456 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1402 



a prominent place in the Association's pro- 

 gramme, and rightly so, for they have pro- 

 moted the advancement of science in many 

 directions; but, v^hile we recognize their 

 value to scientific workers, we plead for some- 

 thing more for the great mass of people out- 

 side the section-rooms, for a statement of 

 ideals and of service, of the strength of knowl- 

 edge and of responsibility for its use. These 

 are the subjects which will quicken the pulse 

 of the community and convert those who hate 

 and fear science and associate it solely with 

 debasing aspects of modern civilization into 

 fervent disciples of a new social faith upon 

 which a lever made in the workshops of 

 natural knowledge may be placed to move the 

 world. EiCHARD Greqcey 



A NOTABLE MATHEMATICAL GIFT 



As trustee of the Edward C. Hegeler Trust 

 fund Mrs. Mary Hegeler Carus, of La 

 Salle, Illinois, recently promised to make 

 the Mathematical Association of America a 

 yearly contribution of twelve hundred dollars 

 for five years to be used for the publication 

 of mathematical monographs under the au- 

 spices of this association. As is well known 

 the publication of scientific literature has 

 been much hampered in recent years by the 

 greatly increased cost of publication. Hence 

 this gift is especially timely and noteworthy. 



The letter confirming this gift was ad- 

 dressed to Professor Slaught, of the Uni- 

 versity of Chicago, and includes the follow- 

 ing significant statement: 



If at the end of five years this project shall have 

 proved successful it is my intention to then, give to 

 the Association a permanent endowment fund, and 

 I win 30 direct my legal representatives, which will 

 yield at least twelve hundred dollars annually. 



As the great success of the project seems 

 practically assured in view of the wide and 

 deep interest already manifested therein on 

 the part of leading mathematicians the 

 Mathematical Association of America seems 

 to have good reasons for expecting a sub- 

 stantial permanent endowment to aid it in 

 the futherance of its great cause of improv- 

 ing collegiate mathematics. 



There are now three national mathematical 

 organizations in America. The oldest of 

 these is the American Mathematical Society, 

 which was organized in 1888 as the New 

 York Mathematical Society, but was reorgan- 

 ized about six years later under its present 

 name. This Society devotes most of its 

 energies to mathematical research, and, to 

 further this cause. Professor L. L. Conant, 

 who died in 1916, bequeathed to it ten 

 thousand dollars, subject to Mrs. Conant's 

 life interest, the income of which is to be of- 

 fered once in five years as a prize for original 

 work in pure mathematics. 



The Mathematical Association of America 

 was organized in 1915 with a view towards 

 supplementing the work of the American 

 Mathematical Society along the line of col- 

 legiate teaching. It has always collaborated 

 with the Society holding joint meetings with 

 it and having a large common membership. 

 The gift announced above will make it pos- 

 sible to collaborate still more effectively in 

 promoting the interests of advanced mathe- 

 matics in this country. The National Coun- 

 cil of Teachers of Mathematics, organized in 

 1920, is mainly devoted to the interests of the 

 teaching of secondary mathematics and hence 

 represents more distinctly a separate field, 

 but it too has already begun to cooperate with 

 the Mathematical Association of America. 



The latter organization took steps several 

 years ago towards the publication of a modern 

 mathematical dictionary and has a standing 

 committee on this subject. It has, however, 

 not yet been able to push this laudable enter- 

 prise on account of lack of funds. The dif- 

 ficulty of such a work is increased by the 

 fact that at present there exists no good 

 mathematical dictionary in any language, and 

 hence most of the material for such a work 

 has to be collected from original sources. 

 G. A. Miller 

 TJniveesity of Illinois 



A NEW ALASKA BASE MAP 



The IJ. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey of 

 the Department of Commerce reports the 

 completion of a new outline map of Alaska 

 on the Lambert conformal conic projection. 



