824 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 232. 



the portion of the report for which he is respon- 

 sible is clear, concise and practical. Dr. Cun- 

 ningham's report contains a full account of 

 phosphorus necrosis, and is illustrated by 

 diagrams showing various stages of the dis- 

 eases in the teeth and jaws. This condition 

 is the most frequent and most obvious of 

 the poisonous effects of the phosphorus ; it 

 is not by any means the only one. He also 

 gives in full the precautions which should be 

 adopted in all factories for combating the in- 

 jurious effects of the poisonous fumes. There 

 are various appendices which give in detail the 

 facts upon which the main body of the report 

 is founded. In the match industry two forms 

 of phosphorus are used : yelloiv phoaj)horus, 

 which is highly poisonous, and gives off poison- 

 ous fumes which consist mainly of low oxides 

 of phosphorus ; and red phosphorus, which does 

 not fume, and is hardly poisonous even if swal- 

 lowed. Then, as is well known, there are two 

 principal varieties of matches used : ' safety 

 matches,' which are tipped with a composition 

 free from phosphorus; the surface on which they 

 strike is covered with a composition of which red 

 phosphorus forms a part. The ' strike any- 

 where ' matches are tipped with a paste con- 

 taining yellow phosphorus in a proportion which 

 varies from 3 to 30 per cent. It is in the mak- 

 ing of such matches only that danger arises. In 

 regard to them the commission reports : "So far 

 as the home consumption is concerned, it does 

 not seem that the prohibition of the use of yellow 

 phosphorus would involve any serious hard- 

 ship, and this course has already been adopted 

 by Denmark, and decided upon by Switzerland, 

 care being taken at the same time to prohibit 

 the use or importation of yellow phosphorus 

 matches. But neither of these countries has or 

 had any export trade to lose. The United 

 Kingdom, Belgium, Sweden and Japan manu- 

 facture largely for export, and it is feared that 

 immediate prohibition of yellow phosphorus 

 would at once divert that portion of our trade 

 to other countries, unless international agree- 

 ment upon the subject was arrived at. If grave 

 injury to the health of the workpeople were in- 

 evitable the loss of the trade might well be re- 

 garded as the smaller sacrifice of the two, but 

 the result of the inquiry points to a different con- 



clusion. With due selection of workpeople, 

 strict medical and dental supervision, proper 

 structural and administrative conditions, and 

 substitution of machinery for hand labor, it 

 seems that the dangers hitherto attending the 

 use of yellow phosphorus can be overcome." 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



Mes. Jane L. Stanford has executed deads 

 conveying to Stanford University the greater 

 part of her property. 



Washington University has received a 

 further gift of $150,000 from Mr. Samuel Cup- 

 pies for the support of the department of Civil, 

 Mechanical and Electrical Engineering and 

 Architecture for five years, and a dormitory to 

 cost $100,000 from Mrs. John E. Liggett, in 

 memory of her late husband. 



Mr. Andrew Carnegie has given $50,000 

 to the Stevens Institute, Hoboken, for the 

 erection of an engineering laboratory. 



The quarter of a million pounds required to 

 inaugurate the University of Birmingham has 

 been collected. The anonymous donor who 

 has already subscribed liberally towards the 

 fund has offered to give £12,500 if the total 

 amount be raised to £300,000. 



Mount Holyoke College has received a gift 

 of $10,000 from James Talcott, of New York, to 

 complete the botanical gardens and plant- 

 houses which are now under way at the insti- 

 tution. 



A College of Comparative Medicine is about 

 to be established at Harvard University. A 

 chair of comparative pathology has been en- 

 dowed by the fund given by Mr. George Fabian, 

 and appropriations have been made from the 

 bequest of the late Henry L. Pierce for a chair 

 of comparative physiology and for laboratories. 

 It is intended that the college shall perform the 

 functions of the Pasteur Institute, of Paris, and 

 the Jenner Institute, of London. 



The Rev. W. H. P. Faunce, pastor of the 

 Fifth Avenue Baptist Church, New York City, 

 has been elected President of Brown University. 



Professor Henry G. Jesxjp, who has held 

 the chair of botany at Dartmouth College for 

 twenty-two years, has resigned. 



