86 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIII. No. 1361 



The meeting at which the presentation was 

 made was devoted to a lecture on the future of 

 polar exploration by Frank Debenham, who 

 served as a geologist on Captain Scott's last 

 expedition. Several other polar explorers were 

 present, among them Sir Ernest Shackelton 

 and Dr. Q. C. Simpson, the present director of 

 the Meteorological Office. Mr. Debenham's 

 lecture was a reply to the question which is so 

 often asked: What is the good of polar ex- 

 ploration ? He justified it on commercial, nat- 

 ional, scientific and ethical grounds. On the 

 first ground he claimed that the industries 

 which had been developed as a result of Arctic 

 and Antarctic exploration had yielded far 

 larger returns than the cost of all the polar 

 expeditions that ever sailed. There are world- 

 wide problems requiring solution which can 

 not be studied adequately without the aid of 

 observations in the polar regions. 



Mr. Debenham announced that the trustees 

 of the Captain Scott memorial fund had 

 decided to establish a polar research institute. 

 It will be attached to the School of Geography 

 at Cambridge University, anl will comprise a 

 library, a museum, and a small set of research 

 rooms. 



ANTHROPOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE 

 CANADIAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION 



The Arctic Board, which is a body com- 

 posed of a number of scientists in the employ 

 of the Canadian government, has been arrang- 

 ing for the publications of a series of scientific 

 monographs based on the results of the 

 Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-1918. The 

 complete report is planned to take up sixteen 

 volumes, many of which are subdivided into 

 parts. A considerable number of the papers 

 dealing with zoology and botany have already 

 been issued. 



The last 5 volumes of the series are to be 

 devoted to anthropology. The complete an- 

 thropological schedule so far as it can be 

 definitely planned at the present date is as 

 follows : 



VOLUME XII : LIFE OF THE COPPER ESKIMOS 



The Life of the Copper Eskimos. By D. Jenness. 

 (Im press). 



VOLUME XIII: PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND TECH- 

 NOLOGY OF THE COPPER ESKIMOS 



Part A: The Physical CSiaracteristies of the 

 Copper Eskimos. By D. Jenness (in part). (In 

 preparation.) 



Part B: Technology of the Copper Eskimos. 

 (To be prepared.) 



VOLUME XTV: ESKIMO FOLK-LORE AND LANGUAGE 



Part A: Folk-Lore, with Texts from Alaska, the 

 Mackenzie Delta, and Coronation Gulf. By D. 

 Jenness. (In preparation.) 



Part B: Comparative Grammar and Vocabulary 

 of the Eskimo Dialects of Point Barrow, the Mac- 

 kenzie Delta, and Coronation Gulf. By D. Jenness. 

 (In preparation.) 



VOLUME XV: ESKIMO STRING FIGURES AND SONGS 



Part A: String Figures of the Eskimo. By D. 

 Jenness. (Beady for press.) 



Part B: Songs of the Copper Eskimos. By D. 

 Jenness (in part). (In preparation.) 



VOLUME XVI : ARCHEOLOGY 



Contributions to the Archeology of Western 

 Arctic America. (To ie prepared.) 

 ADMINISTRATION OF THE ALASKA FORESTS 



Secretary Meredith, of the Department of 

 Agriculture, approved the establishment on 

 January 1 of a new National Forest District, 

 for Alaska. This will be known as the Alaska 

 District, with headquarters at Juneau, and 

 will be in charge of Charles H. Flory, as dis- 

 trict forester. Mr. Flory has been superin- 

 tendent of Alaska National Forests for the 

 past two years, with headquarters at Ketchi- 

 kan. The new district headquarters will re- 

 main at Ketchikan until July 1. 



Colonel W. B. Greeley, the chief forester of 

 the Forest Service, spent some time in Alaska 

 last summer, securing information on condi- 

 tions there, and as the result of his trip recom- 

 mended to Secretary Meredith the establish- 

 ment of a separate National Forest District. 

 There are two National Forests in Alaska, the 

 Tongass in southeast Alaska and the Chugach 

 in the Prince William Sound country. These 

 forests are now included in the North Pacific 

 District and are under direction of District 

 Forester George H. Cecil, in Portland. 



The Alaska National Forests now become a 

 separate district because of their increasing 

 importance as a source of pulp material and 



