74 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1438 



compared, surveys in Quebec will be carried 

 on, and the relation of acidity to crop growth 

 will be studied with a view to deciding whether 

 full or partial correction of acidity should be 

 attempted in soils devoted to specific crops or 

 crop rotations. 



The Public Health Institute of Chicago has 

 undertaken to finance the cooperative research 

 between the University of Wisconsin Medical 

 School and the Chemical Department of 

 Northwestern University, which in the past has 

 been supported by appropriations from the 

 United States Interdepartmental Social Hy- 

 giene Board. This research which has been 

 devoted to attempts to improve the treatment 

 of syphilis of the central nervous system has 

 been directed by Dr. W. Lee Lewis and Dr. 

 Frank C. Whitmore, of Northwestern Univer- 

 sity, and Dr. A. S. Loevenhart and Dr. W. P. 

 Lorenz, of the University of Wisconsin. The 

 Public Health Institute has appropriated 

 $21,600 to both universities for the coming 

 year. 



A PARTY from the department of zoology of 

 the Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge 

 spent several days during the latter part of 

 June in an exploring and collecting ti-ip in the 

 waters of the gulf east and south of the Missis- 

 sippi River delta. Through the courtesy of the 

 Honorable M. L. Alexander, state commis- 

 sioner of conservation, the party had the use 

 of the yacht of the commission, the Alexan- 

 dria, and her crew. The course followed was 

 from New Orleans through Lakes Pontchar- 

 train and Borgne and Mississippi Sound to 

 the Chandeleur Islands; and a number of the 

 islands en route, including several of the fed- 

 eral game preserves, were visited and explored. 

 It is hoped that this may be the first of a series 

 of annual trips for the purpose of studying at 

 first hand not only the bird life but the rich 

 eoelenterate, arthropod, moUuscan and fish 

 fauna of this fertile region. The members of 

 the party were Mr. Robert Glenk, curator of 

 the Louisiana State Museum at New Orleans, 

 who initiated the trip ; Mr. Percy Viosca, Jr., 

 the biologist of the Fisheries Division of the 

 Conservation Commission; Dr. E. H. Behre, 

 Miss A. M. Puller, W. H. Browning, J. R. 



Fowler and Miss Jessie Chambers, all of the 

 department of zoology of the State University. 



The Paris correspondent of the Journal of 

 Industrial and Engineering Chemistry writes 

 that the French Senate is now considering a 

 first draft of a law organizing an "Office 

 national des reeherehes scientLfiques, industri- 

 elles et agricoles." This organization is mod- 

 eled on the National Research Council of the 

 United States. This plan is said to have been 

 fought from the fii'st by the chamber, which 

 sees in it a dupUeation of the laboratories of 

 the teaching establishments of the state. It has 

 been decided that the part of the new office 

 would be one of coordination of the dif- 

 ferent laboratories, not only of the state but 

 also of private industry. There have been 

 established in France some laboratories analo- 

 gous to the Mellon Institute, and these organ- 

 izations would cooperate in the work of this 

 office. 



On the occasion of the annual inspection by 

 the General Board of the British National 

 Physical Laboratory on June 29, as we learn 

 from the London Times, some eight hundred 

 guests were invited to Teddington, where they 

 had the opportunity of seeing some of the 

 work that is being done. All the various de- 

 partments were open to view, and the atten- 

 tion of thel visitors was drawn to many exhibits 

 with features of special interest. In the aero- 

 dynamics department one of the wind channels 

 was engaged in measuring the distribution of 

 pressure over the wings of a model aeroplane, 

 and in another the discontinuous flow of air 

 was rendered visible by a smoke cloud. In the 

 new extension that has been added to the engi- 

 neering department machines were at work for 

 testing the efficiency of spur gears and of the 

 transmission gears and driving chains of 

 motor-cars. In another new building devoted 

 to the testing of concrete a steel colmun eased 

 in concrete, which had failed in the testing 

 machine under a load of fifty-five tons, was to 

 be seen side by side with an exactly similar 

 column not so cased, which had not been able 

 to sustain more than four tons. Close to this 

 building is a new underground range in which 

 a small projectile is made by an arrangement 



