Mat 16, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



745 



no plans were formulated for so pretentious 

 an undertaking. Based upon this world map, 

 it is proposed also to prepare an international 

 aeronautical map of the world on scale of 

 1 : 200,000, and an oiBcial conference to deter- 

 mine the details is to be convened. 



The delegates voted in approval of the 

 proposition that the most important problems 

 to be settled in connection with the interna- 

 tional exploration of the north Atlantic Ocean 

 relate to the size, the regional extent and the 

 nature of periodic variations of water layers 

 to the depth of 1,000 meters, and it was recom- 

 mended to continue systematic observations 

 upon ocean currents and upon the temperature 

 and salinity near the surface of the sea. 



The proposition of the Danish Geographical 

 Society was approved to invite the geograph- 

 ical societies of Rome, Madrid, Lisbon, 

 Geneva, London, Berlin, Vienna, New York, 

 Paris, St. Petersburg, Copenhagen, Brussels, 

 Amsterdam, Christiania, Stockholm and 

 Budapest to meet in Denmark in 1914 for 

 the purpose of organizing a World Union of 

 Geographical Societies. A large committee 

 was appointed with one or more members from 

 each country possessing ancient maps of its 

 domain, for the refection of these maps, these 

 gentlemen being charged with the preparation 

 of a catalogue to be printed in a geographical 

 journal before the opening of the next con- 

 gress. Dr. E. L. Stevenson, of the Hispano- 

 American Society of New York, was made the 

 representative for Spain. 



Much enthusiasm was shown in approving 

 a proposition to organize in each country dur- 

 ing the summer vacation periods of the higher 

 institutions of learning, international courses 

 of instruction in geography, in which foreign 

 savants would be invited to take part. The 

 plan contemplates also the founding of an 

 Liternational Geographical Institute, the seat 

 of which is left for later determination, this 

 institute to direct and coordinate the studies 

 and all geographical initiatives which have an 

 international character. 



The difficult questions concerned with the 

 confusing duplicate place names on interna- 

 tional frontiers (such, for example, as the 



Alps and Pyrenees) it was voted to refer to a 

 commission with a view to securing the gen- 

 eral use in each case of a single term, or, when 

 this seems impracticable, terms which are in 

 correspondence. After a warm discussion the 

 proposal to add Spanish to the four official 

 languages of the congress was definitely and 

 decisively rejected. The eleventh interna- 

 tional congress it was decided to hold in St. 

 Petersburg in 1916, with a rather general 

 understanding that the next succeeding con- 

 gress would be convened in Vienna. 



The social events included a reception at 

 the palace of the Campidoglio and a compli- 

 mentary dinner tendered to the delegates by 

 the committee of organization. Delightful 

 local excursions were made to Tivoli, Ostia, 

 Terni and the Alban Hills; and after adjourn- 

 ment there were longer journeys to the Po 

 Valley and Prealpes on the one hand, and 

 upon the other to Naples (Mt. Vesuvius and 

 the Campi Plilegrceii), Sicily (ascent of Mt. 

 Etna) and Tripoli. 



The weather throughout the meeting waa 

 perfect and the eampagna at its best in its 

 spring garlands of flowers; but it may be 

 questioned whether Rome is not, even without 

 these allurements, too interesting in itself to 

 be an ideal seat for international congresses. 

 Wm. Herbert Hobbs 



April 15, 1913 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

 Professor J. M. Aldrich, the circumstances 

 of whose enforced retirement from the pro- 

 fessorship of zoology and entomology at the 

 University of Idaho, are described by Pro- 

 fessor Vernon L. Kellogg in this issue of 

 Science, has accepted a position in the Bureau 

 of Entomology, U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture. 



The American Geographical Society has 

 conferred its Charles P. Daly gold medal upon 

 Dr. Alfred H. Brooks for his geological and 

 geographical work in Alaska. 



The Georg Neumayer gold medal was be- 

 stowed upon Dr. L. A. Bauer, director of the 

 Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the 



