470 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX. No. 1272 



cently spent three weeks studying evidences of 

 paleopathology in the principal paleontological 

 museums of the eastern cities. The result is 

 a number of observations which it is hoped 

 will be of assistance in an understanding of 

 ancient diseases. It was found, for instance, 

 that the coalescence of the vertebrse of the 

 huge dinosaurs is caused by the lesions of 

 Spondylitis deformans, a common result of 

 disease among Pleistocene vertebrates, in the 

 ancient Egyptians and in modern man, and 

 not previously known to occur before the Mio- 

 cene. A large, fractured humerus of a Cre- 

 taceous dinosaur presents an interesting sub- 

 periosteal abscess, which is of considerable in- 

 terest in connection with the study of com- 

 minuted fractures of limb bones in certain vic- 

 tims of the recent war. 



Miss Maud Margaret Gibson has placed in 

 the hands of the Eoyal Society of Medicine a 

 sum of money sufficient to provide a scholar- 

 ship of the yearly value of about £250, in 

 memory of her father, the late Mr. William 

 Gibson of Melbourne, Australia. The scholar- 

 ship will be awarded from time to time to 

 qualified medical women who are subjects of 

 the British Empire. It is tenable for a period 

 of two years, but may in special circumstances 

 be extended to a third year. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



The trustees of Wesleyan University have 

 decided to start a campaign to secure an addi- 

 tional endowment of $2,000,000 for the uni- 

 versity. The trustees have voted to make sub- 

 stantial increases in salaries of members of 

 the faculty. 



Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, re- 

 ports that an additional endowment of $1,000,- 

 000 has been received for the general pur- 

 poses of the university. It is proposed that 

 several more full-time professors wiU be se- 

 cured and the departments of physiology, bac- 

 teriology and public health will be developed. 

 A fund of $200,000 is also available to be ex- 

 pended in the reconstruction of the hospital. 



At the University of Virginia, the school of 

 analytical and industrial chemistry and the 



school of chemistry have been merged in one. 

 Its affairs will be managed by a committee of 

 the chemical faculty. The following new ap- 

 pointments are announced: Dr. Graham Ed- 

 gar, of the National Eesearch Council, with 

 the rank of professor, and Mr. J. H. Yoe, of 

 the Chemical "Warfare Service, with the rank 

 of adjimct professor. The staff of assistants 

 has been enlarged considerably. Five new re- 

 search fellowships have been established by 

 the board of visitors. Applications for these 

 should be filed with Dr. George L. Carter, 

 secretary of the chemical faculty. 



Professor Edward C. Schneidee (Tale, 

 '01), of Colorado College, has been elected 

 head of the department of biology at "Wes- 

 leyan University. 



Dr. M. G. Gaba, of Cornell University, has 

 been appointed associate professor of mathe- 

 matics at the University of Nebraska. 



Colonel "Willum Darrach has been ap- 

 pointed dean of the College of Physicians and 

 Surgeons by the trustees of Columbia Uni- 

 versity. He succeeds Dr. Samuel "W. Lam- 

 bert, whose resignation takes effect on July_l. 

 Appointments and promotions at the college 

 are announced as follows : "William E. Studdi- 

 ■ford, M.D., professor of obstetrics and gyne- 

 cology, to succeed the late Dr. Edwin B. 

 Cragin; AUen O. "Whipple, M.D., now as- 

 sociate in surgery, to be assistant professor 

 of pathology; Benjamin P. Farrell, instructor 

 in orthopedic surgery, to be assistant pro- 

 fessor in the same branch; Louis Cassamajor, 

 associate professor of neurology, to be pro- 

 fessor of neurology; Oliver S. Strong, Ph.D., 

 assistant professor of neurology, to be asso- 

 ciate professor of neurology. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



AM IMMUNE VARIETY OF SUGAR CANE 



Setoral years ago a serious disease of sugar 

 cane appeared in Porto Eico. Owing to cer- 

 tain characters exhibited by this disease it 

 was designated as the mottling disease of 

 sugar cane (sometimes called mosaic). It may 



