54 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1124 



Lomb Observatory is equipped with an 11-inch 

 refractor constructed by the Bausch and Lomb 

 Optical Company. The conference promises 

 to be as successful as that of last year, which 

 was held at the University of Chicago. 



The mathematicians of the Scandinavian 

 countries, including Finland, will hold a re- 

 union at Stockholm, from August 30 to Sep- 

 tember 2. The International Congress of 

 Mathematicians was to have been held there 

 at this time, but European conditions have 

 rendered such a meeting impossible, and this 

 reunion therefore serves as a partial substitute. 



Students in the field course in geography 

 at the University of Missouri, at Columbia, 

 will take a waterways tour on the Mississippi 

 River and Great Lakes during August. The 

 tour, commencing at St. Louis, will include 

 the following points: St. Paul, Minneapolis, 

 Duluth, Houghton, Saulte Ste. Marie, Macki- 

 nac Island, Parry Sound, Toronto, Niagara 

 Palls, Buffalo, Cleveland, Put-in-Bay, Detroit 

 and Chicago. "Work on the trip will consist of 

 studies and lectures on the principal local in- 

 dustries, commerce on the Great Lakes, gov- 

 ernment improvements and aids to navigation, 

 historic geography of the Lakes and Missis- 

 sippi regions, and physiographic and geologic 

 subjects. ISTo previous study in geology is re- 

 quired of those desiring to make the trip. The 

 course is open to both men and women whether 

 enrolled in the university or not. Three to 

 five hours' credit will be given to those who 

 make the tour. Those not enrolled in the 

 university will be given credit which will be 

 accepted upon entrance by Missouri or other 

 universities of equal standing. 



Impressed by the work of the Army Med- 

 ical School and the inadequacy of the facilities 

 provided for that work, Drs. John M. T. 

 Pinney and Joseph C. Bloodgood, of Balti- 

 more, recently left with the president the fol- 

 lowing memorandum: 



We are so impressed by the character and im- 

 portance of the scientific work which is being done 

 there we feel the need of bringing to the attention 

 of yourself and the country the utterly inadequate 

 facilities provided not only for purposes of investi- 

 gation, but for those of instruction as well. The 

 quarters are unsuited for existing conditions and 



they will prove still more so in case of any expan- 

 sion of the service. 



We furthermore, from our experience as teach- 

 ers, believe that the Army Medical School should 

 be in the vicinity of, and closely affiliated with, the 

 newly established Walter Eeed Hospital for the 

 benefit of both institutions. 



North Carolina was the first state in the 

 Union to recognize the need of geologic sur- 

 veys within its borders. In 1823 an act of the 

 general assembly authorized the board of agri- 

 culture to pay the expenses of " geological ex- 

 cursions " for a period of years, as a result of 

 which several geologic reports on the state 

 were published. South Carolina was quick to 

 follow the example of her sister state and in 

 1824 established a State Geological Survey, 

 whose geologic report, appearing in 1826, was 

 the first issued under the patronage of any 

 state. Massachusetts and Tennessee early es- 

 tablished official Geological Surveys on a 

 much larger scale than those of North and 

 South Carolina, and in 1833 Maryland fol- 

 lowed their example. To Maryland also be- 

 longs the credit of being the first state to 

 undertake a topographic survey, in which she 

 obtained the cooperation of the Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey. This marks the beginning 

 of the federal and state cooperation in such 

 matters which is now so important in topo- 

 graphic mapping and in the investigation of 

 our mineral resources. Bulletin 465 of the 

 United States Geological Survey, entitled 

 " The State Geological Surveys of the United 

 States," includes a historical report of each 

 state in which there is now a Geological Sur- 

 vey, giving also a sketch of early surveys and 

 an account of the legal designation, organiza- 

 tion, laws, appropriations, publications and 

 nature of the work of each individual state. 

 The bulletin is valuable as showing the early 

 recognition of the need and value of basic in- 

 vestigations of our enormous latent mineral 

 wealth. 



The University of Nevada has founded in 

 both college and station a department of range 

 management. Nevada contains immense areas 

 too elevated for field agriculture, but per- 

 fectly adapted to the grazing of bands of cat- 



