Februabt 8, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



141 



Plans have been perfected and the con- 

 tracts let for converting the Billings estate 

 on Washington Heights, New York City, into 

 a war hospital. This property, comprising 

 fifty-seven acres of land, was purchased about 

 a year ago by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., with 

 the idea of eventually giving it to the city for 

 a park. The plans for the war hospital call 

 for the expenditiire of $500,000 for remodeling 

 the buildings already on the property and the 

 erection of additional buildings necessary to 

 the completion of a hospital system. 



The new museum of Santa Fe, New Mex- 

 ico, according to the Americati Museum Jour- 

 nal, has been dedicated with ceremonies ex- 

 tending from November 24 to 28. The build- 

 ing is patterned after the old Mission Church 

 on the Rock of Acoma, in a style of architec- 

 ture said to be one hundred and fifty years 

 older than the California missions. A feature 

 of the dedication was an exhibition of paint- 

 ings by well-known members of the Santa Fe 

 and Taos artist groups, including Robert 

 Henri, E. J. Couse, J. H. Sharp, Walter Ufer 

 and others, on subjects inspired by Indian, 

 Spanish and frontier lore, and consisted of 

 addresses, concerts, Indian dances and excur- 

 sions to Indian pueblos and ancient cliff dwell- 

 ings. The American Museum was represented 

 by Dr. Clark Wissler, curator of the depart- 

 ment of anthropology, who gave an address on 

 " The Opportunities of the New Museimi," 

 and by Mr. N. C. Nelson, who spoke on " Re- 

 cent Archeological Discoveries in the South- 

 west." 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



Five members of the present University of 

 North Carolina faculty have been appointed 

 by the trustees Kenan professors, under the 

 provision in the bequest of Mrs. Robert W. 

 Bingham (Mary Lily Kenan) made public last 

 August. They were chosen by vote of the fac- 

 ulty because of distinguished service rendered 

 in the field of scholarship and university af- 

 fairs. They are Professor Francis P. Ven- 

 able, of the department of chemistry; Pro- 

 fessor H. V. P. Wilson, of the department of 



zoology; Professor Edwin Greenlaw, of the 

 English department; Professor William Cain, 

 of the mathematics department, and Professor 

 W. deB. MacNider, of the school of medicine. 

 The Bingham bequest was made for the pur- 

 pose of strengthening the faculty of the uni- 

 versity, an annual sum of $75,000 being pro- 

 ided for the purpose of augmenting aid re- 

 ceived from the state. 



CoLUJiBiA University plans a large diag- 

 nostic clinic for the people who do not wish to 

 accept charity and who are unable to pay for 

 the services of a number of experts whose spe- 

 cial advice or examinations may be needed in 

 order to make a diagnosis. The financial ar- 

 rangement provides that every clinical worker 

 will be paid for his work and every patient 

 charged a fee commensurate with his income. 



The University of Maryland, by a recent 

 ruling of the faculty, beginning the next Oc- 

 tober term, will accept women students in the 

 medical department. This ruling admits 

 women to every department of the university, 

 as they have been accepted in the dental, 

 pharmacy and law departments for some time. 



As Padua has recently been the objective 

 of Austrian air raiders, the rectorate and aca- 

 demic council of the university have been by 

 official decree transferred temporarily to Pisa. 

 The same decree authorized the minister of 

 education to allow professors of Padua to lec- 

 ture in other universities and superior insti- 

 tutions. 



At the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- 

 ogy William F. Jones has been appointed in- 

 structor in geology, Royal E. Grant, instructor 

 in physics, C. H. G. Gray, assistant in elec- 

 trical engineering and Dr. F. H. Thorp, lec- 

 turer in industrial chemistry. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



CYCADEOID WOOD STRUCTURE 



In a recent communication in the Annals of 

 Botany describing certain Cycadeoid rootlets 

 Dr. Marie C. Stopes remarked the presence of 

 scalariform structures. These are in agree- 

 ment, of course, with the main body of second- 

 ary wood, which in the Cycadeoids is uni- 



