192 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1392 



the record of the corresponding period of 

 last year. Compared with the first quarter of 

 1914, however, the drop in numbers is under 

 8,000. Excluding the war years, the births 

 are the fewest recorded in the first quarter of 

 any year since 1872. The deaths registered 

 also show a decline in numbers from the 

 very low record of 1920, and are, indeed, the 

 smallest in number registered in the first quar- 

 ter of any year since 1868. The natural in- 

 crease by excess of births over deaths was 

 over 80,000, as compared with 133,000 in the 

 March quarter of 1920 and 73,000 in 1914. 

 The infant mortality was 101 per 1,000 births. 



We learn from the Journal of the Washing- 

 ton Academy of Sciences that the purchase of 

 additional land near the Connecticut Avenue 

 entrance to the !N"ational Zoological Park, pro- 

 vided for in the Sundry Civil Bill for 1921, has 

 been completed. The addition to the Park is 

 about six acres, making the total area about 

 175 acres. 



We learn from Nature that the governor- 

 general of New Zealand, Lord Jellieoe, has 

 formally opened the Cawthron Institute in 

 ITelson, South Island. The institution was 

 founded under the terms of the late Thomas 

 Cawthron to provide a place for teaching and 

 carrying out scientific research relating to 

 the industries of N'elson and of the Dominion. 

 Lord Jellieoe paid eloquent tribute to the 

 great public generosity of the late Mr. Caw- 

 thron, and then spoke of the importance of 

 scientific research. For an agricultural com- 

 munity to achieve success the agriculturists 

 must cooperate with men of science. The work 

 undertaken in the new institute will deal 

 largely with problems of agriculture, fruit- 

 growing, etc., and should therefore exert great 

 influence on the prosperity of the whole of the 

 Dominion. The Bishop of Nelson, who is 

 chairman of the trustees, also addressed the 

 gathering, and made particular mention of 

 the library of scientific books' belonging to the 

 institute, which it was hoped, when completed, 

 would be the best in Australasia. Professor 

 Easterfield, director of the Cawthron Institute, 

 gave a brief outline of the many lines of re- 



search now occupying the attention of the 

 staff; soil surveys, experiments with fertiliz- 

 ers and cover-crops, fire-blight, the deteriora- 

 tion of trout, fruit pests, and the utilization 

 of flax-waste were among the problems men- 

 tioned. 



At a recent meeting of the Eoyal Geograph- 

 ical Society Dr. Kiiud Easmussen explained 

 the plans for his expedition to gather ma- 

 terials for an archeological and ethnographical 

 survey. The expedition, which consists of Dr. 

 Easmussen, three other Danish scientific men 

 and six Esquimaux, will leave the settlement 

 of Holstemborg, in Greenland, for Hudson 

 Bay at the end of August. The area to be 

 explored is the central part of the archipelago, 

 between Greenland and North America, com- 

 prising Ellesmereland, North Devon, North 

 Somerset, Bafiin Land, Borthia Felix, the 

 Melville Peninsula and the Barren Grounds. 



According to the daily press, a trading ex- 

 pedition to Siberia via the Kara Sea is on the 

 point of leaving Europe. Two cargo boats 

 from Liverpool, two from Hamburg, and one 

 from Goteborg are to meet at the Eussian port 

 of Murmansk, where they will be rejoined by 

 the ice-breaker Alexandria from Leith. The 

 expedition is carrying about 11,000 tons cargo, 

 most of which is to enter Siberia via the 

 Tenesei Eiver. The expedition is being or- 

 ganized by the All-Eussian Cooperative So- 

 ciety, Limited, London. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



Mr. H. H. Wills some time since presented 

 the University of Bristol with the sum of 

 200,000L for the provision of a new physics 

 laboratory, and a contract for the erection of 

 a building has now been signed. It is esti- 

 mated that the work will absorb the whole of 

 the original gift, together with interest on 

 the fund, amounting to 21,000Z. The build- 

 ing will be named " The Henry Herbert Wills 

 Physical Laboratory." 



The board of curators of the state univer- 

 sity of Missouri has taken a deiinite stand 



