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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1128 



visit the University of Washington in the near 

 future to determine whether it shall have the 

 mining experiment station to be established in 

 the northwest. Congress recently authorized 

 the establishment of ten of these stations. 

 One has already been established at Fair- 

 banks, Alaska, and another is to be located in 

 one of the North Pacific states. The Univer- 

 sity of Washington has asked that this station 

 be located here. It is pointed out that Seattle 

 is ideally located for the North Pacific sta- 

 tion, and that the university with its school 

 of mines, is well equipped to do the scientific 

 research and experimental work that will be 

 required. While the University of Washing- 

 ton's request for the station has the endorse- 

 ment of the senators and representatives it is 

 meeting with some opposition. The Univer- 

 sity of Idaho, at Moscow, is also anxious to 

 obtain the station, and the Montana delegation 

 in congress favors Idaho. The chief work of 

 the stations will be to find ways and means for 

 the profitable handling of low grade ore. 

 Each station will be given $25,000 annually by 

 the federal government for the establishment 

 and maintenance of the station. 



Some time ago the British government ap- 

 pointed a committee of the privy council for 

 scientific and industrial research, so as to co- 

 ordinate science with industrial work. When 

 the White paper elaborating the proposed re- 

 searches of the committee reached Mr. Hagel- 

 thorn, then minister for public works of the 

 Australian Commonwealth, he suggested that 

 the operations of the committee should be im- 

 perial in scope, and not limited to Great Brit- 

 ain. With this view the prime minister (Mr. 

 Hughes) agreed, and at once constituted a 

 Science Congress, which has had several meet- 

 ings, and has submitted a report to the Com- 

 monwealth government. The suggestion of 

 Mr. Hagelthorn was brought under the notice 

 of the Secretary of State for the colonies, and 

 a reply has been received agreeing that the 

 committee of the privy council should be given 

 a wider scope, and it will therefore include the 

 empire on all questions that extend beyond the 

 boundaries of Great Britain or the special do- 

 minions. Mr. Hughes has been in consulta- 



tion with the committee of the privy council 

 since he has been in London, and on his re- 

 turn the work of the Science Congress in Aus- 

 tralia will be coordinated with that of the 

 committee of the privy council. 



In the forty-seventh annual report of the 

 American Museum of Natural History, Presi- 

 dent Henry Fairfield Osborn lays stress upon 

 the urgent need of the institution for more 

 space. No building has been added since the 

 erection of the southwest wing under the law 

 of 1905, while the collections have doubled in 

 extent, important educational departments 

 have been opened, available space in the pres- 

 ent building is crowded to capacity, and the 

 scientific and educational value of some of the 

 finest collections in the world is lost for lack of 

 a building in which to house them. The esti- 

 mated cost of the proposed new southeast 

 wing and court building is $750,000. It will 

 provide space for the collections of mammals 

 of the sea and fauna of Europe and Asia; 

 for the splendid collections of existing fishes 

 and reptiles, now crowded away in the dark 

 and out of sight; for the superb collection of 

 whales hitherto not exhibited; for other col- 

 lections, and for offices, laboratories and 

 storage room which are seriously needed. 

 Since it seems possible that the finances 

 of New York City will not permit of the 

 building of this extension in the near future, 

 the question is being considered by the trus- 

 tees of the museum as to the advisability of 

 raising funds for the new wing by private sub- 

 scription and solving in this way a problem 

 that is rapidly reaching a crisis. 



The medical committee of the British Sci- 

 ence Guild, under the chairmanship of Sir 

 Bonald Ross, passed, as we learn from Nature, 

 the following resolutions at a recent meeting: 

 (1) The medical committee of the British 

 Science Guild views with disfavor the sugges- 

 tion that has been made by certain district 

 councils to cease watering the streets as a war 

 economy, and is convinced that such a step 

 would be prejudicial to the public health. (2) 

 The medical committee also views with great 

 disfavor the pollution of the streets of London, 

 and of most cities and big towns, by dogs, and 



