OCTOBEB 29, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



595 



cured upon application to the " Surgeon Gen- 

 eral, U. S. Army, Washington, D. C." 



A MALARIA conference attended by forty 

 delegates from all parts of India met at Simla 

 on October 12. Lord Minto, welcoming the 

 members, stated that the deaths from fever in 

 India during the last ten years averaged 

 nearly four and a half millions. Last year 

 the deaths were one million over the average, 

 and the increase was believed to be due to 

 malaria. 



The third session of the permanent com- 

 mission of the International Seismological As- 

 sociation was held at Zermatt, Switzerland, 

 from August 30 to September 3. It was very 

 well attended. Of the 23 countries forming 

 the association 20 were represented, as fol- 

 lows : Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, 

 Chile, Denmark, England, France, Germany, 

 Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, 

 Portugal, Roumania, Russia, Servia, Spain 

 and Switzerland. Besides the delegates, other 

 scientists were present making the total in 

 attendance 42. Professor A. Schuster pre- 

 sided, and Dr. Hepites, of Bucharest, was 

 elected vice-president. A goodly number of 

 scientific papers was presented, besides the re- 

 ports of committees on " Instruments," 

 " Microseismic Movements," " Earthquake 

 Catalogue," " Finance " and " Management of 

 the Central Bureau." The next general meet- 

 ing will be held at Manchester, England, in 

 July, 1911. 



The Appalachian Engineering Association 

 will convene in Washington, D. C, at the 

 New Willard Hotel at 9 :00 a.m., Friday, No- 

 vember 5. The program includes addresses by 

 Major Wm. N. Page, of Washington, D. C, 

 Richard H. Edmunds, editor of the Manu- 

 facturers' Record, Baltimore, Md., Dr. Thomas 

 L. Watson, state geologist of Virginia, and 

 papers by Professor R. L. Morris, of West 

 Virginia University, Major W. J. Douglas, 

 engineer of bridges for the District of Co- 

 lumbia, D. C. Weller, city engineer of Waynes- 

 boro, Pa., E. V. N. Heermance, president of 

 the Virginia Concrete and Engineering Com- 

 pany, and H. Fernstrom, chief engineer of the 

 Virginia Railway. On Saturday, November 



6, by invitation of Superintendent Keppel, of 

 the Union Terminal Company, the associa- 

 tion wiU visit the mammoth interlocking 

 plant at the new Union Station, after which 

 Major Douglas, engineer of bridges for the 

 district, will conduct the party to the gigantic 

 reinforced concrete bridge on Connecticut 

 Avenue. Headquarters will be at the New 

 Willard Hotel and a very large attendance is 

 promised. All engineers, geologists and per- 

 sons interested in industrial development are 

 cordially invited to attend these sessions. 



It is stated in Nature that the inaugural 

 meeting of the China Philosophical Society 

 was held at Tientsin on September 18, under 

 the presidency of the president of the Pei 

 Yang University, Mr. Wang Shoh Lian, who, in 

 the course of his address, pointed out the im- 

 portance of the existence of such a society in 

 the present stage of China's development, 

 when western learning is being spread over 

 the Empire. After the delivery of the ad- 

 dress papers were read by Dr. G. Purves 

 Smith, on agricultural possibilities of North 

 China, and by Dr. Wu Lien Teh, on an ex- 

 ample of scientific farming in Chihli. 



The Journal of the American Medical As- 

 sociation «tates that the trachoma prize of the 

 International Medical Congress was not 

 awarded, but the $1,000 prize founded in 

 1897, by the City of Moscow, was given to 

 Dr. O. Hertwig, professor of anatomy and 

 comparative embryology at Berlin. The City 

 of Paris prize of $600 was awarded to the 

 serologist, M. J. Bordet, of Brussels. The 

 Lenval prize of $80 was divided between Pro- 

 fessor H. Neumann, of Vienna, and Dr. A. 

 Grey, of Glasgow, at the international otology 

 congress which also met at Budapest. It was 

 decided that the international medical con- 

 gresses should henceforth not be held oftener 

 than once in four years, so that the next con- 

 gress will not convene until 1913, when it will 

 meet in London. The international com- 

 mittee appointed to prepare the preliminaries 

 for the international medical congresses in 

 future is to have its headquarters at the 

 Hague, near which the secretary. Professor K. 

 Wenckebach, resides. The members of the 



