714 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1460 



of such an organization on Tliureday, Decem- 

 :ber 28. At this luncheon Mrs. Anna Botsford 

 Comstock -will speak on "The need of organ- 

 ization among scientific women," and Miss 

 Christianna Smith, national president, on 

 "Sigma Dedita Epsilon, graduate women's sci- 

 entific fraternity." 



A Cajal prize is oiiered this year by the 

 Academy of Medicine and Surgery at Barce- 

 lona, as part of the tribute to Professor 

 Bamon y Cajal. The prize, 1,000 pesetas, will 

 be awarded for the besit work describing orig- 

 inal research on any histologic topic, accom- 

 panied with sHdes, photomicrographs, etc. 



John B. Henderson, a regent of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, has purchased for the Divi- 

 sion of Mollus.ks the General Evezard collec- 

 tion of mollusks estimated at from 7,000 to 

 10,000 specimens, including a large number of 

 types. 



An expedition to study seisimic disturbances 

 on the bed of the Pacific Ocean under the 

 auspices of the Carnegie Institution of Wash- 

 ington and the Hydrograpiiic Offiee of the 

 Navy, will leave San Francisco in the near 

 futuxe. Two American destroyers, the Hull 

 and the Corry, have been selected for the work. 

 They wUl carry the sonic depth finder, by 

 means of which it is hoped to make continuous 

 soundings for 7,000 miles along the Pacific 

 coasts of the United States and Mexico. The 

 soundings will be made on parallel lines, ap- 

 proximately at right angles to the 2,000 fathom 

 curve, at intervals of five to ten miles, extend- 

 ing from the coast to a point on the deeper 

 floor of the Pacific Ocean. The expedition, 

 through a more accurate charting of the bed of 

 the Pacific Ocean, aims to thix)w new light on 

 the causes and the effects of the seismic dis- 

 turbances that so often occur off the Pacific 

 Coast of North Ameiuca. 



We learn from the London Times that a 

 meeting to consider the question of a memorial 

 to Mr. William Henry Hudson, the writer on 

 natural histoi-y, who died last August, was held 

 on November 27 at the offices of his publishers, 

 Messrs. J. M. Dent and Sons, Limited. Mr. 

 R. B. Cunninghame Graham presided and was 



supported by Lord Grey of Pallodon. It was 

 agreed that the memorial should take the form 

 of a drinking and bathing fountain for birds, 

 to be erected in London, preferaibly, if the 

 Office of Works approved, at the entrance to 

 one of the bird sanctuaries which are 'being 

 developed in certain of tlie public parks, tihe 

 sanctuary itself to 'be dedicated to Mr. Hudson. 

 It was further agreed that the portrait of Mr. 

 Hudson painted by Professor A. D. Ruther- 

 ston should be acquired and presented (subject 

 to its acceptance toy the trustees) to the Na- 

 tional Portrait Gallery, and such moneys as 

 might ]» further subscribed to the memorial 

 fund should )je devoted to objects similar to 

 those mentioned in Mr. Hudson's will. Mr. 

 Hudson left the residue of his property to the 

 Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, to 

 lie used for the purpose of printing leafiets and 

 pamphlets designed to excite in children "that 

 interest in and love of the birds which leads to 

 their protection." 



The council of the Royal Aeronautical So- 

 ciety announces that, through the generosity of 

 the trustees of the Carnegie United Kingdom 

 Trust, they have been ajble to arrange for the 

 purchase of a large nrmiber of valuable his- 

 torical books on aeronautics. This purchase, 

 together with the works already possessed by 

 the society, renders its coUection of early and 

 modern aeronautical literature probably unsur- 

 passed in any eountry. In recognition of their 

 generosity, the council of the Royal Aeronau- 

 tical Societj- has, at the request of the Carne- 

 gie trustees, agreed to make the books in the 

 society's library avaJlalble for any student in 

 the British Isles through the medium of tihe 

 Central Library for Students, 9 Galen Place, 

 W. C. 1. The library has ibeen formed by the 

 Carnegie trustees to provide a loan coMectaon 

 for students of teehnioal books, which are un- 

 suitable for placing in rural libraries. 



It is stated in Nature that the suggestion 

 made by Mr. F. Gill, president of the Institu- 

 tion of Electrical Engineers, in his recent ad- 

 dress, that an international European confer- 

 ence should be held with the view of establish- 

 ing on a commercial basis a praatical system 

 of long-distance telephony in the European 



