824 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 937 



cific basin heads the list with 177 tons per 

 square mile per year, the northern Atlantic 

 basin being next with 130 tons. The rate for 

 the Hudson Bay basin, 28 tons, is lowest ; that 

 for the Colorado and western Gulf of Mexico 

 basins is somewhat higher. The denudation 

 estimates for the southern Atlantic basin cor- 

 respond very closely to those for the entire 

 United States. The amounts are generally 

 lowest for streams in the arid and semiarid 

 regions, because large areas there contribute 

 little or nothing to the run-off. The southern 

 Pacific basin is an important exception to this 

 general rule, presumably because of the ex- 

 tensive practise of irrigation in that area. 

 The amounts are highest in regions of high 

 rainfall, though usually the waters in those 

 sections are not so highly mineralized as the 

 waters of streams in arid regions. 



The first instalment of the vast works 

 planned by Sir W. Willeocks for the irriga- 

 tion of Mesopotamia by the storage of the 

 Euphrates water is now nearing completion. 

 Details as to the present position of the work, 

 which is being carried out for the Turkish 

 government by the engineering firm of Sir 

 John Jackson, Limited, are quoted in the 

 Geographical Journal. The part of the 

 scheme first taken in hand has been the build- 

 ing of the great barrage at Hindieh, with 

 associated works by which the water, is to be 

 distributed down the old branch of the river, 

 past the site of Babylon, to Hilla. The bar- 

 rage is being built to the east of the present 

 bed of the Euphrates, and will be 250 meters 

 long, with thirty-five arches fitted with sluice- 

 gates. The piers of these arches are now 

 completed up to the springing of the latter. 

 This barrage will raise the level of the water 

 by 7 meters, while a subsidiary barrage imme- 

 diately below will provide for a further differ- 

 ence of 2J meters. Adjoining the upper bar- 

 rage there will be a lock for the use of the 

 river traffic, while the lower barrage consists 

 of a lock and a huge shelf of masonry. Work 

 has also been begun on the Hilla regulator, a 

 little above the barrage, which will consist of 

 five arches. The excavation for this has been 



done, and the masonry begun. These works 

 finished, an earthen dam will be thrown across 

 the stream, which will thus be turned into its 

 new bed between the barrage and the regulator. 

 The old branch has been cleared out, and will 

 be properly canalized, while at Habbania an 

 escape is being constructed by which the flood- 

 water will be carried off into the old Baby- 

 lonian reservoir. It is estimated that 600,000 

 acres of land will be plentifully irrigated as a 

 result of these works. The operations have 

 involved a vast amount of excavation, con- 

 crete work, masonry, pitching, etc., but there 

 has of late been a plentiful supply of local 

 labor. 



UNIVEBSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 



By the will of Mrs. Harriet D. Brown, who 

 died in Worcester in November, the Wor- 

 cester Polytechnic Institute receives a fund of 

 some $50,000, the income to be used for 

 scholarships. 



Dr. John C. Hemmeter, professor of physi- 

 ology at the University of Maryland, at the 

 celebration of academic day on November 12 

 made a gift of $10,000 for the purpose of be- 

 ginning the endovsrment of the chair for ex- 

 perimental physiology. 



Mrs. a. M. Jones, widow of Professor Tom 

 Jones, of Manchester, surgeon, who died on 

 October 30, left £1,000 to the Victoria Univer- 

 sity, Manchester, in augmentation of the en- 

 dowment of the Professor Tom Jones memor- 

 ial scholarship, and £500 to the University Col- 

 lege of Wales, Aberystwith, as an endowment 

 for promoting the study of surgery. 



Captain E. W. Silvester, for twenty years 

 president of Maryland Agricultural College, 

 has resigned because of impaired health. He 

 has been made president emeritus and librarian 

 of the institution. Professor Thomas H. 

 Spence, vice-president of the coUege, has been 

 appointed acting president. 



Dr. Herbert J. Webber has resigned from 

 the department of plant breeding of the Col- 

 lege of Agriculture of Cornell University, to 

 accept the directorship of the College of Agri- 

 culture of the University of California. 



