116 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIII. No. 1362 



The third half-yearly report on the progress 

 of civil aviation in England has been issued as 

 a White Paper. According to the abstract in 

 Nature it is pointed out that regular air serv- 

 ices have now been established from London 

 to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, and that 

 passenger, mail and goods traffic is increasing. 

 The total number of aeroplane miles flown in 

 the half-year ending September 30, 1920, is 

 nearly 700,000, whilst the aggregate since May, 

 1919, exceeds 1,000,000. The number of pas- 

 sengers by air exceeds 30,000, whilst the goods 

 carried weigh little less than 90 tons. In value 

 the imported goods exceed £500,000, whilst the 

 exports and re-exports are about half that 

 amount. As part of the mail services, about 

 50,000 letters have passed each way between 

 London-Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam with 

 a regularity which is notable. Of the three 

 routes the best shows 94 per cent, of deliveries 

 within three hours of schedule time, and the 

 worst 76 per cent. As part of the organization 

 for further improving these records, it is 

 stated that the wireless direction-finding appa- 

 ratus installed at Croydon has proved its value, 

 enabling aircraft to correct their course in 

 thick weather. The equipment of aircraft with 

 apparatus for wireless telephony is extending, 

 as it is found to be of considerable assistance 

 to navigation. The fatal accidents are given 

 as in the ratio of 1 per 50,000 miles flown or 

 j>er 5,000 passengers carried. The interna- 

 tional character of flying is brought out in a 

 statement of activities in other countries. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



Following the investigations made by Pro- 

 fessor S. C. Prescott, instructor in industrial 

 biology of the department of biology and 

 public health of the Institute of Technology, 

 who has just returned from Seattle, where he 

 studied the work of the College of Fisheries of 

 the University of Washington, it has been an- 

 nounced that the administrative committee 

 of the institute is considering the inclusion 

 of a course in the scientific problems of fish 

 culture and problems of the fisheries. Estab- 

 lishment of a college of fisheries similar to 

 that of the University of Washington has also 



been suggested to Harvard University, by 

 leading men in the fishing industry at Boston. 



Heretofore Brazil has had no regularly 

 coordinated university though she has had in- 

 dividual faculties vested with the power to 

 confer degrees. The faculties of law and 

 medicine and the polytechnic institute of Rio 

 de Janeiro have now been combined and will 

 be known henceforth as the University of Rio 

 de Janeiro. 



Dr. John M. Thomas, since 1908 president 

 of Middlebury College, has accepted the presi- 

 dency of the Pennsylvania State College. 



Dr. E. K. Marshall, professor of pharma- 

 cology in Washington University, has been 

 elected professor of physiology in the Johns 

 Hopkins Medical School, beginning in July. 

 Dr. Marshall received his bachelor's degree 

 from Charleston College, 1908, and the doc- 

 torate in philosophy and medicine from the 

 Johns Hopkins University. 



At Tale University the following lecturers 

 in special applications of organic chemistry in 

 the industries have been appointed : Dr. Ralph 

 H. McKee, professor of chemical engineering, 

 Columbia University; Dr. Moses L. Crossley, 

 research chemist, Calco Chemical Co.; Dr. 

 P. A. Levene, biochemist. Rockefeller Institute 

 for Medical Research; Dr. David Wesson, 

 technical manager. The Southern Cotton Oil 

 Co. ; Dr. Harry N". Holmes, professor of chem- 

 istry, Oberlin College, and Dr. Elmer V. Mc- 

 Collum, professor of chemistry. School of Hy- 

 giene, Joluis Hopkins University. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



ASTRONOMICAL RESEARCH IN THE SOUTH- 

 EASTERN STATES 



To THE Editor op Science: In Science, 

 December 10, 1920, page 545, I commented 

 upon the interesting fact that the observatory 

 of the University of Virginia, named after the 

 donor, Mr. MeCormick of Chicago, is the only 

 active observatory in om- southeastern states. 

 My further comment that Barnard and other 

 astronomical enthusiasts, born and grown to 

 manhood in the former slave-holding states, 

 had found their opportunities in the great 



