332 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1447 



27. One of the subjects which will be under 

 discussion is the rail transportation of petro- 

 leum and its products. 



The Journal of the American Medical Asso- 

 ciation states that the convention of the Ger- 

 man Botanical Society and of the German 

 Society for the Study of Heredity will be held 

 in Vienna this month. The two societies have 

 agreed to unite for the present sessions. A 

 large number of papers will be presented, and 

 representatives from Sweden, Switzerland, the 

 United States, Norway, Italy and Czecho-Slo- 

 vakia have already announced their intention 

 to be present. Special attention centers in the 

 proceedings of the German Society for the 

 Study of Heredity, as reports on the latest 

 achievements in this line will be made by Gold- 

 schmidt (Berlin), on the problem of mutation; 

 Spemann (Freiburg), on the activation of the 

 heredity-mass, and Eiidin (Munich), on the 

 hereditary transmission of mental disturbances. 

 Professor Wettstein will preside over the joint 

 meeting. 



We learn from the Journal of Industrial 

 and Engineering Chemistry that 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 Uni- 

 versity, which in the past has been supported 

 by appropriations from the United States 

 Interdepartmental Social Hygiene 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. F. C. Whitmore, of North- 

 western University, and Dr. A. S. Lovenhart 

 and Dr. W. F. Lorenz, of the University of 

 Wisconsin. The Public Health Institute has 

 appropriated $21,600 for the use of both uni- 

 versities during the coming year. 



Following the receipt of a message from 

 M. Mowatt, of London, secretary of the British 

 Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Charles 

 F. Rand, ehainnan of the Engineering Founda- 

 tion, has announced that the leading engineer- 

 ing societies of England have formed the En- 

 gineering Joint Council, to work with engineers 

 of the United States and of Canada and other 

 British possessions toward concerted action for 



world peace and the advancement of engineer- 

 ing ideals "for the good of mankind." Mr. 

 Rand described the organization of British en- 

 gineering bodies into a single unit as a step 

 in the movement to form a world union of en- 

 gineers, which already has gained headway in 

 France, Italy and Czecho-Slovakia, direct con- 

 tacts having been established by the engineer- 

 ing bodies of these countries with those of 

 America. The organizations represented on 

 the British council include the British Institu- 

 tion of Civil Engineers, Institution of Mechan- 

 ical Engineers, Institution of Naval Architects 

 and the Institution of Electrical Engineers. 

 Coincident with Mr. Rand's announcement, 

 Dean Mortimer E. Cooley, of the University 

 of Michigan, announced that the Federated 

 American Engineering Societies, of which he 

 is president, has appointed a committee on 

 affiliation with engineering societies outside of 

 the United States. The chairman is Gardner 

 S. Williams, of Ann Arbor, a former member 

 of the Michigan faculty. 



A Reutee's dispatch states that members of 

 the Mount Everest Expedition have sent the 

 Pope a fragment of rock taken from the high- 

 est point reached by them on the mountain. 

 The fragment has been mounted on an ebony 

 stand decorated with silver and having a carved 

 dedication to the pontiff, who is himself an 

 alpine climber of no mean prowess. The pope 

 has sent General Bruce, the leader of the expe- 

 dition, the golden medal of his pontificate, to- 

 gether with an autograph letter of thanks. In 

 this he recalled that when he was elected pope 

 the Everest Expedition, which had already 

 begun the ascent, sent him a telegram of con- 

 gratulation and good wishes addressed to "the 

 Alpinist Pope." 



The Province of Quebec has purchased from 

 the U. S. Radium Corporation one gram of 

 radium, valued at $100,000, for the use of its 

 citizens in the treatment of cancer and other 

 malignant diseases. The radium will be sent 

 to the University of Montreal, where, under the 

 supervision of Dr. J. A. Gendreau, it will be 

 at the service of the people of Quebec Province. 



A DISPATCH from The Pas, in Northern 

 Manitoba, as reported in the London Times., 

 says that Mr. Alfred Tremblay, Arctic ex- 



