212 



NATURE 



[May io, 1917 



or linguistics of the American aborigines. Ten copies 

 of each of the competing essays should be sent to the 

 Secretariat of the BibUoth^que Nationale, Paris, before 

 January i next. 



For the third year in succession, the war conditions 

 make it impossible for the British Medical Association 

 to hold the usual annual scientific meeting. 1 he coun- 

 cil announces,, therefore, that arrangements have been 

 made to hold the annual representative meeting in 

 London on Thursday, July 26, and the annual general 

 meeting on Friday, July 27. It is recommended that 

 Sir T. Clifford Alloutt be re-elected president of the 

 association for 1917-18. 



The subject of the next triennial prize of the Royal 

 College of Surgeons of England (consisting of the 

 John Hunter medal in gold, or a medal in bronze and 

 the sum of 50^.) will be "The Development of the 

 Hip-joint and the Knee-joint of Man." The subjects 

 of the Jacksonian prize for 1917 and 1918 are respec^ 

 tively "The Causation, Diagnosis, and Treatment of 

 Traumatic Aneurysm, including Arterio-venous Aneur- 

 ysm," and " Injuries and Diseases of the Pancreas and 

 their Surgical Treatment." 



At the meeting of the Zoological Society on May 1 

 the secretary, Dr. Chalmers Mitchell, announced with 

 the deepest regret that Mr. Henry Peavot, the society's 

 librarian and clerk of publications, had been killed 

 in action. Mn Peavot entered the service of the 

 society in 1896, and, after passing through _ various 

 departments, was appointed assistant librarian and 

 clerk of publications in 1908, and was promoted to the 

 post of librarian and clerk of pubUcations in 19 12. 

 In every way he had gained the esteem and regard of 

 the scientific fellows of the society, and was one of 

 the most valuable and competent members of the 

 society's staff. 



The death is announced, in his fifty-ninth year, of 

 Dr. H.i W. Conn, professor of biology at Wesleyan 

 University, Middletown, Connecticut, since 1889. He 

 was for several years bacteriologist to the Storrs Ex- 

 perimental Station, and director of the Cold Spring 

 Harbour Biological Laboratory and the Connecticut 

 State Board of Health Laboratory. In 1902 Dr. Conn 

 was president of the American Society of Bacterio- 

 logists. He was a specialist in the bacteriology of 

 dairy products, and the author of more than 150 scien- 

 tific memoirs 



Having in mind the remarks made in the article 

 on the position and prospects of professional chemists 

 (Nature, March 29) with regard to the conditions of 

 service offered to qualified temporary assistants in the 

 inspection department at Woolwich, we are glad to 

 learn that such appointments are now being ipade on 

 a definite salary basis, commencing with a minimum 

 of 175Z. per annum. We feel that in this there is some 

 justification for our hope that under the^ Ministry of 

 Munitions the services of scientific men- will meet with 

 more enlightened appreciation. 



At the annual banquet of the U.S. National 

 Academy of Sciences held on April 17 the Henry 

 Draper gold medal was presented to Prof. A. A. 

 Michelson, of the University of Chicago, for his 

 numerous and important researches and contributions 

 to physics. Prof. Michelson 's major work includes 

 the precise determination of the velocity of light; the 

 study of ether drift; the determination of the length 

 of the international standard meter in terms of light 

 waves ; the measurement of tides in the body of the 

 earth, and the invention of several very delicate and 



NO. 2480, VOL. 99] 



exact scientific instruments of prime importance in the 

 study of light. Dr. S. W. Stratton, director of the 

 U.S. Bureau of Standards, was awarded the academy 

 medal for eminence in the application of science to 

 the public welfare, for his services in introducing 

 standards into the practice of technologists in the 

 United States. 



The American Mr.seum of Natural History has sent 

 Dr. H. J. Spinden, of its department of anthropology, 

 on a three months' tour in Central America for the 

 purpose of making researches in the interests of the 

 textile industry. He will start in Guatemala and ex- 

 tend his investigations to Western Honduras, Salva- 

 dor, and Nicaragua. In these countries are many 

 groups of^ Indians whose costumes are not only pictur- 

 esque, but have many details of construction which, 

 it is thougjit, might be successfully adapted in the 

 United States. Dr. Spinden, in addition to obtain- 

 ing examples of designs, will learn the details of the 

 art of weaving as there practised, and will study the 

 dyestuffs used by the native artisans. He will also 

 obtain information concerning the native food pro- 

 ducts, and will collect specimens of them for display 

 in the "preparedness " exhibit which the museum now 

 has under way. 



The American Museum Journal for February con- 

 tains a preliminary report by Mr. N. C. Nelson on 

 the excavation of one of the finest and best preserved 

 examples of prehistoric Pueblo architecture in the 

 south-west. The ruin is situated in Animas Valley, 

 in north-western New Mexico, a few miles below the 

 Colorado boundary, and directly across the river from 

 the town of Aztec. It was at once a great house and 

 a great village, its inhabitants forming a closely 

 organised community. This co-operation of work 

 seems to have* resulted from the need of providing 

 works of irrigation, or, perhaps, also from the neces- 

 sity of defence against encroaching nomads. The 

 report is illustrated by good plans and photographs, 

 and. the account of the further progress of this im- 

 portant excavation will be awaited with interest. 



A VALUABLE report on child mortality at ages 0-5 

 years has been issued by the Local Government Board 

 (Cd. 8496, 1916). During the four years 1911-14, 

 575,078 deaths occurred in England and Wales under 

 five, or more than a quarter (282 per cent.) of the 

 total deaths at all ages during these years. In some 

 of the 274 urban areas specially considered in this 

 report the death-rate was three times as high as in 

 some others. While it is true that even in the most 

 backward of the towns and boroughs much saving 

 of child-life • has already been secured, there is evi- 

 dently still a large mass of preventable mortality. 

 The centres of excessive child mortality are those in 

 which the chief industries of the country are carried 

 on. In degree of ignorance there is little, if any, 

 diff,erence between the wives of wage-earners and the 

 wives of men belonging to other classes. The im- 

 portant conclusion is formulated that the difference 

 between these two classes, apart frorn the handicap 

 of the former in respect of housing, food supply, and 

 sanitation, in the main is one of ability to secure the 

 assistance required in the various contingencies of 

 maternity and early childhood. 



A WELL-ILLUSTRATED account of the cane-borer beetle 

 in Hawaii by F. Muir and O. H. Swezev comes from 

 the Experiment Station of the Hawaian Sugar- 

 planters' Association (Entom. Bulletin 13). The life- 

 history is described in detail, and much stress is laid 

 on the importance of natural enemies in controlling 

 the pest. 



