January 3, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



17 



are therefore seeking exhibits from provincial 

 institutions and from private collections. 



It is stated in the British Oeographical 

 Magazine that the Paris Society of Natural 

 Sciences has succeeded in making all arrange- 

 ments for the establishment of a magnificent 

 national park, of which an account vpas given 

 by Dr. Paul Sarasin at the September meet- 

 ing of the society at Altdorf. The park is 

 situated in the canton Grisons, in the lower 

 valley of the Inn, near Zernetz, and consists 

 meantime of an uninterrupted stretch of land 

 about forty square miles in extent, which it is 

 hoped later to increase to nearly eighty square 

 miles. All this vast territory will be wholly 

 withdrawn from human interference, and set 

 aside as a biological preserve. It contains at 

 present chamois, a few bears, and a rich flora. 

 Some paths are to be made, together with 

 blockhouses to suppress poaching, and regular 

 observations will be undertaken. Part of the 

 territory has been leased for twenty-five years, 

 and the rest for ninety-nine years, and the cost 

 of rent, surveillance, and observations are to be 

 defrayed out of the funds supplied by a popu- 

 lar league, with a very low annual subscrip- 

 tion. 



It will be remembered that at the Dundee 

 meeting of the British Association in Sep- 

 tember last the president of the Zoological Sec- 

 tion, Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, F.E.S., took as 

 the subject of his address " The Preservation 

 of Fauna." At the close of the meeting the 

 general committee passed on to the council, 

 for consideration, a resolution, which has now 

 been adopted in the following terms : 



That the British Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science deplores the rapid destruction of 

 fauna and flora throughout the world, and regards 

 it as an urgent duty that steps should be taken, 

 by the formation of suitably placed reserves, or 

 otherwise, to secure the preservation of examples 

 of all species of animals and plants, irrespective 

 of their economic or sporting value, except in 

 eases where it has been clearly proved that the 

 preservation of particular organisms, even in re- 

 stricted numbers and places, is a menace to human 

 welfare. 



The thirtieth expedition of the Liverpool 

 School of Tropical Medicine, under Dr. 



Harald Seidelin, of the Yellow Fever Bureau 

 of the school, sailed from Southampton for 

 Jamaica on December 17. The main object of 

 the expedition is to investigate the disease 

 called " vomiting sickness," which is often 

 fatal to children. The expedition has been 

 promised the support of the English govern- 

 ment and of the government of Jamaica. 



The Ohio Academy of Science held a suc- 

 cessful meeting at the Ohio State University 

 from November 28 to 30, 1912. The program 

 contained about fifty papers on various sub- 

 jects in the fields of zoology, botany, geology 

 and physics. The physicists organized a new 

 section in the academy during the past year 

 and participated in the program of this annual 

 meeting for the first time. Eleven papers on 

 various subjects in physics were presented. 

 Mr. Emerson McMillin, of New York, re- 

 newed his annual donation of $250 for re- 

 search work to be conducted under the au- 

 spices of the academy. This gift has been 

 continued for a number of years and has been 

 the means of assisting a large number of 

 important scientific investigations. The Bio- 

 logical Survey of Ohio, which was organized 

 during the past year through the cooperation 

 of the Ohio State University and fourteen 

 other colleges of the state, was heartily com- 

 mended by resolution and the earnest support 

 of the academy was pledged to the under- 

 taking. Another resolution of importance 

 adopted by the academy was one calling for 

 legislation by the state to prevent the propa- 

 gation of the feeble-minded, insane and habit- 

 ual criminal. Professor L. B. Walton, of 

 Kenyon College, Gambler, and Professor E. L. 

 Rice, of Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, 

 were elected president and secretary, respect- 

 ively, for the coming year. 



The University of Minnesota is offering a 

 series of lectures upon " Modern Developments 

 in Science." These lectures are given by 

 members of the regular staff of instruction, 

 on Wednesday evenings, in the chemistry 

 building. The program of the series follows: 



November 13 — "Practical Applications of tha 

 Gyroscope, ' ' Assistant Professor B. L. Newkirk. 



