PECBkBEB 26, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



589 



Charles A. Ballance, on December 11 on " The 

 surgery of the heart." 



At a meeting of the Eoyal Aeronautical 

 Society at the Eoyal Society of Arts, on 

 November 10, Dr. C. A. Swan gave a lecture 

 on some physical and psychical efPects of 

 altitude. 



^ According to the Madrid oorreapondent of 

 ■the London Times an International Confer- 

 ence of the Mediterranean has been held in 

 that city. The principal object of the confer- 

 ence was to discuss the organization of a per- 

 inanent central office of fisheries to be opened 

 at Monaco. This office will be formed of dele- 

 gates from each Mediterranean nation, and 

 ■will allot and centralize the fisheries research 

 ■work to be undertaken in the spring and au- 

 tumn campaign, lasting from April 1 to May 

 31 and from October 1 to November 30 of each 

 year, by the countries interested. The results 

 of the work done will be published by the cen- 

 tral office in a bulletin printed in the French, 

 ■Spanish, Italian and English languages. Four 

 ships will be at the disposal of the central office, 

 the Hirondelle II. belonging to the Prince of 

 Monaco, the specially built Italian ship Tre- 

 mitti, and a French and a Spanish ship not yet 

 detailed. The central office will cotordinate the 

 work hitherto carried out by each nation sepa- 

 rately, with a view to developing the fishing 

 industry by the scientific investigation of the 

 habits of edible fishes, their migration and 

 Bpa'wning periods. The central office will also 

 coordinate the work of exploring the bottom of 

 the Mediterranean and the study of its surface 

 and under currents, about which very little is 

 known at present, and the importance of which 

 in the Straits of Gibraltar and in the Darda- 

 nelles is very great. Without waiting for the 

 spring campaign the Italian government is 

 starting work next month in the Dardanelles, 

 at which two Spanish scientific men have been 

 invited to assist. The first work of the spring 

 campaign will probably be in the Straits of 

 Gibraltar. 



An oil shale laboratory, with an initial ex- 

 penditure of at least $20,000, is to be estab- 

 lished at the University of Colorado at Boul- 



der immediately by the United States Bureau 

 of Mines and the state of Colorado. The lab- 

 oratory is to be operated under the department 

 of mechanical engineering, and will be under 

 the direction of Professor John A. Hunter. 

 The department at present maintains an oil 

 laboratory which can be utilized to some ex- 

 tent in the new work. To house the machinery 

 and equipment which will be necessary for the 

 experimental treatment of shales a separate 

 building will be erected. The Federal Bureau 

 of Mines will send men to the university to 

 look after the government's end of the work, 

 and it is expected that eventually the detpart- 

 ment will grow to the magnitude of the radium 

 research laboratory established several years 

 ago at the School of Mines at Golden. The 

 last named work at present requires the serv- 

 ices of a dozen men and occupies a three-story 

 building. The new department is designed 

 for the research and experimentation consid- 

 eration necessary for the exploitation of the 

 huge deposits of oil shales in western Colorado 

 and Utah on a commercial basis. 



The board of directors of the American 

 Electrochemical Society has approved and 

 ordered sent to members of Congress and the 

 officials of the War Department the following 

 resolution concerning the Chemical Warfare 

 Service : 



Whereas, The development of seience and re- 

 search is of paramount importance not only to the 

 military establishment of the United States, but to 

 the welfare and security of the entire nation; and 

 ■ Whereas, The bill introduced into Congress for 

 (the reorganization of the Army (Senate 2171 — 

 66th Congress) is not only clearly destructive of 

 the Chemical Warfare Service, but is so drawn as 

 to belittle all scientific and technical work in the 

 Army and make it subordinate to the unsoientific- 

 eally trained ofiicer: 



Therefore, te it Resolved, That the American 

 'Electrochemical Society urges strongly that any 

 legislation for the reorganization of the Army shall 

 provide for the continuing of the Chemical War- 

 fare Service as a separate staff bureau as at pres- 

 ent; shall provide for the commissioning of staff 

 officers in the corps and departments in which they 

 are to serve; and shall in general accord to the 

 .technical man full recognition and opportunity 



