144 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 709 



from Au^st 15 to October 15. Included in 

 the program^ and associated with an interna- 

 tional section for physical apparatus, in cele- 

 bration of Torricelli a prize of 2,000 lire is 

 offered for an instrument in connection with 

 meteorology or physics of the earth. The in- 

 strument must be exhibited, and show real 

 novelty, either in its principle or in its appli- 

 cation of a principle already known. For 

 further particulars application should be made 

 to Dr. W. N. Shaw, F.R.S., Meteorological 

 Office, 63 Victoria Street, London, S.W. 



Nature says: "At the General Conference 

 on "Weights and Measures, held at Paris in 

 October last, a resolution was unanimously 

 passed urging the universal adoption of a 

 metric carat of 200 milligrams as the stand- 

 ard of weight for diamonds and precious 

 stones. This proposal, which received a large 

 measure of support on the continent, espe- 

 cially in France, Germany, Spain and Belgium, 

 was brought under the notice of the principal 

 diamond dealers in this country by the Board 

 of Trade early in the present year, but it has 

 not met with a favorable reception from the 

 trade, and unless the proposed new standard 

 is generally adopted abroad it is unlikely that 

 any further action in the matter will be taken 

 by the government. The French Ministry is 

 now introducing a bill to legalize the ' metric 

 carat' of 200 milligrams in that country, and 

 to prohibit the use of the word carat to desig- 

 nate any other weight. A recent resolution 

 of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce shows 

 that the proposal for an international stand- 

 ard carat is receiving favorable consideration 

 in India." 



Governor Hughes has signed a bill passed 

 by the New York legislature declaring tu- 

 berculosis to be an infectious and communi- 

 cable disease, dangerous to the public health, 

 and providing for the reporting of all cases to 

 the local health authorities. According to 

 the Journal of the American Medical Associa- 

 tion, it provides for the free examination of 

 sputimi by the health authorities, for the pro- 

 tection of the registration records from public 

 inspection, and for the disinfection and reno- 

 vation of the premises after the death of a 



person having tuberculosis. The occupation 

 of premises vacated by a tuberculous person 

 is prohibited until the directions of the health 

 department providing for disinfection and 

 renovation have been complied with. The bill 

 was lengthy and some of the important sec- 

 tions follow: Section 8 makes it the duty of 

 the physician to take all reasonable precau- 

 tions for the protection of individuals occupy- 

 ing the same house with any one having tu- 

 berculosis. If there be no physician in charge 

 of such patient, this section provides that this 

 duty devolves on the health officer. Section 9 

 provides that the attending physician shall 

 report to the health officer, on blanks to be 

 furnished for this purpose by said officer, a 

 complete statement of the procedure and pre- 

 cautions taken by him in a case of tubercu- 

 losis coming to his notice, and the physician 

 shall receive for his services a fee of $1. If 

 the physician does not desire to take these 

 preventive measures and make this report, the 

 duties therein stated shall devolve on the 

 health officer, who shall receive said fee. The 

 health officer is required to keep on hand and 

 furnish suitable supplies and literature to 

 physicians to aid in preventing the infection 

 of others. Section 10 provides a penalty for 

 the failure of physicians or others to execute 

 the duties imposed by this act, or for making 

 false reports, the penalty not to exceed $100, 

 or six months in prison or both. Section 11 

 provides for the reporting by physicians of 

 the recovery of the tuberculosis patients, and 

 for their release thereon under the provisions 

 of the law. Section 12 makes violation of 

 any section of this act a misdemeanor, punish- 

 able by a fine of not less than $5 or more 

 than $50. 



A BULLETIN of the Forest Service calls at- 

 tention to the fact that the supply of dogwood 

 and persimmon shuttles in the southern 

 states is nearly exhausted. This statement 

 will not appear significant to the average man 

 when he first hears it. But when he is told 

 that the entire supply of shuttles, bobbins and 

 spindles used in the cotton and woolen mills 

 in all parts of the country is furnished by the- 

 dogwood and persimmon growing in the 



