AveusT 16, 1918] 
bureau can be established. Until the future 
of the International Meteorological Committee, 
which has done good work for a generation 
past, is settled it is quite clear that no step of 
the kind suggested can profitably be consid- 
ered. M. de Saussure estimates the annual 
cost of a central bureau charged with receiving 
data from stations in all parts of Europe, pre- 
paring a daily weather-map, forwarding it by 
post and telegraphing the data for a provis- 
ional map daily, at only 48,000 franes, or less 
than £2,000. We are sure that such a sum 
would be totally inadequate for the purpose, 
even if the bureau were situated, as is sug- 
gested, in Switzerland. The greater part of 
M. de Saussure’s paper is taken up with the 
description of a new method of representing 
air-movement on maps which he thinks might 
be adopted in the work of the projected bureau. 
THE council of the Society for Practical As- 
tronomy have notified the members and those 
interested in its work that, by a vote of the 
council, all further activity of the society, in- 
cluding the publication of the Monthly Reg- 
ister, is postponed until after the war. No 
new members will be admitted, and member- 
ship fees for the current year, 1918, will be re- 
funded by the treasurer. Upon resumption of 
activities, the organization of the society will 
be the same as it was at the close of 1917, the 
membership consisting of those who were 
members in good standing at that time. This 
decision has been reached after careful de- 
liberation, and in spite of the example set by 
the scientific societies of our allies. The 
council feel confident that this step will meet 
with the unanimous ayfproval of the members. 
Communications relative to any society mat- 
ters, and particularly those concerning im- 
provements in reorganization after the war, 
will be welcomed, and may be addressed to the 
president, Mr. Latimer J. Wilson, Bausch & 
Lomb Observatory, Huntington Park, near 
St. Paul St., Rochester, N. Y., or to the sec- 
retary, Lieutenant Horace C. Levinson, 4049 
Lake Park Ave., Chicago, Il. 
Tue sundry civil appropriation bill, carry- 
ing appropriations for the Bureau of Fisher- 
ies, became a law on July 1. The principal 
SCIENCE 
163 
features of special interest are as follows: New 
positions: One. field assistant, $3,000; 1 assist- 
ant for developing fisheries and for saving and 
use of fishery products, $2,400; 1 storekeeper, 
Pribilof Islands, $1,800; 1 clerk, $1,200 (in 
lieu of $900); 1 foreman, Bozeman station, 
$1,200; 1 foreman, Clackamas station, $1,200; 
1 superintendent, Key West biological station, 
$1,800 (in lieu of $1,500); 1 apprentice fish- 
culturist, Springville station, $600. Miscel- 
laneous expenses: Administration $10,000; 
propagation of food fishes, $400,000 (increase 
of $25,000); maintenance of vessels, $95,000 
(increase of $5,000); inquiry respecting food 
fishes, $50,000; statistical inquiry, $7,500; 
Alaska general service, $100,000; protecting 
sponge fisheries, $3,000. Special items: Berk- 
shire trout hatchery, for increasing hatching 
and rearing facilities, including construction 
and repair of ponds, improvements to water 
supply, and for equipment, $2,500; St. Johns- 
bury station, for establishment of an auxiliary 
station on Lake Champlain, $5,000; Pribilof 
Islands, for purchase or construction of power 
lighter, $20,000. 
The Civil Service Commission announces 
that there are many openings for women as 
ship draftsmen in the Navy Department at 
Washington and in navy-yard service through- 
out the United States. Applications will be 
received and papers examined at any time, 
and the applicants who qualify will be offered 
immediate employment. The pay ranges from 
$4 to $6.88 per day. The commission lists a 
total of 13 acceptable forms of training and 
experience for the four grades into which the 
register of eligibles will be divided. The ap- 
plicant may offer either “at least two years’ 
experience in a drafting room, engaged on 
work of developing plans for buildings or 
structures involving steel work, architectural 
work, or mechanical drafting work, or gradu- 
ation from a course in architecture .r mechan- 
ical or structural engineering at a college or 
university of recognized standing ” or “ gradu- 
ation from a technical school or college of rec- 
ognized standing supplemented by a certificate 
that the applicant has satisfactorily taken and 
passed a short course in naval architecture 
