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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1136 



erected despite the protests of the citizens, 

 and on an appeal to the state an investigation 

 was set on foot. Professor Whipple is as- 

 sociated with Theodore H. Horton, chief engi- 

 neer of the state department. 



Nature reports that the king in council has 

 appointed Mr. Arthur Henderson, M.P., a 

 member of the committee of the privy council 

 for the organization and development of scien- 

 tific and industrial research. The other non- 

 official members of the committee are Lord 

 Haldane, the Eight Hon. A. H. D. Acland, 

 and the Eight Hon. J. A. Pease, M.P. Mr. 

 Henderson was the president of the board of 

 education when the government's research 

 scheme was published in July of last year. As 

 such he was a member of the committee, 

 which includes also, as official members, the 

 lord president of the privy council, the chan- 

 cellor of the exchequer, the secretary for 

 Scotland, the president of the board of trade, 

 and the chief secretary for Ireland. 



Professor C. T. Brues, of the Bussey Insti- 

 tution, Harvard University, has been investi- 

 gating the possible role of insects in the trans- 

 mission of infantile paralysis during the epi- 

 demic of this disease in New York City. 

 These studies are being carried on under the 

 auspices of the New York city board of 

 health. 



General W. C. Gorgas, U. S. A., chairman 

 of the Yellow Fever Commission of the Eocke- 

 feller Foundation, with other members of the 

 commission arrived in New York last week, 

 from San Juan. The commission visited 

 Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Panama 

 and was obliged to return to New York to take 

 a steamship for Para, Eio de Janeiro and 

 Santos. Besides General Gorgas, who got 

 four months' leave of absence from the army 

 to aid the investigation, the commission in- 

 cludes Dr. Henry B- Carter, United States 

 Public Health Service, clinician; Dr. Juan 

 Guiteras, head of Public Health Service of 

 Cuba, clinician and general adviser; Dr. C. 

 C. Lyster, clinician; Dr. Eugene E. Whit- 

 more, pathologist, and Dr. William D. 

 Wrightson, sanitation engineer. 



Sir Ernest Shackleton is said to be now 

 hastening the settlement of matters in con- 

 nection with the Weddell Sea party of his ex- 

 pedition so as to get over to Australia at the 

 earliest possible moment. Through the gener- 

 osity of the commonwealth and New Zealand 

 governments the Aurora is being repaired and 

 refitted to go south to rescue the ten men of 

 Lieutenant Mackintosh's party marooned at 

 the Boss Sea base. 



Dr. J. N. Eose, of the Carnegie Institution 

 of Washington, left on October 4 for another 

 trip to the deserts of South America. This 

 time he will visit the coasts of Venezuela, 

 where many new species of cactuses have been 

 collected and described. 



Dr. Christen Lundsgaaed left Copenhagen 

 on September 21 for New York. He is the 

 first Danish physician to receive an allowance 

 from the Niels Poulsen American-Scandinav- 

 ian Foundation. He will study at the Eocke- 

 feller Institute and later will travel and pur- 

 sue research work at other institutions in the 

 United States. 



At Harvard University an "Infantile Paral- 

 ysis Commission " for the treatment and 

 study of infantile paralysis has been ap- 

 pointed consisting of Eobert Williamson 

 Lovett, A.B., M.D., chairman, professor of or- 

 thopedic surgery; Milton Joseph Eosenau, 

 M.D., A.M., professor of preventive medicine 

 and hygiene; Francis Weld Peabody, A.B., 

 M.D., assistant professor of medicine, and 

 Eoger Pierce, A.B., secretary. 



The annual autumn meeting of the British 

 Institute of Metals was held on September 20, 

 in the rooms of the Chemical Society, Lon- 

 don, Sir George T. Beilby presiding. 



A memorial research laboratory is proposed 

 to the memory of Dr. Earl C. Peck, first as- 

 sistant resident physician at the Philadelphia 

 Hospital for Contagious Diseases, who died 

 recently from anterior poliomyelitis. 



A biography of the late Professor James 

 Geikie, of Edinburgh University, is in course 

 of preparation, and it would be a great favor 

 if those who have letters or communications of 

 general interest from him would forward 



