry Chittenden, William Thomas Councilman, Henry Crew, Harvey Cushing, Charles Benedict Davenport, William Morris Davis, Arthur Louis Day, John Dewey, Leonard Eugene Dickson, Henry Herbert Donaldson, Jesse Walter Fewkes, Edwin Brant Frost, Fielding Hudson Garrison, George Ellery Hale, Granville Stanley Hall, Charles Homer Haskins, Lawrence T. Henderson, T. William Francis Hillebrand, William Ernest Hocking, R. F. Alfred Hoernlé, William Henry Howell, Edward Vermilye Huntington, Ellsworth Huntington, Morris Jastrow, Jr., David Starr Jordan, Louis Charles Karpinski, Arnold Carl Klebs, George Frederick Kunz, Berthold Laufer, William Libby, Frank Rattray Lillie, Ralph S. Lillie, William Albert Locy, Jacques Loeb, Graham Lusk, Percival Lowell [deceased], Franklin Paine Mall, George Herbert Mead, Samuel James Meltzer, Albert Abraham Michelson, Robert Andrews Millikan, Edward Caldwell Moore, Eliakim Hastings Moore, Ernest Carroll Moore, Arthur Amos Noyes, William Albert Noyes, William Fogg Osgood, George Howard Parker, Ralph Barton Perry, Edward Charles Pickering, Frederick Leslie Ransome, Theodore William Richards, David Riesman, James Harvey Robinson, Julius Sachs, William Thompson Sedgwick, Thomas Jefferson Jackson See, H. M. Sheffer, Paul Shorey, James Thomson Shotwell, David Eugene Smith, Edgar Fahs Smith, Edward Clark Streeter, Henry Osborn Taylor, Harry Walter Tyler, Victor Clarence Vaughan, Addison Emery Verrill, James Joseph Walsh, Arthur Gordon Webster, William Henry Welch, Edmund Beecher Wilson, James Haughton Woods. In the matter of corespondence the undersigned will act for those interested in the movement until it is seen whether a more definite organization can be effected. HARVARD UNIVERSITY, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. GEORGE SARTON SCIENTIFIC EVENTS TECHNICAL AND MEDICAL EDUCATION THE London Times states that one of the most striking features of recent educational reform in Russia has been the unusual activity of Count Ignatiev, the ex-minister of education. There has been great need of people of higher education in Russia in two departments especially, the technical and the medical. In November last Count Ignatiev brought before the Duma a scheme for a new university statute introducing far-reaching reforms. Meantime many new technical and medical schools are already being provided for. Ten new technical institutes of various types are in process of organization, and in this connection Count Ignatiev approached the municipalities and Zemstva concerned, with a view to sharing the expense. These technical institutes are to be opened especially in the eastern part of the empire, in Saratov, Vyatka, Turkestan and Blagoveshchensk. Of the several new universities which are under consideration, the first to be opened will be those of Perm and Rostov-on-the-Don. The scheme for the University of Irkutsk is to be brought before the Duma in the autumn of 1917, and another university in the Far East is planned for either Vladivostok or Habarovsk. All the towns which have been chosen as new centers of education have already voted sums of money, larger or smaller, according to their wealth. Some of the old universities-viz., those of Odessa and Tomsk, have been allowed to increase the number of their students. Perhaps the most marked reforms are in medical education, since Russia is faced with a greater need for medical staff than any other country. A new degree of candidate of medical science has been founded which, together with eight months' hospital training, entitles the holder to practise. The holder of this degree occupies an intermediate place between the fully qualified doctor and the so-called feldscher or nurse (male or female), who is allowed to practise in the absence of a doctor. There are also schools for four more classes of medical staffdisinfectors, maternity nurses, nurses for nervous cases and masseurs. These reforms are already being set in motion, and are to be carried out in the course of the next three years. DINNER IN MANILA TO VISITING A CORRESPONDENT writes from Manila: On February 5, 1917, Dr. John A. Brashear, the noted American maker of photographic lenses and silver-on-mirrors, Dr. A. Swasey, president of the firm that made the mounting of the big Cordoba, Lick, Yerkes, Victoria telescopes, and Dr. John R. Freeman, the American hydraulic engineer, were entertained at a lunch given in their honor at the Manila Hotel by prominent scientists and engineers of Manila. To meet in the far-off Philippine Islands so many friends, enthusiastic for astronomy and for the application of modern machinery and methods to engineering problems was a delightful surprise to the distinguished visitors. José Algué, director of the Weather Bureau, welcomed the guests and acted as toastmaster. The speaker of the occasion was a personal friend of Dr. J. A. Brashear. Speaking of optical instruments made by Brashear, Rev. M. Selga, well known in America for his connection with the leading American observatories, made the following remark: "There is hardly any remarkable astronomical observatory in America that is not equipped either with a silver-on-mirror, or a lens, or a comet-seeker, or an alt-azimuth or a spectrograph constructed by Brashear. The 8" doublet of Swarthmore College Observatory, the 15" of the Dominion Observatory, Ottawa, Canada, the 18" of the Flower Observatory, Philadelphia, Pa., the 20" of Chabot Observatory, Oakland, California, the focus of the astronomical admiration of the visitors at the PanamaPacific Exhibition, the unique 30" photographic refractor of the Allegheny Observatory are but few among the many high-grade refractors turned out by Brashear. You are all acquainted with the spectrographic investigations of the late Dr. Young, at Princeton, of Dr. G. H. Hale at Kenwood, paving the way for the advance of solar physics and the establishment of the Mt. Wilson Solar Observatory, of Dr. F. Schlesinger at the Allegheny Observatory with the Mellon and Porter spectrograph, of Dr. Frost with the Bruce, of Plaskett at Ottawa, of Dr. Slipher at Flagstaff, and specially of Dr. W. W. Campbell who with the Mills spectrograph has surveyed the northern and southern skies for the spectral characteristics of the stars. Now, one of the vital parts, either the prisms or the lenses, of these unparalleled spectrographs are from Brashear." The guests gathered around the table at 12 o'clock and the steamer was to take the scientific party from Manila to Hongkong at 3 P.M. Few minutes were left to Dr. Brashear to talk on the stars, to Dr. Swasey to give his views about the Far East and to Dr. Freeman to report on the past, present and future condition of the Panama landslides. The speeches were short, but they were a source of pleasure and delight to more than a hundred guests and will be long remembered. THE KANSAS CITY MEETING OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY As has been already noted in SCIENCE the American Chemical Society will meet at Kansas City from April 10 to 14. The society and hotel headquarters will be at the Hotel Muehlebach. The final and complete program will be sent on or about April 3 to members requesting it. The program of general arrangements is as follows: All sessions and division meetings of the society will be held, as far as possible, in the Hotel Muehlebach, on the mezzanine floor. Tuesday night, April 10. Council dinner and meeting. Wednesday morning, April 11. Opening session. Wednesday afternoon, April 11. Public session. "Petroleum and Natural Gas." Wednesday night, April 11. Smoker. Division meetings. Division meetings. Banquet. Division meetings. Friday afternoon, April 13. Excursions. The following are the addresses of the divisional secretaries: Agricultural and Food Chemistry: Glen F. Mason, Fertilizer Chemistry: F. B. Carpenter, Virginia- Pharmaceutical Chemistry: George D. Beal, Chemistry Building, University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. Physical and Inorganic Chemistry: Earl V. Millard, Institute of Technology, Boston, Mass. Water, Sewage and Sanitation: H. P. Corson, U. S. Public Health Service, Grove City, Pa. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS THE following fifteen candidates have been selected by the council of the Royal Society to be recommended for election into the society: Dr. J. H. Ashworth, Mr. L. Bairstow, Professor G. A. J. Cole, Mr. C. F. Cross, Dr. H. D. Dakin, Professor A. S. Eve, Professor H. Jackson, Professor J. S. Macdonald, Professor J. W. Nicholson, Dr. R. H. Pickard, Mr. C. T. Regan, Dr. R. Robertson, Dr. E. J. Russell, Mr. S. G. Shattock and Professor F. E. Weiss. THE membership of the Botanical Committee of the National Research Council has just been completed, as follows: From the National Academy, J. M. Coulter (chairman), D. H. Campbell, R. A. Harper; from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Committee of One Hundred), George T. Moore, B. E. Livingston, L. R. Jones; from the Botanical Society of America, Erwin F. Smith, Edward M. East and H. H. Bartlett. Ar the request of the National Research Council there has been appointed at the College of the City of New York a research committee, consisting of Professor Charles Baskerville, chairman; Professors T. A. Storey, F. G. Reynolds, Geo. G. Scott, J. G. Coffin, F. E. Breithut and A. N. Goldsmith. THE Adams prize at Cambridge has been awarded to Mr. J. H. Jeans, M.A., sometime fellow of Trinity, for an essay on "Some Problems of Cosmogony and Stellar Dynamics." No election has been made to the Isaac Newton Studentship. MR. JOHN W. TITCOMB, fish and game commissioner of Vermont, has been appointed by the conservation commission fish culturist for the state of New York, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Dr. Tarleton H. Bean. PROFESSOR A. A. BENEDICT has been appointed associate professor in physics in the University of South Carolina, filling the va cancy caused by the resignation of Dr. Lucian, who will take up research work for the Green and Bauer Company, of Hartford, Conn. PROFESSOR J. C. MERRIAM, of the University of California, will give a paper on "A Plan for Cooperation in Research among the Scientific Societies of the Pacific Coast" in the symposium, under the direction of Dr. D. T. MacDougal, before the Stanford meeting of the Pacific Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. GENERAL GEORGE W. GOETHALS gave an illustrated lecture on the Panama Canal at Cornell University on March 5. DR. W. D. BANCROFT, professor of physical chemistry at Cornell University, addressed the Indiana branch of the American Chemical Society, at Indianapolis, on March 9, on "Contact Catalysis"; and on March 10, Professor Bancroft spoke before the Society of Sigma Xi of Indiana University on "Colloid Chemistry." DR. WILLIAM S. THAYER, of the Johns Hopkins University, delivered an address before the New York Academy of Medicine, on March 15, on "The Significance of Some Common Deviations from the Ordinary in Cardiac Function." MR. N. H. DARTON, of the U. S. Geological Survey, recently lectured to Lehigh University on "The Grand Canyon of Arizona, a Great Object Lesson in Geology and Geography." A large number of new views and other illustrations were shown. PROFESSOR C. M. CHILD, of the department of zoology of the University of Chicago, will give the principal address before the Science Section of the Colorado Educational Association at the spring meeting to be held at Teachers College in Greeley on March 30 and 31. DR. WILLIAM R. BROOKS, director of Smith Observatory, and professor of astronomy at Hobart College, recently delivered his illustrated lecture on "The Wonders of the Heavens," at the Rhode Island State College at Kingston. THE magnetic-survey vessel, the Carnegie, under the command of J. P. Ault, arrived at Buenos Aires, with all well on board, on March 2. Leaving San Francisco on November 1, 1916, he proceeded to Easter Island, thence around the Horn to Buenos Aires. The scientific work was successfully accomplished on the entire trip. THE daily papers report that Vilhjalmur Stefansson, the Arctic explorer, is wintering with the gasolene schooner Polar Bear at Prince of Wales Strait, according to news brought by a Northwest police expedition from Fort McPherson. Stefansson, who passed last summer exploring the new land discovered north of Prince Patrick Island, is hopeful that the ice will break up early this spring and permit him to make the northeast passage and to sail up the St. Lawrence River to Montreal. PROFESSOR WILLIAM BEEBE, of the faculty of mathematics of Yale University, died on March 11, in New Haven, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. He was graduated from Yale in 1873, and had been teaching there since 1876. DR. JOHN S. MCKAY, head of the department of physics and mathematics of the Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn, from 1890 to his retirement last summer, has died at the age of sixty-seven years. THE library of the American Institute of Mining Engineers has received a gift of $100,000 from Mr. James Douglas, of Arizona. A CHAPTER of Sigma Gamma Epsilon, the national collegiate fraternity devoted to geology, mining and metallurgy, was installed in the University of Nebraska on the evening of March 3. Communications intended for the national officers should be addressed to Mr. Harry E. Crum, Lawrence, Kansas. A CIRCULAR letter giving 39 generic names in Protozoa, Cœlenterata, Trematoda, Cestoda, Cirripedia, Tunicata and Pisces, chiefly Linnæan, which have been proposed for inclusion in the Official List of Zoological Names, has been mailed to the leading scientific institutions, colleges, laboratories, etc., in various countries; in addition 20 copies have been sent to each commissioner for distribution in his own country. A copy will be sent to any person sufficiently interested, who will apply to Dr. C. W. Stiles, secretary to International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, U. S. National Museum, Washington, D. C. SIR ALFRED KEOGH, director-general of the British army medical service, presiding at a lecture at the Royal Institute of Public Health on February 14, is reported in Nature to have stated that in France at that moment there were only five cases of enteric fever and eighteen cases of paratyphoid fever, with seventy or eighty doubtful cases. He attributed this result to inoculation, and the general good health of the army to good food, in addition to careful sanitation. The health of the army at all the fronts was said to be better than the ordinary health of the army in peace-time. DR. LEO J. FRACHTENBERG, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, returned to Washington, D. C., on February 4, after a stay of almost two and a half years in Oregon and Washington, where he investigated the ethnology, mythology and languages of the various Indian tribes scattered throughout these states. Dr. Frachtenberg's researches in this area have resulted in evidence that three of the most important linguistic stocks of the northwest, namely, the Salish, Wakashan and Chimakuan, have ultimately been derived from one common stock, which he proposes to call the Mosan group. This name has been suggested by the fact that the numeral 4 (mós or bós) occurs in each of these stocks in one form or another. While working on the social organization of the Chimakuan tribes Dr. Frachtenberg observed an entirely new feature in the social life of the American Indians. This feature consists of the existence of professional orders, whose members do and must follow one and the same profession. Thus there are special orders for fishermen, hunters, sealers, whalers, shamans, rainmakers, etc. During the last two weeks of his stay in the west Dr. Frachtenberg succeeded in raising a fund of $25,000 as a nucleus for the purposes of organizing a Museum of Natural History in the city of Portland, Oregon. On January 29 he succeeded in starting a similar move ment in Spokane, Washington, and it is hoped that the city of Spokane will in the near future have a museum specially devoted to the American Indians of that region. PRELIMINARY estimates by John D. Northrop, of the United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, indicate that the quantity of crude petroleum produced and marketed in the old fields of the United States in 1916 was 292,300,000 barrels. This quantity is greater by 4 per cent. than the corresponding output in 1915, which reached the recordbreaking total of 281,104,104 barrels. Mr. Northrop estimates that 38 per cent. of the 1916 total came from the Oklahoma-Kansas field, 30 per cent. from California, and the remaining 32 per cent. from the Appalachian, Lima-Indiana, Illinois, north Texas, north Louisiana, Gulf coast, and Rocky Mountain fields. IN 1916 Alaska mines made a mineral production valued at $50,900,000. These are the advance figures issued by the United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, and are based on estimates made by Alfred H. Brooks. The output of Alaska mines in 1915, which was greater than that of any previous year, had a value of $32,850,000, and the increase in 1916 was therefore over 54 per cent. It was the product of the copper mines that so greatly swelled the mineral production of the year. This amounted to 120,850,000 pounds, valued at $32,400,000. There was also, however, an increase in gold output, which in 1916 was $17,050,000 and in 1915 was $16,700,000. Of the gold produced in 1916, $10,640,000 is to be credited to the placer mines. Alaska also produced in 1916 silver, lead, tin, antimony, tungsten, petroleum, marble, gypsum and coal to the value of $1,300,000. During 32 years of mining Alaska has produced $351,000,000 in gold, silver, copper and other minerals. Of this amount $278,000,000 represents the value of the gold, and $68,000,000 that of the copper. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL THE legislature of Kansas appropriated $1,524,000 for the University of Kansas for the |