June 4, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



563 



to complete the scheme by providing the addi- 

 tional buildings and plant required for the 

 synthesis of ammonia and its oxidation to 

 nitric acid and nitrates suitable for the manu- 

 facture of explosives and fertilizers. It is 

 iinderstood that the company has acquired a 

 large amount of additional land and that it 

 intends to develop the project on a very large 

 scale. The factory has been re-designed on a 

 peace as distinct from its former war basis, 

 and in many particulars the new plant will 

 represent a substantial advance, both in the 

 ammonia and nitric acid sections, on any- 

 thing previously used in Germany. 



SPANISH EDITION OF THE JOURNAL OF THE 

 AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION 



At the meeting in New Orleans the board 

 of trustee's presented the following report: 



The first year of the Spanish edition of Tlie 

 Journal has been reasonably satisfactory. Its pub- 

 lication was undertaken with some hesitancy be- 

 cause it meant a venture in an entirely new field. 

 Other periodicals had been published in this coun- 

 try in the Spanish language for circulation in 

 South and Central America, but their publication 

 was undertaken for commercial reasons. Our 

 Spanish edition entered the field solely as a scien- 

 tific periodical for educative and scientific pur- 

 poses, and it has ' been received with approbation. 

 The field was a difficult one to work in the first 

 place because there was not available any physi- 

 cian's directory, or any even fairly reliable list of 

 physicians of standing. However, a list of such 

 physicians has been gradually assembled so that 

 now there is a fairly reliable one at the association 

 headquarters. Included in this list are the physi- 

 cians of Central and South America and the Philip- 

 pine Islands. 



Another difficulty has been the mailing facilities ; 

 these have been anything but satisfactory. Under 

 normal conditions it takes a long time for a com- 

 munication to reach the South American countries, 

 with the exception of those bordering on the Gulf 

 of Mexico. 



, At the end of the year the subscription list com- 

 prised 2,908 names. To those who appreciate the 

 difficulties and know the conditions that prevailed 

 at the beginning, this must be regarded as quite 

 satisfactory. Roughly, this circulation is as fol- 

 lows: The largest number of subscribers naturally 

 are in Mexico — 539; in Cuba next, 530; Argentina, 



270; Brazil, 194 (in Brazil Portuguese is the lan- 

 guage in general use, therefore it is rather remark- 

 able that this number has been secured there) ; 

 Chile, 179; Spain, 142; Peru, 101. The rest of the 

 circulation is in Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, 

 Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Para- 

 guay, Salvador, Santo Domingo, Uruguay, Vene- 

 zuela, Panama and Porto Rico. 



It is not to be expected that this journal could 

 be published without a loss for the first few years. 

 As will be remembered, the venture was under- 

 taken at the request of the International Health 

 Board of the Rockefeller Foundation, which agreed 

 to pay half the loss. It should be explained in 

 this connection that the number of copies of each 

 issue printed was 4,500 to 5,500, and that the ex- 

 cess above those subscribed for was sent out as 

 sample copies. Hereafter, of course, there will be 

 fewer sample copies distributed; consequently a 

 less expense with an increased income. During 

 the months of January, February and March the 

 circulation has been steadily increasing. The ac- 

 tual loss to the association to date has been less 

 than $10,000, which amount promises to be re- 

 turned with more than gratifying results within 

 the first five-year period of its publication. 



GRANTS FOR RESEARCH MADE BY THE 



AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 



The Committee on Grants of the associa- 

 tion held a meeting in April, and distributed 

 grants amounting to forty-five hundred dollars 

 as given below. The next meeting of the 

 committee will be in connection with the 

 annual meeting of the assocation in Decem- 

 ber, when grants for the year 1920 will be 

 made. Applications or suggestions in regard 

 to grants may be made to any member of the 

 committee, and should be received before 

 December 1. The present membership is: 

 Henry Crew, chairman; W. B. Cannon, R. T. 

 Chamberlin, G. IN". Lewis, George T. Moore, 

 G. H. Parker, Robert M. Terkes, and Joel 

 Stebbins, secretary. 



Following are the grants for 1919 : 



MATHEMATICS 



Three hundred dollars to Professor Solomon 

 Lefschetz, of Kansas University, to assist in the 

 publication of his memoir on algebraJie surfaces, 

 which was awarded the Bordin prize of the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences. 



