400 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX. No. 126 



ings and in public schools under tlie auspices 

 of the museum and a 50 per cent, curtailment 

 of lectures for school children in the museum. 

 All of these measures are designed to cut down 

 expenses for fuel, light, and service, as the 

 minimum appropriation of $240,000 asked for 

 by the museum, figured to cover regular ex- 

 penses only without provision for further de- 

 velopment, has been cut down to $200,00 in 

 the city budget. 



By the will of the late Major S. Field Thorn, 

 who died recently in San Francisco, the Cali- 

 fornia Academy of Sciences is to receive 

 "Cragthorn Park," near Santa Cruz, Cali- 

 fornia. The place consists of 242 acres and 

 was Major horn's country home. After the 

 various specific bequests have been paid the 

 academy is to receive the balance of the estate, 

 which it is thought will be considerable. 

 Major Thorn was at one time manager of the 

 Palace Hotel in San Francisco and was for 

 many years interested in the Academy of 

 Sciences. 



In connection with the spring meeting of 

 the American Physical Society at the Bureau 

 of Standards, "Washington, on April 25 and 

 26, there will be an exhibit of physical ap- 

 paratus illustrative of war developments in 

 physics. The exhibit was opened on the after- 

 noon of the 24, all day on the 25 and 26, the 

 evening of the 25 and the afternoon of the 28. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



Harvard University and the Smithsonian 

 Institution receive $50,000 each by the will of 

 Mrs. Virginia Purdy Bacon. Columbia tlni- 

 versity receives $25,000 for scholarships. 



By the will of Alexander Cochrane, late of 

 Boston, and head of the Cochrane Chemical 

 Company, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital will 

 receive $10,000 for the establishment of a free 

 bed, and at the termination of a trust fund 

 created for benefit of the members of Mr. 

 Cochrane's family the principal of the trust 

 is to go to Harvard College. 



The University of California receives by 

 the will of Mrs. Phoebe Hearst, $60,000, to 



continue scholarships and a valuable collection 

 of paintings, tai)estries and objects of art 



Professor William A. Woyes, head of the 

 department of chemistry of the University of 

 Illinois; Professor Frank Morley, of the 

 Johns Hopkins University, and Professor 

 William T. Sedgwick, of the Massachusetts In- 

 stitute of Technology, will be included in the 

 faculty of the summer session of the University 

 of California, giving respectively courses in 

 chemistry, mathematics and public health. 



At the agricultural college of the University 

 of Idaho, Herbert P. Davis, dairy husband- 

 man, Dairy Division, U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture has been appointed daiiyman of the 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, and vice 

 director of the station, and J. E. Nordby, 

 lately first lieutenant in the Motor Section of 

 the Aviation Service, has been appointed asso- 

 ciate animal husbandman of the Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, and will have charge of 

 experimental work in animal husbandry. 



Captain James Eiddick Partington, has 

 been appointed to the newly established uni- 

 versity chair of chemistry, tenable at East 

 London College. 



Nature states that Professor Ludwig Jost, 

 of Strasburg, succeeds at Heidelberg Professor 

 G. Klebs, who died last October in his sixty- 

 fij-st year, and Dr. W. Ruhland, of Halle, suc- 

 ceeds Professor von Vochting at Tiibingen. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



BASIS OF THE GEOMETRICAL MEAN AS A 

 B. COLI INDEX 



Could I have realized that Professor Cairns 

 would honor by mathematical consideration 

 the "Geometrical Mean" (Science, March 8, 

 1918) method of obtaining a bacteriological 

 index, I should have hesitated to " wander into 

 paths outside my own domain." However, no 

 elaborate discussion of the mathematical rela- 

 tion between the theory of chance variation 

 and the geometrical mean can be expected to 

 induce the empirical bacteriologist to use it as 

 a B. coli index. The simplicity of application 

 and practical utility in daily routine will in 

 the end be its recommendation. Still a brief 

 mention of the gromids on which it seemed to 



