454 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 742 



London Times, that the roll of the institute 

 had increased by 78 fellows, 30 associates and 

 68 students, and, notwithstanding the in- 

 creasing stringency of the regulations, the 

 number of candidates for esamination had in- 

 creased from 94 in 1906 to 150 in 1909. He 

 believed these figures indicated that a real ad- 

 vance was taking place in the demand for 

 highly-trained chemists. It was one of the 

 chief duties of the institute to maintain a 

 high level of training for professional chem- 

 ists by demanding of candidates for its mem- 

 bership evidence of thorough training, and by 

 requiring them to pass searching examina- 

 tions. He yielded to no one in the advocacy 

 of research as a part of training j there was 

 however much training in originality of 

 thought and experimental procedure which 

 was not called research and much of what was 

 called research that involved no originality in 

 the thought or deed. He then stated that a 

 special committee had been discussing the ar- 

 rangements to be made in view of the ap- 

 proaching expiry of the lease of the present 

 premises of the institute and had come to the 

 conclusion that between £10,000 and £15,000 

 would have to be raised by voluntary contri- 

 butions in order to provide even a modest but 

 dignified home in which the institute could 

 carry on its work. Dr. George Beilby, F.R.S., 

 was elected president. 



The Colorado Desert, in southern Cali- 

 fornia, is one of the most interesting and 

 one of the most nearly rainless parts of the 

 United States. It lies in a wide valley, the 

 northwest extension of the great depression 

 at whose south end is the Gulf of California. 

 Before the ovei-flow of Colorado River into 

 the Salton Sea, which began about five years 

 ago, this basin was, with the exception of 

 Death Valley, the lowest dry land in the 

 United States. It is also the hottest place in 

 the country, according to the ofi&cial records. 

 Parts of the desert are wastes of shifting 

 sand, kept in almost constant motion by 

 strong winds. Other parts, on the borders of 

 the Salton Sea, contain strongly alkaline 

 areas, and in some places now covered by that 

 sea large quantities of salt have been mined. 



South of the Salton Sea, in the Imperial Val- 

 ley, the soil consists' of fine silt, deposited in 

 past centuries from the overflowing waters of 

 Colorado Eiver. This part of the area is the 

 scene of the spectacular and almost uncon- 

 trollable overflow which was the occasion of 

 a special message from the President to 

 Congress and which was closed after re- 

 peated failures only in 1907, by the Southern 

 Pacific Company. Toward the north end of 

 the valley in which this desert lies, for the 

 most part below sea-level, is the Indio region, 

 or the CoacheUa Valley, where underground 

 waters have been utilized for irrigating sev- 

 eral thousand acres of fertile land. Melons, 

 barley and alfalfa are extensively grovm on 

 large areas, and smaller tracts have been 

 planted in oranges, grapes, sweet potatoes 

 and sugar beets. Date pahns have been 

 planted also, and on the agricultural experi- 

 ment station farm at Mecca rare varieties of 

 luscious dates, which heretofore have been 

 produced only in the Arabian deserts and in 

 the oases of northern Africa, are grown suc- 

 cessfully. A report on the Indio region, ia- 

 cluding a sketch of the Colorado Desert, pre- 

 pared by W. C. Mendenhall, has just been 

 published by the U. S. Geological Survey as 

 Water-supply Paper 225, which may be had 

 free on application. The report includes a 

 description of the geography and geology of 

 the Colorado Desert and an account of the 

 underground waters of the Indio region, and 

 is illustrated by maps, sections and reproduc- 

 tions of photographs of interesting features 

 of the country. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

 The passage of the legislative appropriation 

 bin carrying $982,000 for the University of 

 Kansas, gives the university aU it asked, ex- 

 cepting an appropriation for a dormitory. 



By the wiU of EUen A. Kendall, her residu- 

 ary estate is given Wellesley College to 

 found a professorship bearing her name. It 

 is provided that if the fund exceeds $60,000 

 the income of the excess shall be used to aid 

 worthy students. 



