SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 425 



jectile filling plants and proving grounds ; the supervision of the training 

 of the Army in chemical warfare, . . . ; the organization, equipment, 

 training, and operation of special gas troops. . . ." 



H. R. 9,781, to permit the transmission of poisons througli the mails 

 by physicians and chemists, by amending Section 217 of the Criminal 

 Code, Act of March 4, 1909, passed the House on April 5, and the 

 Senate on May 3; the conference report was agreed to on May 18, 

 and the bill became Public Law No. 216 on May 25. 



The Nolan bill (H. R. 11,984) to increase the force and salaries in the 

 Patent Office^ passed the Senate on June 4, with S. 3,223 (authorizing 

 the Federal Trade Commission to accept and administer inventions 

 and patents for the public)^ added as an amendment. The bill as 

 thus amended met with opposition from industrial chemical interests 

 on the ground that it would give undue advantage to Government 

 inventors. At the request of Mr. Nolan, a committee consisting of 

 Messrs. F. G. Cottrell, C. h- Alsberg and Andrew Stewart, have 

 undertaken to draft further amendments. 



The general subject of the nitrogen fixation plants was made the 

 subject of an investigation by a select committee of the House, which 

 rendered a report in May.^ The committee divided in its report and 

 recommendations on strictly political lines. 



A hearing was held on May 21 on S. Res. 165 concerning the Botanic 

 Garden.^ Dr. N. h- Britton, director of the New York Botanical 

 Garden, and a number of Washington botanists, attended. Removal 

 of the Garden to Mt. Hamilton, in the northeastern part of the Dis- 

 trict, was strongly recommended by members of the Fine Arts Com- 

 mission. On the occasion of the looth anniversary of the Garden in 

 June, Representative Nelson, of Missouri, secured leave to print in the 

 Congressional Record a speech opposing the removal of the Garden 

 from its present site. 



The Second Session of the Fifty-Sixth Congress adjourned sine die 

 on June 5. The next regular session will begin on December 6, 1920. 



notes 



The name of the Maryland State College of Agriculture, at College 

 Park, near Washington, was changed on July i to "The University of 

 Maryland." The institution was merged with the older University 

 of Maryland, which had medical and law schools in Baltimore. The 

 Board of Trustees of the State College becomes the Board of Regents 

 of the University, and the headquarters of the University will be at 

 College Park. 



5 This JoxjRNAL 10: 243. 1920. 



* This Journal 10: 400. 1920. 



^ See This Journal 8:646. 1919; 10:244. 1920. A thorough summary of 

 the report was published in Chem. Met. Kng. 22: 993-996. May 26, 1920. 



* This Journal 9: 563. 1919. 



