amounted to 750,000 tons of Chilean nitrate, 35,000 tons of Norwegian nitrate, 46,000 tons of ammonium sulphate, and 30,000 tons of cyanamide. In 1913 great efforts were devoted in Germany to the preparation of materials necessary for war, and no attempt was made to conceal them. The German Ammonium Sulphate Syndicate had a reserve of 43,000 tons, and on the declaration of war there was probably a stock of 100,000 tons of Chilean nitrate. Immediately after the battle of the Marne, when a long war was evidently certain, the production of artificial nitrates and of ammonium sulphate was stimulated, the Badische Aniline Company and Bayer and Co. being subsidized to the extent of 30,000,000 marks for the installation of factories to convert ammonia into nitric acid. In peace time 550,000 tons of ammonium sulphate were produced annually in Germany, but this output was reduced once war was declared. As this substance is a by-product in the manufacture of gas and cast-iron, people in Germany were instigated to use gas and coke instead of coal, and by such means an annual output of 250,000 tons of ammonium sulphate was attained.

The problem of converting the ammonia into nitric acid was solved by the Frank and Caro and the Kayser processes. A French chemist, Kuhlmann, had discovered that ammonia is oxidized to nitrogen peroxide when mixed with air and passed over warm, finely divided platinum. The reaction was employed on a commercial scale by Ostwald, and improved both by Kayser and by Frank and Caro. By the end of 1915 the Anhaltische Maschinenbau Society of Berlin had established thirty installations for the conversion by Frank and Caro's process, and these had a capacity of more than 100,000 tons of nitric acid per month. But this was only one of the methods adopted. Given a cheap source of electrical energy, it was known to be commercially practicable to prepare nitric acid by the direct oxidation of nitrogen in the electric flame, and this process had been established in Norway by Birkeland and Eyde, who used the waterfalls as a source of energy. The Germans have established a factory employing Pauling's

process (a modification of that of Birkeland and Eyde) at Muhlenstein, in Saxony, in the neighborhood of the lignite beds, which form the source of energy, and this has an annual output of 6,000 tons of nitric acid.

The third principal method adopted for the preparation of combined nitrogen was the direct synthesis of ammonia. Bosch and Mittasch, two chemical engineers of the Badische Company, had adapted Haber's synthesis to industrial conditions, and the company had established a factory with an annual output of 30,000 tons of synthetic ammonium sulphate. In April, 1914, the company increased its capital in order to raise the output to 130,000 tons, and after the battle of the Marne it was subsidized by the German government to increase the production to 300,000 tons.

Before the war the production of cyanamide in Germany was comparatively small, but it has increased largely under government stimulus. In the direction of the manufacture of manures, it was necessary to economize sulphuric acid, so ammonia was neutralized with nitre cake, and the resulting mixture of sodium and ammonium sulphates was mixed with superphosphate. Moreover, it was found that superphosphate will absorb gaseous ammonia, and although the calcium acid phosphate is thereby converted into the insoluble tricalcic phosphate, it is formed in an easily assimilable condition, and the product is found by experience to act both as a nitrogen and phosphorus manure.

THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH

WHILE offering every facility of the laboratories of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to the United States government for any research in which it with its staff of trained professors can be of service, the institute holds that in addition to the education of its students it has an important function in being helpful to the industrial world. An agreement with Technology by the U. S. Smelting, Refining and Mining Co., to be in force in April, whereby the latter is to avail itself of the

laboratory facilities offered by the institute, is the latest step in forming closer relationships with the industrial world. This Boston-controlled corporation is one of the two large companies of the kind in this country. With the ability of Technology to undertake the work, it has expressed itself, through its president, William G. Sharp, as desirous of availing itself of the advantages offered by the institute. Instead of establishing a private research laboratory of its own it will bring its problems to Technology.

The advantages which accrue to a corporation which makes such an agreement include the economy afforded by not being obliged to establish a laboratory parallelling that of the institute. Such laboratories are very costly, construction and equipment running into the scores of thousands. The institute presents a further advantage that no private laboratory can afford, in that it maintains a great group of allied laboratories. There are unlimited quantities of water, steam, electricity and anything else that is needed, a great library, a large active force for investigation in the student body and unequalled facilities for quick and satisfactory conferences with the instructing staff. Then there is the ease with which other laboratories may be called to help in the solution of any problem. So related are the different industries that hardly any problem lies entirely within the sphere of only one of them. Chemistry turns to electricity, metallurgy to both of these, while mechanical engineering is fundamental.

On the other hand there are advantages to the institute. It has a very costly equipment which it really holds in trust for the community. It is the duty of its officers to make the fullest returns possible. Every use of its facilities by the industrial world is a step towards the realization of its ideals. Cooperation like that with the United States Smelting Co., in the solution of industrial problems makes it the more valuable to the people and the more valuable it becomes the better the chance of greater importance in the future, with the better outlook for the carrying forward of research work that may be of general benefit.

That the latter may truly be assured the institute has in its agreement the provision that publication of results be not unduly delayed. To carry on the special work which this cooperation necessitates, the corporation of Technology has named Henry M. Schleicher, B.S., a graduate of 1910, to be research associate in charge of the work, the general direction resting on Professor H. O. Hoffman, professor of metallurgy. Mr. Schleicher since his graduation has been engaged in research work with two Boston firms, with especial attention to electrolytic separation and flotation.

CHEMISTRY AND THE WAR

THE registrar of the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland, according to The British Medical Journal, prefaces an account he has written of the work done by chemists in the war by observing that the government has secured the guidance of chemists and other men of science to assist in the investigation of suggestions and inventions and to bring their knowledge and experience to bear on measures and devices of offense and defense. The country had come to rely so much on foreign sources of supply that means had to be found for dealing promptly and efficiently with the difficulties which arose so soon as importation was stopped by the war. The laboratories of universities and colleges quickly became small factories for the preparation of drugs and medicaments, and many were entrusted with the examination of materials used in the manufacture of explosives. Uniformity in method and the standardization of processes was secured, and students unfit for service with the colors were set to work under the supervision of their professors. Several hundred chemists were engaged to assist in the laboratories and in government and controlled establishments supplying armaments, munitions and other materials of war, and in some branches arrangements were made for probationary training. The staffs of the chemical department of Woolwich arsenal, and of the government laboratory responsible for the examination of foodstuffs and many other requirements of the expeditionary force, were

enlarged. A number of chemists were early given commissions in the army for scientific work, and after the employment of poisonous gases by the enemy men with training in chemistry were enlisted for service in the field. With the assistance of the universities and technical colleges, and various bodies interested in chemistry, an entirely new force was brought into existence; the officers were mainly selected from chemists who already held commissions, whilst non-commissioned officers with knowledge of chemistry were transferred from other units. Both Lord French and Sir Douglas Haig had in their dispatches spoken highly of the work done by this force, which was obtained entirely by voluntary enlistment. The majority of the university graduates and men possessing recognized diplomas who originally enlisted as corporals subsequently received commissions, and when the force was more completely organized a considerable number were transferred to the ministry of munitions. During the campaign against the rebels in South Africa and the Germans in Southwest Africa chemists were attached, by direction of General Botha, to the different brigades, and rendered valuable service. The experience gained in the campaign proves, the registrar thinks, that it is advisable that the state should have control of an organization of professional chemists which would at any time ensure their efficient service to meet the many requirements of the naval, military and air forces. Chemists were required to control the manufacture of munitions, explosives, metals, leather, rubber, oils, gases, food and drugs; for the analysis of all such materials and for research; on active service chemists were required to assist in the control of water supplies, in the detection of poison in streams, in the analysis of water and food, and in the disposal of sewage, and both at home and on active service to assist in devising safeguards against enemy contrivances of a scientific nature, in devising methods of offense, and to instruct the troops in such matters. In summing up the matter, it is said that

chemists have met the situation with a spirit of

true patriotism and have been promptly organized for the service required of them. It is not too much to hope that, as the discoveries of science have been applied to the destruction of humanity, they may be devoted more and more to the furtherance of the arts of peace, to the uplifting of civilization, and the pacification of the world.

SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS

THE spring meeting of the Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science will be held in Rooms 39-41, new building of the U. S. National Museum, Washington, D. C., on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 17, 1917, at 4:45 o'clock.

THE afternoon session of the National Academy of Sciences on April 17 will be devoted to the work of the National Research Council. Reports will be presented by George E. Hale, chairman, National Research Council; Charles D. Walcott, chairman, Military Committee; R. A. Millikan, chairman, Physics Committee; Marston T. Bogert, chairman, Chemistry Committe, and Victor C. Vaughan, chairman, Committee on Medicine and Hygiene.

THE evening lecture before the American Philosophical Society will be given in the hall of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania on April 13, by Dr. George E. Hale, his subject being "The Work of the Mount Wilson Observatory."

It is reported that the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research has appropriated $200,000 for the establishment of a hospital to be used for the instruction of surgeons in the Carrel-Dakin treatment of the wounded. It is expected that Dr. Alexis Carrel will be granted a leave of absence from France to return to New York and assume supervision of the work.

A COMMITTEE to perfect an organization for an effective mobilization of the medical resources of Massachusetts to aid in obtaining officers for the army and naval medical corps, and to arrange suitable instruction in medical military preparedness, has been formed and is called the Auxiliary Medical Committee for National Defense. Dr. R. P. Strong, professor of tropical medicine in the Harvard Medical School, has been chosen as permanent

chairman of the committee, and Dr. John Warren as temporary secretary.

THE University of Pittsburgh has formed a Research Committee to cooperate with the National Research Council. Dr. George H. Clapp, president of the board of trustees, is chairman of this committee, and the other members are Messrs. Bacon, Brashear, Griffen, Guthrie, Holland, Lincoln, Schlesinger and Thorpe.

DR. CHARLES DOOLITTLE WALCOTT, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, has been elected a corresponding member in the class of physical sciences of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Bologna, Italy.

DR. A. BELOPOLSKY, astrophysicist at the National Observatory at Pulkowa, Russia, has been promoted to the directorship in succession to the late Dr. Backlund.

DR. JOHN STANLEY PLASKETT, formerly in charge of the department of astrophysics in the Dominion Observatory at Ottawa, has been appointed director of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, which is being established at Victoria. The principal instrument of the observatory is a 72-inch reflecting telescope, the mounting for which is in place, and the mirror is nearing completion at the shops of the Brashear Company.

GENERAL GEORGE W. GOETHALS has notified Governor Edge, of New Jersey, that he will accept the position of state engineer, which was created under a special act during the present session of the legislature. General Goethals will have supervision over the projected system of highways, which will cost about $15,000,000.

MR. EZRA LEVIN has been appointed muck crop specialist for the Michigan Agricultural College with field headquarters at Kalamazoo, Michigan. He will spend half of his time in extension work and the other half in research in the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station.

MR. RAY NELSON, formerly assistant in the Michigan Agricultural College Experiment Station, has been appointed plant pathologist for the Illinois Central Railroad.

THE Sarah Berliner Fellowship for Scientific Research has been awarded to Dr. Marjorie O'Connell, of Columbia University and the American Museum of Natural History. Miss O'Connell has just completed and published a memoir on the "Habitat of the Eurypterida," and she will continue her investigations on the conditions of existence of extinct invertebrates, using the evidence furnished by their fossilized remains and by the characters of the strata which contain them.

THE locality at Vero, Florida, from which fossil human remains have been obtained was visited in the latter part of March by Professor E. W. Berry, Dr. R. T. Chamberlin, Dr. E. H. Sellards and Mr. H. Gunter. The objects of the visit were to observe more closely the conditions under which the vertebrate fossils of the deposit are found and to add to the collection of fossil plants. The results will be subsequently published.

A PARTY of ten students from the University of Illinois will utilize the Easter vacation in making a field study of the geologic features. along the Ohio River in southern Illinois, under the leadership of Mr. Eliot Blackwelder. A second party under the guidance of Mr. W. S. Bayley will visit the eastern portion of the Ozark Mountains in Missouri, for special field work in economic geology.

DR. OTTO FOLIN, of Harvard University, will deliver on May 18 the third Mellon Lecture of the Society for Biological Research of the University of Pittsburgh Medical School. The subject of this lecture will be "Recent Biological Investigations on Blood and Urine, their Bearing on Clinical and Experimental Medicine."

AT the annual meeting of the Michigan Academy of Sciences, Professor William H. Hobbs gave, on March 28, the presidential address on "The Making of Scientific Theories." This address will be printed in SCIENCE. On the evening of March 29 Professor R. W. Wood, of the Johns Hopkins University, gave a lecture on "Photographing the Invisible." On March 30 Professor George Sarton, of Har

PROFESSOR ELLWOOD B. SPEAR, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, recently delivered lectures on the chemistry of colloids before the Chemical Society of Northeastern College and the New England Chemistry Teachers Association. He also conducted a symposium on colloids at a meeting of the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society.

THE Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks held its annual business meeting in the galleries of the National Arts Club, New York City, on April 11, 1917, when the Hon. George D. Pratt, state conservation commissioner, delivered an address on "The State Forest Preserve," illustrated with stereopticon views and moving pictures.

SIR ERNEST H. SHACKLETON is returning to England by way of the United States and will lecture in several cities. On April 23 he will lecture before the Geographic Society of Chicago.

PROFESSOR HENRY B. CORNWALL, of Princeton University, died on April 1, at his home in Princeton. He was born at Southport, Conn., in 1844 and was graduated from Columbia University in 1864. Mr. Cornwall was professor of applied chemistry and mineralogy at Princeton University from 1873 to 1910, when he became emeritus professor.

PROFESSOR ORSON BENNETT JOHNSON, well known for his extensive explorations in the natural history of the Pacific Northwest, died at home in Seattle, Washington, on March 9,

aged 69 years. His very large collection of insects has been bequeathed to the University of Washington.

THE REV. O. PICKARD-CAMBRIDGE, F.R.S., author of works on arachnology, entomology and general natural history, died on March 9, at the age of eighty-eight years.

A SUM of one million pounds is allotted in the estimates of the British government as a grant in aid to encourage scientific and industrial research in 1917-18. It will be paid to the account of the Imperial Trust, and any balance will not be surrendered at the close of

the financial year. Grants will be made by the directions of a committee of the Privy Council over an agreed period. Following an expenditure of £20,000 in the current year, another £15,000 is needed to pay for the relief expedition fitted out by the admiralty to rescue members of the Imperial Transantarctic Expedition from Elephant Island and also in respect of one half of the expenses of the relief expedition sent in conjunction with the governments of Australia and New Zealand to Ross Sea.

DR. GEORGE E. HALE, chairman of the National Defense Council, has sent the following cablegram to the Royal Society, London; the Academie des Sciences, Paris; the Academy of Sciences, Petrograd, and the Accademia dei Lincei, Rome:

cause.

The entrance of the United States into the war unites our men of science with yours in a common The National Academy of Sciences, acting through the National Research Council, which has been designated by President Wilson and the Council of National Defense to mobolize the research facilities of the country, would gladly cooperate in any scientific researches still underlying the solution of military or industrial problems.

THE 1917 meeting of the Association of American Geographers will be held at the University of Chicago, on December 27, 28 and 29. The annual meeting of the National Council of Geography Teachers will probably be held at the same time and place.

MR. WARREN KNAUS ('82) has donated to the Entomological Museum of the Kansas State Agricultural College, his valuable collection of Coleoptera. Ever since he was a student in the college, Mr. Knaus has spent practically all his spare time and vacations in collecting and studying Coleoptera. He has made many trips into the arid regions of Mexico, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico to collect insects. These trips have been pro