404 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX. No. 1269 



all mountain streams north of the latitude of 

 Buenos Aires and sporadically in the low- 

 lands." 



Though the monograph is intended pri- 

 marily to give a systematic survey of the 

 fishes included, the writer's interesting style 

 makes many parts very entertaining for the 

 general reader. 



A. S. Peaese 



THE PARIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



The recently issued Annual of the Academie 

 des Sciences for 1919^ records the election of 

 fourteen new members in 1917 and 1918, seven 

 in the former, and tlie same number in the 

 latter year; none had been chosen from Jan- 

 uary 19, 1914, to February 26, 1917, an inter- 

 val of over three years. Of these new mem- 

 bers three belong to the section GeograpMe et 

 Navigation, Ernest Fournier, Eobert Bourgeois 

 and Louis Fave; two enter the section Botan- 

 ique, Henri Leeomte and P. A. Dangeard; one 

 is credited to the section Mineralogie, Emile 

 Haug; one to the section Medecine et Chi- 

 rurgie, Edouard Quenu; one to Economie 

 Burale, Emmanuel Leclainche, and one to the 

 section Mecanique, Gabriel Koenigs. In ad- 

 dition there are three chosen for the new 

 division Applications de la Science a I'ln- 

 dustrie. namely, Maurice Leblanc, Auguste 

 Rateau and Charles Charpy, and also one new 

 non-resident member, Charles Flahault, of 

 Montpellier. Last, but not least, Marshall 

 Ferdinand Foch was elected Academicien 

 Libre, on November 11, 1918, the day on 

 which took place the signing of the armistice 

 between the Allies and the Central Powers, 

 one of the great events of history, and one to 

 which the masterly military leadership of 

 Foch had chiefly contributed. 



It is worthy of note that an institution so 

 thoroughly imbued with the most ardent pa- 

 triotism stiU retains on its rolls the name of 

 one German as Associe Etranger, namely 

 Simon Schwendener of Berlin. There are 



1 ' ' Institut de France, Acad&nie des Sciences, 

 Annuaire pour 1919," Paris, Gauthiers-Villars et 

 Oie, 178 pp, 8vo. 



also nine German Correspondents and two 

 Austrians, one of tliese the great mineralogist, 

 Gustav Tschermak. This shows that what- 

 ever may have been the animus displayed by 

 individual scientists in both camps, this great 

 institution, though placed in the vortex of the 

 fearful conflict, did not lose the conviction 

 that science is international and eternal. 



In the Annual is given an imposing list of 

 the prizes adjudged annually, or at longer in- 

 tervals, as well as of the special foundations 

 or funds, and also of the medals regularly 

 awarded. Here we have details regarding 94 

 different prizes, 10 foundations or funds, and 

 3 medals, the " Arago Medal," last awarded 

 in 1887, the " Lavoisier Medal " of which the 

 last award was in 1900 and the " Berthelot 

 Medal " that has not been adjudged since 1902. 



The president of the Academie des Sciences 

 for the present year is M. Louis Guignard, the 

 vice-president being M. Henri Deslandes. As 

 it is an invarable rule that the vice-president 

 succeeds to the presidency in the following 

 year, M. Deslandes wiU be, if still living, the 

 next president. The perpetual secretaries are 

 M. Alfred Lacroix, elected in 1914, for the 

 department of Sciences mathematiques, and 

 M. Emile Picard, elected in 1917, for that of 

 Sciences physiques. 



K. 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



SOME PHYSICAL IMPROVEMENTS IN NATIONAL 

 ARMY MEN UNDER MILITARY TRAINING' 



At the present time when the interest of 

 the coimtry is focused on the military policy 

 of the future, it is worth while to record the 

 effects of training on the physique of men 

 who enter the army from civil life. This has 

 been done before in the case of recruits and 

 imiversity men, and data secured from the 

 men who trained for the present conflict con- 

 stitute interesting material for comparison. 

 It is a matter of common knowledge that 

 civilians usually show an increase in weight 

 and a generally improved condition after a 



TFrom the Section of Food and Nutrition, 

 Medical Department, tJ. S. Army. 



