700 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LV, No. 1435 



inch reflector at the Mount Wilson Observatory 

 in California and the 72-irich one at Victoria, 

 British Columbia. The $250,000 for its con- 

 struction was given by Professor M. H. Per- 

 kins, for twenty-five years an instructor in 

 mathematics at Ohio Wesleyan, who has made 

 many other contributions for the upkeep and 

 maintenance of the observatory. A feature of 

 the telescope is that it will be devoted pri- 

 marily for the use of the students in the uni- 

 versity and only secondarily for research. This 

 is the first of the large instruments to be so 

 used. Three years will be required to complete 

 the installation. 



A Beta Chapter of Sigma Delta Epsilon, a 

 women's honorary scientific society, was re- 

 cently installed at the University of Wisconsin. 

 The society has a membership of 33 women 

 who are doing advanced work in science in the 

 University of Wisconsin, the federal govern- 

 ment and the state scientific institutions in 

 Madison. The officers are Dr. Eloise Gen-y, 

 U. S. Forest Products Laboratory, president; 

 Miss Marion E. Phelps, department of physics, 

 vice-president and chairman of the memhership 

 committee; Miss Helen Johann, cereal investi- 

 gations U. S. Department of Agriculture, sec- 

 retary; Dr. Elizabeth A. Smith, department of 

 zoology, treasurer; and Miss Nevada Evans, 

 department of plant pathology, chairman of 

 the program committee. The meetings are held 

 twice a month and give opportunities for pre- 

 sentation and informal discussion of the results 

 of research as well as social intercourse. The 

 society is non-secret. Its name means united 

 in friendship through science. The officers- 

 elect for the coming year are Professor Eliza- 

 beth A. Smith, zoology, president; Professor 

 Helen Parsons, food chemistry, vice-president ; 

 Miss Helen Johann, cereal investigations, secre- 

 tary ; Miss Ruth Chase, zoology, treasurer; and 

 Miss Emma Fiske, botany, chairman of the pro- 

 gram committee. 



The Biological Station of the University of 

 North Dakota at Devil's Lake is jjlanning to 

 continue this season the work which it has been 

 conducting for a number of years past, which 

 includes experiments on the influence of solu- 

 tions of different salts of varying concentra- 

 tions upon fishes, in the attempt to ascertain 



the cause of death of fish in such solutions. It 

 is also continuing the biological survey of the 

 state, upon which considerable progress has 

 already been made. The work this year will be 

 centered, chiefiy on the fishes, reptiles and 

 Amphibia. Reports have already been pub- 

 lished, or are in press, deahng with a number 

 of groups, including the birds, moUusks, Pro- 

 tozoa, locusts, and bugs (Hemiptera). This 

 latter work is in charge of Miss Crystal Thomp- 

 son, of the Amherst College Museum, and is in 

 cooperation with the Museum of Zoology at 

 Ann Arbor. The environment of Devil's Lake, 

 with numerous ponds differing markedly in 

 their physical and chemical characteristics, 

 marshes, woodland, and cultivated land, con- 

 tains a rich fauna for ecological studies, espe- 

 cially on aquatic life. 



We learn from Nature that the Strangers' 

 Hall, Norwich, an old city merchant's house, 

 with groined undercroft, fifteenth century ban- 

 queting hall, and other paneled rooms of later 

 date, has been offered by its owner, Mr. Leon- 

 ard G-. Bolingbroke, to the corporation of Nor- 

 wich for the purpose of an English Folk and 

 Historical Museum, in conjunction with the 

 Norwch Castle Museiun. Mr. Bolingbroke has 

 also offered his collection of old domestic appli- 

 ances and other "bygones" illustrative of the 

 various phases of a middle-class Englishman's 

 home during the last four or five centuries, 

 which will find a fitting environment in the 

 various rooms of the house. While the aim of 

 the museum will be historical rather than scien- 

 tific, there will be found many exhibits of 

 interest to students of early history and devel- 

 opment of such subjects as the production of 

 light and fire, domestic cookery, and other 

 kindred objects. 



The Boyal Geographical Jourtial reports 

 that an expedition lately left Copenhagen for 

 the Dutch East Indies with the object of taking 

 preliminary steps towards the establishment of 

 a Tropical Station for Biological Research 

 in that region. It is headed by Dr. T. Morten- 

 sen, of the Copenhagen Zoological Museum, 

 and the botanist is Hjahnar Jensen. The pro- 

 ject was set on foot some years ago and has 

 been brought to a head through the labors of 

 a Scandinavian Society formed for the pur- 



