October 5, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



337 



At the opening exercises of Columbia Uni- 

 versity, Dr. Cassius J. Keyser, of Columbia 

 University, gave tbe address, the subject of 

 which was " The enterprise of democracy." 

 The address of the College of Physicians and 

 Surgeons was given by Dr. Hans Zinsser, pro- 

 fessor of bacteriology, his subject being 

 " Medicine, the great opportunity." 



Senor Augusto Villanueva, Santiago de 

 Chile, has become a member of the Ramsay 

 Memorial Committee for Chile. 



Edward Booth, assistant professor of chem- 

 istry in the University of California, died at 

 his home in Berkeley on August 23. 



Lieutenant-Colonel T. H. Boaedman, who 

 had charge of the work in physics at Christ's 

 Hospital, London, died of wounds on August 

 4 while on active service in the army. 



Dr. J. E. Tosh, lately assistant professor 

 of zoology in St. Andrews University, has 

 died in Mesoptamia from " heat stroke." 



As already announced, the thirty-second 

 general meeting of the American Electrochem- 

 ical Society is being held in Pittsburgh from 

 October 3 to 6. The Metallurgical and Chem- 

 ical Engineering states that a special feature 

 of the meeting will be a series of papers and 

 discussions on electrochemical war supplies, 

 and the part the electrochemical industry will 

 play in the present struggle. The committee 

 in charge is outlining an elaborate program of 

 technical sessions, visits to industrial plants 

 and entertainment features. It invites the 

 delegates to arrive in Pittsburgh on Wednes- 

 day, October 2, so as to meet informally and 

 enjoy some recreations which have been 

 planned for them. On Thursday, October 3, 

 a regular meeting of the society will be held 

 in the morning, with optional excursions to 

 industrial plants in the afternoon. In the 

 evening an illustrated lecture on a semi-tech- 

 nical subject will be given. On Friday, Oc- 

 tober 4, a symposium on electrochemical war 

 supplies will be held in the morning, followed 

 by excursions to industrial plants in the after- 

 noon. A subscription dinner will be held at 

 the "William Penn Hotel in the evening. Sat- 

 urday, October 5, will be devoted to an all-day. 



excursion, on a special train with complimen- 

 tary luncheon, to several industrial plants in 

 the Pittsburgh district." 



According to the London correspondent of 

 the Journal of the American Medical Associa- 

 tion official statistics show that on an average 

 there has been an increase in food prices of 

 104 per cent, compared with July, 1914, the 

 month before the war began. The increase 

 varies from 65 per cent, in the case of fresh 

 butter to 191 per cent, in the case of certain 

 parts of frozen mutton. The average price of 

 bread — 23 cents for the 4-pound loaf — is 

 double that in July, 1914, and flour shows a 

 proportionately greater advance, amounting to 

 109 per cent. The price of granulated sugar 

 had risen over the war period from an average 

 of about 4 cents to nearly 12 cents per pound, 

 but increased duty accounts for about 2.5 cents 

 of the rise. The average price of cheese is 

 slightly more than double than in July, 1914; 

 that of eggs, slightly less than double. The 

 price of tea is 74 per cent, higher, but about 

 half of the advance is due to increased taxa- 

 tion. Butter and margarin show increases ap- 

 proximating to 65 and 74 per cent, respec- 

 tively, over pre-war prices. Milk prices had 

 risen 60 per cent., or 4 cents'per quart. In ar- 

 riving at the general percentage increase, the 

 several articles are weighted in accordance 

 with the proportionate expenditure on them in 

 pre-war family budgets, no allowance being 

 made for the economies resulting from 

 changes in dietary which have been effected 

 since the beginning of the war, especially in 

 those families in which the total income has 

 not been increased by advances in rates of 

 wages, greater regularity of employment, in- 

 creased output, or the working of overtime. 

 As an illustration of possible economies in this 

 direction, if eggs are omitted from the dietary, 

 margarin substituted for butter, and the con- 

 simaption of sugar and fish reduced to one 

 half of that prevailing before the war, the gen- 

 eral percentage increase since July, 1914, in- 

 stead of being 104, would be 72. During last 

 month alone the general level of retail prices 

 of the principal articles of food rose about 1 

 per cent. The prices of British beef increased 



