JUNE 21, 1912] 
invitation is extended to American men of 
science to be present. 
Tue first International Congress of Com- 
parative Pathology will be held in Paris, 
from October 17 to 22, under the presidency 
of Professor Roger. 
THE proceedings of the International 
Radiotelegraphic Convention, at which thirty- 
five states are represented, were opened on 
June 4 at the Institution of Electrical Engi- 
neers, London. 
Inrormation has been transmitted to this 
government through the customary diplo- 
matic channels, that the International Con- 
gress of Hydrology, Climatology and Geol- 
ogy, originally appointed to be held at Mad- 
rid from October 15 to 27 of the present year, 
has been postponed to the same dates (Oc- 
tober 15 to 27), 1913. The participation of 
American scientists, scientific associations 
and higher institutions, is earnestly solicited 
by the Organizing Committee. 
Tue secretary of state for India has ap- 
pointed a committee to inquire and report as 
to the facilities available for Indian students 
for industrial and technological training in 
Great Britain, with special reference to the 
system of state technical scholarships estab- 
lished by the government of India in 1904. 
The committee is constituted as follows: Sir 
Theodore Morison, K.C.I.E. (chairman), and 
Sir Krishna Gupta, K.C.S.I., members of the 
Council of India; Mr. J. H. Reynolds, M.Sc., 
lately principal of the Municipal School of 
Technology at Manchester, and Professor W. 
E. Dalby, M.A., professor of civil and me- 
chanical engineering at the Imperial College 
of Science and Technology at South Kensing- 
ton. The secretary of the committee is Mr. 
P. H. Dumbell, of the India Office. 
Tuat the forest cover of the White Moun- 
tains has a distinct and measurable effect 
upon the navigable streams which head in 
that region is the statement of the United 
States Geological Survey. The director of 
the survey has filed his preliminary report on 
the White Mountains with the National For- 
est Reservation Commission, and, as earlier 
SCIENCE 
959 
announced, the findings are favorable to the 
purchase of lands under the Weeks law. The 
report is based on the results of investigations 
and specific field tests which have been car- 
ried on during the last year. While the sur- 
vey has been subjected to criticism owing to 
its refusal to submit a perfunctory report as- 
suming that a known and definite relation 
exists between forests and stream flow in the 
White Mountain region, the outcome of its 
investigations precludes the possibility of 
criticism by those who have opposed the ac- 
quisition by the government of any forest 
lands, on the theory that forest preservation 
does not affect stream flow. The hydrometric 
showing presented in the preliminary report 
covers results on two small, almost exactly 
similar drainage basins of about 5 square 
miles each, on the east branch of Pemigewas- 
set River, one largely clothed with virgin 
timber and the other deforested and burned. 
Measurements of precipitation over the areas 
and of the run-off of the respective streams 
show that not only was the snow held better 
in the forested area, but that during a period 
of 17 days in April, including three extended 
storms, the run-off of the stream in the de- 
forested area was a comparative flood—prac- 
tically double that of the stream flowing 
through the forested area. 
THE newspapers some weeks since con- 
tained the announcement of the discovery 
of a billion tons of iron ore in Fulton County, 
Pennsylvania, specifying red, brown and car- 
bonate ores, ranging from 57 to 63 per cent. 
of iron, and found in Dickey’s Mountain, 
Lowrie’s Knob and the Meadow Ground. The 
geology of Fulton County is well known from 
the reports of the State Geological Surveys, 
and the impossibility of the case is apparent 
to any one who will read these reports and 
study the maps for a moment. A billion tons 
of iron would occupy a volume nearly equal to 
the mass of the three “mountains” named, 
and carbonate of iron when chemically pure 
contains only 48 per cent. of iron, and brown 
ore less than 60 per cent. Nevertheless, to 
ascertain what might have given rise to the 
reports, Director Smith, of the United States 
