August 15, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



155 



em Ehodesia have been exterminated. In the 

 Eastern Transvaal, near Portuguese territory, 

 a few survivors of a small troop occasionally 

 are seen, but they are being attacked from 

 both sides and are on the verge of extinction. 

 It is possible that there may be a few individ- 

 uals left in the Knysna Forest, Cape Colony, 

 but the game warden is extremely doubtful 

 about this. 



The Addo Bush, near Port Elizabeth, until 

 recently was a waterless scrub of little value. 

 In its center an area of approximately 6,000 

 acres has long been a reserve for tlie elephants. 

 The land is not fenced off, and farms at first 

 of small value, but now being developed by 

 irrigation works from Sunday's River, sur- 

 round it. The herd numbers between 100 and 

 200 individuals, the only surviving examples 

 of a distinct variety, characterized by a 

 strongly arched forehead, enormous ears, 

 roughly square outline, short fore-legs and a 

 very hairy body. 



The proposed action is not a case of wanton 

 destruction. The Provincial Council has given 

 long consideration to the matter, and has 

 passed the decree only after careful investiga- 

 tion by a special committee, whose members 

 were fully alive to the zoological calamity 

 that their recommendation involved. The ele- 

 phants sally out of their reserve in quest of 

 food and water. They break down fences, 

 stampede cattle, destroy crops, and frighten 

 human beings. They assume that the irriga- 

 tion canals are intended for their benefit and 

 in taking their baths they destroy the banks 

 and dams. 



The committee reported that the elephants 

 could be confined only by the erection of a 

 fence 13 miles in length, and a structure suffi- 

 ciently strong to contain elephants would have 

 cost at least £20,000. It would have been nec- 

 essary, moreover, to provide a water supply, 

 and it is more than doubtful if the area en- 

 closed would have provided natural food in 

 sufficient quantities. 



AN AMERICAN HOSPITAL FOR GREAT BRITAIN 



The British Medical Journal reports that 

 plans for the establishment of an American 



hospital in London are now in so advanced a 

 stage that a meeting of the governing council 

 had been arranged at the house of the Royal 

 Society of lledicine, at which Lord Reading 

 (who has accepted the presidency of the hos- 

 pital) and the American Ambassador promised 

 to be present. Upon the signing of the armis- 

 tice last N'ovember it was considered that the 

 moment was ripe for bringing the project of 

 an American hospital to the consideration of 

 the medical profession in Great Britain as 

 well as of the America'n colony in London. 

 The promoters were of opinion that the need 

 of the foundation of such a hospital was ob- 

 vious, and that the exceptional opportunities 

 of the moment were never likely to recur. 

 The scope which should be given to the hos- 

 pital was discussed by a Medical Executive 

 Committee, consisting of Sir William Osier, 

 Sir Arbuthnot Lane, Sir Humphry Rolleston, 

 Sir John Bland-Sutton, Mr. J. T. W. Mac- 

 Alister, and Mr. Philip Pranklin. At the 

 meeting of the American Medical Association, 

 in Atlantic City, in June, Sir Arbuthnot Lane 

 notified officially that the hospital would be 

 established. He pointed out that no more 

 fitting monument could be raised to those who 

 had fallen in the war, and that the hospital 

 was designed to form the headquarters for 

 American medical men who visited Em-ope 

 for the purpose of post-graduate study. At 

 the meeting the plans of the committees, as 

 described by Sir Arbuthnot Lane, were re- 

 ceived with enthusiasm, and he was assured 

 by distinguished members of the profession 

 tliat the medical men of America were keenly 

 alive to the great value of such an institution 

 in England as a center for study and research. 

 A committee was then formed to ensure the 

 cooperation of American doctors upon a defi- 

 nite footing, and to act in conjunction with 

 the executive committee in London, and, if 

 desirable, to work under the National Re- 

 search Council at Washington. This Amer- 

 ican committee consists of Dr. George W. 

 Crile, of Cleveland; Dr. W. J. Mayo and Dr. 

 Charles H. Mayo, of Rochester, Minnesota; 

 Dr. Albert J. Ochsner, of Chicago; Dr. 

 Rudolph Matas, of ISTew Orleans, and Dr. 



