June 20, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



937 



his absence Professor Isaiah Bowman, of Yale 

 University, will be the acting secretary of the 

 Association of American Geographers and will 

 prepare the program for the Princeton meet- 

 ing. Professor Bowman is expected to return 

 from South America in September. 



Professor Howard S. Eeed, of the Virginia 

 Polytechnic Institute, who is spending the 

 year in Europe was a delegate to the Tenth 

 International Congress of Agriculture held in 

 Ghent from June 8 to 12. 



Arthur H. Blanchard, professor of high- 

 way engineering in Columbia University, sailed 

 on June 12 to attend the Third International 

 Road Congress, London. Professor Blanchard 

 is a United States reporter on Question 3, 

 " Construction of macadamized roads bound 

 with tarry, bituminous, or asphaltic mate- 

 rials," and Communication 10, " Terminology 

 adopted or to be adopted in each country 

 relating to road construction and mainte- 

 nance." He has been appointed a delegate to 

 the congress by Columbia University, the 

 American Society of Civil Engineers, the 

 National Highways Association and the Amer- 

 ican Road Builders' Association. 



A SPECIAL research meeting was held by the 

 Eoyal Geographical Society of London, on 

 June 4, at which Dr. L. A. Bauer gave an 

 account of the progress of the magnetic sur- 

 vey of the oceans and of the chief results thus 

 far obtained. The paper was discussed by Sir 

 David Gill, the presiding officer, by Drs. Shaw 

 and Chree, and by Captain Creak and others. 



Professor H. H. Donaldson, of the Wistar 

 Institute of Anatomy and Biology, Philadel- 

 phia, delivered the commencement address at 

 the St. Louis University School of Medicine 

 on June 5, the subject being " The Mutual 

 Relations of Medical Progress and the Phy- 

 sician." 



Three Chadwick public lectures, on " Nature 

 and Nurture in Mental Development," are 

 being given by Dr. F. W. Mott, F.R.S., at the 

 Royal Society of Arts, on June 6, 13, and 20. 



Mr. Frederick Albion Ober, an explorer 

 and the author of works on ornithology and 



travel, died in Hackensack, N. J., on June 1, 

 aged sixty-four years. 



Professor L. G. Leon, general secretary of 

 the Mexican Astronomical Society, has died at 

 the age of forty-seven years. 



The death is also announced of Dr. Leon 

 Pervinquiere, lecturer on paleontology in the 

 University of Paris. 



Mr. Arthur James has given as a memorial 

 to his brother the income of a sum of 20,000L 

 for cancer research to the Middlesex Hospital, 

 London. 



The Bureau of Standards, Department of 

 Commerce, expects to begin, soon after July 1, 

 the inspection of railroad scales, starting with 

 some of the scales of the eastern roads. This 

 test will be made as a result of complaints 

 from shippers as to the weights charged for 

 by railroads, which have recently drawn atten- 

 tion to the necessity for some governmental 

 supervision over railroad track scales, as well 

 as scales used by shippers doing an inter- 

 state business. Every grocer's scale is sup- 

 posed to be tested as to its accuracy periodic- 

 ally in order that the purchasers may be 

 assured of getting correct weight. In addi- 

 tion, the city or county sealer sees to it that the 

 purchaser secures full weight or measure, and 

 prosecutes violations of the law by the dealers. 

 On the other hand, the railroads annually col- 

 lect approximately $2,200,000,000 from the 

 shippers of the country on scales which belong 

 to and are operated entirely by the roads, and 

 over which neither the shipper nor the Govern- 

 ment has any control or, indeed, any informa- 

 tion as to the correctness of the scales. In order 

 to secvire information that will enable the Gov- 

 ernment to draw reliable conclusions as to what 

 shall be done to guarantee the accuracy of rail- 

 road weights, and also for the purpose of aiding 

 the railroads to install correct scales, the 

 Bureau of Standards was allowed an appro- 

 priation of $25,000 by Congress for the pur- 

 chase of a test-weight car equipment. The 

 contract for this car has already been let, and 

 it is expected that the car will be delivered soon 

 after July 1, when the appropriation becomes 

 available. The equipment ordered by the 



