September 15, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



307 



at a point about 7,500 feet above sea level at 

 the base of Mt. Timpanogos with an elevation 

 of 12,000 feet. Courses were offered in botany 

 and geology. 



The Rockefeller Foundation, through Dr. 

 Piatt W. Covington, state director of the Inter- 

 national Health Board of the Foundation, has 

 agreed to donate the smn of $5,000 yearly for 

 three years toward establishing a la'boratory in 

 San Bernardino County, California, for re- 

 search work. A condition is made that the 

 county provide a like sum for the three-year 

 period and furnish the laboratory and an ex- 

 perienced physician and chemist to be placed 

 in charge of the work. San Bernardino is one 

 of three counties in the state to receive the 

 offer. The object of the proposal is to better 

 health conditions and provide means for lower- 

 ing the heavj' death rate. 



An effort is being made in England to raise 

 $100,000 for the construction of an aii-ship to 

 fly to tlie North Pole. Captain Charles Fro- 

 bisher, formerly a war pilot, is the leader. His 

 idea is to start with an airship from London 

 and fly by way of Christiana and North Cape 

 and Bear Island to Spitzbergen, where the air- 

 ship would be overhauled for the final 700- 

 mile dash. His estimate is that it would not 

 Ije necessary for the ship to attain a speed of 

 more than fifty miles an hour in order to reach 

 tlie goal, and that a crew of ten and supplies 

 could be easily carried. Another advantage of 

 the airship over the airplane is the proposed 

 installation of a powerful wireless in order to 

 maintain communication with the outside world. 



During October the following public lec- 

 tures will be given at the Brooklyn Botanic 

 Garden : 



October 7 — "A Garden Pilgrimage in Eng- 

 land ' ' : Mr. Montague Free, horticulturist, Brook- 

 lyn Botanic Garden. 



October 14 — "The Origin of Cultivated 

 Plants": Dr. Orlando E. "White, curator of plant 

 breeding, Brooklyn Botanic Garden. 



October 21 — "Pour Seasons in the Garden": 

 Mr. Leonard Barron, editor of The Garden Mag- 

 azine, Garden City, L. I. 



October 28 — "Health and Disease in Plants": 

 Dr. Arthur Harmount Graves, curator of public 

 instruction, Brooklyn Botanic Garden. 



According to a dispatch to the London 

 Times, the opinion was expressed at the meet- 

 ing of the Association of Tropical Medicine, 

 which is holding its conference at Hamburg, 

 attended by scientists from Holland, Java, 

 Turkey, South America and Germany, that 

 Germany has made a discovery of considerable 

 importance. "Beyer 205," the discovery of the 

 Bayerische Farbwerke, is said to be a cure for 

 sleeping sickness, both for human beings and 

 animals. This drug kills the microbe causing 

 sleeping sickness in man and animals without 

 injuring the patient. The Bayerische Farb- 

 werke has supplied the Belgian colonial minis- 

 ter, on his request, with a quantity of "205" 

 for research purposes to be used in the labora- 

 tories at Leopoldsville in the Congo, and the 

 Belgian technical schools for .tropical diseases. 

 German scientists expect, owing to the latest 

 development, that this discovery will point the 

 way to a cure for malaria and also coast fever 

 in animals. 



A REPORT was presented to the French Acad- 

 emy of Sciences on August 21 which gave the 

 results of an examination by Professor Louis 

 Boutan, of Bordeaux, of a "cultivated" pearl 

 made by Mr. Mikimoto's method. Professor 

 Boutan's conclusion is that the Mikimoto 

 pearls are apparently identical with natural 

 ones. M. Boutan says that the apparatus, by 

 means of which MM. Galibourg and Rysiger 

 disclose the artificial nucleus which is to be 

 found in the ordinary cultivated pearls, is of 

 no use in distinguishing those of the Mikimoto 

 variety, as these have no nucleus. M. Louis 

 Joubin, who presented the report to the acad- 

 emy, made the interesting point that as the 

 "culture" process is applied to oysters which 

 produce pearls spontaneously, Mr. Mikimoto 

 himself can never be sure that his "cultivated" 

 pearl is not an ordinary natural one. One 

 effect of the report would appear to be thar 

 the authenticity of "real" pearls now depends 

 entirely on the word of the man who sells them. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NOTES 



The will of the late Frederick Bertuch be- 

 queathes, to take effect on the death of Mrs. 



