September 3, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



217 



John. SaUberg himself was only twenty-six 

 years old when he was appointed teacher in 

 zoology at the University of Helsingfors. At 

 the same institution he was professor extra- 

 ordinarius in entomology from 1883 to 1918. 



John Sahlberg's son is Dr. Uunio Saalas, 

 Helsingfors (now Helsinki), an entomologist 

 of very high standing and of international rep- 

 utation. 



John Sahlberg was a man of firm character 

 and deeply interested in Christian movements 

 and associations, especially the Y. M. C. A. 

 and a Christian association of Finnish Uni- 

 versity students. He also was a very enthusi- 

 astic spokesman for prohibition, especially ad- 

 vocating it among young men. He has 

 puhlished and lectured on prohibition and 

 Christian subjects. 



A. G. BoviNG 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



THE PUBLICATION OF SCIENTIFIC BOOKS IN 

 FRANCE 



The Paris correspondent of the Journal of 

 the American Medical Association writes: 



The paper shortage and publishing difficulties 

 still arouse a lively interest. M. Duerot, in an in- 

 formative article in the Bevue Scientiflque on the 

 subject of scientific publishing in France, showed 

 that if there was a crisis in the publication of lit- 

 erary works, this was particularly acute in the 

 case of works on pure science. In fact, the ele- 

 ments of bookmaking have increased considerably 

 in cost as compared to prices before the war : com- 

 positors and pressmen are paid from three to four 

 times as much as in 1914, the price of paper is 

 five times as great, and these factors contribute to 

 make the cost of a book from three to four times 

 as much as before the war. Now, the income of 

 the intellectual classes, the only purchasers of theo- 

 retic works, has barely doubled, while the budgets 

 of public institutions, libraries, laboratories, etc., 

 have been greatly reduced. A book, even one that 

 constitutes a veritable working tool, is not a prime 

 necessity. It should not, therefore, exceed a cer- 

 tain price, above which it wiU not sell, and at the 

 present moment, the maximum has apparently 

 been reached. 



This condition, which constitutes a veritable 

 danger to the advance of science, is not peculiar to 

 France. A statistical study by M. Fernand Roches 



in the Correspondant discloses the progressive de- 

 crease of the number of publications in the prin- 

 cipal countries since 1914. Exclusive of period- 

 icals and musical works, the fig^ires show that a 

 number of books published in 1918, as compared 

 to 1917, decreased in France from 5,054 to 4,484; 

 in Great Britain from 8,131 to 7,716; in Italy from 

 8,349 to 5,902; in the United States from 10,060 

 to 9,237, and in Germany from 14,910 to 14,743. 

 The production dn 1919 is not yet known, but it 

 was probably less than in 1918. 



It is interesting to note that the decrease in 

 Italy totaled 2,447 books; in the United States 

 823; in France 570, and in England 415; but Ger- 

 many, defeated and disorganized, showed a de- 

 crease of only 167 works. 



So far as French medical books are concerned, 

 statistics recently published in the Bibliographie de 

 la France indicate that the number of such works, 

 which had suffered a great decrease before the 

 war (from 1,230 in 1910 to 721 in 1914), had 

 again greatly declined in 1915, namely, to 202 

 works. A tendency to improvement was noted in 

 1916, and again in 1917, when 292 books appeared. 

 However, in 1918, a new decline set in which it was 

 believed would be accentuated in 1919, but nothing 

 of the sort occurred and in that year 309 new 

 books appeared. 



CHEMICAL RESEARCH IN LONDON 



A COMMITTEE presided over by Professor J. 

 F. Thorpe, of the Imperial College of Science 

 and Technology, London, has made a report 

 recommending the creation of an All-India 

 Chemical Service, the establishment of a 

 central research institute at Dehra Dun, and 

 of a similar laboratory in each province near 

 the chief seat of industry. The broad object 

 is to assist by scientific investigation in over- 

 coming the difficulties and deficiencies in 

 Indian industrial organization pointed out by 

 the Holland Commission. 



The summary in the London Times states 

 that while it is the intention of Professor 

 Thorpe and his colleagues that the research 

 institutes should be staffed mainly by Indians, 

 it is manifest that the universities and insti- 

 tutes of the country do not provide adequate 

 training for the research work which will fall 

 to the service. The qualifications laid down 

 are an honor degree in the first and second 

 class or its equivalent; a suitable training in 



