112 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 760 



Soils of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 

 An act passed by the last legislature provides 

 that a soil survey and a soil map of the state 

 be made to ascertain the character and fertil- 

 ity of the developed and undeveloped soils of 

 the state, the extent and practicability of 

 drainage of swamp and wet lands and the 

 means for conserving and increasing the fer- 

 tility of the soils. The sum of $10,000 an- 

 nually is appropriated for the next two years 

 for this work. 



According to the London Times an ascer- 

 tained commercial value of £4 per milligram 

 (equivalent to £114,000 per ounce) has been 

 placed upon radium by a contract just entered 

 into between the British Metalliferous Mines 

 (Limited) and Lord Iveagh and Sir Ernest 

 Cassel for the supply of 7j grams (rather 

 more than a quarter of an ounce) of pure 

 radium bromide. This very large order for 

 radium will be supplied from the above named 

 company's mine near Grampound Road in 

 Cornwall. In the short history of radium 

 there has never hitherto been known any 

 greater order than a gram. The first recorded 

 order on a large scale will therefore be sup- 

 plied from the British source from which sev- 

 eral of the smaller orders have already been 

 supplied. Messrs. Buchler and Co., of Bruns- 

 wick, will produce the radium from the Corn- 

 ish pitchblende under the superintendence of 

 Professor Gi&sel, their chief chemist. The 7j 

 grams of radium referred to are to be pre- 

 sented by Lord Iveagh and Sir Ernest Cassel 

 to the Radium Institute, to the formation of 

 which they have already contributed very 

 large funds. The Radium Institute, which 

 will be under the surgical direction of Sir 

 Frederick Treves, is expected to be ready to 

 receive patients suffering from cancer about 

 the end of the present year. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 



M. Henry Deutsch has given 500,000 francs, 

 and promises in addition an annual grant of 

 15,000 francs, towards the creation of an aero- 

 technical institute in the University of Paris. 



M. Basil Zakarofi has given 700,000 francs for 

 the foundation of a chair of aviation in the 

 faculty of sciences of the university. 



A COLLEGE of mining engineering has been 

 established at the University of Illinois. The 

 Western Society of Engineers was instru- 

 mental in inducing the legislature to make the 

 necessary appropriations. A committee for 

 that purpose composed of F. A. Delano, Bion 

 J. Arnold, John M. Ewen, Isham Randolph, 

 Robert W. Hunt and A. Bement was appointed 

 by the society. 



At the summer school of Columbia Univer- 

 sity there are about 1,930 students, about 400 

 more than were registered last year. In 1908 

 registration was 1,532, in 1907, 1,200, in 1906 

 1,000. The 1909 registration does not include 

 the thirty medical students who are attending 

 lectures, nor the 300 undergraduates who are 

 taking the regular summer engineering courses 

 at Camp Columbia, Washington, Conn. 



The College of Agriculture of the Univer- 

 sity of Wisconsin has established a department 

 of agricultural economics in charge of Pro- 

 fessor Henry C. Taylor. 



The following appointments have been 

 made in the medical department of Cornell 

 University: Dr. Frank Sherman Meara, pro- 

 fessor of therapeutics and clinical medicine; 

 Dr. Charles N. B. Camac, professor of clinical 

 medicine; Dr. William J. Elser, professor of 

 bacteriology; Dr. John A. Hartwell, professor 

 of clinical surgery ; Dr. William B. Coley, pro- 

 fessor of clinical surgery; Dr. Silas P. Beebe, 

 assistant professor of experimental therapeu- 

 tics, and Dr. John R. Murlin, assistant pro- 

 fessor of physiology. 



Dr. Ralph S. Minor, professor of physics 

 at the University of Nevada, has accepted an 

 associate professorship of physics in charge 

 of the lower division work at the University 

 of California. The position in Nevada has 

 been filled by the appointment of Professor 

 Leon W. Hartman who, for the last four 

 years, has been associate professor of physics 

 in charge of the department at the University 

 of Utah. 



