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SCIENCE 



[Vol. LV, No. 1433 



ried on in a surgical section, a medical section, 

 an eye, ear, nose and throat section, and a gen- 

 eral section; and, instead of a formal patho- 

 logical section, a series of pathological demon- 

 strations will be given. The Canadian Society 

 of Anesthetists and the Canadian Radiological 

 Society will also hold their annnal meetings in 

 Winnipeg at the same time. 



The Metals Committee of the Federal Speci- 

 fications Board has been organized with Dr. 

 G. K. Burgess, of the Bureau of Standards, as 

 chairman, and Mr. Freeman, also of the bureau, 

 as technical secretary. Several subcommittees 

 have been appointed, and progress has been 

 made in the formulation of metal specifications. 

 The metals are being taken up in the following 

 order: Ingots, castings and wrought metal. 

 The subject of chains is also being considered 

 by this committee. The American Society for 

 Testing Materials methods of chemical analysis 

 have been recommended for government check 

 analyses. 



The National Committee on Exhibits Show- 

 ing Advances in Sanitary Science has recently 

 been formed in Washington, for the purpose 

 of collecting and preparing material for a 

 public health exhibit in the capitol. The mem- 

 bers of the committee include : Surgeon General 

 Hugh S. Gumming, U. S. Public Health 

 Service, chairman; Dr. D. B. Armstrong, Na- 

 tional Health Council; Surgeon General M. W. 

 Ireland, M. C, U. S. Army; Dr. Victor C. 

 Vaughan, National Research Council; Dr. C. D. 

 Walcott, Smithsonian Institution, and James 

 A. Tobey, National Health Council, secretary. 

 Space for the proposed exhibit has been placed 

 at the disposal of the committee by the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. Plans are under way to 

 install exhibit material secured from official 

 and voluntary health agencies. The secretary's 

 office is in the national headquarters of the 

 American Red Cross at Washington. 



Me. Maeconi left Southampton on May 27 

 on board his yacht Electra on a voyage of wire- 

 less experiment to America. According to a 

 report in the London Times, two technical 

 assistants accompany him. He proposed to 

 carry out experiments on the Atlantic with 

 direction finders on short wave and long wave 

 transmission. At New York he will conduct a 



number of tests in cooperation with some of 

 the modern American stations, and demonstrate 

 to the Americans what can be accomplished in 

 the high speed dispatch and reception of mes- 

 sages. Over long distances, such as from 

 America to England, messages are now received 

 at a rate of eighty to ninety words a minute, and 

 Mr. Marconi will use improved instruments by 

 means of which speed can be increased up to 

 one hundred words a minute and over. On 

 June 20, Mr. Marconi, who has received from 

 the Institute of Radio Engineers, New York, 

 the medal of the institute, will deliver a lecture 

 at a joint meeting of the Radio Institute and 

 the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. 

 His subject will be "Radio Telegi'aphy," but 

 the question of wireless telephony will also be 

 dealt with. Besides his other experiments, Mr. 

 Marconi will carry out tests for the Meteoro- 

 logical Office in London during his voyage. 

 These will have special reference to the collec- 

 tion of reports of the weather in the areas of 

 the Azores and the Bermudas. He expects to 

 be absent from England until the middle of 

 July. On his return journey, he hopes to visit 

 Canada and Newfoundland. The Electra, a 

 steam yacht of 700 tons, will make the Azores 

 her first objective, and thence will proceed to 

 America, or, if the weather proves bad, to Ber- 

 muda. 



The United States National Museum has re- 

 cently secured by purchase, through the co- 

 operation of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, the large private herbarium of Dr. 

 Otto Buchtien, formerly director of the Museo 

 Nacional, La Paz, Bolivia, built up by him 

 through many years of botanical exploration in 

 South America and through exchanges with 

 institutions in many parts of the world. The 

 herbarium consists of approximately 45,000 

 specimens, and is notable for its large propor- 

 tion of tropical American species, particularly 

 of the floras of Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and 

 Paraguay. 



Yale LTniversity has acquired a collection of 

 566 mounted game heads and skulls with horns, 

 and miscellaneous zoological specimens and 

 implements used by native hunters. This is 

 the gift of Ml-. Thomas D. M. Cardeza, 

 sportsman and naturalist of wide reputa- 



