220 
Tue thirty-sixth stated meeting of the 
American Ornithologists’ Union will be held 
at the American Museum of Natural History, 
New York City, November 12-14, 1918, with a 
business session of the fellows and members 
on the evening of the eleventh. 
Tue new National Museum has been closed 
to the public by the board of regents, as all 
available space in the building has been occu- 
pied by the Bureau of War Risk Insurance. 
It is expected that the museum will be again 
opened when the new office building of the 
bureau, at Vermont Avenue and H Street, is 
completed. 
Tr is stated in the American Journal of Sci- 
ence that the Swiss Chemical Society, founded 
some seventeen years ago, has recently issued 
the first part (pp. 1-96) of a new periodical, 
to be devoted to pure chemistry and to serve 
as the organ of the society. The editorial 
committee consists of MM. Bosshard, Fichter, 
Guye, Pictet, Rupe and Werner, all of Switzer- 
land. The present plan is to issue 6 to 8 parts 
yearly, aggregating from 500 to 1,000 pages; 
the subscription price is 25 franes per year. 
At the last national medical congress in 
Mexico, it was voted to found a medical jour- 
nal in which to publish the work of Mexican 
physicians and surgeons and to keep them in- 
formed of the progress of the medical sciences 
in other lands. The executive committee, pre- 
paring for the approaching medical congress, 
the sixth, has ratified this decision, and Dr. 
Francisco Bello, of Puebla, has been appointed 
editor. 
Nature states that following upon the es- 
tablishment of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute 
for Research on Iron and Iron-ores comes the 
news from the German daily press of some 
preliminary steps that have been taken to 
found a similar institution for researches on 
all other generally useful metals. A commit- 
tee composed of eminent engineers and uni- 
versity protessors has been formed to consider 
the establishment of a metal research institute 
for the benefit of the German metallurgical in- 
dustry. 
SCIENCE 
[N. 8. Vou. XLVIII. No. 1235 
THE series of congresses to be held at Mo- 
naco to promote the expansion of the thermal, 
mineral and climatic stations and baths of the 
allied and friendly nations will deal with hy- 
drology, hygiene, alpinism, thalassotherapy 
and watering places. In connection with the 
congresses there will be an exhibition. The 
whole is under the patronage of the Prince of 
Monaco. Professor Maragliano, Senator of 
Italy, has been elected general president. 
Tue President has authorized a loan of one 
million dollars to the Forest Service for fire- 
fighting expenses, to meet the serious emer- 
geney conditions in the national forests of the 
northwest and the Pacifie coast states. The 
loan was made from the special defense fund 
of fifty million dollars placed at the disposal 
of the President by Congress. It is recognized 
that the protection of the national forests is an 
important and essential war activity. For- 
estry officials regard the present fire season in 
the northwest as in some ways the most seri- 
ous with which the government has ever had 
to cope. Early drouth, high winds, electrical 
storms, labor shortage and depletion of the 
regular protective force as a result of the war 
have combined to make the fire conditions un- 
precedently bad. Necessity for resort to the 
Presidential fund is due to the fact that the 
appropriation bill for the Department of Agri- 
culture for the current year has not yet been 
passed. 
Tue council of the British Institution of 
Electrical Engineers is prepared to receive ~ 
papers, not exceeding 15,000 to 20,000 words 
in length, on the subject of the “ Coordination 
of Research in Works and Laboratories,” and 
to award a special premium of £25 to the au- 
thor of the paper which in their judgment best 
fulfils the object of the discussion. The papers 
should be sent to the secretary of the institu- 
tion not later than November 4 next, and it is 
intended that the one selected shall be read 
and discussed at one of the ordinary meetings 
of the institution and shall afterwards be pub- 
lished in the Journal. 
Nature reports that the following grants of 
money for research committees were voted by 
the General Committee of the British Associa- 
