December S, 1922 J 



SCIENCE 



659 



were elected honorary members. Professor 

 Millikan .told of the activities of the scientific 

 oommiittee of the League of Nations, of whkh 

 he is a memlber, and discussed what is desira- 

 ible in international cooperation in scientific 

 matters. Professor Darwin addi'«ssed the club 

 on "The nucleus of the atom." The following 

 officers were elected for the ensuing year : 

 President, W. L. Hardin, Mt. Washingiton, Los 

 Angeles; vice-president, L. S. Weatherby, Uni- 

 versity of Southern California; secretary, P. 

 W. Merrill, Mt. Wilson Observatory; treasurer, 

 E. E. Chandler, Occidental College. 



Nature notes the assignmenit to science of the 

 proceeds of the first performance of a great 

 play by a leading dramatist. The play was the 

 tragedy "Judith," by M. Henri Bernstein, pro- 

 duced at the Gjinnase Theaitre, Paris, on Octo- 

 ber 12, before a brilliant and distinguished as- 

 sembly, which comprised ministers of state and 

 the chief social and intellectual leaders of the 

 city. The receipts were for the benefit of the 

 French Confederation of Seientifie Societies, 

 and amounted to about $5,000. M. Bernstein 

 gave his royalty as author, and Mme. Simone, 

 who took the title part and is said to have oib- 

 tained the greatest triumph of her career, de- 

 voted lier fee to the same puiijose. 



We learn from the Journal of the American 

 Medical Association that the national alliance 

 to promote an increase in population in France 

 is planning a competitive contest with prize 

 awards totaling 120,000 francs for the best 

 essays setting forth the critical demographic 

 situation and the best means of combating the 

 danger. The first prize is 50,000 francs; the 

 second, 10,000 francs; the third, 8,000 francs, 

 while the balance of the 120,000 francs will be 

 distributed in small sums. The essay which is 

 awarded the first prize will be printed by the 

 national alliance and 500,000 copies will be 

 distributed throughout the country. The com- 

 petitors will deal more especially with the fol- 

 lowing topics, but they will not be confined to 

 these: (A) The evil as it exists: (1) the de- 

 crease of the birth rate in France, during the 

 past century; the inevitable further decrease 

 in the future if the most energetic measures are 

 not adopted, and (2) the dangers that lurk in 



the fall of the birth rate and the catastrophe 

 that threatens not only the life of the natioji 

 but also of the individual. (B) The proposed 

 remedies: (1) the respect due to large families 

 and the advantages that they deserve; (2) the 

 reforms needed to raise the birth rate — at the 

 price of financial sacrifices, if necessary; if by 

 the expenditure of certain sums an increase in 

 the number of births can be brought about, no 

 money could be better expended, and (3) in- 

 struction in the matter of the moral, social and 

 patriotic duty of paternity and maternity — 

 their joys and their rewards. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NOTES 



The University of Pennsylvania will receive 

 $200,000 for the establishment of a department 

 of clinical sui-gery from the estate of Edmund 

 A. W. Hunter. The Ibequest was made with 

 the provision that the addition to the university 

 be known as "The Agnew and Hunter Depart- 

 ment of Clinical Surgery," in memory of Dr. 

 D. Hayes Agnew and Dr. Charles D. Hunter. 

 The latter was the son of the donor. 



A FUND of $60,000 for establishing a chair 

 at Tulane University of tropical diseases and 

 hygiene, and one .amounting to $30,000 for 

 constructing an isolation building for the 

 Chai-ity Hospital will eventually be available 

 to these institutions under the will of the late 

 William G. Vincent. 



The trustees of Hamilton College have 

 authorized the erection of a ibiotegy-geology 

 and museum building to eosit approximately 

 $225,000, and the construction of an addition 

 to the chemistry building the estimated cost of 

 wMch is $60,000. It may 'be noted further 

 that the board of trustees, by unanimous vote, 

 with twenty-five of the twenty-eight members 

 of the board present, authorized the fixing of 

 four hundred as the ultimalte and maximum 

 number of undergraduates in the college, and 

 directed that all building plans take that num- 

 Iser into account as the total for which pro- 

 vision should 'be made. 



» Ruth Okey, Ph.D., has resigned from the 

 biochemical laboratory of the University of 



