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SCIENTIFIC EVENTS

BIOMETRIC AND EUGENIC LABORATORIES AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON THE British Medical Journal states that the new building given by Sir Herbert Bartlett, Bt., to the Department of Applied Statistics formed by the Drapers' Company and Galton Laboratories at University College, London, was opened on June 4 by the Minister of Health. The Drapers' Company Biometric Laboratory was instituted under the direction of Professor Karl Pearson in 1904; it is a research laboratory and training school in the modern mathematical theory of statistics. The Galton Laboratory for National Eugenics was instituted in 1905, and was, by Sir Francis Galton's wish, associated with the other. When Sir Francis Galton died in 1911 he bequeathed a large part of his estate to found the Galton professorship, and Professor Karl Pearson was appointed to the chair. At the same time the senate of the university appealed for funds for building and equipment, and Sir Herbert Bartlett came forward with an offer to provide the building on a site at the northwest front of the college. During the war the new building was used as a military hospital, and only now has the department been able to take full possession. On the ground floor of the building is a large museum for the illustration of heredity, statistical proc

28 When during the "Reign of Terror" Lavoisier was condemned to death, a petition was presented to the rulers that his life might be spared for a few weeks in order that he might complete some important experiments, but the reply was "The Republic has no need of savants.'' (Goode, George Brown, "The Origin of the National Scientific and Educational Institutions of the United States," Rpt. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1896-97, p. 324, 1901.)

esses, and social problems, a lecture theater, a room for the exhibition of Galton relics and apparatus, and an anthropometric laboratory. On the first floor there are laboratories, a library, and a common room, and on the second a photographic studio, a large room for biometric workers in craniometry, and rooms for archives and instruments. The apartments in all number over twenty, and it was announced that a site has been reserved for extension, which will include animal breeding accommodation.

The vice-chancellor of the university, Dr. Russell Wells, who presided over the opening ceremony, said that statistics, properly understood, was one of the most difficult and advanced mathematical studies, but it was a dangerous weapon in the hands of the partially educated. Medicine in particular had suffered greatly from its misuse. The method introduced by Professor Karl Pearson would make it possible to arrive at the proof of many complicated medical problems. In sketching the history of the department, he reminded the audience of Florence Nightingale's well-known interest in statistics, and of her desire to found a professorship of applied statistics at University College, for which, however, her means were not sufficient. It was not until the generous provision of the Drapers' Company was made that a start became possible.

Dr. Addison gave an appreciation of the value of statistics which he had discovered when minister of munitions. There were few branches of public service with greater scope for the trained statistician than that of communal health, but here and in social science many statistics had been of a thoroughly incomplete and unsatisfactory nature. He commended to the support of the public the further appeal which University College was making to maintain and complete the equipment of the new building.

The provost, Sir Gregory Foster, expressed the thanks of those present to Dr. Addison. The thanks of the university to Sir Herbert Bartlett for his gift were expressed by the vicechairman of the college committee, Dr. J. Bourne Benson. Professor Karl Pearson said

that one English monarch for whom he had a reverential regard was Henry VI. He saluted his statue whenever he crossed the lawn at King's College, Cambridge. In the fifteenth century it was possible to spend money on wars in France or on the founding of monasteries, but Henry chose to found King's College. And to encourage learning was still the surest way to secure that one's name was held in honor through grateful generations.

FISHERIES OF THE GULF STATES, 1918

DURING the past year the Bureau made a statistical canvass of the fisheries of the South Atlantic and Gulf States for the year 1918, and the returns for the latter section have recently been compiled and sent to press as Statistical Bulletin No. 470. The last previous canvass of these states by the Bureau was for the year 1902, and a later canvass was made by the Bureau of the Census for the year 1908. The statistics for the Gulf States cover the fisheries of the west coast of Florida and Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. In 1918 there were 14,888 persons employed in the fisheries of these states; the investment amounted to $6,537,859; and the products aggregated 130,923,583 pounds, having a value of $6,510,310. Of this total, the west coast of Florida produced 54,753,639 pounds, valued at $3,420,363; Alabama, 5,609,219 pounds, valued at $230,567; Mississippi, 20,592,089 pounds, valued at $762,770; Louisiana, 24,953,876 pounds, valued at $1,419,367; and Texas, 25,014,760 pounds, valued at $677,243. Some of the more important species taken in these states were black drum, 2,011,288 pounds, valued at $49,140; catfish, 851,265 pounds, valued at $40,072; croaker, 714,692 pounds, valued at $43,446; groupers, 5,935,825 pounds, valued at $235,406; menhaden, taken mostly in Texas, 14,392,920 pounds, valued at $109,939; mullet, including roe, 28,641,364 pounds, valued at $1,318,379; redfish or red drum, 2,986,180 pounds, valued at $175,109; red snapper, 9,429,802 pounds, valued at $609,312; Spanish mackerel, 3,494,845 pounds, valued at $215,197; squeteagues or "sea trouts," 4,960,738 pounds,

valued at $414,593; shrimp, green and dried, 27,142,999 pounds, valued at $1,098,427; and oysters, 23,754,465 pounds, or 3,393,495 bushels, valued at $1,106,725. The output of sponges amounted to 452,188 pounds, valued at $725,155.

Compared with the Bureau's returns for 1902, there has been an increase in the products of the fisheries of the Gulf States of 17,226,613 pounds, or 15.15 per cent., in the quantity and of $3,016,114 or 86,31 per cent., in the value. Compared with the returns for 1908, the increase amounts to 12,649,583 pounds, or 10.69 per cent., in quantity and $1,650,310, or 33.95 per cent., in value.

ROAD-BUILDING PROJECTS WITH FEDERAL AID

THE rate at which the number of Federalaid road-building projects has increased since the war is shown in a summary relating to all such work from September 30, 1916, to April 30, 1920, which has been prepared by the Bureau of Public Roads, United States Department of Agriculture. On the latter date the states had filed with the bureau 2,885 project statements, of which 2,790 had been approved, representing 27,796 miles of highway. The totals on April 30, 1919, were little more than one third these amounts. Up to May 1 of this year 1,974 projects had proceeded to the stage at which plans, specifications, and estimates had been delivered to the Bureau of Public Roards. The plans, specifications and estimates of 1,827 of these had been recommended for approval, representing 13,845 miles.

Project agreements had actually been executed and construction work was in progress on 1,569 projects, totaling 11,987 miles. In addition, work had been begun on about 100 projects for which agreements had not actually been signed, thus expediting the progress of the work and bringing the total mileage under construction up to 13,540. The summary shows that a great reduction has been made in the time required for preliminary work before the actual construction is begun. On the average the states have submitted

project statements for nearly 95 per cent. of their respective allotments and have entered into agreement to construct highways which call for about one half of the Federal-aid money. The projects actually completed and paid for are comparatively few, but they are materially exceeded in number by those which are practically completed. California, Delaware, Illinois, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming have each submitted approved project statements for all or nearly all of their allotments.

THE BREWSTER COLLECTION OF BIRDS

ANNOUNCEMENT is made by the American Museum of Natural History of a gift by Frederick F. Brewster, of New Haven, Connecticut, of 3,200 specimens of land-birds collected in the West Indies and South America by Rollo H. Beck, under the direction of Dr. Leonard C. Sanford. A very large part of this material, according to Dr. Frank M. Chapman, curator of the department of birds, is new to the museum's collections, and much of it is contained in no other museum in the world. The collection includes 1,500 birds from the West Indies-chiefly the high mountains of Santo Domingo, from which littleknown area there is included a series of the recently discovered crossbill and Patagonia sparrow, known heretofore only from a few specimens in the National Museum in Washington; a large series of two distinct new species, known only in the Brewster collection; and the unique type of a new genus of Goatsuckers. There are also 500 birds from Bahia —of great value, since this is a type locality for many species described by the older writers; and somewhat over a thousand specimens from the extreme southern part of South America, including a representative series. from Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands, from which localities the Museum was wholly without material.

HAWAIIAN SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS THROUGH the generosity of the C. M. Cooke estate the University of Hawaai is to have a marine biological laboratory located in connection with Honolulu Aquarium at Waikiki. The last legislature placed the aquarium in the custody of the university. The laboratory is now in process of construction and will be ready for use by mid-summer. Facilities will be provided for work by visiting scientific men as well as by the students and faculty of the university. Biologists planning to visit Hawaii and wishing to use the laboratory are advised to communicate with Professor C. H. Edmondson, the director of the laboratory, as far in advance as possible. A teaching fellowship carrying a stipend of $750 is open for the next college year and applications will be received from graduate students with sufficient training in zoology and botany.

The trustees of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu and the regents of the University of Hawaii have agreed on the fundamentals of cooperation between the two institutions in scientific investigation and the training of investigators. The general principle of reciprocity in the use of libraries, collections, apparatus and other facilities is laid down and it is also agreed that graduate students in the university may, under proper limitations, have the use of the museum and may carry on part or all of their research under the direction of members of the museum staff. Work done in this manner will be counted toward advanced degrees by the university. The plans contemplate bringing together all systematic collections not required for teaching purposes at the

museum.

SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY has conferred the honorary degree of doctor of laws upon Dr. Simon Flexner, director of the laboratories of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.

AT the centennial commencement exercises of Colby College the degree of doctor of laws was conferred on George Otis Smith, director of the Geological Survey, a graduate of the college in the class of 1893.

COLGATE UNIVERSITY at its recent commencement conferred the honorary degree of doctor of science upon Colonel Alfred Hulse Brooks, of the United States Geological Survey.

BROWN UNIVERSITY has conferred the degree of doctor of laws on Dr. Vernon Kellogg, of Stanford University and the National Research Council.

UPON the occasion of the Golden Jubilee Commencement of Syracuse University, held on June 14, the honorary degree of doctor of science was conferred upon Edward H. Kraus, professor of crystallography and mineralogy and dean of the summer session of the University of Michigan.

Ar the seventy-first anniversary commencement of Baylor University, the honorary degree of doctor of laws was conferred on Robert Thomas Hill in recognition of his geologic work in the southwest and the tropical and sub-tropical regions. Dr. Hill will continue his researches upon the geology and geography of the Texas and southern California regions during the summer season.

DR. ELIAS POTTER LYON, dean of the University of Minnesota Medical School, was granted the degree of doctor of laws by the St. Louis University at its recent commence

ment.

A TABLET in honor of Dr. Charles K. Mills was unveiled at the Philadelphia General Hospital on June 17. Dr. Mills resigned last October after forty-two years' service as chief of the neurologic staff at the hospital. The tablet is of bronze, 48 by 28 inches, with a bas-relief medallion of Dr. Mills' head surmounting it.

ELMER D. BALL, of the Iowa Agricultural College, has been appointed assistant secretary of agriculture. Since his graduation from the Iowa Agricultural College Dr. Ball has been a teacher in agricultural colleges and an investigator of scientific and agricultural problems. He has been dean of the Utah Agricultural College and director of the experiment station, and state entomologist of Wisconsin.

DR. ALBERT C. HERRE, director of the school of hygiene and professor of biology in the Washington State Normal School, Bellingham, Washington, has accepted appointment as chief of the division of fisheries in the Bureau of Science, Philippine Islands.

DR. PEYTON Rous has been promoted to be a member in pathology and bacteriology of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.

DR. MARSTON TAYLOR BOGERT, professor of chemistry in Columbia University, has been appointed by the president a member of the United States Tariff Commission.

DR. A. C. BOYLE, JR., for ten years professor of mining, metallurgy and economic geology at the Wyoming School of Mines, has been appointed geologist for the Union Pacific Railroad Company.

MR. KENNETH P. MONROE has resigned as chemist in the color laboratory, U. S. Bureau of Chemistry, Washington, D. C., to accept a research position in the Jackson Laboratory of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Wilmington, Del.

DR. A. G. HUNTSMAN, of the Biological Board of Canada, has visited Washington for a conference with the Bureau of Fisheries in regard to trade names of fishes and other aquatic products for use in the United States and Canada. Dr. Huntsman conferred also as to fishery and oceanographic investigations that may be pursued by the United States and Canada on both coasts under a cooperative arrangement.

PROFESSOR W. B. HERMS, of the University of California, has established a temporary summer laboratory in the Sacramento Valley near Vina, Tehama county, California, for the purpose of investigating certain malaria-mosquito problems in that vicinity, notably factors governing breeding habits of anophelines, their egg-laying habits and per cent. of infection. Three species of Anophelines are present; namely, A. occidentalis (western variety of A. quadrimaculatus), A. punctipennis and A. pseudopunctipennis together with a prevalence of malaria. Collaborating with Professor

Herms is Professor S. B. Freeborn, also of the University of California and a small group of students. The present intensive investigation follows a general malara-mosquito survey of California which was completed last summer.

PROFESSOR WARREN D. SMITH, of the University of Oregon, has been given leave of absence to spend a year in geological work for the Philippine government, as chief of the Division of Mines of the Bureau of Science at Manila.

PROFESSOR FRANK T. MCFARLAND, department of botany, University of Kentucky, has been granted a leave of absence for the year 1920-21. He will spend this summer and next year in study at the University of Wisconsin. While on leave, Professor McFarland's place will be filled by Mr. E. D. Hull, a graduate of the University of Chicago.

By action of the convention of the Sigma Xi Society at its meeting in St. Louis, a limited charter was granted to the University of North Dakota. The installation exercises of this chapter were recently held, Dean Lauder W. Jones, of the University of Minnesota, presiding. These exercises consisted in the formal installation of the chapter on the evening of June 2, followed by the initiation of four active members elected from the faculty, and five associate members from the graduates and the senior class. The exercises were followed by a banquet. On the morning of June 3, Dean Jones addressed the university convocation on the subject of "Science and industry." A fuller account of the proceedings will appear later in the Sigma Xi Quarterly.

DR. IRA REMSEN, formerly president of Johns Hopkins University, delivered the commencement address at West Virginia University on June 15. His subject was "This is the Age of Science." After the commencement exercises Dr. Remsen was entertained by the members of the West Virginia Alumni Association of Johns Hopkins, six of whom are heads of departments in the state university.

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
NEWS

CORNELL UNIVERSITY has received an anonymous gift from a professor and his wife of a trust fund for an institute of pure and applied mathematics. The gift amounts to $50,000 and is to be held in trust for a hundred years and allowed to accumulate.

WALLACE W. ATWOOD, professor of physiography at Harvard University, has been appointed President of Clark University, succeeding President G. Stanley Hall, of the university, and President Edmund C. Sanford, of the college. Dr. Hall, who has been president of the University and professor of psychology for thirty-two years reached his seventy-fourth birthday on February 1.

HECTOR JAMES HUGHES, professor of civil engineering and director of the Harvard Engineering Camp, has been chosen dean of the Harvard Engineering School to take the place left vacant by the retirement of Dean Comfort Avery Adams.

W. H. CHANDLER, professor in pomology at the New York State College of Agriculture, has been appointed vice-director of research at the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station. Professor Chandler has been at the college as professor in research in pomology since 1913.

DR. NORMAN MCDOWELL GRIER has been appointed professor of biology at Washington and Jefferson College to succeed Dr. Edwin Linton, who has retired under the provisions of the Carnegie Foundation.

DR. ARTHUR W. HAUPT, formerly professor of biology at Carthage College, Carthage, Ill., has been elected to the chair of biology at Saint Lawrence University, Canton, N. Y.

THE following changes have been made in the department of medical zoology of the school of hygiene and public health of the Johns Hopkins University. New appointments: Dr. Chas. E. Simon, lecturer in medical zoology; Mr. D. L. Augustine, assistant in helminthology; Dr. W. H. Taliaferro, from instructor to associate in protozoology; Dr. F. M. Root,

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