Deoembeb 4, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



793 



The subject for the general discussion at 

 the American Philosophical Association meet- 

 ing, to be held at Baltimore, December 29-31, 

 will be " Realism and Idealism." The 

 speakers will be Professors Royce, Wood- 

 bridge, Bakewell, Smith and Calkins. 



The lectures to members of the American 

 Museum of Natural History arranged for the 

 present season are as follows : 



November 12 — -William A. Bryan : " Kilauea in 

 Action — A Visit to Hawaii's Famous Volcano." 

 (Illustrated with moving pictures.) 



November 19 — Frank M. Chapman : " Florida 

 Bird Life." (Illustrated with moving pictures.) 



December 3 — Henry E. Crampton : " Tahiti and 

 the Society Islands." 



December 10 — Nathaniel L. Britton : " Some 

 Native Trees, their Flowers and Fruits." (The 

 members of the New York Botanical Garden will 

 be the guests of the museum on this evening.) 



December 17 — Roy C. Andrews: "Whale Hunt- 

 ing with a Camera." 



We learn from the American Medical Asso- 

 ciation Journal that the National Academy 

 of Medicine at Rio de Janeiro celebrated on 

 October 3 the hundredth anniversary of the 

 founding of the medical departments in the 

 universities of Rio de Janeiro and Bahia in 

 Brazil. The session was open to the public, 

 ■with the president of the academy. Professor 

 A. Nascimento, in the chair. Five gold medals 

 were awarded, one to the president of the re- 

 public and one to the minister of the interior, 

 who were both present, the others being given 

 to the deans of the medical faculty at Rio 

 and Bahia. A souvenir volume edited by 

 Dr. F. Figueira was also a feature of the 

 celebration. 



The British Medical Journal states that on 

 November 14 the twenty-first expedition of the 

 Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine left 

 Bristol for Jamaica. It consists of Mr. R. 

 Newstead, M.Sc, and Dr. W. T. Prout, C.M.G., 

 late Principal Medical Ofiicer of Sierra Leone. 

 Later the expedition will be joined by Dr. A. 

 H. Hanley, C.M.G., late Principal Medical 

 Officer, Southern Nigeria. The objects of the 

 expedition are twofold, as it is partly medical 

 and partly entomological. Dr. Prout and Dr. 

 Hanley will investigate: (1) The prevalence 



of filaria in Jamaica. (2) The prevalence of 

 malaria in especially malarious districts of 

 the island. (3) Measures for prevention of 

 mosquito-borne diseases where feasible. (4) 

 Preliminary investigation into the so-caUed 

 " vomiting sickness " amongst children. Mr. 

 Newstead's scheme of work is as follows: (1) 

 To study the bionomics of cattle ticks and 

 advise some methods of control. (2) To 

 undertake the investigation of those scale in- 

 sects which are at the present moment threat- 

 ening the citrus and cocoa and cocoa-nut cul- 

 tivation in the island of Jamaica, and to 

 devise some method of control. (3) To make 

 a collection of the biting flies and ticks of the 

 island for the use of students attending the 

 course of instruction at the Liverpool School 

 of Tropical Medicine. The work of the ex- 

 pedition covers a wide field, and we wish the 

 scientific explorers all success in their enter- 

 prise. Sir Alfred Jones, K.C.M.G., chairman 

 of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, 

 entertained the members of the expedition at 

 luncheon at the University Ckib in Liverpool 

 on November 9. 



The names of the 377 foresters, clerks, and 

 stenographers who are to make up the per- 

 sonnel of the United States Forest Service 

 headquarters of the six districts into which 

 the national forests have been divided have 

 just been announced. The district foresters' 

 offices, located in Denver, Colo., Ogden, Utah, 

 Missoula, Mont., Albuquerque, N. Mex., San 

 Francisco, Cal., and Portland, Oreg., opened 

 on December 1. The new field organization 

 of the Forest Service will greatly facilitate 

 the use of the national forests by the people. 

 It will mean that the national forest business 

 which formerly was transacted in Washington 

 will be handled by officers on or near the 

 ground. The establishment of the district 

 headquarters is the culmination of a plan 

 towards which the Forest Service has been 

 working steadily, since it took charge of the 

 national forests. Each national forest district 

 will be in charge of a district forester. The 

 work at district headquarters will be dis- 

 tributed among four offices, operation, grazing. 



