520 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. L. No. 1301 



result as final; some people had suggested 

 tliat the shift might be veiled by a syste- 

 matic outward movement of the photosphere, 

 but as Dr. St. John made measures both at 

 the sim.'s center and limbs, that suggestion 

 was not tenable. Professor Eddington ad- 

 mitted that the failure threw doubt on the 

 validity of some of the steps which led 

 Einstein to his gravitational result; but he 

 contended that the two other successes indi- 

 cated that the result was right, even if 

 reached by a wrong method. 



There was some discussion on Professor 

 Lindemann's method of photographing stars 

 in daylight by the use of red screens. How- 

 ever, the eclipse method seems more trust- 

 worthy, and the Astronomer Royal expressed 

 the hope that the eclipse of 1922 might be ob- 

 served with equatorials. The star-field is not 

 so rich as in the late eclipse, but with longer 

 exposure much fainter stars could be recorded. 

 The eclipse-track crosses the Maldive Islands 

 and Australia, and is therefore fairly ac- 

 cessible. 



A. C. D. Crommelin 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



INVESTIGATIONS ON INFLUENZA 



The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company 

 has provided resources to carry on investiga- 

 tions into the cause, mode of transmission 

 and treatment of influenza and its complica- 

 tions. 



A commission has been appointed consist- 

 ing of Dr. G. W. McCoy, director of the hy- 

 gienic laboratory, U. S. Public Health 

 Service; Dr. W. H. Park, director of the 

 research laboratory, New York City Depart- 

 ment of Health; Dr. Lee K. Frankel, third 

 vice-president of the Metropolitan Life In- 

 surance Company; Dr. A. S. Knight, medical 

 director of the Metropolitan Life Insurance 

 Company; Dr. M. J. Eosenau, chairman, pro- 

 fessor of preventive medicine and hygiene, 

 Harvard Medical School. Later, Professor 

 E. O. Jordan, of the University of Chicago, 

 and Dr. W. H. Frost, of the U. S. Public 

 Health Service, were invited to join in the 

 work. 



Work has already been begun in Washing- 

 ton, 'New York, Boston and Chicago and may 

 be extended to other places as occasion arises. 

 In this way correlation and cooperation are 

 eifected. The object of the commission is 

 primarily to study the cause, mode of spread 

 and treatment of influenza and its complica- 

 tions. Studies are now being made upon the 

 prophylactic value of vaccines against influ- 

 enza, common colds and pneumonia, properly 

 controlled. Laboratory researches are being 

 conducted to determine the cause of these in- 

 fections, and a special study is being made of 

 the bacterial flora of the upper respiratory 

 tract in health and disease. Special consider- 

 ation is being given to the possibility of a 

 filterable virus being the cause of any of these 

 infections. Cooperation and suggestions have 

 been invited from health officers and others 

 interested. 



PROBLEMS OF FOOD AND NUTRITION 



The National Research Coimcil has formed 

 a special committee on Food and Nutrition 

 Problems, composed of a group of the most 

 eminent physiological chemists and nutrition 

 experts of the country. The members are: 

 Carl Alsberg, chief, bureau of chemistry. 

 Department of Agriculture; H. P. Armsby, 

 director of the institute of animal nutrition, 

 Pennsylvania State College; Isabel Bevier, 

 director of department of home economics. 

 University of Illinois; E. B. Forbes, chief, 

 department of nutrition, Ohio Agricultural 

 Experiment Station; W. H. Jordan, director, 

 N. Y. Agricoltural Experiment Station; 

 Graham Lusk, jjrofessor of physiology, Cornell 

 University Medical College; C. F. Lang- 

 worthy, chief of office of home economics. 

 Department of Agriculture; E. V. McCollum, 

 professor of biochemistry, School of Public 

 Health and Hygiene, Johns Hopkins Uni- 

 versity; L. B Mendel, professor of physio- 

 logical chemistry, Yale University; J. R. 

 Murlin, professor of physiology and director 

 of the department of vital economics, Univer- 

 sity of Rochester; R. A. Pearson, president 

 of the Iowa State Agrictdtural College; H. C. 

 Sherman, professor of food chemistry, Colum- 

 bia University; A. E. Taylor, Rush professor 



