606 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1139 



ing to the officials in charge, will be used 

 mostly to round out the lands already ac- 

 quired, so that they may be easily and eco- 

 nomically administered. In making future 

 purchases it is stated that the policy will be 

 to select those tracts which block in with lands 

 already purchased and which are offered at 

 the most reasonable prices. The acquisition 

 of lands was begun in 1911 under the so- 

 called "Weeks Law," which permitted the 

 government to purchase, for national forest 

 purposes, lands on the headwaters of navigable 

 streams in the White Mountain and Appala- 

 chian regions. To date 1,396,367 acres have 

 been approved for purchase. 



There has recently been organized, with 

 headquarters at Minneapolis, The American 

 Association for the Promotion of Technical 

 Education in India. The purpose of the soci- 

 ety is to promote the development of the 

 American type of education in agriculture and 

 the mechanic arts in India, by assisting 

 Hindoo students who are in attendance at 

 American universities and colleges in selecting 

 their own educational training while here and 

 in planning for service in industrial education 

 upon their return to India. Local sections of 

 the society have been organized at Pullman, 

 Washington, and at Minneapolis, Minnesota; 

 and others are in process of organization at 

 other state institutions. B. W. Thatcher, 

 assistant director of the Minnesota Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station, is acting-president 

 of the association, and V. E. Kokatnur, a 

 graduate assistant in the school of chemistry 

 of the University of Minnesota, is general 

 secretary. It is hoped that through the work 

 of this association, the efficiency-ideal of 

 American technical education may be intro- 

 duced into India, and may serve to assist the 

 Indian people in developing and utilizing their 

 industrial resources, and so tend to prevent the 

 frequent recurrence of the terrible famines 

 of the past. 



The Journal of the American Medical Asso- 

 ciation states that the Henry S. Wellcome 

 prizes, offered through the Association tof 

 Military Surgeons, viz., first prize, a gold 



medal and $300, and second prize, a silver 

 medal and $200, are open for competition to 

 all present and former medical officers of the 

 army, navy, Public Health Service, Organized 

 Militia, U. S. Volunteers, Medical Eeserve 

 Corps of the army, navy and of the officers 

 reserve corps of the U. S. Army. These prizes 

 will not be awarded until after December 15, 

 1916, the council of the association having 

 voted to extend the time of entry of com- 

 peting essays to that date, because so large a 

 number of the members are now with the 

 troops on the border. Several essays have al- 

 ready been received and a large additional 

 number are expected to be entered for such 

 honorable and valuable prizes. The subject 

 for the first prize is " The Most Practicable 

 Plan for the Organization, Training and 

 Utilization of the Medical Officers of the Med- 

 ical Eeserve Corps, U. S. Army and Navy and 

 of the Medical Officers of the Officers' Eeserve 

 Corps, U S. Army, in Peace and War." The 

 subject of the second prize is "The Influence 

 of the European War on the Transmission of 

 the Infections of Diseases, with special refer- 

 ence to its Effect on Disease Conditions of 

 the United States." Essays (five copies signed 

 by nom de plume) not to exceed 20,000 words, 

 exclusive of tables, must be addressed to the 

 secretary of the Association of Military Sur- 

 geons, U. S. Army Medical Museum, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. 



The Oberlin Geologic Survey spent the pe- 

 riod from June 15 to August 3 in Southern 

 Vermont, near the village of Wilmington. 

 Two groups of students were organized, one 

 for physiography and geographic work, the 

 other for geologic work. The field chosen had 

 been mapped by the topographers of the 

 United States Geologic Survey, but no geo- 

 logic or topographic map had been made. The 

 rocks were found to be almost entirely meta- 

 morphic systems indurated here and there with 

 dikes of basalt quartz and granite. ISTo min- 

 eral deposits were found worth working-up, 

 and great quantities of magnetite and tour- 

 maline, and garnet in disseminated crystals 

 were found. The rocks were mostly originally 



