OCTDBEE 8, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



339 



in Animal Nutrition in connection with, the 

 University of Aberdeen and the North of 

 Scotland College of Agriculture. The new 

 institute, which will be named the Eowett Re- 

 search Institute, has secured the services of 

 Dr. J. B. Orr, the director, recently associated 

 with Professor E. P. Cathoart in the conduct 

 of a study of the energy output of soldiers, and 

 Dr. E. H. A. Plimmer, chief biochemist in the 

 institute, a research worker in the Physiolog- 

 ical Institute of University College, London. 



Professor George C. Comstock, director of 

 the Washburn Observatory of the University 

 of "Wisconsin, forwards the following extract 

 from a letter to be published as a warning to 

 prospective victims : " A short time ago, a 

 man representing himself to be a nephew of 

 youi-s and giving his name as Mr. E. L. 

 Denny, of 64 Riverside Drive, New York 

 City, obtained a loan of $8.00 from me after 

 putting up a good story of having lost his 

 pocket-book, being a stranger in the city, etc. 

 I have not heard of him since. I have reason 

 to believe that he is a clever ' crook ' work- 

 ing among college men." 



The British Ministry of Agriculture is ar- 

 ranging a series of investigations and exhaus- 

 tive experiments with regard to certain aspects 

 of foot-and-mouth disease, and for this pur- 

 pose the Admiralty is placing obsolete war- 

 ships at the disposal of the Ministry for use 

 as iloating laboratories. The ships will be 

 fitted with every essential for the study of the 

 disease, and it is understood that there is no 

 intention of disclosing off which coast the 

 ships will be stationed. An official of the min- 

 istry informed a representative of The Times 

 that the experiments are to be carried out at 

 sea to obviate any risk of the disease spread- 

 ing from the experimental station. The in- 

 vestigators will include members of the staff 

 of the ministry and other scientists, including 

 several distinguished foreigners. In dealing 

 with a disease of which the virus is presumed 

 to be ultra-microscopical, and of which the 

 contagion may be air-borne, the difficulties 

 must be very considerable, and the research 

 may last for years. A previous attempt was 



made to solve the problem by sending a com- 

 miission of investigation to India, where it was 

 found that cattle were immune. The necessity 

 of stamping out the disease, it was pointed out, 

 is imperative, if England is to maintain her 

 large cattle exports. Foreign buyers will not 

 take the risk of purchasing cattle in England 

 for transport to the Continent while the 

 danger of foot-and-mouth disease exists. So 

 contagious is it that a healthy animal, passing 

 along a road that had been traversed twelve 

 hours previously by an infected animal, may 

 contract the disease. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE SILURIAN AND 

 DEVONIAN IN SHROPSHIRE AND FRANCE 



During the German occupation of Lille, 

 Professor Charles Barrois and his able assist- 

 ant. Dr. Pierre Pruvost, being confined to the 

 city, busied themselves as much as was al- 

 lowed studying the many undetermined fossils 

 that had been accumulated during the past 

 twenty years by various coal companies of the 

 Calais basin. Not only this, but they also 

 studied in greater detail the local stratigraphy, 

 with the result that we now have a preliminary 

 statement from them entitled " Sur les 

 couches de passage du Silurien au Devonien 

 dans le bassin houiller du Pas-de-Calais."^ 

 The complete work is to follow later. 



The chief conclusion reached is that the line 

 between the Silurian and Devonian should 

 be drawn at the base of the lower Gedinnian, 

 which in the Ardois is the Bois-Bernard 

 arkose immediately beneath the tentaculite 

 shales of Mericourt ; in the Ardennes and Bra- 

 bant this is the conglomerate of Fepin, which 

 lies at the base of the Mondrepuits shale. To 

 make this matter clearer, the authors also cor- 

 relate the various horizons studied by them 

 with those of Shropshire, with rather surpris- 

 ing results. All of the " passage beds " (Teme- 

 side shales at the top, followed beneath by the 

 Downton Castle sandstone (== Tilestones), and 

 the Ludlow bone-bed) are referred to the base 

 of the Lower Devonian. The Silurian of the 



1 Comptes rendus, Acad, des Sciences, Vol. 167, 

 1918, pp. 705-710. 



