ministration. The wax is furnished in small pieces packed in boxes which will cost the consumer five cents for a season's supply and is to be distributed to the retail dealers through the jobbers. The directions are very simple and explicit, for one has only to place some wax upon a piece of paper on top of the cereal and heat until the piece of wax melts to a grease spot which will be 85° C. Then it is recommended that the cereal be mixed and left in the oven for forty-five minutes as stated above. Warnings with regard to the proper storage of the cereal after it has been heated make it clear that the cereal will remain free from insects only when stored where no insects can get at it. The cereals used in the heating experiments have been submitted to various cooking processes by the department of domestic science at the University of Minnesota and no injury was apparent even when the cereals were heated to a temperature of 95° C. This work has been undertaken in anticipation of a condition which seems very certain to develop. With the cooperation of the millers in "sterilizing" and rapidly handling the cereals, of the dealers in increased sanitation and in furnishing consumers with "heat-testing wax," and finally of the consumer in heating the cereal when it reaches him, it is hoped that our country may be aided in its effort to conserve the food needed to win this war. Similar campaigns in other states might aid in reducing a loss which seems inevitable if no unusual measures are taken. ROYAL N. CHAPMAN THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. SCIENTIFIC EVENTS THE PROGRESS OF BIRTH AND DEATH THE recent inclusion of Hawaii has extended beyond the limits of Continental United States the area for which the Census Bureau annually collects and publishes death statistics. Within this area now reside about 73 per cent. of the total population of Con tinental United States and Hawaii. It comprises, in all, 27 states, 43 cities in other states, the District of Columbia and the territory of Hawaii. East of the Mississippi the only states not included are Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Mississippi and West Virginia, while west of the Mississippi the only states included are California, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Utah and Washington. The annual collection of death statistics from states and cities maintaining adequate registration systems was begun by the Census Bureau in 1902, the first report covering the calendar years 1900 to 1904, inclusive, and for each succeeding year a separate report has been published. The original registration area contained 40 per cent. of the total population of the country. It remained unchanged until 1906, since which year it has shown an almost uninterrupted increase in geographical extent and in proportion of total population, until at present it contains nearly three fourths of the country's inhabitants. In birth registration highly satisfactory progress has been made during the past two years, although there are still a number of states in which adequate death registration prevails but in which the registration of births has not yet reached a sufficiently close approximation to completeness to justify the acceptance of the local records by the Census Bureau. The birth-registration area, as at present constituted, comprises 19 states-the six New England states, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Utah and Washington-and the District of Columbia. This area is estimated to contain about 51 per cent. of the total population of the country, as against about 31 per cent. when the collection of birth statistics was begun, a little more than two years ago, from an area comprising the six New England states, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota and the District of Columbia. This growth, in so short a time, is gratifying. It is, however, unfortunate that in the United States the registration of vital phe nomena has thus far depended, first, upon adequate state or municipal legislation, and, second, upon the adequate enforcement of that legislation. As a result, some states and municipalities maintain efficient registration systems while others do not. Until the matter is placed under federal control or supervision it is not likely that reliable birth and death records, approximating completeness, will come into existence throughout the entire United States. Since the military registration of June 5, 1917, the desirability of maintaining such records has become apparent to all. THE INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE SIR HENRY E. ARMSTRONG, chairman of the executive committee of the International Council of the Central Bureau of the International Catalogue, writes in Nature: The Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies, some time last year, appointed-by what mandate is not clear-an International Catalogue Subcommittee "to obtain information regarding the extent of the use made by scientific men of the present International Catalogue of Scientific Literature, and to obtain recommendations for possible improvement." The subcommittee consisted of Dr. Chalmers Mitchell, Mr. C. V. Boys and Mr. E. B. Knobel, in addition to the official members. The subcommittee appears to have gone outside the terms of reference and to have reported " that it was advisable to consider suggestions for an alternative scheme." The history of the International Catalogue is briefly as follows. In 1893 the Royal Society was memorialized to take into consideration the preparation of complete author and subject catalogues, by international cooperation, in continuation of the society's Catalogue of Scientific Papers, which the society did not propose to continue beyond the century. The proposal being viewed with favor, the Royal Society solicited the opinion of scientific workers all over the world. There was practically but one reply-that such catalogues were essential, and almost universal agreement that the only way of carrying the work into execution was by international cooperation. Repre sentative committees were appointed, and after two years of very hard work a scheme was prepared which was forwarded abroad, together with the invitation to attend the first international conference on the subject. This was held in July, 1896. Two subsequent international conferences were held in London in October, 1898, and June, 1900. All three were highly representative. Ultimately it was decided, at the third conference, to establish the catalogue as an international enterprise. Work was begun in 1901, and has been continued up to the present time. The organization has grown steadily in weight and efficiency, and at the beginning of the war there were thirty-four regional bureaus in operation. The harmony which has prevailed throughout among the nations is one of the most remarkable features of the enterprise; notwithstanding the complexity of the work, there has not been the slightest friction. I believe no other international enterprise of like magnitude has been called into existence or worked more smoothly. . . . As war went on, it became necessary for the society to evaluate its responsibilities towards the catalogue. It was decided that the society could not guarantee the publication of the catalogue beyond the fourteenth issue. An issue consists of seventeen volumes, each dealing with a separate science. The fourteenth issue is now being published, and it is noteworthy that special contributions in aid of publication have been made by the Carnegie Foundation of New York, by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and by certain private donors. The Royal Society has also undertaken the direct control of the enterprise during the period of the war. Early last year it was intimated to workers abroad that the future of the catalogue must be left for the decision of an international council to be called as soon as possible after the conclusion of peace. Why the Conjoint Board has intervened is not clear. It certainly has no right to give the catalogue its quietus. That it should have taken the action it has without ever consulting the international organization passes belief. I attended the meeting of the board on Wednesday last, and protested most strongly against the discourtesy the subcommittee has displayed towards our Allies and the neutral countries concerned in the enterprise. It is unnecessary to dwell on the special need at the present time of maintaining and cementing relationships that have been so happily established, and to comment further on the unhappy policy adumbrated by the subcommittee. PRIZES OFFERED BY THE AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY Ir is announced in the Fisheries Service Bulletin that in order to develop interest in fish culture and related subjects, and to stimulate expression regarding them, the American Fisheries Society has, through its president and executive committee, decided to offer three prizes of $100 each to be awarded at its meeting in New York state in September, 1918, as follows: 1. For the best contribution on fish culture; either new or improved practical fish-cultural appliances, or a description of methods employed in the advancement of fish-cultural work. 2. For the best contribution on biological investigations applied to fish-cultural problems. 3. For the best contribution dealing with the problems of the commercial fisheries. A committee of three members of the society, one a practical fish-culturist, one a scientist, and one a practical commercial fisherman, to be appointed by the president, will pass upon the material submitted. The conditions governing the competition are as follows: 1. Any person who is a member of the society, or who duly qualifies as a member prior to September 1, 1918, may compete for the awards. 2. Each competitor is to notify the secretary of the society, John T. Titcomb, state fish-culturist, Albany, N. Y., before September 1 of the particular prize for which he intends to compete. 3. Each paper or exhibit offered in competition is to be in the custody of the secretary of the society on or before September 3, 1918. 4. Each device, apparatus, process, or method offered for an award is to be presented by a sample, model, or illustrated description, each to be accompanied by a complete statement of the points for which an award is asked. The society is to reserve the right to publish any papers or photographs submitted in competition prior to their publication elsewhere; provided, however, that in the event of failure to publish within nine months after the meeting the author will be at liberty to publish when and where he may elect. 5. The committee appointed by the president is to determine the competitors who are entitled to awards, and the decision of the committee is to be final. 6. In order to obtain additional information if desired the committee may call before it persons who may have entered the competition, and also other persons. 7. The committee is to make its final report to the society not later than the morning session of the third day of the meeting. THE MEDALS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON Ar the anual meeting of the society on February 15, the president, Dr. Alfred Harker, handed the Wollaston Medal, awarded to Dr. Charles Doolittle Walcott, to Mr. William H. Buckler, attaché to the Embassy of the United States of America in London for transmission to the recipient, addressing him as follows: The Wollaston Medal, the highest honor at the disposal of this society, is conferred upon Dr. Charles Doolittle Walcott in recognition of his eminent services to geology and paleontology, more particularly among the older fossiliferous rocks of North America. While his administrative work, both on the United States Geological Survey and at the Smithsonian Institution, has done much for science in his own country, his personal researches have excited interest and admiration wherever geology is cultivated. He has made important contributions to the history of the Algonkian formations, and his discoveries lead us to hope that the less altered of those ancient sediments may ultimately yield more abundant and definite relics of pre-Cambrian life. His detection of fish remains in the Ordovician rocks of Colorado, again, carried back by a stage the earliest appearance of vertebrates in the succession of life forms. But it is in the Cambrian strata that Dr. Walcott has found chief scope for his labors, which, pursued principally upon the American continent, have often had a world-wide importance. Realizing the dual part which the exponent of paleontology is called upon to sustain, he has illuminated that science alike in its geological and in its biological aspect. Under the former head should be mentioned the determination and collation of the stratigraphical sequence in numerous districts, and the light thrown thereby upon the problems of paleophysiography. In particular, Dr. Walcott's study of the geographical distribution of the Cambrian faunas, establishing the existence of two distinct provinces, marked a signal advance in this field. On the biological side his work has been no less fruitful in results. It is sufficient to recall the series of memoirs dealing with the Trilobites, in which he greatly elucidated the organization of that important group, and again his two handsome volumes on the Cambrian Brachiopoda. In recent years, with energy which a younger man might envy, he has pushed his researches into the Rocky Mountains of Canada, amidst scenery which his beautiful photographs have made known to many. There he has been rewarded by the bringing to light of two richly fossiliferous horizons in the Middle Cambrian succession, including in one an assemblage of fossils marvelous for the perfect preservation of their detailed structure. The preliminary account of the discovery has aroused keen interest, and paleontologists eagerly await the full description by a master hand of this unique collection. If by his official status, joined with his personal record, Dr. Walcott is in some sense representative of American geology, with its large opportunities so ardently embraced, the occasion may remind us that community of scientific interests is perhaps not least among the links which unite your country to ours. I have much pleasure, Sir, in placing this medal in your hands for transmission to its recipient, and trust that his future career may include achievements no less brilliant than those which we commemorate to-day. In handing the Murchison Medal, awarded to Joseph B. Tyrrell, to the Hon. Sir George Halsey Perley, high commissioner for the Dominion of Canada, for transmission to the recipient, the president addressed him as follows: The Murchison Medal has been awarded to Mr. Joseph B. Tyrrell in recognition of the value of his many services to geological science. In the breadth of their scope, in the pioneer element which has so largely entered, in the practical benefits which have often followed, those services may stand as typical of Canada's contribution to geology. During more than thirty years Mr. Tyrrell has been frequently engaged in exploiting wide tracts of the little-known Barren Lands of northern Canada, making prolonged journeys of a kind which demands no ordinary resolution and endurance. Besides thus adding largely to geographical knowledge by his own efforts, he has done much to make known the results of earlier explorers in the north. While helping very materially to develop the mineral resources of the Dominion, he has at the same time gathered much valuable information touching the older rocks of the region; and, uniting in his own person the geologist and the prospector, he has often shown by example how science and enterprise may go hand in hand, to the great advantage of both. On the side of pure science, however, his most notable researches have been in the domain of glacial geology, where his extensive acquaintance with the country has enabled him to arrive at conclusions of a large order. Prior to 1894 it was generally held that the ice which once overspread Canada, east of the Cordillera with its mountain gla ciers, emanated from a single center of dispersal. Mr. Tyrrell first demonstrated the existence and approximate limits of a great ice sheet, which he named the Keewatin, centering in the country west of Hudson Bay and distinct in origin from the Labradorean ice sheet on the east. To these two he subsequently added a third, under the name of the Patrician Glacier, which had its gathering. ground to the south of Hudson Bay. His development of this thesis, involving a discussion of the relations in time and space of the ice sheets radiating from different centers, must rank among the most important contributions to the glacial history of North America. In forwarding to Mr. Tyrrell this token of recognition from the council of the Geological Society, I beg, Sir, that you will add to our congratulations upon what he has already accomplished our hope that many years of activity still remain to him; and this wish will, I am sure, be echoed by his numerous friends on both sides of the Atlantic. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS A BOARD of medical officers, consisting of Colonels Deane C. Howard, M.C., U. S. Army; Frederick F. Russell, M.C., U. S. Army; Victor C. Vaughan, M.C., N. A.; LieutenantColonel William H. Welch, M.C., N. A., and Contract Surgeon Rufus Cole, has been appointed for the purpose of making an investigation as to the nature, causes and prevention and treatment of pneumonia, and its complications, in the various military camps in the United States. It will report from time to time to the surgeon-general of the army, to whom a full report will be made as soon as practicable after the completion of the investigation. MAJOR A. J. CARLSON, S.C. N. A., attached to the Food Division or the Surgeon-General's Office, is at present on duty in England making a study of food conditions in the rest camps of the United States Army. MAJOR SAMUEL C. PRESCOTT, S.C., N. A., attached to the Food Division of the SurgeonGeneral's Office, has just returned from a tour of southern camps in which he was making an inspection of the conditions of storage as affecting the healthfulness of foods supplied to troops in training. THE following named officers of the Food Division, Surgeon General's Office, are on duty in France: Major Philip A. Shaffer, Captains Walter H. Eddy, Arthur W. S. Thomas, F. B. Kingsbury and M. G. Mastin, all S.C., N. A. DR. GEORGE E. VINCENT, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, who had been on a trip of nearly three months to Italy, France and England, arrived in New York on June 1, accompanied by Dr. Livingston Farrand, president of the University of Colorado, who had been in charge of the foundation's tuberculosis work in France for a year. THE close of the present year at Western Reserve University will be marked by the retirement of Professor F. P. Whitman, who has held the chair of physics and astronomy at Adelbert College for thirty-two years. Professor Whitman, who was born in Troy, New York, was graduated at Brown University in 1874. SWARTHMORE COLLEGE at its commencement, on May 20, bestowed the honorary degree of doctor of letters upon Provost Edgar F. Smith. Ar its recent commencement Syracuse University conferred the honorary degree of doctor of science on Professor Albert Perry Brigham, of Colgate University. THE University of Pittsburgh has conferred its doctorate of science on Raymond Foss Bacon, director of Mellon Institute, University of Pittsburgh, and lieutenant-colonel in charge of the chemical work of the American forces in France, and on George Coffin Johnston, professor of roentgenology in the University of Pittsburgh, and major in the medical corps, the doctorate of engineering, on Walter Victor Turner, pneumatic expert with the Westinghouse interests, and the doctorate of chemistry on Arthur Dehon Little of Boston. In recognition of his distinguished work at Yale University, Joseph Barrell, '00, Ph.D., professor of structural geology, has been elected to honorary membership in the Phi Beta Kappa Society. DR. J. BISHOP TINGLE, professor of chemistry at McMaster University, Toronto, has been elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. SIR THOMAS R. FRASER, who succeeded Sir Robert Christison as professor of materia medica in the University of Edinburgh in 1877, has tendered his resignation, to take effect at the end of the present year. DR. R. S. HEATH, professor of mathematics at Birmingham University, vice-principal and registrar, has announced his intention to retire owing to ill-health. THE War Industries Board has created a commodity section on medicines and medical supplies, with Lieutenant Colonel F. F. Simpson as its chief. DR. THOMAS L. WATSON, professor of geology in the University of Virginia and state geologist of Virginia, has been engaged for |