OCTOBEB 3, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



329 



ing in antituberculosis measures, but no ap- 

 pointments were actually made in 1918. A 

 commission for the prevention of tuberculosis, 

 at jh& head of which was Dr. Livingston 

 Farrand, opened a campaign in France in 

 July, 1917. Although there were in existence 

 examples of every agency effective in combat- 

 ing tuberculosis, they were few in number 

 and there was no centralized organization for 

 a combined attack on the disease. The com- 

 mission, in cooperation with the Tuberculosis 

 Bureau of the American Red Cross, set about 

 demonstrating the value of " team play " by 

 organizing and coordinating the essential 

 agencies. In 1918 four central dispensaries 

 and six secondary centers were opened. 

 ITtuBes attached to these centers visited 

 patients at their homes; the Red Cross pro- 

 vided hospital accommodation, opened sanator- 

 iums, and supplied food and clothing. Efforts 

 were made to establish local committees in 

 the leading towns. At the time of the first 

 visit twenty-one dispensaries were in existence 

 in twenty-seven departments. By the end of 

 the year fifty-seven new dispensaries had been 

 opened, twenty others were in process of in- 

 stallation, and plans had been agreed upon for 

 forty-nine more. Besides these dispensaries, 

 fifteen laboratories were in course of establish- 

 ment and forty new committees organized. 

 An active propaganda was carried on through- 

 out the country by means of " tanks," posters, 

 lectures, demonstrations, pamphlets, postcards, 

 exhibits and games. The services of the press 

 and of art were enlisted as agents in the 

 education of the people. The Foundation has 

 also made experiments in the control of 

 malaria. In four towns in Arkansas measures 

 for the extei-mination of anopheline mosquitos 

 were carried out with marked success. By 

 draining and filling pools, ditching sluggish 

 streams, and oiling surface water, the breed- 

 ing of the insect was almost entirely pre- 

 vented. The results were striking. In Ham- 

 hvag, Arkansas, the number of visits paid by 

 doctors to patients suffering from malaria 

 fell from 2,312 in 1916 to 259 in 1917 and to 

 59 in 1918, a reduction for the period of 97.4 

 per cent. In four other communities the per- 



centage of reductions varied from 95.4 to 80 

 per cent. In Sunflower county, Mississippi, 

 it was believed that a malaria control of 80 

 per cent, was achieved. In regions where sur- 

 face water can not be dealt with " carriers " 

 are looked for and treated. In Guatemala an 

 epidemic of yellow fever was checked. Work 

 for the relief and control of hookworm disease 

 was carried out in cooperation with twelve 

 states of the union and with twenty-one for- 

 eign countries. In China the construction of 

 the fifteen buildings of the Peking Union 

 Medical College College was steadily pro- 

 ceeded with in 1918. An account of this in- 

 stitution was given in the British Medical 

 Journal of August 2, 1919. On account of 

 the glazed green tiles used to cover the roofs 

 the College is called by the Chinese "the 

 Green City." — The British Medical Journal. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



Life Histories of North American Diving 

 Birds, Order Pygopodes. By Arthur Cleve- 

 land Bent. Bull. 107, U. S. I^at. Mus., 

 August 1, 1919. Pp. i-xiii; 1-245; Pis. 1-55. 

 Since the discontinuance of Major Charles 

 E. Bendire's " Life Histories of ISTorth Ameri- 

 can Birds " there has appeared no comprehen- 

 sive work on this subject. Students of the life 

 and behavior of most ISTorth American birds 

 have been much handicapped by the lack of 

 published information, and the widely scat- 

 tered character of such as is available. In pre- 

 paring a biography of a ISTorth American bird 

 it is frequently still necessary to turn back to 

 the works of Audubon and Wilson for data. 

 In few groups is this lack more evident than 

 in those that form the subject of the present 

 work, i. e., the three families, Colymbidffi 

 (grebes), Gaviidse (loons), and Alcidffi (auks), 

 unwisely associated in the " Order " Pygopodes 

 of the classification of the Check -List of the 

 American Onjithologists' Union. 



The present author has done science a serv- 

 ice by bringing together and presenting in 

 serviceable form the obtainable data on these 

 groups of birds. From a large number of 

 ornithologists to whom due acknowledgment 

 is made, the author has received original con- 



