462 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LI. No. 1323 



The Lake Laboratoiy, whicli is now i)ex- 

 manently located at Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie, 

 will open for tlie summer of 1920 on June 21. 

 Its facilities will be available for investigators 

 imtil the middle of August. Courses for stu- 

 dents in both plant and animal ecology, ento- 

 mology, the structure of fresh-water verte- 

 brates, and in icthyology will be conducted 

 until August 1. The staff will be composed 

 of Professor E. C. Osborn, director. Dr. F. H. 

 Krecker, acting director. Professor S. E. 

 Williams, of Miami University, Professor M. 

 E. Stickney, of Dennison University, and Dr. 

 0. H. Kennedy, of the Ohio State University. 

 Some studies on fisheries problems were car- 

 ried on last year and others are to be started 

 during the coming session. It is desired to 

 have the laboratory as well supplied as possible 

 with recent biological literature and therefore 

 investigators will be of direct service to the 

 laboratory by including it in their mailing 

 list. All reprints of such articles and all cor- 

 respondence, should be addressed to the Lake 

 Laboratory, Ohio State University, Columbus, 

 Ohio. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



A BILL recently passed by the Maryland 

 legislature combines the Maryland State Col- 

 ege of Agriciilture with the University of 

 Maryland School of Medicine under the name 

 of the University of Maryland. The legisla- 

 ture appropriated $42,500, each year, for the 

 medical school for the next two years and in 

 addition appropriated $186,476 for the other 

 departments of the university for 1921, and 

 $165,416 for 1922. An appropriation of 

 $203,000 was made for buildings and equip- 

 ment. 



Dr. William H. Nichols, of the General 

 Chemical Company, has given $100,000 to- 

 ward the endowment fvmd of New York 

 University. 



It is planned to erect a new chemistry 

 building at Dartmouth College, which will 

 involve an expenditure of about $350,000. 

 Construction will be begun immediately. 



The board of trustees of the College of the 

 City of New Tork has authorized the grant- 

 ing of degrees of chemical, civil, electrical, 

 and mechanical engineer on the satisfactory 

 completion of a curriculum requiring five 

 years. The announcement of the details of 

 the curricula will shortly be issued. This is 

 one of the steps taken by the College of the 

 City of New York in the direction of closer 

 cooperation between industry and colleges 

 and colleges and imiversities. 



Assistant Professor George E. Nichols, of 

 Yale University, has been appointed to the 

 teaching staff of the University of Michigan 

 Biological Station for the coming summer 

 session. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



SINGING SANDS 



Professor Richardson's recent article about 

 " Singing Sands " of Lake Michigan, suggests 

 to me that in analyzing the beach sands the 

 students may have taken needless trouble, for 

 tihe cause is certainly not dependent on their 

 composition. 



The fascinating pages of Marco Polo have 

 numerous references to this phenomena, more 

 or less exaggerated and tinged with supersti- 

 tion, and many travelers have discussed and 

 some scientists have studied it. 



A volume by Hanns Vischer confirms the 

 previous statements of Commandant Gadel, 

 Concerning the " Vioiee of the mountain " near 

 the oasis of Bilma, he, Vischer, says : 



There is a dark and forbidding rock frowndng 

 over BUma near the southern end of the oasis. 

 This mountain warns the inhabitants of the ap- 

 proaching arrival of a caravan; when it "sings" 

 the men then know that a caravan is close at hand. 

 The noise is produced by the blowing of the wind 

 from a certain direction through crevices of the 

 torn rock. 

 , Says Gadel: 



On the sixth of October in the morning, the old 

 Liman came to tell me that the mountain had 

 spoken. On the eighth of October, at ten in the 

 mioming, the first Asbin caravan arrived, consist- 

 ing of 4,851 camels and 857 men. The mountain 

 had not lied. 



