FSBBUAST 25, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



187 



General W. C. Gorgas and in recognition of 

 his achievements in preventive medicine. Dr. 

 Belisario Porras, president of the Republic of 

 Panama, has proposed the foimdation of an 

 institute of tropical and preventive medicine 

 in connection with the Santo Tomas Hospital 

 at Panama. Pending the erection of a per- 

 manent building it is x>lanned that the insti- 

 tute shall comprise a well-organized labora- 

 tory for research in tropical diseases in the 

 Santo Tomas Hospital. After the laboratory 

 has been established it is contemplated to or- 

 ganize a school of tropical medicine. As it 

 is the wish of President Porras that the insti- 

 tute be a contribution of the Republic of 

 Panama to the memory of General Gorgas, 

 the project vrill be financed by the Panama- 

 nian government. Although the work of the 

 institute will be largely in the interests of the 

 countries of Central and South America, it is 

 hoped that its activities will give it an inter- 

 national scope and that it will have the active 

 cooperation of leaders in tropical and pre- 

 ventive medicine. At a meeting held in 

 Washington, January 31, a provisional board 

 of directors for the United States was 

 appointed, including Admiral William C. 

 Braisted, M.. C, TF. S. 'Na.vy, chairman; Dr. 

 Leo S. Rowe, director of the Pan-American 

 Union; Surgeon- Generals Ireland, Stitt, and 

 Gumming of the Army, !N'avy and Public 

 Health Service, respectively; Hon. J. E. 

 Lefevre, charge d'affaires of the Republic of 

 Panama, in Washington, and Hon. John 

 Bassett Moore, legal representative. A similar 

 board will be named to represent the countries 

 of Central and South America. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



The Smith-Towner bill, creating a Depart- 

 ment of Education and providing federal aid 

 to the states for the promotion of education, 

 has been favorably reported by the House 

 Committee on Education. 



The first Congress of the Universities of 

 the British Empire was held in London in 

 ,1912 when all, to the number of fifty-three, 

 were represented. It was decided to hold the 



congresses every five years, but the war made 

 it impossible to do so in 191Y. The second 

 congress will accordingly be held in the sum- 

 mer of 1921. The number of British univer- 

 sities has in the meantime increased to fifty- 

 eight. Prom July 5 to 8, the representatives 

 will be entertained by Oxford University. 



Professor C. E. Horne, of the University 

 of Porto Rico, has been appointed dean of the 

 college of agriculture and mechanical arts at 

 the University of Mayagiiez, P. R. 



Richard Hamer, M.A. (Toronto), formerly 

 assistant professor of physics at the Carnegie 

 Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, has ac- 

 cepted a Whiting fellowship at the University 

 of California where he is now engaged in 

 research on the " Photo-electric effect." 



Professor Frank Lincoln Stevens, of the 

 University of Illinois, has been appointed 

 Bishop Museum fellow at Yale University 

 for the next imiversity year. Dr. Oskar 

 Baudisch, formerly of the University of 

 Zurich, has been appointed research associate 

 in the university for next year on the recom- 

 mendation of the department of chemistry, 

 approved by the board of permanent officers 

 of the graduate school. Dr. Baudisch's publi- 

 cations include " The assimilation of in- 

 organic nitrogenous compoimds by plants," 

 " The theory of color lakes " and " Complex 

 iron salts." 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



ON A BOTTLE WHICH DRIFTED FROM THE 

 GULF OF MAINE TO THE AZORES 



In a previous note^ the writer has referred 

 to certain drift-bottles set out in the Bay of 

 Fundy for the purpose of, investigating the 

 movements of the water there. Some of these 

 bottles were found on the shores of the Gulf 

 of Maine and indicated by their drift a super- 

 ficial circulation of the water in the Gulf. 

 Since writing the note one of the bottles set 

 out last year off the coast of New-Brunswick 

 has been returned from the Azores. The 

 bottle was set out on August 29, 1919, one mile 

 southeast of Point Lepreaux on the New 



1 Science, N. S., Vol. LII., No. 1349, November 

 5, 1920, page 442. 



