444 
Secretary Lane made this announcement in 
reviewing the progress made by private con- 
cerns and the Department of the Interior in 
developing means or producing potash. In ad- 
dition to the manufacture of potash from the 
brine lakes of California, Nebraska and other 
states, and kelp or seaweed of the Pacific coast 
and from various minerals, the secretary said 
that through processes discovered by Dr. Fred- 
erick Cottrell, chief metallurgist of the Bureau 
of Mines, potash is being made from smelter, 
blast furnace and cement plant by-products. 
A single large blast furnace, it is estimated, 
will yield from 5,000 to 7,000 tons of potash 
annually. 
THE national park on Mount Desert Island, 
on the Maine coast, is henceforth to be known 
as Lafayette National Park. Announcement to 
that effect has been made by Secretary Lane 
of the Department of the Interior. The new 
national park is to embrace lands once owned 
by France and the name conferred upon it is 
meant to express America’s deep sympathy with 
France, as well as grateful appreciation of aid 
afforded to us by that nation in the past. Two 
years ago these lands were proclaimed the 
Sieur de Monts National Monument. They 
constitute the dominant and chief landscape 
part of Mount Desert Island. The island was 
discovered by Champlain and for more than a 
century was a part of French Arcadia. 
The Scottish Geographical Magazine states 
that the Council of the “Touring Club Ital- 
iano” has announced its intention of pro- 
ducing a Grande Atlante Internazionale. In 
its general scope and conception the Atlas is 
to be essentially Italian, but it will also em- 
phasize international features. Italy aims at 
the extension of her world commerce, and par- 
ticular attention will be paid to showing the 
means of communication and transport in 
different countries. Whilst developing the 
best characteristics of the great atlases which 
it desires to emulate, it will also include va- 
rious large-scale maps of the Italian colonies 
and those parts of Italy most frequented by 
tourists. The whole scheme is a considerable 
undertaking, but it appears to be well organ- 
SCIENCE 
[N. 8. Von. XLVIIT. No. 1244 
ized. The maps are to be issued to subscribers 
in sets, and each set will be complete in itself 
for one or more countries. It is expected that 
about sixteen maps will appear annually, and 
that it will take about eight or ten years to 
complete the whole work. This seems a long 
time, but it is hoped that progress will be ex- 
pedited when the work is fairly under way. 
The scientifie editor of the atlas is to be Pro- 
fessor Olinto Marinelli of Florence; the tech- 
nical work of drawing and engraving will be 
under the supervision of Signor P. Corbellini; 
whilst the general direction will be controlled 
by Signor L. V. Bertarelli at the office of the 
club in Milan. The Touring Club Italiano 
had done excellent work in the past, and its 
cartographic achievements in the department 
of touring maps and guidebooks are worthy 
of high praise. We have, therefore, every rea- 
son to believe that this new and ambitious 
venture will justify all expectations of suc- 
cess. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 
Dr. Atuan J. Sure has been appointed 
dean of the medical department of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania in succession to Dr. Wil- 
liam Pepper. a 
Dr. E. D. Batt, state entomologist of Wis- 
consin, has accepted the position of chairman 
of the department of zoology and entomology 
at the Iowa State College at Ames. He will 
also be entomologist of the Experiment Sta- 
tion and state entomologist. 
” Dr. JosppH Prererson, assistant professor of 
psychology in the University of Minnesota and 
chairman of the department for the present 
academic year, has resigned to accept a pro- 
fessorship in psychology in George Peabody 
College for Teachers, Nashville, Tenn. 
Dr. R. M. Wrivncer, of the department of 
mathematics of the University of Oregon, has 
accepted a professorship in mathematics at the 
University of Washington. 
Dr. E. L. Packarp, head of the department 
of geology at the Agricultural College of Miss- 
issippi during the past year, has returned to 
