422 SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



ff Special provisions regarding research in the federal bureaus are con- 

 tained in the following bills and resolutions: 



S. 814 (Mr. Owen): "To establish a department of health and for 

 other purposes." To the Committee on Public Health and National 

 Quarantine. 



S. 2380 (Mr. Smoot): "To provide for an increased annual appro- 

 priation for agricultural experiment stations, to be used in researches 

 and experiments in home economics, and regulating the expenditure 

 thereof." To the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry. 



S. 2507 (Mr. France): "To establish an executive department to 

 be known as the Department of Public Health, and for other purposes." 

 To the Committee on Public Health and National Quarantine. 



»S. 2635 (Mr. Fletcher): "To authorize the Department of Com- 

 merce, by the National Bureau of Standards, to examine and test 

 manufactured articles or products for the owner or manufacturer 

 thereof, to issue a certificate as to the nature and quality of such man- 

 ufactured articles or products, and to prevent the illegal use of such 

 certificate." To the Committee on Commerce. 



H. R. 3736 (Mr. Frear): "To transfer the Public Health Service 

 from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of the In- 

 terior." To the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. 



H. Concurrent Res. 12 (Mr. VailE, by request): "Requiring a 

 scientific study of values and relative values by the Bureau of Stand- 

 ards," To the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures. 



Attempts to relieve the admittedly desperate situation of the Patent 

 Office are contained in H. R. 5011, H. R. 5012, H. R. 6913, and H. R. 

 7010. These provide for making the Patent Office a separate depart- 

 ment of the Government, and for increasing the salaries and personnel. 

 Hearings on these bills were begun before the Committee on Patents 

 on July 9. 



Several measures have been introduced to provide for research on the 

 causes, prevention and treatment of the still obscure disease, commonly 

 called influenza, which was epidemic in the United States in the latter 

 half of 1918. These measures include: S. Joint Res. 76 (Mr. Hard- 

 ing), H. R. 7293 (Mr. Black), H. R. 7700 (Mr. Larsen), H. R. 7778 

 (Mr. Fess), and H. Joint Res. 159 (Mr, Emerson). Mr. Myers has 

 introduced S. 1258, "To prohibit experiments upon living dogs in the 

 District of Columbia or in any of the Territorial or insular possessions 

 of the United States, and providing a penalty for violation thereof." 

 Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, 



At the request of the Engineering Council Mr. JONES of Washington 

 introduced S. 2232, and Mr. Reavis, H. R. 6649, "To create a De- 

 partment of Public Works and define its powers and duties." These 

 bills provide for the assembling of all the engineering activities of the 

 Government in one department. The Department of Public Works 

 would replace the present Department of the Interior, and such bureaus 



