410 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. L. No. 1296 



Alfred F. Barker, professor of textile in- 

 dustries at the University of Leeds, England, 

 has been visiting the United States. 



Nature states that the Scandinavian Asso- 

 ciation for a Tropical Biological Station has 

 decided to send an expedition this autumn 

 'to select a site for a research station to study 

 marine biology. Dr. Th. Mortensen, who is 

 chairman and founder of the association, will 

 lead a small party including probably Dr. 

 Nils Holmgren and a botanist. They will 

 visit Celebes, North Borneo, Amboina, and 

 New Guinea. 



Dr. Vito Volterra, professor of mathemat- 

 ical physics in the University of Rome, and 

 a member of the Italian Senate, delivered six 

 lectures on the Hitchcock foundation at the 

 University of California, between October 13 

 and October 21. The subject of the fixst four 

 lectures was " The Propagation of electricity 

 in a magnetic field," and that of the last two 

 was " Derivate functional equations." Dur- 

 ing his stay in California he visited the 

 Yosemite Valley and was a guest of Director 

 Campbell at the Lick Observatory and of 

 Director Hale, at the Mount Wilson Ob- 

 servatory. After visiting the Grand Canyon 

 of the Colorado he will go to Houston, Texas, 

 where he will give some lectures at Eice In- 

 stitute. From there he will go to the At- 

 lantic coast, where he will visit a number of 

 universities. 



A series of fortnightly lectures on indus- 

 trial problems are being delivered at the 

 Guildhall, London, under the auspices of the 

 Industrial League and Council. The speak- 

 ers will include Mr. E. J. P. Benn, Professor 

 Eipper, Dr. Eussell Wells, Sir Auckland 

 Geddes, Sir George Paish and Lord Emmott. 



J. W. H. Trail, F.R.S., who for fifty-two 

 years held the chair of botany at the Uni- 

 versity of Aberdeen to which he was ap- 

 pointed at the age of twenty-six, died on 

 September 18. 



It is stated in the Journal of the Washing- 

 ton Academy of Sciences that the proposed 

 American Meteorological Society, formal or- 

 ganization of which is suggested for action 

 in connection with the next meeting of the 



American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, is expected to have a large Wash- 

 ington membership, drawn from the staff of 

 the Weather Bureau and from among the 

 meteorologists of the Army and Navy. It is 

 suggested that the Monthly Weather Review 

 be made the medium for publishing meteor- 

 ological and climatological articles, while a 

 monthly leaflet published by the society 

 would contain news, announcements, notes 

 and queries. 



The following resolution was adopted by 

 the technical Association of the Pulp and 

 Paper Industry at the meeting held in Chi- 

 cago, for September 24 to 27. 



Whereas, due to the decay of pulpwood and 

 'woodpulp the paper industry is suffering an an- 

 nual loss of $5,000,000, and 



Whereas, in order to reduce this loss to a mini- 

 mum a scientific investigation of the cause and 

 possible control of such infection is essential, and 



Whereas, The Porest Products Laboratory, U. 

 S. Department of Agriculture, Madison, Wis., is in 

 an exceptional position to undertake this special 

 investigation, Therefore, 



' Be it resolved, that this association use every 

 means within its power to secure a specific appro- 

 priation of $50,000 for this special investigation to 

 be conducted by the Porest Products LalDoratory, 

 United States Department of Agriculture, Madi- 

 son, Wis. 



Through the action of the congressional 

 Public Buildings Commission, of which Sena- 

 tor Smoot is chairman, the U. S. Geological 

 Survey has been compelled to give up to the 

 Internal Revenue Bureau nearly half of its 

 oifice space in the Interior Department Build- 

 ing. Economic Geology says : " This by forc- 

 ing as many as three geologists to work in a 

 single small room with no adequate space for 

 the study of maps and collections is a serious 

 blow at the efficiency of the organization. The 

 action is an example of the failure of Con- 

 gress to understand the nature of scientific 

 work and to realize that a geologist's room is 

 essentially a laboratory within which it should 

 be possible to retain in accessible condition, 

 collections of minerals, rocks and ores repre- 

 senting field work that in some investigations 

 may extend over a period of several years." 



