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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1148 



and the statement made, that an item for the 

 sum required had been included in the park 

 estimates for the fiscal year of 1918. The ap- 

 pointment of Ned Hollister, assistant curator 

 of mammals of the National Museum, as 

 superintendent was also announced. In co- 

 operation with two other zoological institu- 

 tions, the park sent a representative to South 

 Africa to collect and purchase live animals. 

 Recent advices from him seem to indicate ex- 

 cellent results. 



The secretary reported briefly on the work 

 of the astrophysical observatory on Mount 

 Wilson, in connection with the investigations 

 concerning the variations of the sun. An 

 allotment has been made to Director Charles 

 G. Abbott for the maintenance of an astro- 

 physical observatory in South America for the 

 purpose of determining the transmission of 

 the sun's rays through the atmosphere. 



Dr. Walcott, as chairman of the executive 

 committee of the National Advisory Com- 

 mittee for Aeronautics, which organization 

 has taken up much of the work that the 

 Langley Aerodynamical Laboratory aimed to 

 perform, reported considerable progress. An 

 allotment from the Langley Laboratory, in 

 connection with the Weather Bureau, provides 

 for the investigation of problems of the atmos- 

 phere in relation to aeronautics, which inves- 

 tigation, it is expected, will ultimately result 

 in the mapping of the atmosphere over the 

 whole United States and adjoining areas, to 

 a height of 20,000 feet. 



Other reports concerning the operations of 

 the Research Corporation, which handles, 

 among other things, the Cottrell patents for 

 the precipitation of dust, etc., the researches 

 of Dr. Cottrell in fog precipitation and the 

 work of Dr. C. Hart Merriam in zoology 

 under the Harriman fund. 



Among the expeditions and field work con- 

 ducted recently, the secretary spoke of his own 

 geological investigations in Alberta and Brit- 

 ish Columbia, the work of Dr. W. L. Abbott, 

 whose gifts of ethnological and zoological 

 specimens and generous financial contribution 

 have been most valuable; and the zoological 

 expedition being maintained in north China, 



through the generosity of another friend of 

 the institution. 



The secretary stated that the Collins-Garner 

 Congo Expedition, in the interests of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, was about to leave 

 for the French Congo, where zoological col- 

 lections would be secured for the National 

 Museum, the institution and museum being 

 represented by Mr. Charles B. W. Aschemeier. 



Arrangements for a three years' lease of the 

 Cinchona Botanical Station by the institution 

 from the government of Jamaica, were re- 

 ported as practically completed. The main 

 building, known as " Bellevue House," situ- 

 ated on the Island of Jamaica, together with 

 the offices, laboratories and other buildings and 

 about ten acres of land, are leased by the in- 

 stitution for the furtherance of the study of 

 botany in this region. Assignments to botan- 

 ists desiring to prosecute studies there, will be 

 made by a committee composed of representa- 

 tives of the 14 organizations which contributed 

 the funds for the lease. 



Mention also was made of the work of the 

 other two government bureaus under the 

 Smithsonian; the International Catalogue of 

 Scientific Literature, and the International 

 Exchange Service. 



Following adjournment, the regents in- 

 spected an interesting exhibit illustrating 

 some of the many lines of work in which the 

 institution or its branches took part during 

 the past year. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



The meeting of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science and of the 

 National Scientific Societies affiliated with it, 

 opened in New York City on December 26 with 

 a very large attendance. The address of the 

 retiring president, Professor W. W. Campbell, 

 of the Lick Observatory, on " The Nebulae," 

 given on the evening of the first day, will, 

 owing to the extensive illustrations, be printed 

 in The Scientific Monthly. We hope, however, 

 to give an abstract in Science. There is 

 printed elsewhere the address of Professor E. 

 P. Lewis, chairman of the Section of Physics, 

 and this will be followed by other addresses 



