executive assistant, of the Washington office of the association.

Registration is necessary, in order to secure the official identification card, general program, and badge, and in order that railway certificates may be endorsed and validated. Having filled out the registration card, hand it in at the registration desk where you will receive your identification card, your badge, and your copy of the general program. Your name and address will be entered immediately in the visible directory of those in attendance.

Next, leave your railway certificate at the validation desk and have your identification card receipted for the certificate and for the validation fee (50 cents). The certificate, after endorsement and validation, will be returned to you later, on presentation of your receipted identification card, at the validation desk.

Delegates from institutions and organizations, and all official guests, are specially requested to register as such.

INFORMATION SERVICE AT THE KANSAS CITY MEETING

Those in attendance at the meeting may obtain information of all sorts by applying at the information desk in the registration room at the Aladdin Hotel. Attention is called, however, to the visible directory of those in attendance, from which information regarding attendance, and the addresses of attending members of the association and societies, may be obtained without application at the desk. Also, a bulletin board will be installed in the registration room, which will furnish information of various kinds.

Before the meeting, information may be obtained from the secretaries of the sections or of the associated societies or other societies meeting with the association at Kansas City (regarding programs, etc.), from the members of the local committee on special arrangements or the local representatives of sections (regarding local arrangements), or from the permanent secretary's office in the Smithsonian Institution Building, Washington (regarding general association affairs).

MAIL, EXPRESS, TELEGRAMS, ETC.

Persons attending the meeting may have mail, etc., addressed to them in care of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Registration Room, Aladdin Hotel, Kansas City, Mo. They should call at the registration room daily, to inspect the personal bulletin, which will be conveniently located. If a person's name appears on this bulletin, he should inquire at the proper desk for mail, etc.

At the close of the meeting, or upon departing,

each person who has been in attendance is urged to leave a forwarding address for mail, etc. If this is not done, letters, etc., that are not delivered will be re-sent to the addresses shown in the files of the permanent secretary's office.

SOCIETIES MEETING AT KANSAS CITY

THE following is a list of the scientific societies that have thus far intimated their intentions to meet with the association at Kansas City this year, together with the names and addresses of their secretaries:

American Mathematical Society; R. G. D. Richardson, Brown University, Providence, R. I.

Mathematical Association of America; W. D. Cairns, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio.

Pi Mu Epsilon Mathematical Fraternity; E. D. Roe, Jr., 123 W. Ostrander Ave., Syracuse, N. Y. American Physical Society; Harold W. Webb, Columbia University, New York, N. Y.

American Meteorological Society; Charles F. Brooks, Clark University, Worcester, Mass.

Entomological Society of America; C. L. Metcalf, University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill.

American Association of Economic Entomologists; C. W. Collins, Melrose Highlands, Mass.

American Society of Parasitologists; W. W. Cort, 310 W. Monument St., Baltimore, Md.

Wilson Ornithological Club; Gordon Wilson, 1434 Chestnut St., Bowling Green, Ky.

Botanical Society of America; I. F. Lewis, University, Va.

American Phytopathological Society; R. J. Haskell, Bureau of Plant Industry, Washington, D. C.

American Society of Plant Physiologists; Wright A. Gardner, Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn, Ala. Ecological Society of America; A. O. Weese, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla.

American Microscopical Society; H. J. Van Cleave, University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill.

American Nature Study Society; E. Laurence Palmer, Renwick Heights, Ithaca, N. Y.

Phi Sigma Biological Research Society; C. I. Reed, Baylor University Medical School, Waco, Tex.

Metric Association; Howard Richards, Jr., 156 Fifth Ave., New York, N. Y.

American Society of Agronomy; P. E. Brown, Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa.

American Society for Horticultural Science; C. P. Close, College Park, Md.

Association of Official Seed Analysts; A. L. Stone, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.

Potato Association of America; William Stuart, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.

Phi Delta Kappa Fraternity; Clayton R. Wise, 10403 St. Clair Ave., Cleveland, Ohio.

Society of Sigma Xi; Edward Ellery, Union College, Schenectady, N. Y.

Gamma Alpha Graduate Scientific Fraternity; J. E.

Kans.

Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi; C. H. Gordon, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn.

MEMBERSHIP AND ASSOCIATESHIP IN THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is now a cooperative organization of upwards of 14,000 individuals, and it has the official approval of more than a hundred science organizations that are associated with it. Its aim is to further the advancement of science in all feasible ways. The work of the association is mainly supported by contributions made by its members and associates. Annual members contribute five dollars a year, life members make a single contribution of one hundred dollars and sustaining members contribute a thousand dollars at one time, but only the income from the last two classes of contributions is used, the funds themselves being permanently invested. Associates contribute five dollars toward the expenses of the meeting for which they become associates. Members receive either

the official journal, SCIENCE, or The Scientific Monthly. The fiscal year begins October 1 and the corresponding journal subscriptions begin the following January 1. New annual members pay an entrance fee of five dollars when they join the association, but this may be omitted by life and sustaining members. It may also be omitted by members of newly affiliated societies and by new members of all affiliated societies.

The easiest and one of the most effective ways by which an individual may aid the advance of knowledge and prepare the way for finer and fuller lives among those of coming generations is to maintain membership in the American Association. The association needs the help of every one who appreciates these aims. Its work is limited in extent and in influence only by its limited funds and the extension and improvement of its various activities is following closely upon its recent rapid gain in membership and the consequent possibility of increased expenditure. Those who are not already members and who are willing to take part in the work of the association are asked to join. They should fill in the blanks on a membership application card and send it, with proper remittance, to the Washington office of the permanent secretary, or else present card and remittance at the registration desk at Kansas City. Copies of a pamphlet on the organization and work of the association, as well as membership application cards and sample copies of the journals, may be had from the permanent secretary at any time.

Special attention is called this year to life mem

nent contribution to the advancement of science. The number of life members is increasing rapidly in recent years. For persons not too advanced in years this form of membership safely constitutes a very productive form of investment, considered on an actuarial basis. For all persons it constitutes an excellent way to make a real and lasting contribution to the work of the association. All who can possibly do so should become life members. The fee is only one hundred dollars, which is within the reach of all who read this announcement.

SPECIAL PRIVILEGE FOR MEMBERS OF AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

Any member of a society officially affiliated with the American Association may become a member of the latter without paying the usual entrance fee of five dollars if he makes application before the second annual meeting following his entrance into the society. Also, members of recently affiliated societies may join the association without paying the entrance

fee, if they do so before the second annual meeting following the affiliation. This special privilege is open to all members of the following affiliated societies:

American Electrochemical Society
American Ceramic Society
National Education Association
Mineralogical Society of America
American Society of Plant Physiologists
American Public Health Association
American Society of Parasitologists
History of Science Society

Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi
Institute of Radio Engineers.

Members of the American Society of Parasitologists, the History of Science Society, the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, and the Institute of Radio Engineers have until the close of the Philadelphia meeting (January 1, 1927) to accept this offer, while members of the other societies listed above have only until the close of the Kansas City meeting to take advantage of the special privilege.

Those who wish to omit the payment of the entrance fee should use a blue membership application card and mail it to the permanent secretary's office, together with their annual dues ($5), or present card and dues in the registration room at the Aladdin Hotel.

BUSINESS SESSIONS AT KANSAS CITY The members of the executive committee of the association, the secretaries of the sections and the

secretaries of the societies that meet with the association this year will dine together at Kansas City on the evening of Sunday, December 27, at 6:30. The evening will be devoted to the secretaries' conference on various affairs of the association and its relation to the associated organizations.

The executive committee will hold its first Kansas

City session in the permanent secretary's consulting room in the Muehlebach Hotel, on Monday forenoon, December 28, at 10 o'clock. Matters to be considered by the committee or by the council should be transmitted to the permanent secretary at the Washington office, so as to arrive by December 20.

The council of the association will hold its first session in the council room at the Muehlebach Hotel on Monday afternoon, December 28, at 2 o'clock.

Other meetings of the council will probably occur in the council room at 9 o'clock on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings.

Other meetings of the executive committee will probably occur in the permanent secretary's consulting room at 10 o'clock on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings.

Special attention is called to the rule that business to come before the council must regularly be first considered by the executive committee.

FURTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REPORTS OF THE MEETING

Later announcements about the Kansas City meeting will be made in SCIENCE. Full information will be contained in the General Program, which will be available in the registration room at Kansas City on the morning of Monday, December 28. A copy of the program will be mailed free to each member who requests it, provided that every such request reaches the permanent secretary at the Washington office of the association before December 21.

It is planned that a general report of the Kansas City meeting will appear as a special issue of SCIENCE about February 1st. This is to contain reports on the main general features of the convention, the business transacted, and especially a full series of readable. reports on the section and society programs, the latter reports based on material to be supplied by the secretaries of those organizations. All new members who join the association before the time of its publication will automatically receive the special issue of SCIENCE.

BURTON E. LIVINGSTON, Permanent Secretary

SCIENTIFIC EVENTS

THE NORWEGIAN EXPEDITION TO SPITZBERGEN AND BEAR ISLAND

THE Geographical Journal gives a description of the principal results of the Norwegian expedition to Spitzbergen and Bear Island carried out during the past summer under the leadership of Dr. Hoel, whose previous labors in the same field have added greatly to our knowledge. In Spitzbergen the sphere of operations lay in the south central part of the West Island, between Van Mijen Bay and Ice fiord, and four parties took the field with a view to completing the survey of the eastern part of the coal-bearing tract in this region. As the country is covered with ice and snow transport was a matter of difficulty, the parties being equipped for the whole summer and each having a kit weighing some 1,000 kilograms; depôts laid out by the Store Norske Company were however of considerable help. Two of the parties set out from Sassendal, and two from Braganza Bay, and they met halfway. They were fortunate enough to effect a connection with the Russian survey points on Stor fiord. Dr. Hoel, Dr. Braastad, and Mr. Orwin carried out geological work slightly further west, and the last-named made the interesting discovery of the skeleton of a giant lizard of Jurassic age, found partly imbedded in shale. No such complete remains had ever been found in Spitzbergen. In the absence of suitable implements for digging out the remains, it was necessary to leave them till another occasion. On the peaks at Van Mijen Bay Dr. Braastad examined remains of fossil trees of Tertiary age. There were large trunks and smaller pieces not so well preserved, and it seemed as if regular lumbering had been carried on. Although the expedition worked in what are considered the best reindeer districts in the country, only eight or ten animals were seen, so that the stocks must have greatly diminished, and there is urgent need of protection. Work was also done on Bear Island by Messrs. Horn and Marstrander, who, besides boring for coal, investigated occurrences of galena in the south-east of the island. It has been proved that mixed seams of sulphate of barytes and galena occur, and that there is one pure seam of galena 30 to 40 centimeters thick, so that the prospects of working it with success are thought to be good. At sea, Captain Hermansen and other officers of the Farm carried out soundings and other oceanographical observations. The inner part of Ice fiord was sounded, and data collected for completing the chart of the waters between South Cape and Cross Bay on the scale of 1/100,000. Temperature observations gave the remarkable result that at

nearly all depths the water was warmer than in 1924 by 2 to 3 degrees, even though the temperature was very high last year. The air temperature was also high, and whereas winter minima of -48° to -50° were formerly recorded, last winter the lowest was scarcely -30°. It was mild also during the summer, and the glaciers are rapidly diminishing both in length and thickness, so that mountain ridges emerge. Lastly, information is given as to the present position of the coal industry. The Norwegian company continues to work full time, while the Dutch are at present contenting themselves with the erection of works. Much time has been lost by the Swedes owing to a fire in their mine, now extinguished. The AngloRussian Company is continuing its operations, and gets good prices on the Murman Coast.

THE NOBEL PRIZES

ACCORDING to press dispatches from Stockholm the board of directors of the Nobel Prize fund has, for the first time since the first prizes were given twentyfour years ago, decided to withhold all five of the prizes for this year. The reasons for this unprecedented decision is stated to be partly because of lack of qualified candidates and partly because of need for funds for the Nobel Library and the Physical and Chemical Institute, both founded in Stockholm by Alfred Nobel as part of his memorial.

Previous press dispatches had stated that high taxation in Sweden, an indirect consequence of the war, was imperiling the continuance of the Nobel prizes. It was said that the Nobel prizes in 1901 amounted to 709,234 crowns (about $177,600), and the taxes were 88,042 crowns (about $22,000). In 1923 the prizes had shrunk to 574,676 crowns, but the taxes had risen to 578,006 crowns, exceeding the income of the funds. For this reason the Nobel family has petitioned the Stockholm government to exempt the prize foundation from taxation. Their petition is receiving the support of the Swedish newspapers, scientists, literary men and the public generally.

In previous years prizes in one or more of the individual classifications have been withheld, but this is the first time that it has been decided to award none of the five. The five prizes are physics, chemistry, medicine or physiology, literature and the Nobel peace prize.

The Swedish Academy of Science awards the first two; the Stockholm Faculty of Medicine the third; the Swedish Academy of Literature awards the literature prize, and the peace prize is awarded by a committee of five elected by the Norwegian Storthing.

It has been announced that the 1924 physics prize to Professor Siegbahn was in recognition of his im

portant discoveries in the X-ray spectra of the elementary substances.

PLANS FOR INCREASING THE ENDOWMENT OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

THE Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution has made the following announcement concern. ing the proposed $10,000,000 increase to the institu

tion's endowment:

The board of regents of the Smithsonian Institution announces its decision to go before the American people to raise an addition of $10,000,000 to the institution's endowment for fundamental scientific research and publication. Since its foundation in 1846 the Smithsonian's initial endowment has only doubled, and its annual income of $65,000 has been for years inadequate to maintain its many and varied investigations and publications. Since the war, particularly, the rise in costs has materially cut down those activities, suspending some publications such as the "Contributions to Knowledge" series, cutting others to a third of what they were, and restricting the prosecution of such essential researches as that of Dr. Charles G. Abbot on the sun and its influence on the weather.

At the present moment lack of funds prevents the institution from undertaking sixteen major projects for research. Many of these projects are of immediate importance. Some of them, for example, will lead to an increase in the food supply from the sea, others will furnish data whereby the hardwoods, the fruits, the food, drug, oil and cordage plants of the Philippines will become increasingly available, while a third group will provide formulae to assist the engineer in solving the increasingly complex problems which face him.

The economic importance of such projects as these needs no demonstration. Nevertheless they are, like practically all of the Smithsonian's work, investigations in the field of pure research. They will form the groundwork for the applied scientist. Consequently, they are in the main investigations which will not be promoted unless the Smithsonian promotes them. For that reason the board of regents has determined to ask for an additional $10,000,000 to the institution's endowment.

The regents recognize the fact that the public will be surprised to have the Smithsonian turn to it for funds rather than to the government. But that surprise arises from a common misconception of the institution's position. It is not a government bureau. It was privately founded and privately endowed; it is privately directed and privately financed.

lecting specimens and information in all these fields. It financed this work from its own private funds. In 1858 the collections had become of such importance to the public welfare that congress felt a responsibility for their upkeep and it charged the Smithsonian with the expenditure of an appropriation to that end. Later congress incorporated these collections into the U. S. National Museum, but the Smithsonian Institution carried the major share of the burden of caring for them from its private

income till 1870.

Subsequently, from time to time, the government recognized that nine other outgrowths of Smithsonian researches had become public necessities and appropriated for their support also, but never has it made any grants for research directly to the Smithsonian. The institution finances its research work from its private income and by gifts for special investigations.

As to the administration of the Smithsonian Institution, that is in the hands of a permanent secretary, elected by the board of regents, in cooperation with the executive committee of the board. The board, composed of the chief justice, the vice-president, three senators, three representatives and six private citizens, all acting in a private capacity, exercises oversight. The government is the trustee or guardian of the institution. Thus, because of its organization and the private nature of its funds, the Smithsonian is divorced from political influence.

Although the institution has never before called upon the public to aid in its researches, it has frequently been the beneficiary of gifts from private individuals, including the Hodgkins endowment of $200,000 for research and the Freer bequest of oriental and American art collections, of a gallery to house them, and a large income to increase them and diffuse knowledge of Asiatic art.

THE CHANDLER MEMORIAL MEETING A MEMORIAL meeting to the late Professor Charles F. Chandler was held in Havemeyer Hall, Columbia University, on November 16. The meeting was held in Professor Chandler's old lecture room at Columbia, where he for more than half a century had served as teacher and administrator. Organizations participating were Columbia University, The Chemists' Club of New York City, The New York Section of the American Chemical Society and The American Section of the Society of Chemical Industry. Many distinguished men of science attended.

President Nicholas Murray Butler presided, saying "that the aim of the gathering should be the perpetuation of Professor Chandler's influence and example. We are here not to express the sorrow that was in our hearts when the long life of Professor Chandler came to an end, but rather to sound a note of triumph for his enduring leadership."

Professor Michael I. Pupin spoke on "Chandler: The teacher and the chemist," declaring that Chandler was the apostle of chemical science in the City of New York. "The marvelous success of the American

Chemical Society," asserted Professor Pupin, "was always a source of endless joy to Chandler's heart." Dean George B. Pegram, of the Columbia Schools of Mines, Engineering and Chemistry, discussing "Chandler and the school of mines," said that "Chandler's deeds kept in memory will lead others his way."

Elihu Root spoke on "Chandler: The man and the public servant," characterizing him as one of the most effective crusaders of his time in behalf of the public good. Many evils, Mr. Root said, were successfully attacked by Chandler, who was the original leader of the great movement for tenement house reform and who first as chemist and later as president of the Metropolitan Board of Health laid the basis for the existing health system of New York City.

Adulterated milk, sales of kerosene without inflammability tests and slaughter houses operating contrary to municipal regulations were other nuisances combatted by Chandler, whose human qualities were praised by Mr. Root as scarcely less influential than the concentrated ability with which he prosecuted a prodigious activity covering an unusually long life.

SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS

SIR ERNEST RUTHERFORD, Cavendish professor of physics at the University of Cambridge, has been nominated to succeed Sir Charles Sherrington as president of the Royal Society.

DR. JAMES F. NORRIS, president of the American Chemical Society, was honored by the Northeastern section of the society on the evening of November 13, when as a guest of the section he was tendered a banquet and reception at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then, after delivering an address, was presented with an engrossed testimonial of appreciation for his services as president of the society.

COLGATE UNIVERSITY, in convocation on Alumni Day, November 13, conferred the degree of doctor of laws upon Albert Perry Brigham, who now retires from active teaching after thirty-three years as professor of geology.

DR. THEODORE LYMAN, Hollis professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Harvard University, will retire on July 1 next. Professor Lyman will continue as director of the Jefferson Physical Laboratory.

PROFESSOR FORRIS J. MOORE has retired from the staff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after thirty-one years of service.

AT the recent annual meeting of the National Malaria Committee, held at Dallas, Texas, Dr. L. 0. Howard was elected honorary chairman of the committee, to succeed the late Dr. Henry Rose Carter.