6$$ SCIENCE PROGRESS 



ex-President of the Institution of Civil Engineers ; Dr. F. P. Mall, Professor of 

 Anatomy in the Johns Hopkins University; Prof. R. Nickles, Professor of Geology 

 in the University of Nancy; Dr. Maryan Smoluchowski de Smolan, Professor of 

 Physics at the University of Cracow and world famous for his statistical work on 

 the kinetic theory of matter. 



The following communique which appeared on January 24, will be of interest 

 here : 



"The attention of the Secretary of State for War has been called to a state- 

 ment made on January 8 by Sir Harry Johnston at the annual meeting of the 

 public schools science masters, in which the public was informed that his lecture 

 ' would have been delivered by Sir Ronald Ross had it not happily occurred to the 

 War Office, after three years of warfare in very malarious regions, that the greatest 

 and most practical authority on malaria might be of some use in directing the 

 operations of local hygiene.' It is important that it should be generally known 

 that Sir Ronald Ross has been working with the War Office throughout the war, 

 and has had the supreme control and direction of advice in all matters relating to 

 his special branch of knowledge." 



It is reported that the British Science Guild proposes to hold next June an 

 exhibition illustrative of the advances that have been made in scientific appliances 

 since the commencement of the war. No definite public announcement had, 

 however, been made at the time of writing, and certainly in the present congested 

 state of scientific work a representative collection would seem impossible. 



The dye question has been somewhat to the fore of late. On November 21 

 the Evening Standard published a strong article by Prof. Armstrong criticising 

 the methods of the company subsidised by the Board of Trade, and suggesting in 

 particular that one dye-stuff company was in the hands of a Swiss company, itself 

 under German control. Happily this has proved not to be the case, and when 

 Prof. Armstrong was informed of the true facts he withdrew his allegations in a 

 letter of apology published by the Standard on January 23. In consequence 

 a libel action against him was settled, Mr. Justice McCardie, before whom the 

 case was heard, remarking that "The plaintiffs have stated their case and the 

 defendant has acted with great fairness. The record will therefore be withdrawn." 

 Meanwhile, the daily press had made some considerable pother over the supposed 

 "capture" of 257 German dye "recipes" in circumstances crowded with desperate 

 adventure. As was sufficiently obvious from the first, the story was almost 

 entirely untrue, and the incident closed with an admirable article, also published 

 by the Evening Standard, pointing out to the public how alone success in such 

 matters could be attained. 



The Institution of Civil Engineers completed the hundredth year of its existence 

 on January 2, having been established in 181 8 at a meeting of eight engineers at 

 the Kendal Coffee House in Fleet Street. Present-day conditions precluded the 

 formal celebration of the centenary, but a statement commemorative of the founding 

 of the Institution was made at the Ordinary Meeting held on January 8. 



Science reports that Vilhjalmur Stefanssen, the Arctic explorer, last heard from 

 in a letter received in March 1916, has arrived with his party at Fort Yukon. 

 Stefanssen has been leading the Canadian Arctic Expedition in the far North since 

 191 3, and there was some anxiety as to his safety. It is also stated that the 

 English Government buildings on the Pelican Islands (West Indies) have been 

 placed at the disposal of the expedition of Iowa scientists, which will carry out 

 scientific research in that neighbourhood next summer under the direction of 

 Prof. C. C. Nutting. 



The total eclipse of the sun which occurs on June 8 will be visible in the 



