January 5, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



17 



intention of making the society a local insti- 

 tution ; but that it was in every way a national 

 one. The report of the provisional committee 

 was adopted, and a formal resolution giving 

 actual being to the society was passed unani- 

 mously. The following oificers were then 

 elected: President, Mr. W. F. J. Wood; Vice- 

 presidenis, Mr. S. B. Bagley, Mr. F. J. Ches- 

 hire, Sir William Crookes, Mr. A. S. Essle- 

 mont. Professor H. Jackson, Mr. S. IST. 

 Jenkinson, Mr. H. J. Powell, Dr. W. Rosen- 

 hain, F.R.S., Mr. H. J. Stobart, Dr. M. W. 

 Travers, F.E.S., Mr. Duncan Webb and Mr. H. 

 S. Williams-Thomas; Treasurer, Mr. F. Sweet- 

 ing; Secretary, Dr. W. E. S. Turner; Assistant 

 Secretary, Mr. C. J. Peddle. 



It is stated in the daily papers that the 

 Federal Bureau of Mines has succeeded in 

 producing radium which is worth $1,000,000 

 at market prices at a cost of $340,000. Most 

 of this radium will go to the Memorial Hos- 

 pital of New York and the private cancer hos- 

 pital conducted by Dr. Howard A. Kelly, of 

 Baltimore. 



Now that it is possible to obtain photo- 

 graphic records of events of historical impor- 

 tance the question of preserving really valu- 

 able films is again engaging attention. Two 

 difficulties stand in the way of securing a per- 

 manent national collection of films. One is 

 the risk of fire owing to the inflammable char- 

 acter of the material used, and the other is the 

 fact that the life of a cinematograph film is 

 limited to a few years. According to the 

 London Times the attention of the British 

 Museum was recently called to the question of 

 the permanent preservation of the cinema 

 films illustrating the South Polar Expedition 

 of the late Captain Scott. These films are 

 shown by Mr. Herbert G. Pouting in his lec- 

 ture "With Captain Scott in the Antarctic," 

 which is now being given at the Philharmonic 

 Hall. The director of the museum replied that 

 the matter of preserving historic films had not 

 been overlooked, but as special risk was inci- 

 dental to the storage of films the trustees, in 

 the interest of the national collections gen- 

 erally, felt disinclined to receive favorably 

 such proposals. Preservation of the films 



taken of the fighting in the war is so desirable 

 that it is hoped that some way of solving the 

 e.xisting difficulties may be found. 



. In August the Congress of the United States 

 appropriated $175,000 for the investigation of 

 sources of potash within the United States. 

 This appropriation was designed to make pos- 

 sible the continuation on a large scale of the 

 work inaugurated and carried on by the Bu- 

 reau of Soils of the U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture. As a result of this work, and of the 

 operations to date of the various commercial 

 organizations engaged in the extraction of 

 potash from kelp on the Pacific coast, it ap- 

 peared to the officials of the Department of 

 Agriculture that the giant kelps of the Pacific 

 coast represented the largest and most imme- 

 diately available source of potash in the coun- 

 try. Accordingly the secretary of agriculture 

 has authorized the construction at some point 

 on the coast of Southern California of a plant 

 to be designed and operated to demonstrate on 

 a commercial scale the various processes of 

 extracting potash and by-products from kelp. 

 This work will be carried on by the Bureau of 

 Soils under the personal supervision of J. W. 

 Turrentine. The bureau proposes to proceed 

 at once with the execution of its plans. 



The white pine blister rust has been dis- 

 covered in Minnesota in four localities along 

 the St. Croix River, close to the eastern 

 boundary of the state. A careful survey of 

 other portions of the state last summer failed 

 to disclose the presence of the disease else- 

 where. It is believed that the infestation came 

 from the adjoining state, Wisconsin, which in 

 turn was first infested from a shipment of 

 pines from Germany. An emergency appro- 

 priation was allowed to the Minnesota state 

 entomologist, and field work, both survey and 

 eradication, has been pushed during the past 

 season. A special appropriation will be asked 

 from the legislature this winter in order that 

 the work may be continued for a number of 

 years. It would appear that Minnesota has a 

 good chance to stamp out the disease before it 

 obtains a foothold. 



The New York Sun states that a suggestion 

 is being made in England to establish a " cen- 



