186 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLV. No. 1156 



and many others are projected. Among them 

 is a formaldehyde factory at Vetluga, and a 

 technical laboratory for the production of 

 lanolin, naphthalene, etc., at Eostov. A large 

 company has been formed at Moscow for the 

 production of coke-benzol products and at 

 Tomsk a chemical factory is projected for the 

 making of medical chemicals. Several new 

 works for making sulphuric acid have been 

 erected in the Volga region, in the Donets 

 basin, in the Caucasus and in the Urals. Mir- 

 rors, lenses and other optical instruments, 

 thermometer tubing and chemical glass, for- 

 merly imported, are now being made. There 

 is a large demand for microscopes and other 

 scientific apparatus, as well as for articles for 

 medical and surgical use. 



At a meeting of the board of managers of 

 the Cold Spring Harbor Biological Laboratory 

 of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, 

 the completion of an endowment of $25,000 for 

 the laboratory was announced. The principal 

 donors are : Mr. W. J. Matheson, estate of Col- 

 onel Eobert B. Woodward, Mr. Walter Jen- 

 nings, Mr. A. A. Healy, Mr. August Heckscher, 

 Mr. Cleveland H. Dodge, Mr. Louis C. Tiffany, 

 Mr. Howard C. Smith, Mrs. E. H. Harriman, 

 Colonel T. S. Williams, Mr. Henry F. ISToyes, 

 Mr. Albert Strauss and Mr. Donald Scott. It 

 is expected that the laboratory will now be- 

 come one of the four fundamental departments 

 of the institute, and will be under the special 

 care of a governing committee of the trustees 

 of the institute. 



Although New York was not included 

 among the states where a serious fungous dis- 

 ease of poplars was reported by the federal 

 authorities, the State College of Agriculture 

 at Ithaca announces that the disease has been 

 found on Long Island. This disease is sim- 

 ilar in appearance to that which destroys the 

 chestnut trees and may be found on any 

 species of poplars or cottonwoods. Trees at- 

 tacked by this fungus show cankers or de- 

 pressed areas in the bark, which spread rapidly 

 and often girdling the twig, limb or trunk of 

 the tree and killing the part above the canker; 

 the trees become ragged in appearance and 

 ■finally die. This is especially true of the 



Lombardy poplars so often planted in rows 

 along highways. The fungus which causes 

 this disease, according to the authorities, was 

 imported from Europe, and is especially 

 severe on stored and transplanted nursery 

 stock. The centers of infection appear to be, 

 in every case, either certain nurseries known 

 to contain diseased trees, or points where 

 poplars from such nurseries have been planted. 

 Residents of New York who think their trees 

 are affected by the disease may receive exact 

 information by sending samples to the depart- 

 ment of plant pathology. New York State Col- 

 lege of Agriculture, Ithaca, New York. 



The EizzoH Orthopedic Institute of Bo- 

 logna has inaugurated an exposition of ortho- 

 pedic appliances, to be held at Bologna in Feb- 

 ruary under the auspices of the national fed- 

 eration of committees engaged in welfare work 

 for blinded, mutilated and crippled soldiers. 

 The institute has announced a prize of 5,000 

 lire for the best appliance, and is urging others 

 to collect funds for additional prizes. 



Professor L. C. Karpinski writes that the 

 first volume of the " Nouvelles Tables trigo- 

 nometriques f ondamentales " by Professor H. 

 Andoyer, of Paris, mentioned in a recent re- 

 view in Science as delayed by the war, ap- 

 peared in 1915. This volume of 341 pages + 

 Ixviii pages includes the sines and cosines for 

 each one hundredth of the quadrant to 20 

 decimal places, for each 9 minutes to 17 places, 

 and for each 10 seconds to 15 decimals. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



A GIFT of $20,000 from Mrs. George Putnam 

 to Harvard University was announced at the 

 last meeting of the president and fellows. The 

 money will be used to establish a fund in 

 memory of Mrs. Putnam's brother, James 

 Jackson Lowell, and the income will be used 

 for the purchase of books for the college li- 

 brary. 



Thirty-four thousand guineas have been 

 subscribed to the South Wales University Col- 

 lege for the extension of scientific and tech- 

 nical education. 



