December 22, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



715 



tnmk lines, has now been realized by M. Paul 

 Laft'ont, the French minister of telegraphs and 

 telepihones. He proposes to invite a confer- 

 ence at Paris of the Itechnieal administi-ators of 

 the western European countries, and he urges 

 that France would naturally be the center of 

 the vast telephone system formed by oonihining 

 the systems of tliese countries. The long-dis- 

 tance telephone calls in daily use in America 

 show that, from an engineering point of view, 

 the scheme presenits few difficulties. Thixs the 

 Kew York-San Francisco ©all (3,000 miles) is 

 equivalent to communication between London 

 and Baghdad; the Key West (Florida) and 

 Los Angeles call via New York and San Fran- 

 cisco is equivalent to a London-Delhi commu- 

 nication. 



The Department of Commerce announces 

 that provisional figui'es compiles by the Bureau 

 of the Census for the first sis months of 1922 

 indicate higher death rates than for the cor- 

 responding six months of 1921. For the staltes 

 compared the death rate for the six months 

 was 12.6 in 1922 against 12 for the iirst six 

 months of 1921. The highest mortality rate 

 for the half year is shown for Maine (15.7) 

 and the lowest for Idaho (8.2). These figures 

 forecast for the j"ear 1922 a somewhat higher 

 rate for the death registration area than the 

 record low rate (11.6) for the year 1921. Pro- 

 visional birth figures for the first sis months of 

 1922 indicate lower birth rates than for the 

 corresponding six months of 1921. For the 

 states compared the birth rate for the first six 

 months was 22.7 in 1922 against 24.8 in 1921. 

 The highest toirth rate for the half year (30) 

 is shown for Nortli Carolina and the lowest 

 (18.1) for Vermont. Births so far reported 

 for the fii"st sis months of 1922 indicate a lowei' 

 birth rate for the year than the 1921 rate for 

 the birth registi-ation area (24.3). 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NOTES 



A BEQUEST of $100,000 for the erection of a 

 buil<iing for the department of mechanical en- 

 gineering at the Universilty of Maine, to be 



named for the donor, is made in the will of 

 Oliver Crosby, head of an engineering firm in 

 St. Paul, Minn. 



Baker University announces a gift of 

 $100,000 from Mr. Joab Mulvane, a retired 

 banker of Topeka, Kansas, and a member of 

 the board of trustees of the university. The 

 money wiE be used in the erection of the Mul- 

 vane Science Hall. 



The faculty of Case School of Applied Sci- 

 ence, Cleveland, Ohiio, were no^tified in October 

 of a new and advanced scale of salaries, which 

 took effect at once. Full professors, of whom 

 there are twelve, will receive $5,000; associate 

 professors, of whom there are eight, will re- 

 ceive $3,300; assistant professors, of whom 

 there aire nine, will receive $2,800 ; and instruc- 

 tors, of whom there are thirty-three, will i-e- 

 ceive $2,000 to $2,200. The enrollment at Case 

 this year is slightly less than a year ago, num- 

 bering 615, with a freshman class of 198. 



Sir Auckland Geddes, British ambassador 

 to the United States, and previously a disitin- 

 gu&'hed professor of anatomy, delivered the ad- 

 dress in dedication of the J. William White 

 Surgical Pavilion of the University of Penn- 

 sylvania, on December 14. The pavilion is 

 named after the late Dr. J. William White, 

 who was for many years professor of surgery. 

 It was built at a cost of $1,000,000, of which 

 $350,000 was contributed by tihe state and the 

 remainder by friends of the university. 



Professor George David Birkhopf, of 

 Haiward University, lias been appointed lec- 

 turer in mathematics at Yale University for 

 the second term. He will give a coui-se in the 

 Graduate School during Professor Ernest W. 

 Brown's absence. 



Louis Agassiz Fuertes, the artist, has been 

 appoiated lecturer in ornithology in Cornell 

 University. 



Dr. H. M. Jennison, who recently received 

 the degree of Ph-D. from Washington Univer- 

 sity, has been appointed associate professor of 

 botany at the University of Tennessee, after 

 having completed eleven years' service at tbe 

 Montana State College. 



Dr. a. W. Gibe has been appointed to the 



