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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIII. No. 1368 



positions with basic salaries of $2,000 to 

 $2,500 a year, as vacancies occur. Applica- 

 tions must be filed with the Civil Service 

 Commission, Washiagton, D. C, prior to the 

 hour of closing business on April 12, 1921. 

 Prospective candidates should apply to the 

 Civil Service Commission, Washington, D. C, 

 for a copy of form 1312, stating the title of 

 the examination desired. 



The late Professor Emil Fischer bequeathed 

 750,000 marks to the Prussian Academy of 

 Sciences, the income of which is to be used to 

 aid young German chemists doing research 

 work in organic, inorganic or physical chem- 

 istry. 



The Journal of the American Medical Asso- 

 ciation reports that the Deutsche medizinische 

 Wochenschrift records that Dr. Lange, of Chi- 

 cago, has sent to Professor Paltauf, of Vienna, 

 7,000,000 crowns collected in America. Also 

 that another sum of $10,000 has been for- 

 warded from America to aid the university 

 professors. It was sent to Professor Pirquet 

 for distribution. The EockefeHer Foundation 

 has also appropriated $60,000 for assistance to 

 the Vienna clinics. This sum is said to be 

 equivalent to 40,000,000 crowns at the present 

 rate of exchange. The salaries of the regular 

 university professors at Vienna were increased 

 materially last year, being 45,000 crowns, in- 

 creasing by 4,000 crowns every fourth year to 

 a maximum of 70,000. The Milnchener medi- 

 zinische Wochenschrift likewise reports that 

 I)r. A. Stein, chief .of the Lenox Hill (form- 

 erly the German) hospital, has recently sent a 

 large sum collected in America to Frankfort- 

 on-the-Main to be applied for scientific pur- 

 poses. 



We learn from the British Medical Journal 

 that the London School of Tropical Medicine 

 has arranged to send an expedition to British 

 Guiana to investigate filariasis with the view 

 of obtaining information as to its prevention 

 and treatment. The expedition is being sent 

 at the request, made shortly before he left the 

 Colonial OfBce, of Lord Mibier, wiho considered 

 that the government required further advice as 

 to the best method of controlling the disease. 



At the suggestion of Sir Patrick Manson the 

 expedition will visit also certain West Indian 

 islands, choosing one, such as Barbados, where 

 the rate of attack is high, and another, such as 

 Grenada, where it is low. It is hoped that by 

 comparing and contrasting the circumstances 

 of two such islands light may be thrown on the 

 .conditions which favor filaria. The leader of 

 ^the expedition is Professor R. T. Leiper, di- 

 ,rector of the helminthology department of the 

 London School of Tropical Medicine; the other 

 pienabers are Dr. G. M. Vevers, demonstrator 

 ,of helminthology in the school; Dr. John 

 Anderson, Dr. Chung Un Lee, and Dr. Mahom- 

 pied Khalil of the Egyptian Medical Service. 

 The expedition will sail this month. 



Sm Ernest Shackleton is planning a new 

 Polar expedition to the Arctic. He expects 

 to be away for two years. According to the 

 London Times he proposes to leave England 

 in May or June next, and will take with him 

 a dozen men, chiefly those who accompanied 

 him on former expeditions. The Norwegian 

 whaling boat Foca I., bought in Christiania 

 for this new expedition, is now lying at 

 Tromso, and wiU be delivered in England next 

 month. In all probability Foca I. will go, in 

 the fitrst instance, to Hudson's Bay, where 150 

 dogs will be taken on board. Thence the ex- 

 pedition will proceed via Baffin's Bay — ^which 

 will be reached, it is hoped, by the end of 

 July, provided ice conditions are favorable — 

 through Lancaster Sound, to Axel Heiberg's 

 Land. Thence Sir E. Shackleton intends to 

 explore the islands eastward to Perry Island, 

 this being the main object of the expedition. 

 These islands have been already visited by 

 Otto Sverdrup, Godfred Hansen, and others, 

 but Shackleton believes that there is still 

 much scientific work to be done in that region. 

 He will procure his equipment in England, 

 and hopes to receive a quantity of the mate- 

 rial which the English used in Archangel 

 during the war. He was, it may be remem- 

 bered, employed by the British government to 

 see that the troops in North Russia were 

 properly equipped for Arctic conditions. 

 Foca I. is said, by experts, to be one of the 



