SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. L. No. 1282 



1909 Mr. Mathieson completed a survey of 

 Prince Charles Poreland, Spitsbergen, wiiicli 

 ■was begim in 1906 by Dr. W. S. Bruce, direc- 

 tor of the Scottish Oceanographical Labora- 

 tory. 



In connection with the physiology of the 

 nervous system, given as a part of the course 

 in general physiology at the Tufts College 

 medical school, a series of three lectures was 

 delivered on July 21, 22 and 23, by A. P. 

 Weiss, of the department of psychology of 

 Ohio State University, on " The place of be- 

 havior psychology in physiology." 



The following lecturers at the Eoyal College 

 of Physicians of London are announced: Dr. 

 J. L. Birley, the Goulstonian; Sir W. Leish- 

 man, the Horace Dobell ; Sir J. Eose Bralford, 

 the Lumleian; and, for 1921, Dr. J. L. Golla, 

 the Croonian. 



The death is announced at the age of sixty- 

 seven years of Dr. Emil Fischer, professor of 

 chemistry in the University of Berlin. Dr. 

 Pischer was awarded a ISTobel prize in 1902. 



Included in the Army Appropriation Bill, 

 now passed by Congress, is an appropriation 

 of $20,000 for the Surgeon-General's Library, 

 and for the preservation of specimens for the 

 Army Medical School, Washington, $10,000. 

 An appropriation of $350,000 is made for the 

 purchase of twenty-six acres of land adjoining 

 Walter Eeed Hospital, Washington, for the 

 final location of the Army Medical School, 

 Surgeon-General's Library and the Army Mu- 

 seum, and for the improvements on the land 

 to be purchased. 



The thirteenth annual meeting of the Brit- 

 ish Museums Association was held at Oxford, 

 on July 8, and the two following days. Mem- 

 bers were welcomed by Sir Herbert Warren, 

 president of Magdalen. An address wag given 

 by the president, Sir H. Howarth, followed by 

 the reading of a series of pai)ers on museums 

 in Oxford. Wednesday morning was occupied 

 by discussions on the propriety of transferring 

 the control of museiuns to the education au- 

 thority, and on various matters of detail. On 

 Thursday Dr. W. Evans Hoyle, curator of the 



Welsh Museum, Dr. P. A. Bather, of the Nat- 

 ural History Museum, and Mr. Isaac Williams, 

 of Cardiff opened a discussion on the desir- 

 ability of establishing a diploma for museum 

 curators, and on the course of training that 

 should be required. In the afternoon visits 

 were paid to local museums and places of his- 

 toric interest. 



We learn from the London Times that the 

 fifth annual general meeting of the Medico- 

 Political Union was held in London on June 

 12. Dr. P. Coke, in his presidential address, 

 said that 367 new members had joined during 

 the last month. The report of the general sec- 

 retary regretted the hostility which had sprung 

 up between the British Medical Association 

 and the Union. " The Association had for 

 many years," the report proceeded, " while de- 

 crying trade unionism, been employing trade- 

 union methods with impunity, until the 

 Coventry case shattered their claims and left 

 us as the only body adequately equipped to 

 carry on a fight on behalf of the profession. 

 I am pleased to say that the association, or 

 certain of its members, recognize facts, and 

 an attempt is now being made to reconcile 

 differences." As to the formation of a min- 

 istry of health, the report stated that it fore- 

 shadowed drastic changes in the medical serv- 

 ices at an early date. Those changes would 

 benefit neither the community nor the pro- 

 fession, unless the latter had a large voice in 

 shaping them. It was the duty of that union 

 to impress on government departments the 

 importance of the general practitioner as the 

 backbone of the medical profession, and the 

 fact that he was better equipped to give advice 

 than those occupying a more exalted position. 

 Eesolutions were also passed in favor of the 

 organization of the whole of the medical pro- 

 fession on a trade-imion basis, and to the 

 effect that a whole-time salaried service for 

 general practitioners was undesirable. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



The contract has just been signed for an 

 addition to the laboratory of the department 



