NOVEMBEE 3, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



505 



of their publications and requesting the com- 

 mittee to choose what books it desired. 



The only disappointment to the committee is 

 that caused by the comparatively small number 

 of private individuals so far represented in the 

 list of donors. A partial explanation of this 

 is undoubtedly to be found in the fact that the 

 appeal was issued at just about the end of the 

 academic year when many pi-ofessors had left 

 their laboratories for their summer vacation. 



The committee wishes to express its thanks 

 to all those organizations and pereons who 

 have responded to its call and to make known 

 to these contributors an expression, recently 

 received by cable, of the great gratitude of the 

 Moscow representative committee of Kussian 

 scientists. 



It also wishes to repeat its appeal to indi- 

 vidual scientific workers for contributions of 

 reprints to the number of six each, if pos- 

 sible, of their published papers since January 

 1, 1915. The committee has at its disposal 

 only a limited fund to cover the necessary 

 clerical work. It asks, therefore, that con- 

 tributors of literature cover the cost of its 

 transportation to New York, from which point 

 all cost of handling and shipment will be borne 

 by the American Relief Administration. Con- 

 tributors should send, with each consignment, 

 one copy of a list of the publications sent by 

 them and five copies of this list (apart from 

 the consignment) together with all letters con- 

 taining advices of shipments, express and 

 shipping receipts to the American Relief Ad- 

 ministration, Russian Scientific Aid, 42 Broad- 

 way, New York City. The publications them- 

 selves should be sent by parcels post or express, 

 or if very heavy, by freight, to the American 

 Relief Administration, care Gertzen and Com- 

 .pany, 70 West Street, New Yoi-k City. Re- 

 quests for further information should be sent 

 to the American Committee to Aid Russian 

 Scientists, 1701 Massachusetts Avenue, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. 



The answer to one such request for informa- 

 tion which has been received from numerous 

 inquiries may be given here and now. The 

 contributed material is not turned over to the 

 Soviet government, nor is the distribution of 

 this material determined by the Soviet govern- 

 ment. The distribution is effected under the 



general direction of the American 'Committee 

 by the American Relief Administration work- 

 ing in cooperation with a special committee in 

 Moscow of Russian scientists representing 

 various Russian universities and scientific or- 

 ganizations. The extraordinary independence 

 of the American Relief Administration, extra- 

 ordinary in the light of the existent circum- 

 stances, as regards its activities in Russia, is 

 perhaps not generally realized here in America. 

 Vernott Kellogg, , 

 Chairman 

 L. 0. Howard 

 David White 

 Raphael Zon 

 American Committee to Aid Russian Scien- 

 tists with Scientific Literature 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



THE RECOVERY OF HELIUM 



Satisfactory operation on a laboratory 

 scale of a simplified and much cheaper method 

 of i^eeovering helium is reported through the 

 American Chemical Society by H. Foster Bain, 

 director of the U. S. Bureau of Mines. In a 

 test made within the last month at the crj^o- 

 genic laboraitory in the Interior Department 

 building, helium was recovered from natural 

 gas in one operation in sufficient purity for 

 use in dii-igibles or balloons. 



"This development," Mr. Bain said, "indi- 

 cates that very soon commercial production of 

 helium for lighter-than-air craft is probably 

 feasible." Not only will this work insure safe- 

 ty from fire and explosions, but it is almost 

 certain to result in an entirely new type of 

 airship design. The motor, for instance, could 

 he placed inside the envelope of a helium ship 

 if necessary. 



The research work leadiing up to this ■achieve- 

 ment was directed by the United States Helium 

 Board, composed of Lieutenant Commander 

 F. M. Kraus, representing the Navy, Colonel 

 R. F. Favel, representing the Army, and Dr. 

 R. B. Moore chief chemist of the U. S. Bureau 

 of Mines, H. S. Mulliken, production engineer, 

 alternate. The actual work of development was 

 directed by a group of men known as the 

 Board of Helium Engineers, with the follow- 

 ing membership : M. H. Roberts, Franklin 

 Railway Supply Company; R. C. Tolman, of 



