746 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1143 



Stanford University, -with the cooperation 

 of Dr. 1ST. L. Britton, director of the New York 

 Botanical Garden, has arranged to finance the 

 publication of an Illustrated Flora of the Pa- 

 cific Coast. Dr. LeBoy Abrams 'will edit the 

 work, with the assistance of a number of the 

 leading American botanists as collaborators. 

 The flora will comprise four volumes contain- 

 ing illustrations and descriptions of every 

 species of ferns and flowering plants on the 

 Pacific coast. 



At a meeting of the council of the National 

 Museum of Wales, held at Cardiff, on October 

 28, it was announced, according to Nature, that 

 a sum of £10,000 had been received from Capt. 

 W. B. Smith, senior partner of the firm of W. 

 B. Smith and Son, Cardiff, and Mrs. Smith, 

 towards the building fund of the new museum. 

 The donors had made this gift in the belief 

 that the National Museum would be one of the 

 first educational influences in the principality. 

 There were other donors, who wished to re- 

 main anonymous for the present, and it is ex- 

 pected that when the present contract has been 

 paid there will be a balance of about £16,000 

 towards the £50,000 which is needed to com- 

 plete the furnishing and equipment of the 

 portion of the building at present in course of 

 erection. 



The Embar formation of "Wyoming is 

 known chiefly for its extensive phosphate 

 beds, which are supposed to have been derived 

 in some manner from animal remains. The 

 rocks contain abundant fossils, many of which 

 are phosphatic, and all of which prove that 

 the Embar beds of western Wyoming were 

 deposited in the sea. Becent study of the east- 

 ward extension of the Embar formation in 

 Wyoming shows that along the east margin of 

 this ancient sea, or throughout the Bighorn 

 Mountain region, the climate was probably 

 more arid than that of any part of Wyoming 

 to-day. By long evaporation beds of gypsum 

 were deposited at some places in arms of this 

 sea to a thickness as great as 100 feet. It is a 

 question of practical importance whether beds 

 of salt, and perhaps of potash salt, may also 

 have been deposited in this formation and 

 whether they may now be found below the 



surface. The United States Geological Sur- 

 vey, Department of the Interior, urges that oil 

 men, in drilling through the Chugwater and 

 Embar red beds in Wyoming collect samples 

 of drillings and of brines and submit them to 

 the survey for examination as to their possible 

 potash content. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



At the meeting of the trustees of the Car- 

 negie Foundation for the Advancement of 

 Teaching, held in New York on November 15, 

 the proposal to make the pension system con- 

 tributory was considered and action was post- 

 poned. This was the recommendation of the 

 co mmi ttee of the American Association of 

 University Professors which was represented 

 at the meeting of the trustees by Professor Ed- 

 win B. A. Seligman, vice-president of the as- 

 sociation, and Dean Harlan F. Stone, chair- 

 man of the committee that drew up the report 

 on the subject. The proposed plan of contrib- 

 utory pensions was referred to a committee 

 composed of Dr. Henry S. Pritchett, president 

 of the foundation ; Dr. W. F. Slocum, president 

 of Colorado College, chairman of the board; 

 Sir William Peterson, president of McGill 

 University ; President Charles B. Van Hise, of 

 the University of Wisconsin; President A. 

 Lawrence Lowell, of Harvard University, and 

 Chancellor T. B. McCormick, of the University 

 of Bittsburgh, representing the foundation, 

 and five representatives from the American 

 Association of University Professors, the As- 

 sociation of American Universities, the Na- 

 tional Association of State Universities and 

 the Association of American Colleges. 



The chemistry building at the State College 

 of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts of the Uni- 

 versity of Montana, Bozeman, was completely 

 destroyed by fire on October 20. This build- 

 ing furnished quarters for the college and ex- 

 periment station departments of chemistry, the 

 state food and water laboratory and the de- 

 partments of physics and geology. The fire 

 occurred in the day time and all department's 

 records, the chemical library and the materials 

 in the chemical and geological museums were 



