190 
Tuer United States Coast and Geodetic Sur- 
vey has issued a map of the north Atlantic 
Ocean, including the eastern part of North 
America and the greater part of Europe. The 
western limits of the map are Duluth to New 
Orleans; the eastern limits Bagdad to Cairo; 
extending from Greenland in the north to the 
West Indies in the south. The scale is 1:10,- 
000,000. The map brings the two continents 
vis-a-vis in an approximately true relation and 
scale in an extremely clear manner, and will 
serve as an excellent base for various purposes. 
It is constructed on a system of projection 
which is peculiarly adapted to this wide ex- 
pense, and is known as the Lambert Conformal 
Conic Projection with two standard parallels. 
The scale on the two standard parallels (36 
middle parallel (41 degrees north) it is but 13 
per cent. too small, and beyond the standard 
degrees and 54 degrees north) is true; on the 
parallels the scale becomes increasingly large. 
The map covers a range of longitude of 170 
degrees on the middle parallel—a range which 
on many other projections of this area would 
have distinctions and scale errors so great as 
to render their use inadmissible. This map 
ean be obtained by writing to the department 
of the United States Coast and Geodetic 
Survey. The map is 24 by 46 inches, No. 
3,070 and sells for 50 cents. 
THE Journal of the American Medical Assr- 
ciation states that for seventeen years Dr. M. 
Uribe Troncoso edited the Anales de Oftal- 
mologia in Mexico, but with his recent removal 
to New York, this journal was merged with 
others to form the American Journal of Oph- 
thalmology. The Mexican Ophthalmologic 
Society, of which he was long president, has 
now decided to publish its own annals, and the 
Anales de la Sociedad Oftalmologica Mezicana 
has already made its appearance. Dr. D. M. 
Velez is director of the Anales and perpetual 
secretary of the society. Summaries of the 
two leading articles are given in both English 
and French, and duplicates are published on 
an insert for convenience of reviewers. The 
officers of the scciety for 1918 include Dr. F. 
Lopez, president; Dr. A. Chacon, vice-presi- 
SCIENCE 
[N. S. Vou. XLVIII. No. 1234 
dent, and Dr. E. F. Montafio, perpetual treas- 
urer. 
THE Committees on Agriculture and on 
Administration and Commissions of the 
Massachusetts legislature have reported a bill 
to abolish the present Board of Agriculture 
and to substitute a board consisting of a 
commissioner of agriculture at $5,000 annually 
and fourteen unpaid advisory associates, one 
from each county. The present board consists 
of forty odd members. The secretary is execu- 
tive officer. The bill makes no provision for the 
proposed consolidation of the Board of Agri- 
culture with the Bureau of Animal Industry, 
State Forestry Department and Fish and 
Game Commission. 
On April 9 an allotment of $25,000 was 
made by the President from the fund for the 
national security and defense for the purpose 
of enabling the Bureau of Fisheries to install 
a plant on the Pribilof Islands for the utiliza- 
tion of the by-products in connection with the 
taking of fer seals on these islands. This is 
regarded as vitally important at the present 
time in order to increase the production of oil 
and fertilizer. It is planned to make use of 
the carcasses which will result from the in- 
creased killings of fur seals this year. It is 
believed that the plant will more than pay for 
itself in the first season of its operation. 
Every effort is being made to obtain delivery 
of the plant in time to utilize the maximum 
quantity of seal carcasses during the current 
year. On April 27 the steamer Roosevelt left 
Seattle with a full cargo of general supplies 
for the Pribilof Islands. The cargo consisted 
of building materials, foodstuffs, and miscel- 
laneous items. It was planned to return with 
utmost dispatch, bringing back such seal- 
skins as were ready for shipment, in order 
that another trip may be made as soon as 
possible to transport material for the by-prod- 
ucts plant. 
THE permanent secretary of the Paris Acad- 
emy of Medicine has been authorized to accept, 
in the name of the academy, a legacy.of 25,000 
franes made by the late Dr. Magnan. The 
revenue from this sum will be used to estab- 
lish a triennial prize to be awarded to the 
author of the best work on mental medicine. 
