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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVI. No. 1184 



on gun steel will be done at Cornell or some 

 otlier university. 



It is reported in Nature that in order to 

 promote the further development of the dye- 

 making industry in the United Kingdom, the 

 president of the Board of Trade has decided to 

 establish a special temporary department of 

 the board to deal with matters relating to the 

 encouragement, organization, and, so far as 

 necessary, the regulation of that industry. 

 The department will be under the direction of 

 Sir Evan Jones, Bart., who has placed his 

 services at the disposal of the president, and 

 will have the official title of commissioner for 

 dyes. The commissioner will act in close con- 

 sultation with the various dye-making and 

 dye-using interests concerned. 



The United States Geological Survey, De- 

 partment of the Interior, has issued as Bulletin 

 645 its " Bibliography of INorth American 

 Geology for 1915," by J. M. ISTickles. This 

 bulletin is a list of the books, papers and maps 

 bearing on the geology (including the paleon- 

 tology, petrology and mineralogy) of North 

 America and adjacent islands, and of Panama 

 and Hawaii, issued in 1915. The papers are 

 arranged alphabetically by names of authors 

 and the bulletin contains a full alphabetical 

 subject index by which any paper relating to 

 any particular subject or area may be readily 

 found. This bibliography is one of a series, 

 the volume for 1911 forming Bulletin 524, that 

 for 1912 Bulletin 545, that for 1913 Bulletin 

 584 and that for 1914 Bulletin 61Y. From 

 time to time these bibliographies are combined 

 in a single volume covering several years. The 

 series now covers the literature of American 

 geology from 1732 to the end of 1915. 



The annual report on the Science Museum, 

 and on the Geological Survey of Great Britain 

 and Museum of Practical Geology, has been 

 published as a White Paper for the Board of 

 Education. According to an abstract in the 

 London Times both museums have been closed 

 to the public since March 6, 1916, but the scien- 

 tific work has been continued so far as was pos- 

 sible imder present conditions. The Science 

 Museum remained open to students and for 

 special purposes, the daily average of visitors 



after March being 132, as against 986 formerly. 

 To the horology section Mr. Evan Roberts con- 

 tributed over 200 watches and watch move- 

 ments, of much historical and technical in- 

 terest. The library of the London Mathe- 

 matical Society was transferred and deposited 

 on loan in the Science Library, and is being 

 catalogued. The number of readers was 6,832, 

 of whom two thirds were science teachers or 

 students of the various colleges. The Geolog- 

 ical Survey has also suffered from the war, 

 which in turn has made special demands on 

 the staff. Consultations and correspondence 

 relating to military establishments at home 

 and abroad have been frequent. Progress has 

 been made with the " Series of special reports 

 on the mineral resources of Great Britain," 

 and with the standardizing of six-inch maps. 

 The petrographical department has helped the 

 Admiralty in the matter of aeroplane com- 

 passes, and the photographic work included 

 the copying of maps and diagrams for military 

 purposes and the making of microphotographs 

 for the Admiralty. The Museum of Practical 

 Geology was visited by 7,227 persons between 

 January 1 and March 6, when it was closed to 

 the public except for special inquiries. Dona- 

 tions during the year include a series of speci- 

 mens, mainly rocks, from the western front, 

 and igneous rocks from Imbros and Lemnos. 



The Research Defense Society of Great 

 Britain, owing to the continuance of the war, 

 has again decided to postpone its annual gen- 

 eral meeting. The committee's report of the 

 work of the society during the past two years, 

 as reported in The British Medical Journal, 

 states that the inaction of the opponents of re- 

 search had necessarily made the society less 

 active. There had hardly been any contro- 

 versy in the newspapers, and all through the 

 country the great advances made in protective 

 medicine due to research were being appreci- 

 ated and better understood. The lectures given 

 had been concerned more with the general in- 

 fluence of scientific medicine on the health and 

 efficiency of the army than with experiments 

 on animals. The Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Medicine by Research decided last 

 year in favor of amalgamation with the Re- 



