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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVII. No. 1223 



steel and its heat treatment"; to Mr. J. N. 

 Kilby, of Sheffield, for research work on " The 

 basic open-hearth process of steel making in all 

 its branches"; to Mr. Samuel L. Hoyt, U. S. 

 A., to enable him to study " The foreign in- 

 clusions in steel, their occurrence and identifi- 

 cation"; and to Professor J. A. Van den 

 Broek, of the University of Michigan, for re- 

 search work on " The elastic properties of 

 steel and alloys." 



The University of Michigan chapter of 

 Sigma Xi, on May 28, initiated thirty new 

 members, all of whom had been actively en- 

 gaged in research. Professor A. F. Shull de- 

 livered the annual address, on the subject 

 " Heredity and the fate of the warring na- 

 tions." 



Dr. Sidney D. Townley, professor of ap- 

 plied mathematics at Leland Stanford Uni- 

 versity, gave a lecture before the science club 

 of the University of Oregon on May 13, on the 

 subject " The recent earthquake at San Ja- 

 cinto, California." 



Dr. Martin H. Pischer, Eichberg professor 

 of physiology in the University of Cincinnati, 

 delivered the isecond Sigma Xi lecture of the 

 1917-18 series at the University of Missouri on 

 May 15. His subject was " The general physi- 

 ology of water absorption in the living organ- 

 ism." The lecture was open to the public. 

 Dr. Fischer also lectured to the Medical So- 

 ciety of the University of Missouri on May 

 16, on " Principles of treatment in nephritis." 

 On the evening of the same day he addressed 

 the Missouri Chapter of Sigma Xi in connec- 

 tion with the annual initiation on " Emulsion 

 chemistry and some of its applications." 



It is announced that arrangements have 

 been made for a series of special lectures at 

 Cambridge University for the summer meet- 

 ing, beginning August 1, when the main sub- 

 ject will be the United States of America. 

 Among the lecturers are Professors George H. 

 l^Tettleton, Henry S. Canby and Henry A. 

 Bumstead, of Yale; Professor J. W. Cunlifie, 

 of Columbia; Professor Santayana, formerly 

 of Harvard, and Sir William Osier, formerly 

 of Johns Hopkins and now of Oxford. 



A national union of scientific workers is 

 being formed in Great Britain. Norman 

 Campbell, the secretary, writes to Nature: 

 " There is a general agreement that it is im- 

 perative for the best interests of science that 

 those who pursue it should possess greater po- 

 litical and industrial influence. The founders 

 of our union believe that they can attain that 

 influence only by adopting the form of organi- 

 zation which has proved effective in experi- 

 ence. That organization involves the forma- 

 tion of a union including, so far as possible, 

 every professional scientific worker, and gov- 

 erned in a completely ' democratic ' fashion. 

 It is such a union that we are trying to form." 



We have been requested to state that the 

 book " A Tear of Costa Eican Natural His- 

 tory," by A. S. and P. P. Calvert, reviewed in 

 Science for March 1, 1918, was published by 

 the Macmillan Company, New York, 1917. 



Knud Easmussen, the Danish explorer, ac- 

 cording to an Exchange Telegraph despatch 

 from Copenhagen, has reached Long's Firth 

 with his Arctic expedition and has charted all 

 the Firths of northern Greenland. Important 

 scientific results, the explorer says, have been 

 attained. Easmussen and his second Thule 

 expedition left Denmark in April, 1916. 

 Eeuter's Copenhagen correspondent transmits 

 a telegram from Easmussen in which the ex- 

 plorer says his advance was attended with the 

 greatest difficulties. Two companions, Hend- 

 rik Olsen and Dr. Wulff, perished. After 

 Olsen's death, says the explorer, " we started 

 on our homeward journey and reached land on 

 August 24, at Cape Agassiz in a bad plight, 

 without provisions, having eaten all the dogs." 

 The explorer says he and his companion 

 walked to Etat, whence they despatched 

 sledges with provisions for the rest of the 

 party, but that the relief arrived too late to 

 save Dr. Wulff. 



A medical school for French Africa has 

 been founded at Dakar. This school will be 

 under the authority of the director of the 

 Service de Sante, inspector general of the 

 sanitary and medical services of French West 

 Africa, and will have for its mission the train- 

 ing of native physicians and midwives. The 



