246 
the council this. resolution is apparently not 
put forward by the council officially. The 
notice convening the meeting states that on 
July 4 the council had under consideration the 
question of expelling the enemy foreign mem- 
bers. They considered that, if possible, unity 
of action between the Allied nations should be 
secured, and in view of the fact that a con- 
ference between representatives of Allied acad- 
emies will take place in October next they 
resolved to refer the question to that confer- 
ence. In the meantime they desire to obtain 
the opinion of the Fellows of the society on 
the subject for the guidance of their repre- 
sentatives at the conference which has been 
called for the purpose of discussing the future 
of scientific work hitherto carried out by in- 
ternational organizations. 
From a White Paper published on July 10 
Nature reports that among the supplementary 
estimates for the year ending March 31, 1919, 
is the sum of £1,000,000 which is to be devoted 
through the Board of Trade to the purpose 
of assisting the dye-making industry. This is 
the first instalment of a total sum of £2,000,- 
000 to be provided in the shape of loans and 
grants to be spread over three years, and di- 
vided as follows: £1,250,000 in loans at not less 
than 1 per cent. above the Bank rate, with a 
minimum of 5 per cent., repayable in twenty 
years or earlier if the profits of the manufac- 
turer are more than 9 per cent.; £600,000 in 
aid of extensions of plant and buildings; and 
£150,000 in grants in aid of research. It will 
be remembered that early in 1915 a grant of 
£1,000,000 was made to one firm at Hudders- 
field, out of which was created the company 
known as British Dyes Ltd. This, not un- 
naturally, created a feeling of dissatisfaction 
on the part of those dye-making firms which 
received nothing. The sum mentioned is to be 
distributed among these firms, besides the sub- 
stantial amount allocated to the purposes of 
research. Presumably the £100,000 given for 
this purpose in 1915 has been spent, but it 
would be interesting to know how and by 
whom the money has been used and with what 
results, in view of the fact that the central 
research laboratory originally’ contemplated 
SCIENCE 
[N. S. Vou, XLVIII. No. 1236 
has never been erected, nor the Technical 
Committee announced in July, 1915, called 
into existence. 
THE provisions of a law enacted by the Con- 
gress of Uraguay require the use of the metric 
system in all trade transactions. Merchants 
are forbidden to sell by the piece, package, or 
for a fixed sum of money, even at the request 
of the customer, articles susceptible of sale by 
weight or measure without the use of the 
metric system. The law provides that when 
merchandise is sold in sealed packages, tin 
cans, boxes, bundles, bottles, etc., the net con- 
tents or weight must be clearly indicated on 
the wrappers. In pass books used for sales on 
credit the weight or quantity of the mer- 
chandise sold must be:stated, and this must 
also be done in the case of invoices. Staple 
articles, such as sugar, maté, kerosene, rice, 
flour noodles, beans and other dry legumes 
either ground or in the grain, coffee, tea, salt, 
liquors, coal and wood in ‘general, meats (in- 
cluding canned meats), lard, fresh vegetables, 
bread, crackers, milk, fish, cheese, sweet and 
white potatoes, etc., are required when offered 
for sale to show prices and. weights. 
THE autumn lectures of the New York Bo- 
tanical Garden will be delivered in the Lec- 
ture Hall of the Museum Building of the Gar- 
den, Bronx Park, on Saturday afternoons, at 
four o’clock, as follows: 
August 31. ‘‘Autumn flowers,’’ by Dr. N. L. 
Britton. 
_ September 7. 
Beal. 
September 14. 
Nash. 
September 21. ‘‘Dahlias,’’ by Dr. M. A. Howe. 
(Exhibition of Dahlias, September 21 and 22.) 
September 28. ‘‘Flora of the vicinity of New 
York,’’ by Mr. Norman Taylor. 
‘¢Gladioli,’? by Professor A. C. 
‘<Bvergreens,’? by Mr. G. V. 
October 5. ‘‘Autumn ceoloration,’’? by Dr. A. 
B. Stout. 
October 12. ‘‘Cut flowers and how to use 
them,’’ by Mr. E. I. Farrington. 
October 19. ‘‘The value of birds in a garden,’’ 
by Dr. G. Clyde Fisher. 
October 26. ‘‘Some plant diseases of New 
York and Virginia,’’ by Dr. E. W. Olive. 
