Pebbuabt 15, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



169 



At the annual meeting of the State Micro- 

 sscopical Society of Illinois, which was 

 founded in 1868, at the Chicago College Club 

 on January 15, the following officers were 

 elected : President, N. S. Amstutz ; First Vice- 

 president, Dr. C. H. de Witt; Second Vice- 

 president, Shelby C. Jones; Secretary, Chas. 

 A. Ruhl; Corresponding Secretary, Dr. Vida 

 A. Latham; Treasurer, Frank I. Packard; 

 Curator, Henry F. Fuller; Trustee for five 

 years, Paul R. Wright. The board of trustees 

 now consists of Dr. Lester Curtis, David L. 

 Zook, F. T. Harmon, Dr. J. A. Hynes, Patd E. 

 Wright. During the year monthly meetings 

 were held except during July, August and 

 September as follows : 



February — Dr. B. Gruskin — "CeUoidin cut- 

 tings. ' ' 



March — Mr. S. F. Maxwell — "The habits of in- 

 sect life." 



April 20 — Dr. E. M. Chamot, of Cornell Univer- 

 sity, gave an illustrated lecture before a joint 

 meeting of the Microscopic Society and the Chi- 

 cago Section of the American Chemical Society on 

 "Chemical microscopy" at the City Club. 



The May meeting was given over to a very suc- 

 cessful Soir6e held in conjunction with the Chi- 

 cago Academy of Sciences in the Academy Build- 

 ing, Lincoln Park, at which 58 microscopes among 

 other attractions were exhibited to nearly 500 visi- 

 tors. 



June, an open meeting on "Pond life under the 

 microscope. " 



October, the president on "Mechanical features 

 of the microscopes." 



December — Dr. Geo. E. Fells — ' ' The detection of 

 forgeries by the microscope." 



The president's annual address related to "En- 

 larged industrial applications of the microscope." 



We learn from Nature that the Science 

 Museum, South Kensington, was reopened to 

 the public on January 1. The museum has 

 been closed to the public for nearly two years; 

 it has, however, been open without interrup- 

 tion for students. As compared with 1914 

 conditions, the extent and the hours of open- 

 ing for 1918 are somewhat reduced, but the 

 greater part of the museimi wiU be open free 

 on every week day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 

 on Sundays from 2 :30 p.m. to 5 p.st. The col- 



Iwtious contain many objects of interest as 

 representing discoveries, inventions, and ap- 

 pliances that have been of first-rate importance 

 in the advancement of science and of industry, 

 such as Watt's engines, early locomotives, 

 steamships, flying machines, reaping machines 

 and textile machinery. 



The National Advisory Committee for Aero- 

 nautics has issued a pamphlet entitled "Re- 

 port No. 13. — Meteorology and Aeronautics." 

 It is a handbook in which are discussed the 

 properties and general phenomena of the at- 

 mosphere which aeronauts and aviators should 

 understand. This report was prepared by the 

 subcommittee on the Relations of the Atmos- 

 phere to Aeronautics, of which Professor 

 Charles F. Marvin, chief of the Weather Bu- 

 reau is chairman. In particular the report 

 deals with the physical properties and dynam- 

 ics of the atmosphere, topographic and cli- 

 matic factors in relation to aeronautics, and 

 current meteorology and its use. Copies may 

 be had on application to the National Advis- 

 ory Committee for Aeronautics, Munsey Build- 

 ing, Washington, D. C. 



Dr. Addison, minister of reconstruction in 

 the British government recently in London, 

 declared his belief in the urgent need of cre- 

 ating a Ministry of Health with widly decen- 

 tralized powers and of bringing its machinery 

 into thorough working order before the end 

 of the war. He stated that he had been spe- 

 cially invited by the Prime Minister to cope 

 with this, one of the most important of the 

 many problems of reconstruction. The pub- 

 lic conscience was fully alive to the obliga- 

 tions of the state in regard to it, and was not 

 in the mood to brook any further dilatoriness. 

 But the national administration of public 

 health through such a ministry as they con- 

 templated must necessarily impinge on many 

 interests, and it was necessary to bring those 

 interests — insurance, local government, med- 

 ical and others — into substantial agreement 

 before legislation could usefully be framed, 

 since Parliament had not the time to debate 

 highly contentious proposals. That was the 



